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Poll: Obama gains Clinton supporters

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A Gallup Poll indicates last week's U.S. Democratic convention helped shore up support for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., with fans of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Among former Clinton supporters interviewed for the poll, 81 percent said they would vote for Obama -- a jump of 11 percent in a poll taken before the convention, USA Today reported Tuesday.

The convention succeeded in convincing more disaffected Clinton primary voters that Obama is a strong, decisive, honest and trustworthy leader, USA Today reported.

Twelve percent of Clinton primary voters questioned for the new poll said they planned to vote for John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee -- a drop of 4 percentage points from the poll taken before the Democratic primary.

The poll was based on telephone interviews conducted Saturday and Sunday with 1,835 registered voters and has a 2-percentage-point margin of error.

Report: Drop in black GOP delegates

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The number of black delegates to the U.S. Republican National Convention dropped by more than two-thirds from 2004, says a report from a research institute.

Black Republican delegates this year number 36, fewer than 2 percent of the total and a drop from the 2004 GOP record of 6.7 percent black delegates, USA Today reported Tuesday.

The Democratic Party reported a record 24.5 percent of the delegates at its convention last week were black.

That's nearly twice the percentage of blacks in the U.S. population, said the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which specializes in black issues and released the report.

The center predicted Republican presidential contender John McCain may receive a historically low share of the black vote in the November because of Democratic nominee Barack Obama's appeal to black voters and McCain's "association with President Bush, an exceptionally unpopular figure" among blacks.

The center said McCain also is hindered with black voters because his home state of Arizona has few blacks and there are no well-known black elected officials campaigning for McCain.

Gustav downgraded to tropical depression

MIAMI, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Former Hurricane Gustav weakened to tropical depression status early Tuesday as it brought heavy rain to Louisiana, bound for Texas, forecasters said.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, in its final report on the storm, which caused at least seven deaths in Louisiana, said Gustav was 135 miles northwest of Lafayette, La., moving northwest at 10 mph. That would bring the rainy system into northeastern Texas late in the day, the report said.

The system had sustained winds of 35 mph, which were forecast to weaken throughout the day.

Rainfall of as much as 12 inches was forecast in Gustav's wake, and "tornadoes are possible over portions of the lower Mississippi Valley," the report said.

Gustav made landfall Monday about 80 miles southwest of New Orleans, from which almost 2 million people fled during the weekend.

CNN said at least seven deaths in Louisiana were associated with the Category 2 hurricane that came ashore with winds of 110 mph.

At a news conference Monday night, Mayor Ray Nagin urged evacuees not to rush back home, and to follow news reports.

"Power lines are down all over the city (and) there's a significant number of homes and businesses that are without power," Nagin said.

Hurricane Hanna dawdling near Bahamas

MIAMI, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Hurricane Hanna stalled a second time early Tuesday on its westward advance on the Bahamas, U.S. forecasters in Miami reported.

A hurricane warning was in effect for central and southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

At 5 a.m. EDT, Hanna's center was about 35 miles east-northeast of Great Inagua Island and about 395 miles southeast of Nassau with sustained winds of 80 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Hanna, the eighth named Atlantic storm of the season, was only moving west at 2 mph, similar to a stall on Monday, the report said. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles.

The center said "erratic motion" with strengthening was likely Wednesday.

"Hanna is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 8 to 12 inches with isolated amounts of 20 inches over the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands," the NHC warned.

It also said dangerous rip currents along the southeastern U.S. coast would be generated by the hurricane.

Five killed, 21 wounded in Iraq blasts

BAGHDAD, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Two bombings rocked Baghdad Tuesday, killing five Iraqis and wounding 21 others, security sources said.

Citing unnamed Iraqi security sources, KUNA, the Kuwait news agency, said a bombing that targeted a police patrol near al-Kindi Hospital in central Baghdad killed at least three people, including a police officer. Ten other people were wounded.

Another bombing aimed at a police patrol killed two people, wounded 11 and damaged commercial shops in in western Baghdad's al-Harithyah district, KUNA reported.