I don't think there is a valid argument against either one of them going.

Count yourself lucky.  I was in Miami for Hurricane Andrew.  All local emergency resources need to be focused on relief efforts (attendng to the injured, clearing roads, dealing with downed power lines, enforcing curfews, etc.). A lot of fatalities occur after the storm/tornado/ earthquake happen due to dangerous conditions on the ground.  The first 24 hours after such an event tend to be somewhat chaotic.  Imagine dealing with all that while having to deal with a presidential candidate motorcade, security detail, providing tours to the candidates, the press that will no doubt follow the candidates, etc. The main argument against their visit is that it drains on the local resources at a time when they can ill afford it.

Likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are traveling to Mississippi to check on people getting prepared for Hurricane Gustav.

McKain aides say McCain and his wife Cindy will join Palin in traveling to Jackson, Miss., Sunday at the invitation of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

<snip>

They will receive a briefing at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency - a permanent operations center monitoring hurricane response.

But even if deadbeat dads were my personal axe, what's wrong with that?  I, and many other divorced fathers, and our families would love to hear from our candidates about the abuse of the court system, about reform of child custody, about abuse and waste of government resources in prosecuting men (and women) for "crimes" they largely have no control over.  

Or if you consider Obama a constitutional law expert, than about the unconstitutionality of family court expressed in ways that violate due process and equal protection.

And if you don't care about that as a human being seeing good parents taken away from their children, or as a civil libertarian, seeing good people thrown in jail for little reason or seeing government seize assets without due process, then perhaps you might care about it as a Democrat wondering why it is that good people you know think so poorly of Democrats.

What annoys me to no end is how the email lists are then reused, and even sold to others.

At that point, I do not become an individual, I become a product, and an asset for some jerk I have no relation to.  And my inbox becomes clogged with nonsense.  And it just seems cynical and abusive.

I wanted to elect Howard Dean.  Years later, long after he stopped running, he's telling me how important he is.

I think a few statements by Obama at this point reminding people about Gustav, and how to donate to the Red Cross, would be important.

Announcing that he's going to spam his mailing list, I find to just be a cynical way to keep his name in the air, and not really of too much help to Gustav's victims.