The Hurricane Dolly plummeting the Texas coast thwarted a high-profile event of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who was to fly to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and meet Indian-American Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal, being seen as a possible running mate.
Bobby Jindal rules out VP ticket
Media analysts said the event -- at which McCain was to raise the issue of offshore oil drilling and technology that made it safe -- was aimed at stealing some thunder from his Democratic rival Barack Obama's address in Berlin.
Just as blogs were trumpeting McCain's coming campaign stop on the rig, the McCain team cancelled the trip and postponed the meeting with Jindal, the New York Times said.
Jindal is one of the several names being discussed in the United States media as the possible running mate of McCain. When asked if he had made a decision on his vice-presidential choice, the Arizona Senator responded, 'No'.
McCain's invitation to Jindal 'strategic'
The campaign blamed Hurricane Dolly, which had just crossed the Texas coast with wind-speed of 160 kms an hour, for the cancellation of the event.
An aide was quoted as saying that McCain, whose campaign has been overshadowed by Obama's foreign trip, was not having a bad week. "I'm not dissatisfied...I think we've said what we had to say," the aide said.