US Politics: Biggest Show for One of the Smaller Cities

City authorities in St Paul had been preparing for this week's Republican national convention for almost two years. In expectation of 30,000 delegates and 15,000 members of the media, along with protesters, they had assembled the biggest police force in Minnesota's history, and worked out a complex program of road closures.

They had scrambled to help visitors deal with a desperate hotel room shortage, weeded 4,300 acres of parks, and cleared space in the county jail. But yesterday, as Hurricane Gustav approached the gulf coast, the city was waiting to discover if the event would bear any resemblance at all to the original plan.

The Republicans' choice of St Paul - a city of fewer than 300,000 people that is dwarfed by its neighboring twin city, Minneapolis - had been expected to bring up to $160m to the region.

Much of that income boost may still materialize: although George Bush and Dick Cheney now seem certain to be absent, many of the politicians and journalists involved had arrived before disruption to the week's events became a serious possibility.

"It's the biggest thing that's happened in St Paul's 150-year history," former mayor George Latimer said.

Plans for anti-Republican protests - and police efforts to thwart the possibility of violence - were also already underway.

At the weekend, local police reportedly armed with semi-automatic rifles raided several houses and a building used by the RNC Welcoming Committee, an anarchist group that has pledged to disrupt the convention. Five people were arrested.