and certainly a learning experience. >> go texas? >> go texas. texas fight. t-e-x-a-s. woo! >> the biggest is wednesday and thursday nights when the nominations are accepted for president and vice president. then the battle comes for the win on november 6th. >> 1,144, that magical nomination number mitt romney scored last night. let's keep you inside the forum. wolf blitzer, "the situation room" begins right now. thanks very much. happening now, isaac relentlessly pounding the gulf coast now for nearly 24 hours. the powerful tropical storm has now parked over the region, will likely stay there for several hours to come. more than 775,000 people trapped on rooftops and homes flooded with water having to be pulled to safety. cnn reporters are spread out

across the entire region. they're covering the storm from every angle. we'll go to each of them live. i'm wolf blitzer at the republican national convention here in tampa. we're also only hours away from mitt romney's running mate, paul ryan, taking to the national stage. and jeb bush, the former florida governor has warned his party to "stop acting stupid" about attracting latino voters. i'll talk with him live about the challenges facing republicans. you're in "the situation room." isaac has stalled over the gulf coast on this the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina. right now isaac is blasting the entire region triggering storm surges of at least 10 feet and flooding in some areas that's being called deceptively deep. forecasters say those surges are only going to get worse.

let'set straight to our soledad o'brien joining us from plaquemines parish. see some of those harrowing rescue operations underway. soledad is on the phone. what's the latest? >> reporter: wolf, they had to stop while putting the boats in the water because the wind was picking up and the driving rain was pretty dangerous for some of the rescue workers. then they had other boats that went in about half an hour later. fire boats from st. bernard parish and other folks volunteering their boats to try to rescue some of the people in plaquemines parish. it's quite a remarkable thing to see this flood wall. it's doing a terrific job of protecting plaquemines parish. but on the other side of the wall, directly on the other side of that wall there's about 15 to 20 feet of flood waters. those waters have absolutely inundated some of the homes in plaquemines parish because they are outside the levee protection. what happened is the levee on

the far side has breached over the top of the levee and the storm surge has absolutely blown in across the parish. tons and tons of flooding is what they're dealing with there. it was quite a remarkable thing to see. and you could feel the force of those winds and the rain coming down in sheets. you can see why they would be hesitant to put people in the water to try to rescue the fol who decided to wait out the storm even though there was a mandatory evacuation for plaquemines parish. >> is there a sense this could go on for many hours? is that right, soledad? >> reporter: that's because the storm even though it's a category 1, a number of people includinged sheriff of st. bernard parish has told me even for a category 1, you wouldn't think it would do this kind of damage we're seeing in plaquemines parish similar to what they had in st. bernard parish back in hurricane katrina. but the problem is this storm has just stood over the parish.

the sheriff in st. bernard parish, it just would not go away. it wouldn't roll through. and katrina rolled through quite quickly, did a lot of damage, but moved through. this has beenmped out here. we've been since yesterday covering the winds coming in. and it's been a real problem. it's also messing up the rescue efforts as well. it's unclear, wolf, how many people are actually still in their homes. we spoke to a woman now at the st. bernard jail because they've taken the people from plaquemines parish and brought them to st. bernard. she didn't want to leave. she thought it wouldn't be too dangerous. she thought she had a lot of pets and wouldn't be able to put them up in a hotel. she was able to climb out her second floor window and the water came in around 4:00 in the morning. she left her husband and some of the pets behind and took her son with her. obviously just an absolute emotional wreck devastated because her home is probably a total loss.

>> do they think the system worked? obviously worked better this time than with katrina, btar generally satisfied with the preparation for what's going on, soledad? >> reporter: that's an interesting es. cos of engineers early in the morning said the levees have done very ll they were concerned about the pumping and flooding. this is a water event, but they very good about how the levees had done in the feral protection area. but plaquemines parish, those are not levees within the fedel protection area. so those areevees that over years the parish itself has been ying tup andake ronger and ty just weren't able to get it done in time for this storm. so, on one yeah, absolutely sfar so good for the levees. big concern about the leve viobsly in the wake of katrina. w the folks move onto pumping trying to figurouill the pumps hold a d th job? as it becomes a bigater ent,

of course for puemines parish outside the levee system, they're dealing with what st. bernard was dealing with seven years ago. it's an absolute mess. when we skeo sriff of st. bernard parish, said today is the anniversary of hurricane katrina. as terrible as this anniversary is, it's great to be able to pay back the favor and help rescue our neighboring parish as people did to us and did for us seven years ago. so i think a terrible, terrible anniversary to be doing a lot of the same things they experienced themselves in st. bernard parish to help the folks now in plaquemines parish, which is a very low lying area. >> all right. soledad, we'll stay in close touch with you. thank you very much. let's head over to cnn's ed lavandera. he's in grandisle, louisiana. ed, you're where the gulf of mexico flooded virtually the town trapping a lot of residents including you. tell our viewers what happened. >> reporter: wolf, the officials

here on grand isle are the ones -- the emergency officials who stayed back and in a command post and waited out the storm here have been trying to figure out and get to many parts of the island to figure out who may or may not need help at this point. but that is proving very difficult. it is now been 24 hours since we've been reporting from the first initial bans of hurricane isaac now tropical storm isaac that came ashore here in grand isle and we are still feeling these effects some 24 hours later. we spoke with the mayor a little while ago and he's been trying to get around as much of the island as possible. he said there's many places they're unable to get to at this point. so they will continue. they know that they're anywhere between 30 and 50 people on this island. many of those people who stayed back are well-prepared for these kinds of things. and they don't necessarily think they'll need help to get through this. but you never know what might have happened in the overnight hours with this storm. they're trying to get to as many places. what we're dealing with here, wolf, is the storm surge. everywhere you look around us

here we're in the basically in the middle of the island in the home of dean blanchard as we've been reporting the last couple days. everywhere you look here, look, wolf, this is actually much better than what it looked like earlier this afternoon. we've had some earlier today there were about probably like three to four maybe five feet of water surrounding us. and the storm surge and the power that the water was rushing by us with was incredibly impressive. but it is now starting to go down. the house we're in, we're on the second floor, wolf, about 15 feet off the ground. so we've got plenty of cushion and plenty of room. but the house that we're in did take about six inches of water into the bottom floor. so that was a rather disconcerting as we woke up this morning and we could hear the water sloshing around on the ground floor. but the water seems to be starting to recede. it's not raining as much, but the winds are just sustained and keep going. definitely not as strong as they were at the height of this storm. and the very eye of this storm

came over us here in grand isle, louisiana. so we're getting through this, but as we've been talking about, this is a brutally slow moving storm and it's really kind of delaying things and being able to get out and begin the assessment of just how bad the situation is here in grand isle. as we look around many of the structures, the good news is many of the structures and the homes don't seem to have been taken any kind of structural damage and collapse. there is some significant roof damage. but from a structural standpoint everything seems to be looking okay, wolf. >> ed lavandera joining us from grand isle, louisiana. thank you. our meteorologist and severe weather expert, chad myers, is also watching what's going on. he's in the cnn weather center with the very latest on isaac's path. what is the latest, chad? >> isaac was downgrade today a tropical storm about an hour ago. 70 miles per hour and going down. there's only one little caveat to that that you don't think about unless you've seen enough make landfall. what happens when a storm makes landfall, it begins to collapse. and the eye gets smaller and

smaller and smaller. well, when the eye gets smaller, the winds pick up. just like the ice skater with the arms in. so this eye now is getting very, very small. it's north of homa headed to baton rouge. even though the wind speeds say they're going down to 70, they're not going to 50 any time soon. they're going to stay right there at 70 to 75 for many, many more hours. let me show you exactly where this is. i didn't have any names on that. no cities on that map at all because i wanted you to see the eye and what's happening. moving over tibideau. it is beginning to move away now. as it begins to move away, new orleans, your winds will begin to go down. baton rouge, your winds are about to go up. farther east tornadoes are coming on shore. gulfport, biloxi, still a brutal storm on the east side from pensacola all the way over to bay st. louis.

this is not done. i know it's on land, but it's still by you for a lot of this. this is still not much land there. it's going to take a while for this to slow down, wolf. >> so what i hear you're saying not only the flooding but the tornado warnings now in effect in a wide area as a result of what was a hurricane now a tropical storm. >> certainly. and also the flood warnings are going to continue as well. every one of these cells that comes off --ere's biloxi right there. this would be gulfport. we have a couple reporters there. waveland, bay st. louis, every storm that comes off the gulf of mexico now has a potential to be a spinner. as the spinners come onshore, you can get small waterspout size storms. even a couple showers as far east as the florida panhandle earlier. calming down. by tomorrow this will be a bad memory. but it's not done tonight. there are still many many hours of what you're feeling right now in store for you, wolf. >> we'll watch it together with

you, chad. thanks very much. by the way, one of the levees south of new orleans couldn't hold back the water. stranded residents in plaquemines parish had to be rescued. we're going to hear from residents who made it out safely. and the other huge story we're following today, this republican convention. among the guests he's warned his party to "stop acting stupid" about attracting latino voters. i'll speak live with former florida governor jeb bush about the challenges facing republicans. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." questions. when you're caring for a loved one with alzheimer's, not a day goes by that you don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the

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facing the gop this november certainly will be winning latino voters. let's talk about that and more with former florida governor jeb bush. he's brother of one former president, son of another former president, maybe you'll want to be president one of these days. >> great to be with you, wolf. >> i know you don't want to talk about that right now. you were quoted as saying "republicans are acting stupid" when it comes to trying to attract latino voters, which is a hugely growing segment of our population. what did you mean by that? >> pretty clear what i meant. but i meant it over the long haul, which is what i said, that over the long haul as we change demographically as a country and seeing latino becomes a bigger and bigger part of the scene and operation, you're going to have the need to change the tone on many issues. >> so what should they be doing, your fellow republicans? >> i think the focus ought to be on aspirational messages that are more hopeful and optimistic. economic growth over a sustained

period of time. building capacity for people, particularly the newly arrived so they can make a contribution to our country. get the border control issues correct. but let's move beyond that to create sustained economic growth for a majority of people. >> support something like the dream act, is that something republicans should be doing? >> immigration is a gateway basically. it's a checkoff point for latino voters. they want to hear about the bigger, broader issues. finding a permanent solution to the dream act qualified people is definitely the responsibility of the next president. this president has had a chance to do it, he did it by executive order for purely political purposes, but he's not brought comprehensive immigration reform to the forefront even though he promised it and had a majority for the first two years. so, yeah, those are issues that need to be dealt with. but i think from a political point of view, across the country over the long haul republicans need to be more respectful of voters that are trying to attract.

>> in this last poll we had the cnn/orc poll, latino choice for president 68% obama, mitt romney 27%. that's a huge gap. that's only going to grow. when romney spoke about self-deportation, how badly did that hurt him? you're familiar, you speak spanish, you know the latino community. >> so it gets to the question of tone, again. i think there's a better way of saying we need to control the border. great countries need to secure the border for national security purposes, for economic purposes and for rule of law purposes. and you can say that in a respectful way so you're not turning people off. and that's my basic message. in order to govern with conservative principles, you have to win. in order to win, you have to recognize that the country is changing. we're getting older. and we're getting more diverse in our population. >> florida's going to be a critical state. another huge issue here, medicare. you have a lot of elderly senior people on medicare. they generally love medicare.

they love the way the program exists right now. but paul ryan, now mitt romney, are talking about a voucher program. they're confused. what does that mean to you that there would be a voucher program for medicare for seniors who are eligible for medicare? >> well, first of all, the ryan plan, the proposal and the romney plan, they're slightly different. they were proposed at different tis. both of them say that anybody under the age or over the age o 55 will not ha any changes in their plans. so that senior voter that you're describing -- >> what are t changes though for people under 55? and they're thinking about they're going to be 65, in thefuure, what woulbe the advantage of them of going to vouchers as o to the crent system, which most seniors lik >> they don't have to change. em? why would anybody want to give up the current system? >> you'll be given more choices. and those choices will be maybe at a lower cost. it may not require as big of a down payment. you may get certain kinds of

benefits that the traditional medicare plan doesn't allow. and if it doesn't satisfy, you can stay in the current plan. and that's the basic plan. >> that scares a lot of older people. as you well know, you talk to them all the time. >> if you check the polling amongst florida voters, elder voters are supporting mitt romney by a double-digit lead. does it require persuasion? does it require education? absolutely. but the idea that you can scare seniors election year after election year with false accusations, that doesn't work. it worked in 1994 when i ran for governor when my opponent said i was going to take away social security, as a governor that would be hard to imagine, but that's because i didn't share who i was enough and people began to doubt. now, after election cycle after election cycle, it's not going to work. >> so you personally support this voucher proposal? >> i support dealing reforming medicare so that it can be saved. if we keep doing what we do, there is no possible way that we can afford it. that's the simple fact. it's a false choice to say keep

what we have versus an alternative. what we have is going to have to be modified because we can't afford it. >> looking forward to spending quality time who knows over the next four years what you might decide to do. you want to say anything? >> i want to say welcome to tampa. >> thanks, governor. thanks very much. got a beautiful state here. >> it is. >> great city and hospitality's beenfabulous. >> great. great. with rain pounding down on residents of plaquemines parish, escaping the flood waters is not necessarily easy. we're going to have much more on the other huge story we're following. we have some unedited stories of survival coming in from the gulf coast. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

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all eyes are on paul ryan here at the republican national convention in tampa. he's headlining tonight's lineup in only a few hours with his speech introducing himself to the american people. our national political correspondent jim acosta's here watching what's going on. set the stage for us. >> sure. >> this is going to be a huge introduction for millions of americans to congressman paul ryan. >> well, wolf, i can tell you that just a few moments ago paul ryan was meeting with the wisconsin delegation. but up until that point romney and ryan aides have been saying that the wisconsin congressman has mainly been staying behind closed doors, laying low, working on his speech for tonight. the romney campaign is very pleased with what happened last night here with ann romney and chris christie's speech. and they are predicting conservatives will be fired up when ryan takes the stage. it was nearly silent on the convention floor as paul ryan had his mic test at the podium.

but advisors to mitt romney are idennfthe vice presidential contender will make some noise with a speech aimed right at the republican base. with romney at a foreign policy speech in indiana. >> for the past four years president obama has allowed our leadership to diminish. >> reporter: all day long convention officials dangled conservative catnip in front of the cameras sending condoleezza rice and marco rubio to do their own walk-throughs at the podium. but with the job of humanizing the gop nominee still a top priority, the romney campaign follow up ann romney's blockbuster speech by sending the couple's son, tagg, out to reporters to carry the family banner. >> get to know over the next couple months they'll continue to warmup to him. people getting introduced to him for the first time. >> i can tell you mitt romney was not handed success. he built it. >> if ann romney's job was to win over hearts, connecting with

conservative minds is all about ryan. don't the voters need to hear more substance as to what this ticket is going to do for the country? >> well, i think there will be plenty of that. i think that's part of what governor romney will talk about. i can guarantee you'll get plenty of substance any time paul ryan speaks. >> reporter: on the floor the first night one of romney's old rivals governor rick perry sees the ticket as balanced. does the paul/ryan pick go a long way in satisfying conservatives that mitt romney is a conservative? >> it's a team. it's two people that complement each other. they have business backgrounds clearly in line with what most americans want to do. >> reporter: with gop rising star new mexico governor, republicans are making a hard sales pitch to latino voters. once again, it was mrs. romney front and center. >> they are mistaken if they think they're going to be better off with barack obama as their

president. >> now, the trick tonight may be to keep ryan, who is a rock star with conservatives from setting the bar too high for the man at the top of the ticket. and speaking of mitt romney, he's expected to watch ryan's speech from his hotel room with mrs. romney. and according to a romney aide, the gop contender's speech is almost done, wolf. >> you know if we're going to have a tv camera in that hotel room? >> i don't think so. >> watching them watching the speech? sometimes they do that. >> that's a very good question. that might happen. and there was some speculation earlier today, wolf, that romney would make an appearance as he did last night, tonight. but at this point the romney campaign is not confirming that. and one other thing, i don't know if you noticed earlier today when paul ryan walked out on stage, his wife and daughter and sons joined him at his side. it was a pretty amazing family picture night. i asked mrs. ryan -- i shouted a question to mrs. ryan, did you get any sleep last night, she nodded, yes, they did. hard to imagine with all those kids in a hotel room.

>> is it going to be very wonky tonight? or more personal introductory remarks? as we say, a lot of people don't even know him. >> he is a deer hunter. i think we can expect red meat tonight, wolf. i think part of the speech will be biographical. i'm hearing the goal tonight is to get the conservative base picked up. >> he'll speak during the 10:00 p.m. eastern hour. part of our special coverage here at the republican national convention. thanks very much. paul ryan's big night at the convention. he's preparing for what could be a defining moment. millions and millions of americans don't know much about him. what he needs to say to wow the crowd. much more on this part of the story coming up next. ♪ ♪

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pete domnick. he's getting some unsolicited advice from our panel. pete, what are you hearing? >> oh, i'm hearing a lot, wolf. thank you very much. here with my brilliant panel. there's a lot of talk about the mixed reviews last night of chris christie for one. let's take a snapshot of what we heard so far today. >> i want to talk to you about the deep and abiding love i have for a man i met at a dance many years ago. >> chris christie, who gave the keynote address, he talked about love but in a much different way. >> tonight we're going to choose respect over love. >> he was criticized for taking 17 minutes to mention mitt romney's name. >> if mitt romney doesn't win, there's going to be a battle for who's the leader of the party. and i think paul ryan no doubt tonight has the opportunity to seize that and sort of close the deal. chris christie i think fell way, way short. >> i think by 11:00 p.m. eastern

tonight the nation will know how unique paul ryan is as a policy visionary and as a spokesperson for our party. >> all right. so a lot of talk about chris christie last night and paul ryan tonight. guys, are these guys at odds? we're all on the same page, right? they're all trying to get mitt romney elected, right, ross? >> i think chris christie was a victim of twitter. i think if you were watching the speech last night as a journalist you were sitting there, chris christie was talking and suddenly you're sitting there with your hand held and you're reading people tweeting and suddenly people tweeting when's he going to mention mitt romney? and that became the narrative of chris christie's speech. i thought it was pretty good. in fact, i thought it was better than ann romney's which i think was a little overrated. i don't know what carly thinks as the republican woman here. >> well, you know, it's interesting. i thought chris christie followed the pattern that other governors laid out. every governor who got on that stage last night talked about

their experience applying conservative principles to a difficult situation and their success. and chris christie added to that by saying here's how people respond to this. they respond to leadership. and of course he tossed the ball to mitt romney. i think hindsight's 20/20. but it occurred to me this morning we might be having a different conversation if chris christie had preceded ann romney. i think there was a little bit of whiplash going from chris christie to ann -- from ann romney's let's talk about love to chris christie's what i'm focused on is respect. >> is this a four-day commercial for republican principles? or to get mitt romney and paul ryan elected? >> it's a little bit of both. here's the deal, it's easy in hindsight. you said hindsight's 20/20, that's true. do you want ann romney to follow chris christie? this build-up for chris christie s his biggest enemy. people thought this guy was going to come and do everything imaginable and frankly i thought it was a big belly flop of meaning. to me it didn't work.

on the other hand ann romney comes out and says i want to talk about love. she talks about love. she gets love and respect. chris christie talks about and says i don't care about the love, i just want my respect. i don't think he got respect or love. so for me i look at it as one of these weird situations where in hindsight ann romney should have followed chris christie. nobody said that yesterday. not a single person said that yesterday. >> mr. mayor. >> it's interesting. it looked like a trial run for 2016. mrs. romney was great. she was very warm and affectionate and you could tell the deep admiration and affection she has for her husband. but others were touting her own credentials more than talking about their nominee. >> well i think with ryan though tonight i think setting this up as ryan's chance to sort of outshine chris christie in the 2016 sweepstakes. mitt romney has a very good chance of actually winning this election. >> what's ryan's mission tonight? >> ryan's mission tonight is to

sell romney. >> yes. >> sell himself. and i think sell swing voters who might be, you know, he's introducing himself to the national electorate for the first time. and he has to present himself not just as mr. wonky conservative, but also as mr. relatable potential vice president. >> right. what i don't understand is how are we not already sold on mitt romney? he's been running for president a long time. we have had a really good long time to get to know mitt romney. ann romney said last night you got to get to know my husband. we know him as good as we're going to get to know him. what else are we going to learn? >> i think that's a very loaded question if you don't mind my saying so. >> i don't. >> mr. mayor, i'm shocked and amazed people would use the platform of a convention to highlight their own credentials. that's what politics are all about. >> no one after barack obama's famous key address in 2004 was saying, oh, he stepped on john kerry and it's so terrible. i think you can do both. you can sell yourself and do your party a favor. >> but i do think to your

question seriously, look, it is true that a lot of people haven't tuned in to this quite like the way us political junkies do. i do actually think this is important. the reaction that i've heard from so many democrats to this is a bunch of adjectives. when people are throwing adjectives around, they don't have ideas or facts. i think what the republicans are trying to do last night and i think paul ryan will do tonight is talk about ideas. talk about policies. talk about solutions. and so the democrats now i think there's going to be pressure on the democrats next week to get rid of the invective, get rid of all the emotions about republicans being mean and insincere and offer ideas. what's going to work? >> i agree with you in the following respect, i think paul ryan for democrats is conceivably the most dangerous weapon the republicans have. i hope he goes in tonight and

tries to make sure that the tea party likes him a lot. i hope he tries to be their hero. if he doesn't, if he realizes he can actually turn and be a crossover, if he tries to become jack kemp tonight, i think democrats have a problem. because this guy, he's good looking -- >> who was his mentor? >> jack kemp. i hope he gets caught up in this convention atmosphere and does tonight what they did last night, fire up that tea party base. then i'm going to sleep very well. if paul ryan says this is my chance to lead the whole country toward opportunity, we're in deep trouble. i don't believe he actually has a message that can -- >> tonight at a convention isn't he suppose today talk in great narratives and about mitt romney and how great he is? >> this is -- to differ just a little bit with carly, i think what we've seen from republicans to date has been a lot of themes, a lot of philosophical statements, but not that much

nitty-gritty. i mean, chris christie talked a lot about the idea of tough choices and so on, but he didn't actually say here are the entitlement cuts we're putting on the table. and i think ryan part of his -- and i think van would probably agree with this, part of his skillset as a politician is he gets a little wonky and people like it. so i think there is an advantage for ryan in going a little bit deeper into the policy weaves. not in the sense of saying we're going to spend this amount in 2017, but in sort of selling himself as a guy who knows the numbers really well. >> he also has to sell himself. you're right, i agree, i change my mind. we get to know mitt romney tonight but paul ryan is way more unknown than mitt romney. how much does paul ryan have to talk about paul ryan? >> i think that's exactly right. i think there have been real ideas and solution put on the table last night particularly by the governors. but i think the challenge now, van, to your point is to make it

clear to the voters that reducing the size of government is not different from growth. it is part of a growth agenda. and an ever expanding federal government is stifling growth. we have to make that case tonight. and i think paul ryan is well-qualified to make it. >> i got to can ask the mayor, you were on the rnc stage yesterday, you're a delegate next week in charlotte. how dare you put city before party? >> shame on me. >> is that what you did? did you do that? >> i would do it again in a heartbeat. and i will tell you as a democratic mayor, i am proud to host the rnc. it's great for my city. it's great for jobs. i'd do it again in a second. i don't care about the partisanship. >> if we see him in charlotte he might make a slightly different point. >> no, i won't. >> you've done a great job by the way, mr. mayor, in welcoming everyone to tampa. >> i'm so proud of our city. >> thank you for joining us this brilliant conversation as always. we got to throw it back to wolf

in a moment here. so, back to wolf. thank you, guys. pete, thanks very much. much more on the political convention that's going on. they're getting excited about what's going to happen tonight. paul ryan, the vice presidential nominee will address this crowd. the other huge story we're following right now, the disaster unfolding along the gulf coast including in louisiana. isaac is causing more damage than hurrican katrina did in one particular are seven years ago. we'll explain what i mean. and we've got some amazing video of the rescues. you're going to see it raw and unedited as it came into cnn. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few namesonger. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand,

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get back to the republican national convention in a few moments. the other big story we're following happening along the gulf coast. right now more than 750,000 customers are without power across five states, arkansas, louisiana, mississippi, alabama and texas. those numbers actually have been increasing all day. a work force of 10,000 company and contract workers from 24 states have been enlisted to help get those customers back online. joining us now on the phone is dustin gould who evacuated plaquemines parish a little while ago. dustin, what happened where you lived in plaquemines parish? >> oh, wolf, i tell you, it was rough last night. the winds really picked up. they were probably gusting i'd say nearly close to 85 miles an hour. a lot of trees down. and a lot of water.

>> a levee over top creating even the kind of flooding that apparently in your parish that didn't even happen during hurricane katrina exactly seven years ago today. give us the extent of damage that occurred where you live. >> oh, well, told the levees have busted down south. it's flooding a lot of people near the myrtle grove area. where i live a lot of streets have been flooding. there's a canal towards the marsh side. and it's getting high. a lot of water. >> now, you're 22 years old now, you're a student at the university of new orleans. you were 15 at the time of katrina. give us a comparison then and now. >> a lot more preparedness i'd say during katrina. we expected a very strong storm and we wound up evacuating for this one. i guess we were all caught blindsided. >> your mom got caught in the

house in plaquemines parish? how is she doing? what are you hearing from her? >> actually, she wound up having to go to the hospital. she's been hunkered down over there for a while now. >> what's the status of your house though? >> my father? >> no. is your home okay? is your house okay? >> oh, the house, as of now, yep. it seemed fine. a few houses in the area got pretty severe wind damage as far as roofs peeling back and things like that. >> well, dustin, good luck to you. good luck to your family. good luck to everyone down there in plaquemines parish. we'll stay in touch with you. appreciate it very much. >> thank you, wolf. take it easy. >> all right. thank you. some people spared by hurricane katrina are being pounded by isaac. just rescued from the flood waters some survivors in louisiana describe what they saw as they were fleeing their homes. we're going to bring you their dramatic unedited stories. that's coming up next.

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pure chaos in one part of louisiana's plaquemines parish where water flooded over a gulf of mexico levee trapping dozens of people in their attics. our affiliate, wwl, was there for some of these harrowing rescues. watch this. >> how high is the water? >> about 15 feet around my house. maybe 16. >> how many people are back there? >> none right now. we had a couple, this is it from where we are. >> are you okay? >> i'm fine. >> what's it like back there? >> it is horrible. everybody's house is gone. nobody got a house. nobody. >> how high is the water? >> the water's almostver my knees down there. >> what's your name? how do you spell it?

>> hickm. >> god bless you. you take care. you all right? what's it like out there? here. let's get you over to the truck, okay. are you okay? whoa! >> i got ya. >> here. we're going to get you over to this truck i think over here, all right? are you okay? ok. okay. are you okay? >> no. >> what's the matter? >> first we were going to try to leave and then we didn't because we had nowhere to go. then come on the tv and said a

breach in a levee. we were trying to leave but trying to drive in the car couldn't see anything in front of your face. and with me being a diabetic and i had a stroke, we were in the house. we stay in a trailer. >> what's it like back there now? >> bad. water's over the top of the roof. we had to break through the ceiling and come through the attic. and they took us out of the attic into the boat. it's very bad down there. very bad. i think four. around 4:00 or so. >> how did you get out? >> okay. we live in a trailer. and they got a couple other

trailers in there. and he's got a couple old houses. so we went in the house. we drove in it was dry when we drove in. i'm sorry. >> but the boat had to come and get you? >> yes. we've been calling all night for them to come get us. they told us to get out and we said we can't get out. we couldn't get up here. so they just took us off the roof just now in the boat. >> what's your name? >> sharon sylvia. please, whatever you do, they're going back to get my son and my daughter-in-law. please make sure his name is eric sylvia. please make sure he gets back with me again. >> that report from our affiliate, wwl. a powerful, powerful rescue

missions underway. and they're continuing. by theay in our next hour i'll speak to a woman who escaped the flooding but her husband and parents are still in the house with nine feet of water in it. much more on this story coming up. also much more from the coverage from the republican national convention here in tampa. standby for some never before seen excerpts from gloria borger's interview with ann romney. this is the plan that revolves around you. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. tap into a single pool of shareable data and add up to 10 different devices, including smartphones and tablets. the first plan of its kind. share everything. only from verizon. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. as much advanced technology as the world around it. with the available lexus enform app suite, you can use opentable to make restaurant reservations.

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(train horn) ♪ vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, isaac is punishing the gulf coast with brutal winds, torrential rain and thermaye a new threat. we'll have the latest forecast

that just came in. also, in one louisiana parish people say the storm is far worse than expected overtopping a levee creating major flooding and triggering dozens of 911 calls for rooftop rescues. and we're only hours away. a major event here at the republican national convention in tampa. paul ryan has been nominated as mitt romney's running mate. he's about to take the spotlight as the primetime speaker tonight with a message that republicans can bring change. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer at the republican national convention in tampa. you're in "the situation room." this just into "the situation room" right now. tropical storm isaac sitting over the gulf coast giving the area a pounding. in one louisiana parish isaac is causing the flooding that residents say they did not see even from hurricane katrina,

which struck eerily exactly seven years ago today. now we're getting our hands on a new forecast for isaac. let's go to chad myers. chad, what does the new forecast say? >> it's still a 70-mile-per-hour storm. not losing that much intensity because the eye is getting smaller. again, remember those skaters as they pull their arms in they go faster. you get a smaller eye, you get faster winds. even though the storm is dying, you kind of have one thing equaling the other. storm dying but yet getting smaller, one part slower, one part faster, keeping the intensity at exactly the same speed. 70 miles per hour moving northwest at 6 miles per hour. that is some good news, wolf, at least it is finally moving. finally maybe by later tonight we'll start to get some relief in new orleans. >> let's take a closer look, chad, at the flooding in plaquemines parish. people there say it's worse than katrina. how did this happen?

>> this happened because of a levee, one that was not improved with the $11 billion yet, money was approved it just hasn't been spent yet. here's new orleans. all of this red is all protected. all of that levee, all of that very fortified now. but there's an area down here south of new orleans along the east bank of the mississippi river that was not fortified. still had very old levees. two levees, in fact. one that was keeping the water out from coming this way because that's where the storm surge was. and another that's keeping the mississippi river from flowing in. let's go ahead and zoom this in. we'll show you what's going on with this on the right side. here is the levee keeping the water out from the bayou. here's the levee keeping the water out of the mississippi river. somewhere along here the levee failed. and water poured in. and now the water is being held in because there are levees here along the river not allowing the water out. even governor bobby jindal said

at some point we'll have to blow a hole in this levee to let that water out because right now water is still pouring in. all those pictures you're seeing right there from braithwaite because those people were rescued. more people down river because the water is still pouring in because the winds have changed much direction. this is a big deal. when you have a levee breech, another levee holding that water in, now you literally have an eight-foot deep swimming pool to the gulf of mexico where people's homes are. they were told to evacuate, but many did not. wolf. >> sadly indeed. thanks, chad, for that new forecast as well. members of the new orleans police department tells cnn the city is officially under a dusk-to-dawn curfew right now. there are plenty of downed trees in the streets. but the situation is far better than it is in nearby plaquemines parish. brian todd is in nearby new orleans for us. what can you tell us about the plaquemines flooding that's been

going on? >> reporter: wolf, getting information from local officials all day about plaquemines parish you get a sense this was really the first desperate situation of the day. it broke early this morning that that levee has been overtopped 18 miles worth of that levee had been overtopped creating severe flooding conditions. just talk totd a plaquemines parish official, said the conditions are still very severe. we're getting reports dozens of people up to at least 75 had to be rescued from their homes. some of them from rooftops. as chad mentioned, they were under a mandatory evacuation order before the storm got there. they did not get out. for various reasons, obviously. people choose to stay in sometimes. you can't force them out. that means rescue teams had to brave what were then hurricane strength conditions to go and rescue them. they pulled several people out of there. now, what they're going to try to do now is offer some relief for plaquemines parish and this flooding. who's going to do that? the army corps of engineers plus local flooding officials who we've spoken with all day today about that situation. they're going to do something

they call a diversion. there's a channel in that area which normally is used to pump water -- to channel water from the mississippi river when it gets too high into the marshland there near plaquemines parish where the levee was overtopped. now because that marshland is higher than the mississippi river because of the surge in the flooding, they're going to try to reverse that process and channel it back into the mississippi river. i spoke with chris gillmore, an engineer with the army corps of engineers today about that. here's what he had to say. >>there' a freshwater diversion channel structure near that community. typically what it does is it dwe diverts fresh water into the marshland. what's been requested from the corps and state is to use that in reverse. use that structure backwards to flow the flood water from the community in plaquemines to the mississippi river. >> reporter: and that is just a gravity based process. normally the mississippiiver is lower -- excuse me, is higher than that marshland and it goes

into that area. now it's lower than that marshland, the water levels. so they're bringing the water back out to the mississippi. hope to give some relief to plaquemines parish, wolf. >> what about where you are in new orleans right now? it looks like it stopped raining at least it looks a little windy. what's going on in new orleans? >> reporter: still raining, wolf. still being pelted with tropical storm force rains and a little bit of wind. we're down here in the french quarter at jackson square. here's a huge danger. i just talk today a city official here in new orleans. downed trees, down powerlines all over the place. at least 70 intersection where is there are downed trees. our photo journalist and i are going to take you on a stroll down here. this has been a huge problem. downed limbs and debris flying all over the place creatining danger for everyone involved. also these intersections here there's been a huge problem with intersections in the new orleans area being flooded. we got at least 55 intersections in new orleans flooded. this one had flood waters earlier. now it's receded a little bit. french quarter getting some

natural relief here. what we're told tonight is because of downed trees in at least four cases, wolf, downed trees hit homes and everyone inside those homes had to be evacuated, had to be rescued. so rescue operations going on here in new orleans as well. >> all right. brian, we'll stay in close touch with you in new orleans. thank you. the storm quickly washed out a major coastal highway in mississippi. and the rain keeps oncoming. cnn's john zarrella is joining us from gulfport. what's going on there, john? unfortunately we just lost our connection with john zarrella. we're going to try to reconnect with him. as soon as we do we'll bring him to our viewers. he's in gulfport, mississippi, for us as well. maybe we've re-established connection with john. john, can you hear me? >> reporter: yeah, i hear you, wolf. i've been saying it's been more of a difficult situation than anyone expected this hurricane would be. we're going on now 18 hours of

relentless rain and tropical storm force winds. it's dropped off just a little bit right now. [ technical difficulties ] >> i think we've lost our connection with john zarrella. we're going to once again try -- it's understandable given what's going on over there. you can see the pictures. we'll try to reconnect with john and update you on what's going on in gulfport, mississippi, as well. as the gulf coast copes with another natural disaster by the way, relief organizaons are already very hard at work. they're trying to provide shelter, food and comfort. find out how you can help make a difference by going to cnn.com/impact. people are stuck in attics, they're stuck on roofs as water rises around them. i'm going to be speaking with a woman who escaped the flooding, but her husband and parents are still in the house with nine feet of water.

and we're also following another huge story. what's going on here in tampa at the republican national convention? last night she delivered a dramatic speech, we're talking about mrs. ann romney. you'reouoear o own borge that ye neve heard before. e dealg -- she's dealing with the relationship she has with her husband, the republican presidential nominee.

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tropical storm isaac keeps lashing the gulf coast in louisiana's hard-hit plaquemines parish, for example, the ooding is worst at least in some parts than it was during katrina. thna gua is now i full rescue moden in isaac's fu its ownchallenges. watch this. >> reporter: some spots up as

much as five to ten feet of water. but you see these rescue operations are obviously underway. by some of these rescue workers trying to go into the break away neighborhood. some spots up as much as five to ten feet of water. but you see these rescue operations are obviously underway. they pulled this person out of the water. >> all right. you can see residents by the way have been told to evacuate. this story obviously continuing. let's bring in jack cafferty. he's got the cafferty file. it's so eerie, jack, that this is happening exactly seven years to the day, seven years to the day after katrina. >> eerie indeed. and it's a quandary of sorts. on the one hand we have tropical storm isaac, tropical storm now, not a hurricane anymore.

slowly laying wasted parts of the gulf coast. granted it's not katrina take-two but there are hundreds of thousands of people without power. one stretch of a levee have been overtopped and many people are losing their homes to the flood water being triggered by heavy rains and massive storm surge. on the other hand, washington, d.c. and the federal government are laying waste to the entire country. and we're fast approaching an election where some far reaching decisions are going to have to be made by the voters. the republican convention's in full swing in tampa having been spared the brunt of isaac. and president obama's hot on the campaign trail trying to convince the country he deserves a second term. the republicans did shorten their convention by a day out of concern for the storm. and next week when the cleanup will be in full swing, the democrats will convene their dog and pony show in charlotte, north carolina. the political business of the country is moving forward in spite of a rather large natural disaster impacting millions of our citizens. the temptation perhaps is to

jump to the conclusion that the politicians are being insensitive. perhaps all campaigning should cease out of consideration of the hurricane victims, but the fact is isaac ain't katrina, not by a long shot. and the problems of this country probably deserve our undivided attention, isaac or not. we got big trouble here. that's the question. should politics be put on hold for isaac? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. post a comment on my blog or post on the "the situation room" facebook page. >> good question, jack. thanks very, very much. ann romney, she was the star of the republican convention last night with aowerful primetime speech. our chief political analyst, gloria borger, is here watching all of this unfold. first of all, did she do last night in her half-hour speech which was pretty well received what she needed to do? >> well, i think she did. i think she needed to appeal to women. i thought her appeal to women

was blatant, if you will, at the top. but that's clearly a group they're talking to because the gender gap for mitt romney as opposed to the president is somewhere between 10 and 12 points. so they need to win over those suburban women. she also made the case for her husband as a person trying to humanize him. and trying to let women in particular know that he can be trusted. i also think -- and what was most interesting to me, wolf, is that she went on the attack. it was kind of like a little bit of a knife wrapped in velvet. and she went on the attack not directly at president obama, but on the state of the economy and how that affects working families. so i think she did these three things. she did them pretty well. and on to the next night. >> she's got a natural instinct. i was surprised at how well she delivered that speech. now, you spent some quality time with her and mitt romney getting your documentary ready. >> right. uh-huh. >> and you also had a chance to interview her at length. i want to play a clip, gloria.

this is some part of the interview that was not included in your documentary. we'll play it for the first time right now. >> okay. >> people describe him as the energizer bunny and say that you're kind of the balance for him. >> i feel like i'm his -- the calming influence in his life. i feel like i'm the balliest tht gives him his anchor. i'm here for him always. we trust each other completely and come police italy. we are each other's best friend in addition to being our, you know, loving relationship we are each other's best friends as well. and it's just a real partnership. my kids joke and say that i'm the mitt stabilizer. >> right. >> that's the word that they give to me. because, you know, whenever mitt might start you know winding up and getting really highly

energetic, they know that i have a very calming influence on him. >> well, what do you do? >> nothing. it's just who i am. >> and do you give him advice? does he come to you? >> oh, yes, of course. we share everything. there's nothing we do not know about any struggle that either one of us is going through, we share everything. of course i give him advice and of course he gives me advice. and i think we listen to each other more than we listen to anyone else. >> you know, it's an interesting -- you got to know her, i met her a few times. what you see behind the scenes is what you see out front with her. i don't see two different person person personas. >> no. it is. it's the same person. what's interesting to me about that clip that we just showed is that she gives him advice and they listen to each other. now, you know, sometimes political spouses can be a problem in a campaign. and everybody in this campaign i talk to says that is not the case with ann romney, but that

the candidate himself is more relaxed and more at ease when she's around. so when things get kind of stressful, they like to bring her on the plane to campaign with him because they know that they'll have that calming influence that she just spoke about. but i also have to believe that she was involved in sort of figuring out who the vice presidential pick ought to be. wives are generally involved with their husband's campaign schedules. and i bet she's in on strategic conversations. it would not surprise me at all. i don't know that for a fact, but she said in this that she weighs in on just about everything. >> yeah. they have a unique relationship. it goes back to when they were young kids in high school. >> she was like 15 years old when they met. >> where'd she met him? >> at that party she talked about last night. long time. >> thanks, gloria. fair to say she did a pretty good job last night. >> yep. president obama by the way, he hits the campaign trail during this republican national convention as well. he was out there today. is there a chance he'll steal some of mitt romney's spotlight?

standby, we'll update you on what he had to say. and hundreds of thousands of people in five states have no power, gas prices have been soaring, isaac is not done yet. with all that, there may be a silver lining to the massive storm. wówóvó9ñ

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lisa sylvester's monitoring some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what else is going on, lisa? >> hi, wolf. power companies report more than 750,000 customers are blacked out in louisiana, mississippi, alabama, arkansas and texas from tropical storm isaac. of these energy corporations says more than half a million of its customers in the region have lost power. it says 10,000 company and contract workers from 24 states are responding to help with restoration efforts. and with isaac cutting output from refineries gas prices shot up by a nationwide average of almost 5 cents per gallon today with much bigger jumps in some places. aaa says the average price of a gallon of regular now tops $3.80. but industry experts say the spike should be short-lived. that's the good news. with refineries apparently escaping lasting damage. one analyst says prices at the

pump could start easing just in time for labor day. and wholesale prices are already dropping sharply. and after pounding the gulf coast, isaac will move inland. and while the storm has brought certainly plenty of misery, it will likely bring badly needed relief to drought-ravaged states like arkansas, illinois, indiana and missouri. isaac won't end the devastating drought. and some crops are already lost. and heavy rains could do more harm than good in some places. bottom line, wolf, isaac's clouds may have a few silver linings, wolf. >> maybe it will. a little bit of water useful certainly in some of those drought-stricken areas. lisa, thanks very much. she's in new orleans, but her family is hunkered downright now. and the water is rising. up next i'll speak to a form erie er katrina victim whose home was swamped seven years ago and this time to a certain degree it's even worse, the house is practically under water.

also, she calls new orleans home and watching a powerful storm rake her hometown. our own contributor, donna brazile, she's standing by and will have her thoughts on the onslaught of isaac and what president obama should be doing about that and more. that's providing training and employment opportunities, investing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego bakery expand, what's important to communities across the country is important to us. and we're proud to work with all of those who are creating a stronger future for everyone.

as we've been telling you plaquemines parish in louisiana is bearing the brunt of tropical storm isaac right now. it was a hurricane just downgraded to a tropical storm. it's experiencing some massive flooding. hurricane katrina swamped kim's house in that area with three feet of water. this time she says the three-story home is practically under water. kim is joining us on the phone right now. you shared with us a picture, kim, we'll put it up and show our viewers. tell us what's going on. >> okay.

basically my children and i evacuated for this storm just because we were a little nervous. but my parents and my husband stayed. moer's phone.ctures from my and at thatis right there that is the front of my house. haves the bm ooand on the top floor. ture that the second floor of my home. so if you can imagine those columns go all the way d to the bottom floor. they'r up,hey're elevated probably about 12 feet. this is the back of my house. my rf is over to theig nothis is the front of the house. i'm sorry. the front of the house that faces where the levees were toppedr were they were eached. that's the water coming over. so what peoplre looking at is approximately ten fe ofwater, perhaps 12 right there. you cannotn see of my home. the other picture that you're showing --

>> what about your -- i'm rry. >> go ahead. finish your thought. i want to ask you abou husband d your parents. >> oy. th's the back of my home. the roof of my beoom,hich hat is kind of jets off the back of the house. but that other thing bac the my mother's home. she has -- we have 12 acres of . sheas a double wide trailer th she has bk there. it's elevated ae and you can imagin's te that water on her roof in her back of her levee. and,yes, my husband is still there. weave quite animal he's a vetinaria -- a local veterinarian, and he stayed to help maintain all of our animals. most of our animals ended up on the mississippi river 2,000 fee those comnsat are in the foreground of our home. that next picture is the thirdom

he, that is actually my bedroom. that is a chimney stack for a fireplace that'sn mybroom. again, you can see my mother's house in the rear. right at the beginning of the picture that is aen we have a swimming pool right there. theris a built-in swimming pool right there. and that a bench at kind of floating arnd and hitting on to the roof of the house. that picture's taken from my second floor balcony from my daughter's bedroom. >> so it seems to me this is a lot worse than the experience you had exactly seven years ago during hurricane katrina. >> seven years ago today, yes. we had three feet of water in our home at that point. my mother was not living in the back. so i can't give you that reference. they lived in a different area in a different parish. and she moved in after. but we had three feet with katrina, which kind of --

katrina was projected a hurricane -- category 5. came in what we think ended up being maybe a 3. and then we had three feet -- 36 inches of water. tropical storm barely making landfall category 1 put ten feet of water in our home. >> kim, good luck to you. good luck to your husband, your parents. everyone. >> my parents have been rescued. i'm sorry, wolf. my parents have been rescued. they are here with me. we're actually in lakeview it's called. and they're okay now. my husband is still down there because we have those animals to tend to. >> wish him the best. and be safe over there. and we'll stay in touch with you as well, kim. thanks very much. heartbreaking pictures indeed going on in that louisiana area. meanwhile, much more on that story coming up later. but we're also watching the republic convention. it's now in full swing here in tampa. that's not stopping though president obama.

we're going to have more on what he is up to today. tropical storm isaac not stopping the president either. he's campaigning in virginia. should he be focusing on disaster relief instead? we'll discuss that and a lot more. our strategy session is coming up. ance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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we're here at the republican national convention in tampa. a truly shocking development occurred, one that hit home to all of us here at cnn. two people were removed from this republican national convention yesterday after they threw nuts, peanuts, at an african-americ amerin camera operator and said, a i'm quing them now "thi is

how we feed animals," that was the quote they shoudt this female camera operator who works here at cnn. multiple witnesses observed this very ugly exchange. republican national committee security and police immediately removed the two people from the tampa bay times forum, which is where we are right now. in fact, the convention statement says and i'm quoting now "two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable blaifr. their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. this kind of behavior will not be tolerated." cnn issued a statement as well saying cnn can in fact confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the tampa bay times forum earlier this afternoon. cnn worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment for now. i want to talk about it though with donna brazile, our democratic strategist, ana navarro, our republican strategist. they're both here. it's an isolated incident. >> yes. >> two people who were horrible

people did this. you can't blame the thousands of others who are behaving beautifully here. just an ugly reminder that there is an element of hatred that still exists in our country. >> it is. and you know unfortunately, wolf, as many of us have known over the years is that this is what we've all worked toward to allow people to come to these conventions, to enjoy the process. but to put someone and i know this individual in a position where she is insulted by these individuals, it was deplorable. it was wrong. and i hope they revoke their credentials so they're not able to attend any of the events, any of the events. there's no place, no place in our society for that level of intolerance. and we should condemn them. they should have their credentials revoked. >> i'm glad the convention officials immediately took steps to get over with this and were friendly with this camera operator. she's a lovely religious woman. >> yes, she is. >> a horrible situation. let's move on now. let's talk about the president

of the united states. i want to play a clip. he's out there campaigning right now. he's doing his job. he wants to get himself re-elected. i'll play this clip and then we'll talk about it. >> just yesterday my opponent called my position on fuel efficiency standards extreme. i mean, i don't know. it doesn't seem extreme to me to want to have more fuel efficient cars. maybe the steam engine is more his speed. but i think that we set goals and we meet them. that's what we do as americans. >> you know, what's interesting, he's out there campaigning during the republican convention. he didn't go on vacation or anything along those lines. i assume romney will be campaigning next week during the democratic convention. it's part of the process that's underway. >> well, the difference is we're in the middle of a hurricane situation. we're in the middle of a situation where there's so many states that have declared a state of emergency. >> he's on top of that though. he's been meeting with all of

his top advisors on that as well. >> wolf, perceptions matter. >> but should he stop campaigning? >> yes, he should. >> should the republican national committee recess because of it? >> no. but we're not president. the republican national committee is not the one in charge of fema. not the ones in the situation room. he is president. his priority job right now is to take care of the american people. not to campaign. would it kill him to suspend campaigning for two days? i mean, isaac is sitting on top of new orleans right now. it's been there for 24 hours. it's going to continue to be there. we're talking about 24 hours, 48 hours of suspending campaigning. we're not asking him to suspend it for a week. of course it's the appropriate thing to do. and i will point something out, that a lot of the people that are getting affected by isaac are very poor people living in the gulf state. many of them african-american. god forbid, god forbid a republican would be doing the same thing that barack obama's doing right now. >> because you're from louisiana. this is a story that hits

directly home to you. >> you know, seven years ago i didn't politicize it, wolf. when i came on air it was almost a week ter, ten days later when my own sister was unable to get rescued and thanks to you and cnn sheila's alive. just a few hours ago i had to take extreme measures to make sure they had a place to go. the president of the united states who i know very, very well, he's on top of this. bobby jindal, i know very well. he's on top of it. mitch landrieu, we were texting until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. why? because i spent four years making sure the levees, worried about the school, the hospital, president obama has deployed resources using fema, using all of the federal resources at his disposal. the coast guard is there, the army corps of engineers is there. the red s, they are on location. he has been on the phone with these officials. he's been on phone with all the governors. if there's one thing i will not politicize in this country, and i never politicized it seven years ago, it is a hurricane. this is serious. >> ana, all the republican governors of louisiana,

republican governor bobby jindal, mississippi, alabama, they're praising the federal government, fe, the administration for all thehelp they're getting right now. >> and they should be. they shoulbe. i thinu can e that the response has beevery good. i'm not arguing with that. what i'm saying is th, look donns from new orleans, i'm from miami. we know what hurricanesre . and we know what hurricane politics areike. itane very treacherous. en you're in the middle of such a crisis and you're actually on the ground experiencing these conditio president is there. part of his job, wolf, is to be the comforter and chief. that comes with the job. it would not be too much to ask him to suspend campaigning. >> should the republicans have closed down their convention before? >> she makes the point the president is in charge. >> honestly, i think the show should go on here. and i think the president can spend at least two hours a day getting out of the white house. he has the phone, he has the command center with him.

he's in touch with these officials. he's talking to these officials. i'm not playing politics with this. let me tell you something, if the water wasn't there, if the state resources weren't there, i would give them all hell. let's hope for the best. let's hope that isaac can just move on because it is bearing a lot of rain on these people. they're innocent. they're black, they're white, they're poor, they're rich, they're americans. we care about all of them. >> i don't know if you heard my interview earlier with the former florida governor jeb bush, he says the republicans are acting stupid as far as the latino vote out there is concerned because of the immigration issue. he wasn't very happy with that self-deportation comment that mitt romney made during the debates as you well remember, ana. >> as you know, wolf, jeb bush and i are friends. and he hasn't been very happy for a while on this. he has been talking about this saying to republicans now for years we need to change our tone, we need to change our policy. we need to change our outreach. we just need to do so much more. and i think you're seeing it

reflected in the polls. every poll we've seen lately has mitt romney at 28%. i think that's going to begin to change because as of yesterday he's got access to general funds. and i suspect a lot of that's going to go into the media markets that are hispanic media markets because he needs to change those numbers or he can wave adios to the white house. there needs to be media, there needs to be outreach. there needs to be sustained effort. jeb bush is right and he's got the numbers and results to show it. >> one final question, donna, to you. you're a well-known democrat, al gore's campaign manager in 2000. you're here at the republican convention, walking around, people know who you are. how are you being received? >> you know, this is my third republican convention. and, ana, my republican friends i wore red for the first two days. i have fun at all the conventions. i enjoy people. i enjoy the process. i picked up a few buttons for my republican neighbors back in washington, d.c. you know, i respect the process. i'm staying with the maryland

delegation. i've been eating their crab cakes, drinking somef their coldbeverages. i have fun. i'm going to have fun next week. i hope ana will have fun at my democratic convention. but let me just once again say this is an opportunity to nominate mitt romney, to have a little fun and to go out and campaign really hard. >> what did you think of mrs. romney's speech last night? >> compared to the second speech, she should have been a closer. she was a good closer last night. unfortunately the second speech was a disconnect. but i thought -- >> chris christie's speech? >> yeah. >> theory why she spoke first. >> why? >> because more viewers are watching at 10:00 than 10:30 and they wanted her to get her message out there. it's important to the crowd here that 10,000 or 20,000 people who are here but there are tens of millions watching at home. especially older people. they go to sleep a little bit earlier than younger people. they vote in bigger numbers, bigger percentages. so it was smart to put her at 10:00 rather than at 10:30. >> i respect the message that she gave. she wanted to open up her family

book, the family album. she gave us a glimpse into their live the tuna fish sandwich, i listened to everything she said last n >> and paspaa. i need send her my casserole. thviewers out there, the and a people along the gulf coast, pray for them. this storm will pass. and help us rebuild once again. d words. thanks very much. a, thanks very much. donna, as usual, thank you. a few of isaac's damage from the ground. cnn's own anderson cooper is in plaquemines parish right now. he's going to join us in our next hour.

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here's a look at this hour's hot is a look at this hour's hot shots fromstorm damage on the glf coast. look at thesen louisiana. a national guard patrol passed through a flooded stree at tulane medical center, a tree nearly snaps in half fro rcefulinds. also in new orleans, a stoplight that was blown over sits inhe middle of the street, and on bourbon street. these are pictures from the storm ravaged area. jack is back with cafferty file. question this hour, should politics have been put on hold because of isaac. ben from boston. if we put politics on hold, how exactly will that help people effected by isaac? if there isn't much effect, probably not. paul in north carolina writes

not politics overall, but most definitely the conventions. these have become nothing more than poorly themed reality shows. the ill winds blowing in tampa last night will cause far more destruction across the country than isaac brought ashore, and the democratic wing ding will be nothing more than affirmation of the obvious. bob in pennsylvania writes politics ought to be put on hold permanently, jack, and replaced with some form of governance and leadership. nancy in tennessee writes we need to get it right this time. we failed the people of the gulf miserably after katrina. we need workers to help effected people put things back together. we are a nation that's better than the response seven years ago. mark writes it is a judgment call. i think the rnc did a pretty good job with this. some of the gulf coast politicians stayed on the job, that's great. seems too early for president obama to visit the area, he is undoubtedly monitoring the situation closely as well.

ann in south carolina writes what would be the point. actually, there seems to be some poetic justice that isaac arrived in time for the national convention. and of course it should. that way politicians could pretend to care and enjoy an evening at the local strip club which would benefit the local economy. if you want to read more, some more serious than the last e-mail, go to the blog, cnn.com/caffertyfile or through our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> jack, thank you. isaac is hovering over the gulf coast, pounding it with fierce winds and rain. we will have the latest on the storm in the next hour. and paul ryan's big night at the republican national convention. he will officially become mitt romney's running mate, present a conservative vision for turning around the economy. much more on the convention coming up. there are a lot of warning lights

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hundreds of thousands in five states have no power and it is not over yet. the latest on isaac and where it is going is coming up in the next hour. a speech and a smooch and a hit from the '60s. elements of ann romney's appearance last night at the convention. the question is could they add up to another artist that may cease and desist. >> it was too tempting to resist. >> this man will not fail. >> the temptation to follow up ann romney's speech with the

temptations, first a kiss, then a hug, then another kiss. to mitt romney, ann is "my girl." but how does this make the temptations feel? after all, always seem to be telling republicans not to use their music. twisted sister's front man told vp hopeful paul ryan to stop using their stand because there's almost nothing he stands with that i agree with will the temptations mind sharing their 1964 hit? ♪ my girl. >> well, my girl is our evergreen song, temptations national anthem. >> otis williams is the only original member of the temptations still with the group. >> you know, it is like when we perform live and they first hear that boom boom boom, boom boom

boom. ♪ ♪ i've got sunshine. >> uh-oh, williams is an obama supporter. he is not going to like the romneys using his girl. >> it was kind of their music to smooch to. >> great song to smooch to. >> actually, william says he appreciates the republicans using their music. >> great when our song, "my girl" can transcend. >> on that same stage, this guy asked his girl to marry him. bradley thompson, convention's production manager used the big screen to pop the question to laura bowman, production coordinator. >> i love you. >> i love you, too. >> i want to spend the rest of my life with you. >> unconventional proposal at

the convention. there's one temptation maybe some republicans should resist, when it comes to dancing, they're no temptations joeanne moos, cnn, new york. and happening now, dramatic rescues as isaac sparks a flooding nightmare in louisiana. and paul ryan's big night at the republican national convention. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." seven years to today after hurricane katrina, isaac is inundating the coast with walls of water, posing a deadly threat that will last hours if not days. the storm was downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm just a couple of hours ago, but that reflects only the winds, and they're still near hurricane

force. storm surge breached a levy in a parish. some sought shelter in attics as they await rescue. mississippi reports 50 rescued in that state. at last report, many without power. dusk to dawn curfew declared in new orleans starting tonight. let's get to plaque mince parish where that breach resulted in dramatic rescues. the president billy nunguesser joins me. what's the latest in your parish? >> just had a meeting with the governor and craig fugate and expressed need for assistance. hopefully we can get the

president to declare a natural disaster so we can get 100% federal assistance. that's going to be so needed. just as we speak, i got word another levee on the west bank in plaquemines. this adds to the east bnk troubles whe we have been rescuing pple all day. >> this was a tropical storm, became a hurricane. category one, not two or ree, major hurricane as they say. was it a surprise levees were overtopped the way they were? we thought repairs in the seven years fixed that. >> in bell chase, we have protection. we have over a billion and a half dollars for federal levees that haven't been started yet, but absolutely. my home had more damage for this storm than katrina. i rode out katrina 14 miles from the eye of the storm, and i have seen more damage to my home from

winds that kept on for two days. we also almost saw the mississippi river as water was driven up the river and almost topped the banks of the mississippi river. the flooding came from the back levees, but that's incredible, historical low river that this storm kept pumping that water for days up against the levees, something had to give. >> are there people still stranded on rooftops and attics as far as you know? >> we're still looking. you know, a lot of the calls we got, people give the same name or a different address, but we're going to keep looking until dark. and we will resume a double check tomorrow of all the homes on the east bank. also had a few calls for the levees breached on the west bank, and we have crews there now looking for people1 that

called in trapped. >> i understand it got pretty frightening. >> it absolutely did. the last half of my parish sticks out in the gulf. wind and rain was like a white sheet. couldn't see past the dashboard. things were turning us sideways from the wind. so we turned back about halfway down the parish when we attempted to get to the south end. >> what's the status now. what do you need most from local, state, federal authorities? >> well, we're getting the support from governor and national guard, state police, and our surrounding parishes, saint bernard police and sheriff's office and parish president of saint bernard which is on east bank and borders our

parish have been great and supportive. we need the federal government, president of the united states, president obama, who came down and helped us during the oil spill, we need him to declare this parish a federal disaster, so we can get to cleanup after the rescue period and begin to build our parish back. >> billy, how would you compare this to katrina seven years ago? >> when i think all is said and done, we're going to have water where we didn't have water for katrina. that tells it all. katrina was a devastating, major hurricane. but we have areas that we prided our self that were hard ground in this parish that never flooded. they're under ten foot of water for this category one or so it is called. >> billy nungesser, president of plaquemines parish. good luck to everyone on the gulf coast.

we will stay in touch with you. thank you. cnn's soledad o'brien is also in plaquemines parish. from your place, what do you see. >> reporter: we're close to the flood wall. that's demarcation between saint bernard and plaquemines parish. when you hear the president talk about the surge and water rushing in, he is talking about water from the gulf on the east side. water coming from the gulf is blowing its way in, stopping at the flood wall which was shut down to protect saint bernard parish. so on one side of flood wall, saint bernard parish side, they got very little flooding, maybe 6 or 9 inches. other side, 15 to 20 feet of water in plaquemines parish. that's what's devastating there. you could look out, walk on the wall, look out and see what was a community, a neighborhood, a subdivision, literay just underwater. we spoke to a woman pulled from

one of the homes. she said they got a call at 2:00, word the levee was breached. we heard there was overtopping, it is not confirmed there was a breach. she said they were told it was breached and that they needed to think of getting out. she said nothing happened until two hours later. two hours later, suddenly water started gushing in. in a few minutes, they had five feet of water. she said she got her son and the dog lucky and they got themselves out of the home. her husband stayed with the other pets. she never thought even with a mandatory evacuation that the water would come into her home, plus she said you have pets, you can't just go to a hotel and evacuate anywhere. they decided to try to stick it out. she was able to get out from the second floor window of the home. she was pulled into a boat. >> amazing stories that are still going to continue. you heard billy nungesser saying

they're looking for people that may be stranded. what are you hearing? >> reporter: we have seen lots of boats in the water, fish and wildlife, captain of saint bernard fire department has been in the water. boats can actually go in pretty easily. try to navigate around. one of the problem is there's no number, no sense of what we have heard of how many people they might be looking for. so we will get word maybe two people are in the house, they'll try to find that house and those people. so it is a little chaotic. at one point, wolf, there was wind that was crazy and rain driving so hard, it was pelting our faces, it was painful, and you're thinking these guys are out on the water trying to figure out if there are people to rescue. really, really tough circumstances in terms of rescue. the coast guard said they wouldn't go out until the storm pass. until then, they can't get boats in the water, can't do anything from the air.

they would wait the storm out. that's been the story with what billy nungesser was saying, what makes it different, water was just pouring and bad weather over this parish, sort of slowing any rescue effort down. katrina came through, certainly a lot of water with katrina, but looser, came through relatily quickly. one other things, folks in saint bernard parish, seven years ago to this day felt they were the ones held out, ones calling on neighbors for help because they were under so much water in saint bernard parish. they said they feel lucky to be able to help their neighbor, plaquemines parish. feel fortunate to return that favor and help out a neighboring parish on what is a terrible, terrible anniversary of this day inugus seven years ago, obviously hurricane katrina struck right here. >> soledad, thanks for that port. sodad o'brien reporting on

this continuing disaster. the threat from isaac is cleay far from over now. cnn meteorologist a severe weather expert chad myers is tracking the stormfor us chad, what's the latest recast >> latest forecast is that it is still a miles pour storm headed t baton rouge now. it is going to start slacking off. winds come down a little because it is over more land. get back to the plaquemines parish, people trying to find people that are trapped. here is a roof of a house from one of our ireporters, roof of a house there. c waiting toe rescued, howhat would you know ma years ago, put axes in theld attic to break out from the inside to t-heoutside. let's set tsup, wo. show you how it goes. this red line, thes a federally protected 11 billion dollar halves. here is plaquemines parish here through here. the only real settlement area that has land is along the

mississippi, those people right there, that's where the flooding was on what's called the east bank. zoom in here, i'll show you how these levees work. there are in fact two levees. one to stop the water coming from the east, the bayou, which is where all the wind was coming from. there's the levee there. very big levee. long time there. another levee on the mississippi river right here. that levee stops the water from the mississippi when it floods from coming in. there's a breach somewhere on the wall. inundated with water. water between this levee and this levee here. there's nowhere for the water to get out. it is staying in this area called east bank, the north part of what billy nungesser's parish is. bell chase on the other side, completely safe, not even drops to water in that city. h, tough day for the people of plaquemines parish on the east bank. >> how long do they think this

is going to hover over the area. it is slow moving, basically staying there. what can they expect in the next 24 hours? >> we just worked that out. we took all the computer models, add them together, divide by ten. here is the storm west of new orleans, moving to baton rouge. it will be 30 hours before this gets to shreveport. 30 hours. even when it does, there still will be spiral bands coming in from the south to new orleans in this direction. so it won't be over for a day and a half for the people down here before the winds finally go down to maybe 10 or 20. it will be still all the way through the end of friday night before this is over. >> chad, thanks very much for that. take a look at this. some of the other damage caused by isaac. this is what the hard rock casino in biloxi looks like. it is normally a waterfront location. isaac pushed the water right up to the front door. the casino and hotel are closed

obviously until further notice. these are from a cnn ireporter, alfonso walker. and florida hasn't recovered. even though the storm passed by. here is an image from fort pierce. the water is several feet deep. it is only accessible by boat or foot at this point. and another i reporter got this image. she went to borrow a generator and found this just blocks from her home. more on the storm coverage later this hour, including more dramatic images of isaac's wrath as it churns across the gulf coast region. and we're following another story, the convention. learning details of what paul ryan will say later in his speech at the convention, only a few hours away. and her speech brought delegates to their feet.

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paul ryan's big night at the republican national convention in tampa. his speech introducing himself to the american people only a few hours away. cnn's dana bash is on the floor, learning details about what the vice presidential nominee for the republican party will say tonight. what are your sources telling you, dana? >> reporter: first of all to give you a view of what's going to happen, what it will look like for paul ryan, he will be standing up there speaking. this is where he will be looking, front row seats for his

fellow people from wisconsin. what's he going to be talking about? i was talking to a source familiar with the speech that said he is really going to be the attack dog, the attack dog that some on the floor have been waiting for and hping fo co out of this convention. he is going to really try to in the words of the source deconstruct the obama agenda. we got some excerpts of what he is going to say. i'll read you one of them. he talks about his father who died when he was 16 years old and he says my dad used to say to me son, you have a choice. you can be part of the problem or you can be part of the solution. the president and its administration have made its choices. mitt romney and i have made out. we are going to solve this nation's economic problems and i am going to level with you, we don't have that much time. if we are serious and smart and we lead, we can do this. that was not very attack dog like, but we're guessing they're holding that for the actual speech. he is going to, of course, address the issue of medicare, that he is the author o the controversial plan.

he is going to address it head on we're told and factual way, the wa it was described, pick apart the president's health care plan, talk about the stimulus program and national debt which he talks about over and over again for those of us covering congress and of course, he is going to give his biography. he has to introduce himself to the american people tonight. >> got some information about what he did last night, didn't you, dana? >> reporter: this is really interesting. well, really everybody else was here in the hall listening to ann romney speak, including paul ryan's wife. paul ryan was in the hotel baby-sitting. his brother told me that story, he was baby-sitting for his own kids and for his brother's. four kids all together. he said he texted his brother to make sure his own kid was in bed. so he formally got the nomination here inside the wisconsin delegation, but he was home with his kids in the hotel room baby-sitting. >> good place for him to be.

another matter, there has been bad blood between ron paul delegates of the convention. mitt romney, senator rand paul, son of ron paul, speaking at the convention. you had a chance to speak to him. how did he sum up what's going on here? >> reporter: some of the controversy from the ron paul supporters are upset he is not speaking. part of the reason they say he is is not us because ron paul alluded to this himself, the romney campaign wanted to look at the speech and make sure they were okay with it, check it off. rand paul who is speaking says he has gone through a smooth speech writing process with the campaign. says they haven't talked to him or questioned the content of his speech, assigned him somebody they know who works with a colleague of his in the senate, and what they discussed are style issues. when it comes to the content, he

says the romney campaign didn't try to do much at all. >> dana, thanks very much. let's dig deeper to paul ryan's speech tonight. joining us, our chief national correspondent john king, chief political correspondent, host of state of the union, candy crowley, and analyst gloria borger. how important is this speech? >> it is very important. as dana was saying, he has to introduce himself to the american public. he has been on capitol hill quite some time and chairman of the budget committee, but people don't know who he is. they may have heard of the paul ryan budget because democrats have been campaigning against it for a couple of years, and the president has been talking about it. this is his first time to say here i am, the representative of a younger generation of republicans. >> outside of wisconsin, outside of his district, outside the political news junkies like us, most americans don't know much about him. >> they don't. even statewide in wisconsin, not

a lot of folks knew him. they know he is a hometown boy now obviously, but part of i think -- it isn't even so much he does want to tell his story because he has a nice sort of working class story in some ways, although they are not unwealthy at the moment, so he does want to do this. this entire convention is about teeing up mitt romney. i was told this is all about a continuum that ann romney opened it up, that's sort of the personal side of mitt romney. chris christie said we need to be brave, we need to be straightforward with the american people. paul ryan is going to say and we needig ideas. this is not a time for small politics, it is time for big ideas. and the big idea guy comes around and that's mitt romney. that's how they structured it. >> he does have big ideas. >> he does. the pick of ryan hopefully elevated the seriousness of the debate, won't see that until the presidential debates.

the convention is about red meat and ripping the other guy apart. inside the hall, a lot of people say we had chris christie last night, paul ryan tonight. if romney loses are we seeing the first chapter of 2016. paul ryan almost overshadowed him since picked. his job is to be the attack dog, make the case against president obama, and say we have the guy to lead against him. it is a tough balancing act. >> i talked to someone in the romney campaign that said you don't want to attack president obama frontally. you're appealing to independent voters, you want them to like your guy, too. you have to be careful how you attack. one of the reasons chris christie wasn't quite what i expected last night is because he is really an attack dog. what he did last night was not attack frontally the way i am used to hearing him do that. i think he had to -- people that

supported the president in 2008 may be switching now. >> i don't think there's any doubt he energized that conservative base for mitt romney, many of whom had doubts about him. >> yes. that's in fact why he was picked. it wasn't by happenstance because paul ryan is clearly a favorite of conservatives. probably he could read the phone book and they would love him here on this floor. one of the things you look for with paul ryan is he is not exactly -- i don't see him as a great politician. i mean, he is not all that exciting on the stump. and this is a tough thing to do. i don't think people have a good sense how difficult this is. that's why i think ann romney was so impressive. sitting there because you've got two things going on. you're talking to the folks in

their living rooms, but you're getting reaction from the folks that are in this hall, and they practice how to do that, exactly -- like when the crowd goes this way, you have to start talking again. timing is everything. and he is not, paul ryan at least, has not been a particularly great politician. this will be one to watch. >> two other speakers, condoleezza rice and john mccain. foreign policy on the agenda. >> it will. if you had this conversation in the 1980s or early 1990s, republicans viewed it as a great strength. democrats will raise your taxes, weak on national security. this president is pretty popular when it comes to foreign policy right now. you ask voters who would better handle foreign policy, president obama comes out a few points ahead of governor romney. why? he was the president when osama bin laden was killed. he was the president who ended what was a very unpopular war.

the iraq war dragged out. he is the one that says we are getting out of afghanistan. on the world stage, hasn't been a huge world crisis, might say the economy, but in terms of war and peace, the president gets good marks. they will critize saying america is too deferential. tougher argument to make because it isn't in synch with what the american people. as candy said, it is for the people in the hall, conservatives that want red meat. they also know this election is going to be about the economy, the economy, the economy. >> on that front, gloria, you spent time with paul ryan over the years, had a long interview with him not that long ago. he's had to push back some of his own personal positions because he is number two, and he now has to accept what the number one, mitt romney -- >> talking about the ryan budget and medicare? udinhere are several issues,

social issues like abortion rights for women he had to accept mitt romney's position allowing exceions for rape and incest. >> right. >> an exction he dn' >> righ medicare issue, he miney e a little bit art. mitt romney promised not to touch medicare at all. paul ryan's budget originally assumed the cuts to medicare that the president assumed, so now he finds himself in a position of railing against the president's cuts to medicare, which would go to his health care reform plan that he had in his own budget which went to something else. but he's had to close that gap. it is not a big gap as voodoo economics with george bush. >> saying barack obama wasn't ready to be president, it was a big gap. >> it is around the margins. mitt romney hired a junior partner, that's what he did.

>> guys, we have a long night ahead. it will be fun and exciting and we will be all over this. still ahead, much more coming up on what's going on at the republican convention. she's mormon, black, and her bid for congress could make history. i'll speak live with mia love. her speech brought this republican convention to its feet. and we'll go back to the scene of so many dramatic rescues. our own anderson cooper is in louisiana's flooded plaquemines parish. stay with us live in "the situation room."

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isaac's relentless, prolonged punch. 18 hours of relentless rain and counting in some areas. it's a disaster unfolding in slow motion. and she electrified this republican convention in tampa with her speech last night. will she become the first black gop woman to win a seat in united states congress?

mia love joins us live this hour. i am wolf blitzer in tampa. you're in "the situation room." let's get back first to the devastating flooding areas caused by the overtopping of a levee in plaquemines parish, louisiana. there have been more than 150 911 calls. dozens plucked from their rooftops. some say it is worse than what they experienced seven years ago exactly on this day when katrina struck. cnn's anderson cooper joins us live from plaquemines parish. anderson, what do you know about the rescue efforts under way? >> reporter: seeing them all day, wolf. i am standing on the saint bernard side of the levee wall. you can see the wall behind me is about 16 feet. on the other side is nothing but water. plaquemines parish, and it is

under water. you can see the rooftops of some buildings. all day long, this is the point they bring people that have been rescued, trapped in attics, rooftops, on top of levees. just brought in a woman about 70 years old in need of kidney dialysis here. able to get her here, her grandkids were waiting for her, very anxious what was going on with her. were able to bring her by boat. now she was taken to a hospital for a checkup. we have seen dozens of these rescues, wolf. it has been a dramatic scene. and there were a lot of folks, there was mandatory evacuation of plaquemines parish, a lot of folks chose not to leave. didn't flood that badly in other storms. they felt it wouldn't flood this time. but as we have been saying, this storm is different. there were some strong wind gusts, a lot of water in plaquemines parish, and it is still there now, wolf. >> and as far as the rescue operations under way, do they

have enough people, enough resource there, local, state, fema representatives, are they on scene based on what you see, anderson? >> reporter: there's a lot of folks on the scene. they were bringing in national guard this morning, bringing in different kinds of boats to get to some of the people. what we saw really early on this morning was local people getting in their own boats and going out and undertaking rescues, even though conditions were still very dangerous. they went out there and took it upon themselves, took a hatchet with them, broke into people's attics and rescued a number of people. seen video of that all day long. those people along with law enforcement personnel are hailed as heroes for their work in what are continuing to be dangerous conditions, wolf. >> anderson is with us through the night.

good luck, be careful out there. we will stay in very close touch with you. we're also following other news, including what's going on here at this republican convention. an unconventional republican candidate has wowed the delegates at this convention. she's black, she's mormon, she's running for united states congress. coming up, i'll speak with the mayor of sar towing a springs, utah, mia love, she's here in the "the situation room" with us. the pace of change is accelerating. the way we... perform, compete and grow. and people are driving this change. that's the power of human resources. the society... for human resource management and its members know... how to harness that power, because we help develop it. from the next economy, to the next generation, we help get... the most out of business, by getting the best out of people.

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checking some other top stories from washington, in an interview with a pro-government statement, president bashar al-assad says the situation is much better. he said security forces are carrying out what he called heroic duties. opposition activists say at least 89 were killed across the country. tens of thousands of syrians since fled the violence. egypt defense ministry says 11 terrorists killed and 23 captured in the sinai peninsula.

a massive military campaign called "operation eagle" was launched after masked gunmen killed 16 soldiers earlier in north sinai this month. no group claimed responsibility for that attack. the u.s. and israel voiced concerns about the rise in terror cells in the sinai since last year's uprising at hosni mubarak. and the cdc saying 66 people are now confirmed dead this year from west nile virus in the u.s. total human infections up 40% from last week, bringing the total to 1590. it is the worst outbreak of a virus since august since first detected in the united states in 1999. the disease spread by infected mosquitos that get it from infected birds. national football league will begin its regular season with replacement referees. cnn sports confirmed clubs were notified in a memo from the nfl today. the memo emphasized replacement

referees have undergone extensive training and evaluation. the league involved in a labor dispute with the referee's union. wolf? >> lisa, thanks very much. we are here at the republican national convention. we have a special guest coming up, she's black, mormon, running for united states congress as a republican. and she's here to speak with me, the mayor of saratoga springs, mia love and me in "the situation room" when we come back. junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. in communities across the country. whether it's supporting a delaware nonprofit that's proviing ployanemnt opportunities, in&.ing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego keryxpand, what's important tcommunities across the country isortant to us.

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mia love could make history in november. she's the mayor of a small utah town, running for a seat in the u.s. house of representatives. if she wins, she would become the first black republican woman elected to congress. yesterday she certainly brought the delegates here to their feet with an electrifying speech. the mayor is joining us here right now. mayor love, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you. >> quite a speech you delivered last night. did you know you would get that

kind of reception or was this all new to you? >> you know, i think when people start talking about the truth, things that resonate, they get excited about it. i talked about my parents, immigrating. everyone can get that, has that background in their life. >> your parents came from haiti, settled in utah? >> no, they settled in new york. >> how did you wind up in utah. >> i moved to connecticut after my parents took me around five years old, ended upsetting me roommate up with a young man i met in connecticut, set them up, and i ended up staying in utah. >> when you were in utah, you converted to mormon? >> i actually did that in connecticut. >> how did that happen? >> my sister was member of the lds church, converted two years previous to that. i went and found out a little about it. i was my mother's spy, went in to find out about it. it worked for me and i chose to be part of the church. >> let's talk about your speech last night. >> sure. >> some of it was, i should say,

controversial. you spoke about president obama and you said his vision of america is a divided one. what do you mean by that? >> well, i mean if you think about the war on women, if you think about joe biden and his comments, i think those are racially divisive. i think i deserve a president that sees me as an individual. we deserve a president that sees us all equally as americans. >> you say he has a war on >> no, h said that republicans ve a war,ere's a war on women. i don't think so. i think that everyone is having - t issues we have i this country we to solve as americans and we need to look at all of us as equal individuals. that's what i want to see in a president. >> and because we have some poll numbers. i am going to put them on the screen. mitt romney is having some trouble with women voters out there. he does well with male voters, women voters not so much. male voters would be 53% say they'll voted for romney, 43%

will vote for president obama. for women voters, 54% say they'll vote for president obama among women, only 42% for mitt romney. why does he have problem, mitt romney, the man you support, getting women support. is it because of the social issues like abortion rights for women, contraceptives, some of these issues? >> i think if we look at everything as a whole, what we're going to see is a whole mitt romney resonates with most americans. you can pick and choose issues. what hurts us as a whole is the economy, people trying to find jobs. 23 million americans out of work. the fact we have the $16 trillion debt looming over our children's head. that's what we're going to see happen. people are going to come together and notice that. >> your message of self reliance, i'll put it on the screen, people just want opportunity. they don't want a handout. what does that mean? because there are a lot of people need a handout, need food stamps, welfare.

they would be starving if they didn't get that help. >> i think what our policies do, our policies discourage people from working. i think what we have to do is we have to focus on getting people back on their feet as quickly as possible. getting them back on their feet, it would be giving them opportunity. >> what would you do different. if you're a member of the house of representatives on a key committee, what would you do differently to get these people off welfare, for example, and get a job? >> well, we spend $900 billion on poverty programs. it is supposed to end poverty but it continues to grow. 46 million americans are on food stamps today. what happens is somebody goes out and gets a job, it ends the benefits. so you have to start to scale it down, allow people to work, maybe decreasing benefits. >> talking about food stamps, people need the food stamps. how do you tell them, there's a limit, you don't get more unless you work. how do you do that? >> you have to promote personal

responsibility. again, instead of saying you're going to work and you're going to lose your benefits, we have to look and say why don't we get you to work and start decreasing those. we want to get you to go out and be able to provide for yourself, educate yourself, educate your children if you have children, and then move along in that direction. but that's not what's happening. if somebody goes out and gets some work, there's a limit they get. then they lose all their benefi benefits. that's not what we want to do. we want people to be able to provide for themselves and educate themselves. >> what would be priority one for congresswoman mia love if elected obviously to the united states house of representatives? >> we are going to start looking at our -- we have to limit government. we continue to spend tons of money after our deficit issues are large and we have to get that under control. we are going to look at inefficients, looking at

programs we don't necessarily need and cut back on that. then allow entrepreneurs to create jobs and put more money into the economy and start to reduce the debt. >> and social issues, abortion rights, where do you stand? >> i am pro life. the fourth district, their issues are fiscal government and responsibility. they want me to tackle the debt. i try to stay out of abortion rights. rape, incest, those things that are exceptions, life of a mother. >> mia love, see you in washington, i assume you'll be elected. not a lot of democrats in utah? >> not very many democrats in utah. >> you have a good shot. >> we have a great shot. >> being the first black woman republican in congress. >> yes. as a matter of fact, i think utah is going to come out in numbers to support mitt romney. they may have the highest percentage of votes. >> would you want to be a member

of the republican caucus? >> yes. >> you'll have some colleagues. republican colleagues in the congressional. one is a congressional background. we will double check. congressman -- mayor i should say. >> thank you. following the scenes of devastation across the gulf coast. tropical storm isaac, was a hurricane, may be a tropical storm. it is moving so slowly, the impact is magnified, leaving some areas devastated. cnn's lisa sylvester is following it all for us. what are you seeing? >> reporter: wolf, some say the flooding and high winds from this slow moving storm effected them more than katrina, even though it is a much weaker storm. we're hearing story upon story of isaac flooding roads and homes and creating for

nightmare. tropical storm isaac is parked on top of louiana, miissippi, parts of alabama. it didn't compact with the power of katrina exactly seven years after that storm made pace is pummeling the region with heavy rain and wind. >> we're hearing 48 hours of rain. that's going to -- inland, it's going to be a lot of flooding. >> reporter: and with that, destruction that gulf coast residents are all too familiar with. >> i had more damage from this storm than i did with katrina. >> reporter: that's the president of plaquemines parish. a levee was overtopped this morning. making matters worse, emergency crews kept busy rescuing several people trapped in their homes. >> what's it like back there? >> it's horrible. everybody's house is gone. nobody's got a house there, nobody.

>> how high is the water? >> the water is almost over my head. >> what's it like back there now? >> bad. water's over the top of the roof. we had to break through the ceiling and come through the attic. >> reporter: local and state leaders continue to stress that danger remains, even once the winds and rain subside. >> we have dodged a bullet in the sense that this is not a category 3 storm but a category 1. at this strength, from 85 to 100-mile-an-hour winds with 125 miles an hour of gust is plenty enough to put a big hurt on you. >> reporter: dodged a bullet? yes. but louisiana governor bobby jindal says the threat remains and people should respect the power of this storm. >> bottom line  t it will be moving through our state. we'lbe dealing with this storm through eay friday morning. >> and it is, of course, far too early to access thextent the mage isaac has brought to the gulf coast. officials have to wair e

stor move on first. en they'll turn to clean-up and getting a read and price tag tol wolf? >> thanks very much, lisa for that. let's get more from our meteorologist and severe weather expert, chad myers. he's got the latest forecast, the latest developments. chad? >> this thing is just huge. it's raining in the carolinas, georgia, florida, all the way back to texas. the eye not moving very fast. i don't expect the eye or the center to be north of shreveport for another 30 hours. it sat over the gulf of mexico, it gathered strength. it's flooding rainfall from bay st. louis over to pensacola. it's a 70-mile-per-hour storm. and one thing we have to worry about are tornadoes. on the east side, we've seen spinning storms roll onshore from biloxi to gulfport, bay st. louis to waveland. and moving up toward fairhope and mobile, some of those storms

could be rotating. not big tornadoes like kansas and texas. but little waterspouts that come onshore. we know of significant damage to a couple of houses in the gulfport area that came onshore an hour ago. this could happen all night long. wolf? >> chad, thanks very much. we'll stay on top of this story. we're also watching what's going on here in tampa right now. this is the motorcade bringing mitt romney back to his hotel. he was out campaigning in indiana. he's now back in tampa, getting ready for this night of the republican convention. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble...

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gets ready to address this republican national convention later tonight. he may hold the number two spot on the gop ticket, but there's a good chance that if elected, he could someday be number one if there was a problem. we talked about it with presidential historian doris kearns goodwin. >> of the 47 men who have been vice president, 14 have become president, either by the death of the president or because they won the presidency or by assassination or by the resignation, which means there's a great likelihood, almost a 30% likelihood that this character who is going to be your vice president may be the president. >> i will do my best. that is all i can do. >> the cliche is said that the most important thing about the selection is to do no harm to yourself. one thinks about mcgovern choosing eagleton and going through that whole drama of behind him 1,000% and having to drop him from the ticket because

it became known that he had had some electroshock therapy. quayle became a problem for mr. bush at the beginning because he didn't seem ready for the job and certainly things were brought up that hadn't been vetted very well. >> there you go. >> and clearly sarah palin was not vetted fully enough for the role so that she became a weight on the ticket. >> what specifically, i'm curious -- >> all of them. any of them that have been in front of me over all these years. >> can you name a few? >> and then in 1944, what's so extraordinary, given that roosevelt knew that he was not in great health by the time of that convention, his heart has been diagnosed in the spring of 1944 has having had severe heart congestion. he didn't pay any attention to who the vice president should

be. he was so lucky, the country was so lucky that it turned out to be harry truman. incredibly in the 1956 democratic convention, adelaide stevenson decided, let's give some drama to this convention. i'm going to throw open the choice to the floor. i remember lyndon johnson once said to me, that's the stupidest decision anyone's ever made. but in fact it's where john kennedy becomes a national figure, even though he loses that vice presidential race, he comes really close. and i can remember even my mother, catholic, irish cathic family, watching john kennedy almost win and lose. and then that somehow emotional tie to jfk began right then. so adelaide stevenson in a center sense by throwing open that convention, etch though jfk didn't become the nominee, then becomes the president four years late