White House press secretary took a moment during his daily news briefing, which was otherwise dominated by news of the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East peace negotiations, to mention that President Barack Obama is "closely monitoring and aggressively preparing for the storm."

The president got an update on Earl from Adm. Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, last night and is expected to get another update later today, Gibbs said.