With hurricane Gustav not completing the ‘double’ hurricane to complement the rhymes of the 1920s-2000s the attention now turns to hurricane Ike as it heads for Galveston; which throws up some interesting future scenarios.

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the third-deadliest Atlantic hurricane, occurred in a Presidential election year with the new vice-president Roosevelt, an outdoor sportsman and former against 'corruption' governor, becoming president the following year after the assassination of McKinley, the last veteran of the Civil War to be elected president.

Roosevelt and Palin were elected governors in 1898 and 2006 respectively.

"Three years ago, Hollywood produced a TV series, Commander In Chief, starring Geena Davis, who, at 49, played the fictional role of Mackenzie Allen, a former member of Congress, university chancellor and mother of three children who became the first female President after the elected president died in office" (Paul Sheehan, Floundering in a sea of change, smh.com.au, September 8, 2008).