More Tune In for Republican Convention, and Gustav

Apparently, Americans are a bit more interested in hurricanes than windy speeches. That's one possible conclusion from Monday night's ratings race, which showed a cumulative 16% increase from ABC's, CBS's and NBC's Republican National Convention coverage from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST compared to the Democrats last Monday, according to the Nielsen fast-affiliate ratings. But with Hurricane Gustav blowing away most of the first day's deliberations, the anchors focused on the storm, which by nature (literally and figuratively) is a more visual, visceral story.