Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will take the stage at Xcel Energy Center between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. tonight to give his speech originally scheduled for Tuesday at the Republican National Convention. A more specific time had not been announced.

Huckabee and two other former presidential candidates have speaking slots tonight. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is set to go on stage right before Huckabee. Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, speaks after Huckabee.

The schedule was just announced. GOP officials are still scrambling to adjust the daily schedule after postponing many Monday activities because of Hurricane Gustav.

Huckabee’s speech got postponed from Tuesday as a result of the altered schedule.

The theme for tonight’s speakers is supposed to be “reform.”

A pair of guitars signed by Mike Huckabee and country singer Josh Turner were auctioned off for $10,000 apiece Tuesday at a party and concert sponsored by Huckabee’s political action committee.

Proceeds from the charity auction were to go to Music for All, a nonprofit program that supports music and arts education in schools, and to relief efforts for Hurricane Gustav.

One of the men who bid $10,000 for a Fender bass guitar was an Arkansas man who wouldn’t give his name, saying he wanted to stay anonymous.

Huckabee conducted the bidding and didn’t appear to know the man, either, though the Arkansan was standing in a roped-off “VIP” area of the club Huckabee rented for the night.

Huckabee started the bidding at $300. It moved to $500 and then $1,000 before the man bested everyone else with his $10,000 bid.

The other buyer of a $10,000 guitar was John Paul Dejoria, co-founder of the Paul Mitchell hair care products company and star of his company’s television advertisements. Dejoria also is founder of Patron Spirits, a tequilla maker.

The Republican National Convention is expected to be back on script today after Monday’s opening session was cut to just two hours because of Hurricane Gustav.

Delegates to the convention in St. Paul, Minn., conducted only official business Monday. The only speakers were First Lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain, wife of presumptive presidential nominee John McCain. They both implored delegates to help the hurricane recovery effort.

The convention’s first-day activities were over by 5 p.m., in plenty of time for delegates to catch the “early bird” special at a local restaurant and get in bed by, oh, 8 p.m. or so if they wanted.

Arkansans made the most of their evening with trips to the Mall of America, the gigantic shopping mall just a few blocks from the delegation hotel in Bloomington, Minn. Some took the chance to watch college football at the hotel bar.

With nothing scheduled for delegates during the day today, either, a few Arkansans planned to attend a policy forum sponsored by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia.

Convention officials were expected to announce tonight’s line-up by mid-morning.

The Associated Press reported that President Bush is expected to make remarks to delegates via satellite this evening. Bush canceled plans to speak Monday because of the hurricane.

It remained uncertain whether former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee would speak tonight as planned. Huckabee’s speech could possibly get pushed back to Wednesday.

Arkansas delegates to the Republican National Convention were up extra early on this Labor Day holiday to kick off convention week with a breakfast in honor of former Gov. Mike Huckabee.

For Huckabee, it’s the first of about 20 speeches this week to state delegations from across the country. After the breakfast, it’s off to a luncheon with New Jersey delegates at noon.

He has a prime time convention speaking slot scheduled for Tuesday. That may change, though, as GOP officials monitor Hurricane Gustav.

The convention will operate on a truncated schedule today with only official business being conducted. If the event resumes in full Tuesday, it’s likely many speakers whose remarks were postponed today will be rescheduled then.

Thus, Huckabee’s speech may be pushed back to Wednesday, said Sarah Huckabee, his daughter and director of Huckabee’s political action committee.

Sarah Huckabee herself is the speaker at a Young Republicans’ lunch today at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Minneapolis.

Huckabee won the Arkansas presidential primary going away and all but two of the state’s 37 delegates are pledged to him.

The former governor endorsed presumptive presidential nominee John McCain after losing to him in the delegate race.

The threat of Hurricane Gustav prompted Republicans on Sunday to cancel most activities associated with Monday’s first day of the Republican National Convention.

GOP delegates will conduct only official business — establishing a quorum and adopting a party platform, among other parliamentary moves — on Monday. The session is expected to last about 2 hours, instead of the 7 hours that were planned.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney earlier Sunday told the convention they would not be in St. Paul, Minn., so that they could follow Gustav as it rumbled toward the Gulf Coast.

In a statement via video feed to reporters at the convention, presumptive presidential nominee John McCain said his party needed to put the welfare of America ahead of its convention.

“Of course, this is a time where we have to do away with our party politics and do what’s best for America,” McCain said from St. Louis, Mo.

Officials said they would decide “day to day” how to proceed with the rest of the convention. The only other official business that must be completed this week is the formal nomination of McCain for president and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for vice president.