Expert: McCain needed to scale back RNC ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - A political expert says McCain needed to cancel some scheduled convention activities in order to rebut Democratic notions he's no different than President Bush.

During last week's Democratic National Convention, speakers made repeated attempts to link McCain to Bush.

University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock says McCain is well aware of how some voters still view the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

BULLOCK: That's the last thing in the world McCain wants to see stick. So, he has to do something quite different and appear to act more quickly and dramatically than the Bush administration did to Katrina.

If Hurricane Gustav does major damage to the Gulf Coast, Bullock says he wouldn't be surprised to see both McCain and Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama head to the region.

In that event, he says both candidates will likely urge voters a vigilant FEMA will be a part of their administrations. © Copyright 2012, WABE