international and you arnd the world in 0 minutes. this is what is trending on twitter. right now, police in essex, england have called off the search for what they believe is a lion on the loose. now they believe it is a wild cat or even a large domestic cat, but it did not stop some folks to tweet about it. my favorite tweet is, check this out, a lion has been spotted in out, a lion has been spotted in essex, has he no pride? -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm suzanne malveaux and in this hour of the "cnn newsroom," cities along the gulf coast bracing for tropical storm isaac and we will expect the mayor of new orleans to update us on the preps for the storm and we will bring it to you live as it happens. meanwhile, areas from morgan city, to destin, florida, are under a hurricane watch.

fema says that the storm could bring high surge and rain and mississippi has called 1,500 national guard troops into active duty in anticipation of isaac's landfall on or near the mississippi gulf coast, and that is later this week. well, just within the last hour, louisiana governor bobby jindal says that 23 parishes have declared states of emergencies ahead of the arrival of tropical storm eisaac. strangely enough, isaac is on the same path that hurricane katrina took seven years ago. officials are urging residents to remember the lessons learned from that time. >> people need to be cautious, because anything built by man can be destroyed by mother nature. people still need to listen to the local officials, and if you are outside of the levee system, you need to be evacuated today. >> our rob marciano is in new orleans, and rob, talking to a lot of my relatives in new orleans and they are worried, frustrate and scared. what are we looking at behind you in terms of how they are

preparing this go around. >> well, what they have built in the last seven years should make your relatives and people who live in new orleans at least a little bit better. they are much more protected now than they were seven years ago. what is behind me was not here seven years ago. this massive structure, and the floodgates here basically at the 17th street canal, and then on either side of those 11 floodgates and each of which weighs 20 tons by the way, are eight massive pipes connected to p pumps that each have the ability to pump out water over 8,000 gallons per second from the other side of that into lake pontchartrain where it should be, because this is where the surge came because katrina missed new orleans to the east and the surge came this way into the canals and that is what made the levee breach. that is what they have done here and three stations here aligned along the lake and then they have 140 miles of beefed up

levees around the surrounding ci city, and basically, suzanne, unless we get to a strong forecast of 2 or 3, they won't most likely make it a mandatory evacuation here in the city of new orleans, but that being said of the voluntary evacuation, a lot of people are on edge and high anxiety and the lines are around the block to get gas. many of the filling stations have periodically run out of fuel in anticipation of people wanting to be ready if they get the call the have to evacuate. and then the surrounding areas and the lower lying parishes that you have been reporting on, a number of those parishes have mandatory evacuation, because they are outside of the walls and at or below sea level, and even a mild storm surge is going to flood the area, and those people are on the move right now. >> and rob n talking to the folks there, and it is hard to understand, but some people, katrina, they stayed in their homes and they didn't believe it is that bad and maybe they are listen ing

listening to the reports and saying, hey, they have the walls and everything is okay, and we're not going the comply with these evacuations. are people actually saying, okay, we are going to move if we have to move? what is the mood there? >> you nknow, it is hard to say. everybody you talk to has a different answer for that, so i can't give you a percentage wise of who says what, but i can tell you this, they had a dry run in 2008 when gustav came through and hit to the south and i believe it was a category 1 if my memory serves, but that tested the structures which are now even more heavily built. but, you know, if there's an area in the country that respects the power of a hurricane, it is right here in new orleans, and certainly up across the mississippi coastline as well. i think that most of the residents are taking the threat pretty seriously even though it is a phenomenal day today with the sun shining and barely a breeze, but they have seen it before. and they are ready for it this go around. suzanne. >> well, i echo that. thank you, rob. i appreciate that. i want the bring in chad myers

to talk about the track of the storm and how quickly new orleans and some of the other areas could see what you are talking about the heavy wind s a and the slow churning of the big storm. >> yes, and a surge that is going to push up from the gulf of mexico. it is a salt water surge. and then 20 inches of rainfall north of that, and that is doing the be a freshwater surge that may clash. you have to understand that the people are taking precautions, because they know that a chain is as good as the weakest link and there may be a weak link in there for people who are not thinking about it and you don't understand what the weak link is going to be until it happens. didn't think about it until katrina hit new orleans, but basically the eye missed. it was the flooding that got into the pontchartrain that became the real issue, so something to focus on today because we are not talking too much about florida, but it is pouring down rain in south florida all of the way from melbourne down to miami and

flash flood warnings are going on about everywhere. road closures in some spots. it is still raining and continued to rain for at least the next six hours. so you may get to a point today where you can't get somewhere because the water has not really run off yet. it is going to be moving up and all of the rainfall will continue all of the way up to the appalachia and pensacola and that white spot there is over 10 inches of rainfall in the next 48 hours. there is new orleans and the river and the surge coming this way, and the rain wanting to go the other way. here's the forecast path -- >> sorry to cut you off here, because the mayor of new orleans is speaking. we will listen in and back to you. >> okay. fully engaged in working with us through the department of homeland security and through f fema, swraend a fema personnel embedded with us. i wanted to thank president obama for that. also, for those of you who just witnessed the governor's press conference, we have engaged with

the governor on a minute-to-minute basis. paul rainwater who is the governor's administration is embedded with us as well, and thank you, paul, for being here, and as you are all seeing, i have been in communication with all of the parish presidents of the metropolitan area of new orleans in the last many, many hours, and we continue to speak on a regular basis and to coordinate our activities and to stay in place and you see around me a representative group of individuals who represent all areas of federal, state and city government who are responsible for making sure that new orleans and the people of new orleans are secure. so i thank all of you for being here. i thank all of you for being engaged. i also want to address what is patently obvious to the people of new orleans and the people of the rest of the word, it is quite ironic that we have a

hurricane that is threatening us on the seventh anniversary of katrina. it is worth noting that brings a high level of anxiety to the people of new orleans, but i want to assure you all that there is nothing that this storm is going to bring us that we do not believe we are prepared to handle. the people of new orleans have been incredibly resilient, and the people of the metropolitan area and the people of louisiana have been through many, many storms. we are very well prepared, and we feel very good about our ability, if we do the things that we know we can do to weather this storm. and so, i want to tell everybody now that i believe that everything is going to be okay. that it does not mean this you can let the guard down and does not mean that you can do everything that you had planned to do, but it means that you have to execute the plans this you have been working on for a very, very long time, and that at the end of the day, this success of these events will be driven by the people taking responsibility for themselves and the families so that the

emergency responders behind us can be free to take care of those people who cannot take care of themselves. as the governor indicated during his press conference and i will talk specifically about that, we are a battle tested and battle ready to handle what comes our way. so the good news that has occurred between yesterday and when we last met and today is that we have more clarity and the storm has slowed down a little bit. it is now traveling 14 miles per hour, and we were concerned yesterday that if that happened in the gulf at night with warm water, it would strengthen, but at this point, it did not. everybody knows that is subject to change. that is the good news. the bad news is that the cone of discomfort did not change very much. every storm brings new nomenclature and we have spaghetti models now, and all of the spaghetti models trend that

storm to new orleans, and so as a consequence of that, what we believe that we know now based on the latest information which is of course always subject to change is that we are going to have a hurricane that is going to hit new orleans, and we are going to prepare. and we have prepared as though that is an eventuality. we are expecting tropical storm force winds in the city starting tonight around midnight. or as they say early tuesday morning at 1:00 a.m. we could start to see hurricane force winds somewhere between 20 hours later than that, and that would be 11:00 p.m. -- you are listenbing to major mitch landrieu out of new orleans. we will be following this closely of tracking the storm, the hurricane which is going to be hitting new orleans. now to baltimore, maryland,

where the police tell us that a suspect is in custody after a shooting at a high school. one student was shot. now is at a local hospital and we don't have any details on the student's condition just yet. today is the first day of classes at perry hall high school, and the school was evacuated after that shooting. here is what we are working on for this hour. the republican national convention officially convenes less than an hour in tampa, but most of the events are delayed because of the storm. we'll take a look at what mitt romney has the do to give an effective speech. new details coming out about the suspect in the shooting of the front of the empire state building and why he had no plans to return home. and not one, or two, but several hundred earthquakes hit california's border with mexico. it is called a swarm. we will look at what that means and how it affected the people the there. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues

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try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain gnals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. . i want to bring in mitch landrieu, the mayor of new orleans and let's go in and l listen about the preparations for the hurricane's arrival. >> if you decide to go outside

to just feel like what it is with gusts of wind, you could be hit with flying debris, and that will either hurt you or kill you or you could get hit with a downed powerline that will electrocute you. if you improperly use generators and/or candles and not careful with th, that can cause a fire and of course, cause loss of life to you and neighbors as well. these are some of the things that can happen if you let your guard down, and you don't follow rules of common sense. so simply, but a it is a category 1, does not mean that we are not in danger. we are well prepared to handle it. everybody knows what steps they have to do, and i'm going to ask everybody to use extra caution. the city, of course, is taking all of tnecessary precautions, and yesterday i declared a statef of emergency. today, i ask the residents of new orleans outside of the levee prot protection to strongly consider leaving the va knee shan isles,

and we have people outside of the protection of the levees in orleans. and you need to take precautions. we are coordinating with the governor's office and the homeland security and secretary napolitano and the federal agencies to ensure that all of the supplies are available on as-needed basis. i would reiterate that every storm is different. we have never had two that have been the same, and so like with katrina we expected a wind event and we got a broken levee event and this is a wind/water event, but it could turn into a electrical outage event. we are completely staffed up, and prepared as we have been all weekend and prepared to work around the clock. p public safety units are fully staffed and prepare and the work pump stations are operational and generators are in place to make sure they stay so.

311 is 24/7. so, if there are any needs, our residents can get updated information and recent reports, and they can report problems. you, the citizens, are the eyes and the ears, and so it is helpful if you see an emergency to call. if there is a major emergency, please call 911 not 311. both are up and operating 24/7. dr. karen desalvo will speak directly to the issues of the hospitals, the nursing homes and the medical need evacuation for the elderly and those who are in significant need of medical attention. as many of you know now, city hall is closed today, tomorrow and wednesday. until further notice. the schools are closed as per the directions of patrick dobart with the osd and the catholic schools and the private schools have followed suit. trash pickup will cease today so bring in the garbage cans and

secure the refuge until further notice. today at 2:00 p.m. the regional transit will stop streetcar service and bus service. as i said yesterday that once that happens, people can begin at the appropriate times parking on the neutral grounds. please do so in an appropriate manner. we have been through this many, many times and don't take up more space than you need, and just follow common sense guidelines in making sure that you work with the neighbors to make sure that everybody is protected. buses will run until the winds reach 25 to 30 miles per hour. we will keep you informed about when that is going to be. the airport will remain operational until the individual airlines decide to stop flying. they will do that sometime around 35 to 40 miles per hour. if the car is here from the airport to speak to those issues, it is made by the individual airlines, because that is usually the trigger point to them. and as i said, we will see the

impacts once the winds hit sustained 40 miles per hour. we have coordinatkoordedly with tourism industry, and we have a convention with 7,000 individuals in town, and we have another major convention in town this weekend and they are in touch, and we are in touch with them, and also in touch with all of the general managers of the hotels for all of the guests in town, and continuing to coordinate with them about what that needs and wants are. so, i will come back up in a minute, but let me reiterate, this team is very, very well prepared. and very well organized both on the local level, the state level and the federal level. many of us have worked well together. we now have $10 billion worth of levee improvements. we have koocoordination that ha not happened in the past beginning to happen again. it is expected to be a category 1 hurricane, and hurricane isaac, but life will change in dramatic ways for

people in new orleans and the surrounding areas. the mayor already talking about the fact that schools are closed, trash collection will stop, streetcar service will be shutdown and a lot of people could be losing their power as well. some mandatory evacuations are being called as well. this is something that is going to be serious, and we'll be following it every step of the way. now, minutes from now at 2:00 p.m. eastern, the national republican convention will be opened by the party chairman reince priebus and then it will be moments later shutdown until tomorrow. some speeches at the convention, but the reality is that folks are not talking about that, but the weather. john avalon is a cnn contributor and editor at the "daily beast." and john, the republicans are faced here with the next couple of days with the split screen at the very least. you have the rnc, but a huge weather vent taevent taking pla

how are they dealing with this? knowing that the rollout of mitt romney and people may not be paying that much attention? >> well, suzanne, they are rolling with the storm as they need to do effectively. and obviously, canceling the first day. this has been a minor distraction in terms of derailing the best laid plans, but at the end of the day, i think that hurricane isaac is less than a distraction than say hurricane akin and there a method of the madness to put the convention here in tampa, and people might not fully appreciate in florida, the all important swing state with 29 electoral degatdelegates and pes

county here. >> and you do have chris christie's speech tomorrow, and what is his role here for throwing the red meat to the base or potential try-out for becoming a potential candidate himself? >> well, the keynote is a major position. >> oh, we lost him. that is too bad. john avalon and we will try to bring him back up, but again, we are watching the rnc and well, in about 40 minutes or so is when it will officially begin with the gavel and shortly afterward afterwards they will wrap it up and start in earnest tomorrow. well, he was a support of president obama's stimulus plan and now he is officially a support over the president, himself, former republican presidential candidate charlie crist endorsed president obama, and he criticized the republican party saying that the republicans are so far to the extreme right on issues

important to women, immigrants and seniors and students that they have proven incapable of governing for the people. he is scheduled to speak next week at the democratic national convention in charlotte. so what is it like to experience the republican national convention from the inside? well, tomorrow, join the cnn election round table with wolf blitzer and my colleague and the cnn political team and you have to submit the questions and get the answers real time. h this is a live virtual chat. you don't want to miss the cnn election round table tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. noon eastern by logging into cnn.com/roundtable and tonight at 8:00, cnn's national republican convention coverage, and join us for a profile of the presumptive presidential nominee. romney revealed, family, faith and the road to power followed at 9:30 eastern by a preview of the convention tonight right here on cnn. another story, awe amish men held down and had their beards

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an odd crime with unusual suspects. you might remember the crime of suspects who cut the beards off of amish men's beards. and this is a cult that was operating out of rural ohio, and. and now we are hear nag the landlord of the suspected gunman of friday's shooting at the empire state building said he would not be back. he gave the keys with a note saying that he would not be back. jeffrey johnson killed his former co-worker, and the police commissioner says that the nine bystanders who were wounded were all injured by police gun fire. three by bullets and six by ricochetedfragments. a woman who worked with the victim talked about how she was walking down the street with him on friday when she saw johnson who then started shooting. >> i was like, he is going to

kill him. he is going to kill hill. i know he is going to kill him. then he pulled out a gun, and he shot steve right next to me. right next to me. i keep replaying it over and over in my mind and i kept thinking, maybe i could have kicked the gun out of his hand and maybe steve would have been shot once instead of five or six times, but i ran and i didn't know what else to do. >> what experts call a swarm of earthquakes has hit southern california. hundreds of them including an aftershock that just happened in the last hour. the largest was 5.5 near brawnley, california, outside of san diego. casey wian is there, and talk about what we can expect the next couple of days. >> well, seismologist, suzanne, are saying that they could see the swarm of earthquake continue for several days, although they they do is a that we just spoke with a representative of cal-tech but it appears that the swarm is slowing down. numbers for you. in the last day 439 separate

earthquakes, 54 of those have been above magnitude 3.0, which means that you can feel them. and the biggest one, 5.3 and a 5.5 magnitude etarthquake and those did damage. we can show you that the cleanup is under way. this pharmacy when we came here last night much of the contents of the shelf were spilled all over the ground here and the pharmacy has been cleaning up all morning and now things are looking pretty much back to normal until you look u on the wall there, and you can see a crack that was not there one day ago, and that crack is causeded the most significant of the earthquakes yesterday afternoon. some residents in brawley, california, have been displaced from their homes and this is how one woman describes it. >> freaky, crazy, scary and very -- i don't have my house anymore. i want to come home. i can't.

>> today was also supposed to be the first day of school here in brawley and the schools have been closed as a precautionary measure and architects and instructural experts are going through to make sure that the schools are safe. and we don't know when they will be reopened. one hospital here in town has been also partially closed as a precautionary measure and the e.r. remains open. and if you wonder what it is like to be in the middle of an earthquake, one family got it recorded on tape with a camera rolling with the biggest of yesterday's shakers, and this is what it looked an sounded like. >> the house is coming down. the house is coming down. >> as you can image, suzanne, that family is very shaken up by that experience and they say that the youngest children had a very, very difficult understandably sleeping last night. >> thank you, casey, appreciate

it. new orleans preparing for hurricane just two days before the 7th anniversary of hurricane katrina, and we will have the latest on the storm path for tropical storm isaac. and don't forget that you can watch cnn live on your computer at work. head to cnn.com/tv. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

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to make our beautifully imperfect world a little less imperfect. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? folks who are just worried along the gulf coast, because the forecasters are saying that the tropical storm isaac is going to become a hurricane later today. this storm is projected to make landfall on the 7th anniversary of hurricane katrina. if you can believe that. chad meyers is watching all of this for us, but the irony tor cruelty, but it is an odd thing that it is happening on the anniversary. i suspect it is different this go around. >> yes, it is, because category was already -- katrina was a

category 3 by this time. the storm is having a hard time organizing and not a center of circulation yet. but one thing i want to talk to you about, we are getting a tiny little storm right there -- that one. it has a tornado warning on it. so there is a potential today if you are in florida there is a lot of storms up and down i-95 and in the seminole part of the country, but some of these could put down i want to say a waterspout type tornado and not talking about kansas and texas tornados, because small spout, but if it is a small waterspout over your house, it is a big deal. keep your eyes and ears open. also, tremendous amounts of lightning with some of the storms today and so stay inside if lightning threatens, because more people will be killed by lightning than anything else. here is the forecast track and why people are kind of freaking out in new orleans, because somewhere between there, there is a 30% chance it could be here or here, and then the rest, the 70% chance is somewhere between that cone right there, and that

is how the probability now has shifted into this forecast cone, because the cone is getting smaller, because the storm is getting closer and as it gets closer -- right here, as the storm is here, the cone is like this, and smaller yet and start to focus in on where it is coming in, and it is going to be a storm surge and a rainfall problem. we are talking about tremendous amounts of rainfall in florida and some spots in vero beach, a little bit away from the beach, itself, and 13 inches of rainfall in the last 38 hours and that is flooding some things as well. and that rain is up here, and this is a problem, suzanne, from here tuesday night 8:00, to here, wednesday night 8:00, that's only a couple of hundred miles, and the thing is going to take 24 hour s to go couple of hundred of miles. the rain will pound the coast, and the surge pushed into the bayous and it will be whatever breaks first. whatever, and i'm not saying that the levee is going to break, but something going to happen that we didn't expect,

because the same thing happened with katrina and the storm was gone by the time that the levee broke. the storm is still forecasted to be a strong 1 at landfall. if it is an eye or stronger, it could be stronger than that, but it has not gotten the act together. when the storm has the eye and the inflow and the chimney and the outflow and then it becomes an engine literally up and around and up and around and down, and a tremendous amount of potential here, but it is not getting to the ground, and that is great. >> that is some good news there. and the mayor interesting to note that he said that this is a wind and water event that could turn into a power event meaning that people could lose power as well. so they have to keep a close eye for this and watch out for each other whether or not they are evacuating the homes or going to the shelter, and people's lives are going to be impacted from this storm. chad, thank you. >> and the governor mentioned there could be 36 hours of tropical force winds over louisiana. so maybe the tree does not fall down in the 13th hour, but maybe in the 25th hour, so there are a

lot of things that will change in the storm. >> significant event. thank you, chad. the republicans are ready to define what they stand for at their convention and it is a different party than four years ago. we will show you why. [ music playing, indistinct conversations ] the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. in every bag of kingsford charcoal. on every one of our carda reminder...ate. that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers.

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the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. tropical storm isaac moves through gulf of mexico, and that could send gas prices going high, and maribelle aifr is at new york stock exchange and telling us how isaac is affecting gas prices. we understand that some of the companies have evacuated their oil platforms. >> yes, suzanne. one quart over the oil production is suspended and 39

platforms and 8 rigs. there is a huge network of pipelines that funnels the oil to other parts of the country. and oil prices are volatile at first and now slipping. there is a little bit of a lag between the increases of crude oil and retail gas prices and roughly two weeks bs, but the prices have been rising and we have seen it here because the national average is $3.75 a gallon and it has gone up five days in a row. so suzanne, the bottom line here is that if isaac pushes the oil prices significantly higher, we will see that effect at the pump soon. >> let's talk about a little bit about the gas prices are going up, but we know that the stocks are falling for samsung, and this is after a jury decided that the company violated apple's smartphone patents, and what does that mean for the consum consumers? >> well, it is a highly visible case between the titans. the jury found that samsung

infringed on a majority of the to patents at issue and so samsung's shares plummeted 7.5% in asia, and apple is up more than 2% right now at $677 a share hitting a new all-time high earlier today, and the ruling means samsung could be forced to take infringing devices off of the market. and there is about 21 in all, including the droid charge, the galaxy s and the epic 4g, but if you have one, here is the point, it cannot be taken away from you, but stay tuned, suzanne, because it is possible that your phone could receive a software update to change the way it looks and works. this is more about the future and affecting smartphones and tablets and how they are designed. >> thank you. republicans are getting ready to define what they stand for. it is a different party than they were four years ago, and we will show you how next. at usaa, we believe honor is not

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so in about 15 minutes the republican national convention is going to officially open, but not much happens until tomorrow because of tropical storm issac which is off of the coast of florida. delegates have already begun to pour in, and i want to bring in paul steinhauser, cnn's political editor and he is in tampa right now, so, folks are there, and they are getting ready, and you have seen some of the delegates and describe for us, and tell us, who are they? how has the party made gains and what kind of strides are they? give us a sense of the group. >> well, you are absolutely right, suzanne. in ten minutes that is when the action begins, but it is quick today with the real action tomorrow. who is this republican party? who are the voters who make up the republican party? it seems a little bit more of a caucasian party than it was four years ago. take a look at the numbers from the pew research center, and it

is interesting stuff. back in 2008, 46% of white nonhispanics said they were republicans and that number now has jumped to 52% this year. and take a look at for the democratic number of white non-hispanics and it was 44% in 2008 down to 40% now. interesting number, suzanne. >> and paul a fierce battle going on right now mow for the middle-class and how are they represented in the republican party? >> well, there is a big battle for the middle-class and the so-ca so-called blue collar workers and the non-college workers and look at this research from pew, and 54% of the non-college educated whites are leaning more toward republicans than democ t democrats, and that is something they will try to reach out to the obama campaign that for the middle class, it is a key, key battleground for the election,

suzanne. >> and much has been made about the mormon faith, and we know that tomorrow the invocation will be delivered by a jewish rabbi and how prominently does religious play for the republican party? >> well, it is a very important role, and not so much as the democrats although some may dispute that. these are numbers that may be of help. when questioned, these are people who are not identified with any religion and 1 of 10 of the republicans are made up of those people, and 11% of the republicans are not affiliated with the religion, and on the democratic side it is 1 in 4, so a little bit of a difference here, and this is a little taste, a little taste of who the republican voters are. >> we will see the delegates, and following your coverage closely. thank you, paul. good to see you. he says he wants the repeal obama care, but he has not given details. we want to see what health care would look like under a romney/ryan plan. [ female announcer ] how do you define your moment?

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obama care that are now free. what does that mean? are those services going to go away? tell us how this would compare. >> let's look at what mitt romney has vowed to get rid of. these health services, these preventive health services are free to patients. the insurance has to cover them 100%. no co-pays. things like cholesterol testing, immunizations and contraception. >> what would happen? >> he has vowed to repeal obama care. when he asked the campaign what is he going to replace it with, they weren't so happy with us. they called our questions ridiculous and bias but they did give us some answers. what he has said is he is planning on making preventive care more affordable to americans. let me give you the words.

rmitt romney does not believe it's the government's responsibility to provide people with free stuff. he will control the cost of health care so that preventive care is affordable. >> the kind of reforms they are talking about that would drive down the cost of preventive care, what are they talking about? >> a lot of it is competition. what his spokesperson said and his website said if you do things like empower individuals and small businesses to group together to form pressuring pools that will drive down the price. allow consumer to purchase insurance across state lines and encourage consumer reports type ratings, that will help get prices down. >> thank you. for more of mitt romney's plan to fix and change healthcare go

to nn.com/empoweredpatient. elizabeth will be back with us tomorrow. might be an american past time but the japanese dominated in a little league world series. ♪ (train horn)

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we talked about this a bit ago. you could see a water spout size attorn tornado land. the came area will translate up to the gulf coast in about 24 hours. there will be tornado watches and warnings along the gulf coast. these are very small. stay away from the windows. the windows could break. don't open the windows. that's on old myth. don't do that. stay inside an get away from it. get into a closet or something that doesn't have a window. >> thank you. huge explosion at a hollywood refinery in venezuela. this happened on saturday. that fire is still burning.

he says a gas leak caused the explosion and the fire. they want a full investigation. hospital workers said victims had burns covering their body. japan celebrating a championship today. his reaction, pure joy high pressu pressure. he hit his third home run ot game. the game is called. one team goes up by ten runs. the run gave the japanese team the margin. police in england have called off their search for what they believe was a lion on the loose. now they think it might have been a wildcat. it didn't stop folks from tweeting about it. my favorite tweet. a lion has been spotted in essex. has he no pride. "cnn newsroom" continues right now be brooke baldwin.

thank you so much. live from the cnn grill, which i was told used to be a parking garage. pret stunning efforts to get this up and running. welcome to what would have been someday one of the republican national convention. obviously it's condensed. we're going to talk about what's happening here any moment. all the action, i temper that by saying that the head of the republican national committee and a couple other folks will be inside the forum in a couple of minutes. we have dana bash standing by. we have jim acosta. if we have jim, let's begin with jim. talk to me about what we are expecting to see any moment now. >> i can tell you right behind me the chairman of the republican party is at the podium. you can see the gavel is right

next to him. he's getting ready to call this convention to order. >> the republican national committee has directed that the 2012 republican national convention be held in tampa, florida starting at 2:00 p.m. on the 27th day of august, 2012. it's my privilege to proclaim the 2012 republican national convention in session and call to order. [ applause ] the chair announces pursuant to rule one of the rurals of the house of representatives the 2012 republican national

convention stands in recess subject to the call of the chair. all right. we're in recess but for this convention we also want to draw your attention to the unprecedented fiscal recklessness of the obama administration as depicted by the realtime national debt clock shown here in the arena. for this convention we have actually installed a second national debt clock that will log the amount of debt that accrues during the course of this convention. now, we're still in a recess but ladies and gentlemen, i kindly ask for your silence and if

you're able please stand and if you're wearing a hat, please remove it. i'd like to take a moment to recognize the hard work of all the security personnel, emergency responders and volunteers who are working to keep all convention attendees and all of those in the path of hurricane isaac out of harms way. thank you for all your efforts. now, i'm pleased -- [ applause ] thank you. i'm pleased to welcome the reverend dr. russell levinson of houston, texas who will offer a prayer. >> please bow your heads as we pray. oh, mighty god, father of the

whole human family. we thank you and ask your blessing as we gather for this uniquely american moment. we thank governor scott and the good people of florida who have opened their arms of hospitality to welcome those gathering here into their midst. lord you who give life and health and safety, we pray for those already affected by the hurricane and for those in its path. keephem safe, lord. provide for their every need and bless those who assist them during this time of trial. we also remember this day one of our great american heroes, neil armstrong, who captured the american spirit as he reminded us americans have always reached for the stars inspiring all human kind to do what others deemed impossible. we thank you for guiding our

nation's founders who secure the rights that you bestow upon us, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. we ask you to guide and direct with your wisdom our president, congress and the courts. maybe america continue to be a light into all the nations enabling those who lead us to make dream, hopes and aspirations of all americans into realities and to make the american ideal a certainty not just for some but for all. finally by your mercy may we never forget that our freedoms have been won with the blood and sacrifice of our patriots. always remember that our industry and innovation has been forged with the sweat and toil of american men and women. always believe that houses of worship and places of service are born of the fruit of your

inspiration and the desire to honor and serve others and may we never forget that we are at our best when we know in our hearts that we are not just one nation but one nation under god. in the name of our lord i pray, amen. [ applause ] >> when generations of immigrants looked up and saw the st statue of liberty for the first time they knew they were coming to place where anything is possible. in america their children would have a better life. i believe in that america.

i believe you believe in that america. though each of us come from very different background, each of us is chosen to walk a different path in life, we're united by one great overwhelming passion. we love america. we believe in america. the spirit of enterprise, innovation propelled our standard of living past any other nation on earth. in the campaign to come, the american ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear. >> it's official. just about seven, eight minutes later the republican national convention has been called to order. jim, to you, a lot of us are wondering if any of the delegates would be in the forum and it appeared fairly full, at

least on the floor. >> reporter: that's right. it is full on the floor. just a few moments ago i was down there by the massachusetts delegation, and leading that delegation is karrie hilly. she was the lieutenant governor of massachusetts and is a surrogate for the romney campaign. she is there in the front row of the delegation as is seated here on the floor. other members of the romney campaign are also seated in that delegation. yes, you can see that section of the floor is fairly full right now. michigan also fairly full. i talked to a state gop official with the michigan delegation is few moments ago. they are confident they can compress four days into three. there are other parts of the floor here that are empty. west virginia, wyoming. the seats above the arena are

empty. they did fot come here for the gavel. nay will be here tomorrow when this gets going. one other thing that happened here. i'm sure we saw this. they started a second debt clock here inside this arena. the debt from convention start is the new debt clock that is running right now. there was one that just shows the national debt as it grows larger but they started a second one that started just at the beginning of this convention to indicate as republicans would like to how much the deficit or the national debt is going up during the duration of this convention. you saw the video that was just playing on the screen showing mitt romney saying we believe in america. that's going to be an ongoing theme throughout this convention. >> got it. not just one debt clock but a second debt clock. perhaps a nod to the tea party.

we'll talk tea party a little later. stand by for me. i want to go to dana bash. not to terribly far from you in the forum. you talked to delegates from louisiana. what are they telling you? >> reporter: first of all, you and jim were talking about the fact there are a fair number of people here even though it was going to fw a quick one or two minute session. i'm in the delegation of louisiana. you see i'm standing here and i want you to take a look at the seats here. it's empty. there's nobody here. the reason for that is a pretty good one. for the most part the delegates are still here in tampa. they haven't gone home except for some of the elected officials and we know the governor of louisiana is not coming at all. they are back in their hotel making calls, monitoring what is going on back home. we know that because we were just over there.

we were talking to some of the delegates. they were meeting and trying to figure out what's going to happen back in their state. i want you to listen to one of the conversations i had with one of those delegates. he was in minneapolis four years ago when they had to delay that convention by one day because of a hurricane heading towards louisiana. here is what he said. >> what are you doing to be doing as you're watching from here? >> keeping an eye on the hurricane track and getting in touch with my family and friends that are evacuating, praying. a lot of prayer. >> it's pretty tough. >> it is. as long as everyone gets out all right, that's all that matters. everything else is just stuff. it hurts but i lost so much with katrina between the oil spill and the storm. fortunately, all my relatives

made it out all right. that's what matters most. >> reporter: he is just bracing for his home to get hit. he said that he believes that probably a mistake to have this convention in tampa. remember the fear was this city was going to get hit. he said maybe it's time to start thinking about moving them to july befor hurricane season. it's a very, very, i think the best way the describe it is people are walking on egg shells and absolutely across the board, if nothing else, you got to tone down the tenor of this convention in case things get really bad. >> absolutely. we're anticipating the storm now but once the storm hits it's how mitt romney and this should be party for him and the republicans this week.

thank you. quickly back to jim. let me hit you with this poll question. with these two polls released, pretty big piece of news. mitt romney is trailing the president here in florida by four points and there's the poll of north carolina, a state that we know president obama, huge upset in 2008. the number of african-american voters, mitt romney up. what do you make of these polls? >> reporter: i think they're going to be some democrats out there who will say because of that poll that's coming out about the state of florida that the selection of paul ryan might be a drag on the ticket for seniors. ening igt might be too early but it's almost certain that conclusion will be drawn by others. mitt romney has to one one of two major battleground states.

he has to win florida or ohio for the race to be competitive. if he loses both, it's impossible to win the presidency. you talked about north carolina. romney with a slim win in north carolina. that is also crucial because if mitt romney wants to carve a path to the presidency, north carolina or virginia has to weigh into those calculations. the president won both of those states last time. it was very surprising for a democrat to go into the south and win those states. mitt romney need to flip those states from ploblue to red if h wants to win. the florida numbers will be worrisome to the romney campaign. >> thank you so much to you and dana to you as well. thank you on the floor of the forum of the rnc. more news unfolding now.

the storm forces the rnc to delay activities. it's causing concern right there along the gulf coast. >> opening two of our shelters at 4:00 p.m. >> people are packing up and leaving quite a bit behind. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world

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capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. seven years to the week since hurricane katrina and new orleans finds itself a bulls eye for the hurricane. we got this update from the weather center saying that tropical storm isaac is moving northwest toward the gulf coast. all you have to do is just listen. you hear the wind here. that palm tree. this shows what it did as a tropical storm beating up the keys and parts of florida coast.

i want to take you to haiti now where this storm killed six people on saturday. now emergency officials in the u.s. fear what isaac will do as a hurricane. it is supposed to make landfall somewhere in the gulf coast sometimes tomorrow night. as isaac is on the move so are people living in and around the gulf coast region. you have gas lines long as people drive to safer areas. leader in louisiana and alabama are calling for evacuations in some areas. >> i would emphasize these are especially likely to be happening in low lying areas south of the intracoastal areas. folks that live in those areas, these are areas that have flooded before. these are areas when we had previous storms they've seen an accumulation of water. >> louisiana governor bobby jindal was supposed to be here but he's one of many governors who for obvious reasons are

staying back at home. show me the picture that you're standing next to. tell me where isaac is right now. >> it's in the middle of the gulf coast. it's farther away from key west and tampa and not close enough to new orleans to see a good signature on ray da. what i'm showing you here is all of this flooding going in south florida from broward county up to brevard county right along i-95. somewhere over here is the eye. the arm one of the outer bands here is still affecting florida. not done with florida yet. all of this weather will translate up here to the gulf coast within the next 24 hours and obviously that's the next stop. the next stop here somewhere along very close to the mouth of the mississippi and that is 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning right there. maybe that's 2:00 p.m. and onwards and up into the buyous.

it's going to be left or right on the track. if it stays on the track this turns into a 95 miles per hour storm literally right on top of new orleans and the new computer models just run 17 inches of rain in new orleans itself. talk about the flood walls not allowing the water in. sometimes that doesn't allow the water out. 17 inches of rain that has to get pumped out because it's below the sea levels. any big failure of those pump s another problem for new orleans. let's hope that doesn't happen. >> and we're talking new orleans. we'll continue talking mississippi. i know they were the brunt of katrina. thank you. back here in tampa. a democrat perhaps we'll call it

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the republicans have desc d descended upon us but they have some company. las vegas mayor is chairing the convention next week in charlotte. nice to see you in person. >> thanks. >> let's begin with your guy, president obama. this new poll we just got in ten minutes ago. the state of north carolina, you know the story in 2008, a state in which the president upset victory. a number of african-american voters. you see the numbers on the screen. this is the economy poll but the president is down one point when it comes to north carolina. what does it say about a state

like that? >> democrats and republicans agree the number one issue is this weather and the potential harm to the people of louisiana and florida. >> of course. >> that's where we agree. we take off the partisan hats and put the country first. with respect to this poll this country is evenly divided. in 12 of the 13 states the president is ahead. >> this poll. north carolina specifically. what does it say about a state with a large chunk of voters that are african-american and so far president obama is not up. >> we're going to work hard. that's why we're there in north carolina. this is going to be the most accessible convention. we're going to have 65,000 people. many of them from north carolina. we got our work cut out for us. we're going to talk about about what it means to chart a future that's focused on investment. >> with all due respect.

before we talk about your convention next week. we're talking about republicans. the president is going to be out and about in three swing states. that's big deal. the vice president was supposed to be here. you mentioned the weather and he's not here. you have the first lady on late night television. it seems like a big push. this is supposed to be the big party for the republicans. are they nervous? >> i think next week you'll see the republicans do the same thing. >> are they nervous? >> we are focused. we want to compare and contrast the positions of both candidates. the bush tax cuts on the top 2% of america. they want to pay for it by raising taxes on the middle class and ending medicare. >> do democrats feel threatened

this week? >> we feel invigorated to get in the battle. with the convention sets the frame work for the campaign and really when people are watching, most of us except for you and i, aren't really watching what's going on. most of america is working and trying to put food on their table dealing with their kids. kids are going back to school. >> let's talk about what you want to talk about. i want to ask you, we thought it was curious because the whole culmination of the whole week is at bank of america stadium and when you talk to folks in charlotte that's what they call it. democrats are calling it panther stadium. panther stadium. do you have a problem with a meg bank sponsor? >> i don't have a problem with the sponsor. whoever is talking about panther. panthers do play there. >> what will you calling it? >> i'm calling it the football

stadium. i'm not really focused one way or the other. we're proud t be in charlotte. we want to be in north carolina. we want to compare and contrast the candidates. the president is dealing with the deficit but he's doing it in a way cutting $4 trillion over the next ten years but doing it in a way that protects the middle class and ensures that we're making investments in education and infrastructure and rnd. they're so important for the future. >> what about you? your job is up next july. >> next july. >> you're getting your name out there nationwide. you have a huge role. do we see a white house run for you? >> i'm going to take a time-out. i want a time for reflection. i'm going to focus on my job. when people ask me what's the mayor of louisiana doing in charlotte or tampa, inner loop say it matters who's in the white house. >> i'm going to ask you again?

do we see a white house bid? >> i'm going to focus on my job until i'm finished with it and not looking to run for anything not right now. >> not right now. looking at you. all right. good to see you, sir. >> good to see you. >> we'll be following you in charlotte next week. would you like to know what it's like to experience the republican national convention here from the inside? tomorrow join the cnn election round table. you have wolf blitzer and the all star political team. you can submit your question and get answers in realtime. it's a life chat. tomorrow, 12:00 noon eastern time. you have to log onto cnn.com/roundtable. we will see you online. oil rigs in the gulf of mexico evacuated, shutting down a quarter of daily oil production. what that means for gas prices

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welcome back. you are looking at live pictures inside. you can see live pictures insidinside the cnn grill. we're the nucleus of tampa and the republican national convention is right now all week long. it's officially been called to order. let's continue on. part of this story here are more pictures inside. called to order athe top of the hour by rnc chairman. on the minds of so many people here in florida and the gulf region is isaac.

here is the latest we have. isaac is still technically a toe tropical storm. remember you heard earlier that isaac could turn into a strong category 1 hurricane as it intensifies across the water there and the gulf. where ever isaac may land you could feel its impact when you fill up your gas tank the next time. the storm is very much so threatening oil refineries in the gulf. i want to talk about that. when we're talking prices at the pump and everyone is sort of, we don't like to hear that. how high could prices go? >> reporter: one analyst says if refineries start shutting down we could see gas prices jump 10

cents in the coming weeks. about a quarter of gulf oil is suspended. 39 platforms have been evacuated in eight rigs. four refineries are in the process of closing down. the gulf coast is key to oil production in this country. to put that all in perspective, 40% of the nation's petroleum refinery is located along the gulf coast. any disruption to supply could send oil prices higher. gas prices have already been rising. the national average is $3.75. it's gone up five days in a row. we'll see this as it continues. >> we'll watch for it. thank you so much in new york today. now to a story that seems half a world away. something we're committed to covering for you at cnn. syria, the civil war there. new violence.

this is the suburb of the capitol city of damascus where more than 240 bodies have been found.

at least 113 people were killed across syria today adding to an already staggering weekend total of 684. let me say that again. 684 over the weekend. syrian rebels claim to have shot down a government helicopter. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of this video. the most chilling developments that come from outside the capitol city of damascus, 245 bodies were found in daraya over the weekend. an activist say shelling continued. this is a town, this is one of the first cities that revolted against the president's regime and activists say they discovered the bodies.

some were found near a mosque. it's not clear when those people were killed. an afghan soldier killed to american troops today. the latest in a spat of attacks by afghan troops against coalition soldiers. 27 american troops have been killed by afghan forces this year. this is the green on blue violence we've been reporting on. the military using guardian angels standing watch while our troops eat and sleep. it is the republican party's big party but a storm called isaac taking some attention away from tampa. how the gop plans to stay in the spotlight and my favorite political tag team. to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful!

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at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. let's talk politics now with my favorite power couple.

margar margaret hoover is a cnn political contributor. john, my first question to you. we have to talk storm and politics and optics. we don't know yet we're anticipating the effects and aftermath of this particular storm in the gulf. how do you continue on with what should be a big party with the republicans? >> mitt romney needs to own this week. the fact that isaac has looked like it was heading here for tampa and now seems like it's heading for new orleans, it is a distraction. >> it is a distraction. >> it is a distraction. part of the key is to show a degree of compassion for the folks in louisiana or where ever the storm might hit. >> like the prayer at the top of the hour. >> show folks in the path of the

storm are in their plan but also go ahead with their plan. they have to execute their plan and entintroduce mitt romney. >> nobody is more ware or sensitive to a hurricane headed to new orleans than the republican party. i worked in the white house during katrina. there are things that are different now in new orleans and louisia louisiana. we have a rising star in the republican party, bobby jindal who will not be here because he's in new orleans. there's a lot of sensitive. a lot of eyes on new orleans. also with hope. >> we'll keep talking storm. i want to talk women with you because we look at these polls and you see the president, i see you shaking your head but it's quite a healthy lead that the president has. it's a 29-point advantage in the most recent poll when cnn asked

who is in touch with problems facing women. that's quite a divide. how can romney and ryan overcome the gap? >> the war on women has been an off to discuss topic amongst republicans. i'm a woman. i i'm a republican. i get there's a gender divide. >> you get it but how do they close it? >> ann romney. nicki haley the governor. they will be around during the convention. it's important for mitt romney and the party to highlight the women republican leaders. >> you're a speech writer. >> yes. >> you're mitt romney and he's

practicing at his high school giving this speech, practicing this speech. what are you writing? what should he say? >> i think the real key for mitt romney is to not reintroduce himself to the american people pu tell people what his character narrative is. tell people what really shaped his character. things that can help the american people relate to him. >> make him likable. >> make him likable. it's about revealing an aspect of yourself. taking the risk of revealing an aspect of yourself so people can connect with you. so they see real emotional honesty. one question will be what obvious contender is a car crash he was in as a young man. >> he was declared dead. >> they said he was dead. he was on a mormon mission. it raises the question how much of his own faith story risk of reveal is he going to get. >> would you highlight it? >> i think he needs to take that risk and tell people who he is.

his faith has shaped his character. take that risk. >> 20 seconds. what would you say? >> we've seen a mitt romney on the camign trail alone in isolation and we see him with paul ryan and his wife. you get a sense of him as a person when you see him around a person. hopefully they'll highlight that. >> ann romney speaking tomorrow night. will you hang out with me at the grill the rest of the week. >> we'd love to come back. >> thank you. see you tomorrow. still to come, he was the first man on the moon, an icon to so many of us. his face is everywhere here. we're talk with one of the men who knew neil armstrong best. talk to him a couple of months ago. you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated.

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as the world watched neil armstrong stepped onto the moon and into our history books. >> that's one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. >> gives me goose bumps. the apollo 11 crew returned as heroes. the first humans on the moon.

armstrong died over the weekend, saturday, at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery. for the man who defined space flight being this iconic american wasn't so easy for him. joining me on the phone is armstrong's fellow astronaut and good friend. thank you for taking the time to call in. i'm sorry about the passing after your friend. i understand you spoke with mr. armstrong two months ago. what did he say to you then? >> well our conversation two ma months ago was some other things we were doing. he was just like he had always been. he was a very quiet individual but when he did talk people listened to him. >> i want to ask you about that point about him being quiet. we know that infamous line he uttered there on the moon. he was a hero to all of us. he was so private.

why so quiet? why his desire to really stay out of the spotlight? >> before he ahead the landing-like the rest of us. >> hard to believe. >> he'd be pursued by many, many people with the thousands of different things and decided to hold his activities back to things he thought were important. >> did he walk every day as knowing he was such a pioneer? did it weigh on him? >> he thought about himself as a team member. a member of thousands of people that worked together and he was fortunate to be the end point of the first landing on the moon. there were many landings after that or several.

he just pioneered the way for the actual landing. >> i know for that apollo 11 mission, jim, you were armstrong's back up commander. do you remember the final thing he said to you before launch? >> i said don't you feel sick. maybe you shouldn't make this one. he was too healthy. he was very positive about it. as history showed he did an outstanding job and supporting the program, supporting the american people. >> you know you talk about how he was a regular guy before this flight. what inspired his passion for astronomy for space? >> well, i think that his background always led himself to this type of work. you have remember that he was a

naval aviator that flew about seven or eight missions in korea at the time. he was selected by nasa to following spoo the space program. this was his career. this is what he wanted to do. he was very good at it. >> final question to you, jim. the moon was huge many moons ago in terms of that space and that step in the space frontier and now we're all following every increment of the mars curiosity rover. what did he make of us getting to mars? did you ever talk about that with him? >> can you hear me? >> i'm listening. i can hear you. talk to me about mars. >> we talked about mars when we got together the last time.

he want to have a definite mission program. so that we had a program to have the mission that we could then develop the technology. sometimes we thought together that the opposite was being threw with developing technology and didn't have a mission for it. >> it's pretty spectacular these pictures that are coming from mars and hopefully there will be blueprints in my lifetime. thank you. >> my pleasure. mandatory evacuations. they are happening right now all along the gulf coast. i'm about to speak live with a hurricane hunter who just landed from flying through isaac. don't miss this. yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ female announcer ] live the regular life. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control.

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