Florida Gov. Rick Scott said on Thursday that the latest predictions show Tropical Storm Isaac moving on a western path, missing Tampa (and the Republican National Convention), but Haiti, where 400,000 people still live in tents, likely won't be so lucky. State and Republican Party officials hope the tropical storm, which is expected to reach hurricane strength by the time it hits the island of Hispaniola (which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic) will break up as it passes over that land mass and Cuba, and miss Tampa altogether, Scott said in a live-broadcast news conference on Thursday. Republicans have contingency plans in case the convention gets called off due to weather, but Scott told reporters, "there's not any anticipation there will be a cancelation."

For the moment, it looks like Tampa and the convention will miss the brunt of the storm, but the news is not so hopeful for Haiti, which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake in 2010. "The capital city of Port-au-Prince, where some 400,000 earthquake refugees still live in tents, sat dead-center in Isaac’s path," reports the Miami Herald's Curtis Morgan, while CNN reported that "as much of 12 inches of rain is forecast for some parts of the country." Far less rain than that has been extremely dangerous in Haiti.

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Adam Martin