candidate reiterated some key points of his acceptance speech. romney promised to lower taxes on small businesses, repeal the obama health care plan, and balance the budget. >> we'll finally have to do something that republicans have spoken about for a long time and for a while we didn't do it. when we had the lead we let people down. we had to make sure we don't let them down this time. i will cut the deficit and get us ontrack to a balanced budget. >> now to president barack obama who spent part of his day at a rally in urbandale, iowa. he launched what he is calling his road to charlotte tour. he took aim at mitt romney's convention speech. >> if you didn't dvr it, let me recap it for you. everything is bad, it's obama's fault, and governor romney is the only one who knows the secrets of creating jobs and

growing the economy. >> so as the president starts his road to charlotte tour, the democratic party is putting finishing touches on the convention. it all gets going tuesday. cnn political producer shannon travis is in charlotte, north carolina this afternoon. shannon, are people trickling in already besides the media, such as yourself? >> yeah. i mean, mostly the media presence is growing and growing since yesterday when we arrived but you're absolutely right. they are some of the delegates, some of the dnc officials that have started to come in, probably picking up their cars and securing their hotel rooms before things get too crazy. i think the bulk of people will be coming in tomorrow, fred. also tomorrow we expect for the security perimeter that will secure basically the entire zone surrounding this arena where the dnc will kick off on tuesday. that will be going up tomorrow afternoon we expect so a few more headaches getting around then as well. a lot of preparations are going on. a lot of people are filing in. pretty much yesterday and today,

fred. >> okay. quite a few celebrities are kind of on the roster to speak or at least be in attendance. who are they as far as you know? >> yeah. the republicans had clint eastwood. let's go through some of the performers who will be here for the democrats. i've got a little bit of a list here. amber riley. you remember her. she is a of "glee" fame on tuesday night. on wednesday we have jessica sanchez of "american idol" fame. redford marsalus the famed jazz musician will do the national anthem. on thursday a huge concert. mary j. blige, earth, wind, and fire. james taylor, and mac antony doing the national anthem. that is the day the president and vice president will make their acceptance speeches. it should be a lot of fun and big draw for those performers too. >> we understand while the dnc is meeting republican mitt romney is getting a little practice on debates that'll get

under way soon. what do you know about those details? >> yeah. we already knew. we were previously reporting that sflor rob portman of ohio would play barack obama in these debate preparations for mitt romney. jim acosta reported earlier that they will be practicing this week so i guess romney is taking a little bit of time while the president of the democrats are here to take a little down time and do some debate preparation. so would love to be a fly on the wall for that, fred. >> all right. shannon travis, thanks so much, in charlotte. everybody would. all right. cnn's live coverage of the democratic national convention from charlotte, north carolina beginning tuesday evening, 7:00 p.m. eastern time. anderson cooper, erin burnett, and candy crowley will join wolf blitzer to lead the coverage. all right. now to rural plaquemines parish in far south louisiana. you probably recognize plaquemines as the place that got whacked by isaac's storm surge. a large section of the parish lies outside of the federal

levee system highlighted there. it is actually still under water. cnn's george howell headed out today by boat to survey the flood and also get a chance to talk with whoever he could find out there. give me an idea. what happened? what did you see? >> so, fred, i want to show you over here. just on the other side of that tree line there is a levee, a raised levee like the one we're on right now, maybe eight or nine feet high. and beyond that, beyond that levee, you find these communities under water. we did go over there. we got on a boat, even rode along the levee side just to see what the situation is over there. fred, i can tell you the flood waters are still there. you know, you have to be on a boat to really go into these neighborhoods and see them. remember these flood waters got anywhere from 7 feet to 14 feet in this area. went over these 8-foot-high levees. you find officials doing the best they can to search for anyone who still needs help in the area. we ran into a person who lives

in that community and has lived there for a short time but he says that this was a surprise to even people who have lived there all their lives. he went over to search for his pets. he was able to find his cats. search and rescue for animals, it's something that many people weren't able to take their pets. when the situation became dire and people had to get out. here's what robert sanders had to say to me. >> i did a lot of rescue out of the ninth ward after katrina. you know, it's a beautiful place over here and kind of like gambling. you take a gamble. but, you know, people around here have been doing this all their life. they'll probably come back and build it right back and get ready for the next one. that's probably what i'll do. >> reporter: fred, again, we're talking about plaquemines parish, these very thin slivers of land that parlel the mississippi right out to the

mouth. people who live out here say, you know, they will likely return back even after going through this storm, going through katrina. people say this is home and they are going through the process of starting over. >> so, george, has everyone been located in that area? >> fred, i'm sorry. you'll have to repeat. >> has everyone been located in that area? >> from what we understand. you know, there are still some people, fred, who decided to stay in their homes even through the storm and are still there despite the flood waters. officials check in with those people. everyone is casualtied for so far. we know of two deaths here in plaquemines parish. a couple discovered in a flooded home. you talk to robert saunders about this situation and he says there was a short amount of time to get out of the way. this water came quickly. he said within a matter of minutes four feet of water in

his first floor. he went up to the second floor to try to get away from it. then he decided to get out when the officials came to help him escape. >> george howell in plaquemines parish, thanks so much, louisiana, appreciate that update. >> thank you. >> let's find out where the remnants of isaac might be right now and what it promises to bring. we'll go to the weather center. boy, this isaac has some serious staying power. >> it has legs for sure. the remnants are still moving just primarily right around the central mississippi river valley but for the most part its impact is felt to the east of the mississippi river. here we have two tornado watches out for a good portion of illinois and southern illinois extending down into missouri. we've had some isolated reports, tornado warnings. doppler radar indicated tornadoes. but for the most part any tornadic activity we see coming out of the, what is left over from this going to be short lived and fairly weak. that's not to say they're not going to be dangerous but for

the most part that is what we're looking at throughout the afternoon. rainfall totals for the most part in southeastern illinois, southern indiana, portions of kentucky, this is where we could see kind of a bulls eye for some heavy rainfall here. this'll be where most of the energy is going to be heading into the next 24 to 48 hours, maybe 6 to 10 inches of rainfall possible in some of those areas. but for those who are without power and it may take several more days for everybody to get back online, in southeastern louisiana they're saying in excess of 440,000 people without power. look at the temperature. it's 90 degrees outside, insufferable. that with the humidity combined to make the heat index feel like 101 degrees in new orleans, 105 in shreveport. slight risk of thunderstorms. we knew that going into this afternoon. i think we'll see the bulk of the activity for this afternoon shifting eastward as we go into the next 24 hours.

so we have the remnants left here and a fire danger across the northern great plains. fred, we'll keep you updated. isaac made landfall on the seventh anniversary of katrina in new orleans. >> that is so remarkable. >> it is. >> i don't think anybody could believe their ears when they heard that that could potentially happen and then it did is really astounding. thank you. should texas voters have to bring a photo i.d. to the polls? a federal appeals court weighs in. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces,

i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now.

some fascinating legal cases straight ahead including one that might impact the presidential election. avery, you first on what really is a victory for the u.s. justice department. >> you know, some states are putting great big boulders in front of the voting booth. a three-judge panel this week came up with a blockbuster. we'll talk about that and more coming up. >> richard, you think this is something that could really impact the elections in a big way? >> i think it could. the state of texas was beat down here. you wonder why a democrat has not won a statewide election in the last ten years. discriminatory intent. not going to be tolerated. >> all right. our brilliant legal minds, 90 seconds away. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us.

thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

now to texas and the u.s. justice department which can put one notch in their belt as a victory as they've been challenging these new voter i.d. laws sweeping across the country, something like 19 states that have them. so in the case of texas, now we're talking about that new voter i.d. law being knocked down. so is it likely, richard, that the other cases just might follow suit? there are some precedents now that perhaps this is not a case in which there are a rash of fraudulent, you know, voters who are trying to cast a ballot because the justice department and others have already determined that there is not,

you know, there isn't a pattern of a great litany of fraudulent cases. >> right. >> right. do the ends justify the means? are these laws required to cure some far reaching problem we had with voter fraud? but the answer here is, no. they don't. you'll wonder why in the great state of texas no democrat has won a statewide election in the last ten years. it's because the republican controlled legislature does things like this. i mean, this was clearly as the court held a discriminatory intent involved in doing this, fred. >> there is a large number of people in this jurisdiction in particular in texas that don't have those government issued i.d.s. >> right. >> they don't have cars, they don't have driver's licenses. they wouldn't be able to produce these documents. >> right. >> that's right. that is exactly right. >> go ahead, avery. >> the bottom line is a 56-page opinion and let's not dance

around what the issue is. the three-judge federal panel said it was based on race and it is a very definitive, clear decision that 142 years of amending the constitution not to block voter rights, a 47-year-old federal law that guarantees voter rights, these cases keep falling. state legislatures in texas and florida and ohio keep trying to block the polls primarily of the poor, of minorities. and you know what? whether it's a federal judge appointed by a republican president or a democratic president we're seeing virtually all federal cases, fredricka, saying knock it off. it violates the constitution. let people vote. >> south carolina has a case that might be the next one in line. it, too, you know, is covered jurisdiction under the voting rights act similar to texas. >> right. >> the argument there is that they're requiring people to have one of the five state issued

i.d.s. but the law apparently has to be preapproved. what does that mean exactly? a law would have to be preapproved before it would be able to go forward, richard? exactly. if you want to have redistricting maps or go into requiring some sort of identification, you know, it doesn't have to be a driver's license, fred. that's what happened in texas. they proposed alternatives. other types of identification, which the legislature just knocked down in amendments. but they have to go to d.c. to get approval because this violates the voting rights act. they want to make sure it's there, that the elections are fair. what we're assuming here is who are being disproportionately affected here, it's the poor and they're assuming the poor will vote democratic so that is the rationale behind all this. and i think they're going to continue to fall when states act in this manner. >> all right. richard herman, avery friedman -- >> fredricka? >> yeah, go ahead. >> the supreme court is not going to take the case. that is very important. election is two months away. those cases will stand. very, very important.

>> i disagree. i think the supreme court will take this case. they're going to take the case not in the next three months but they will take the case. >> all right. the legal guys are here every saturday noon eastern giving us their take on the most intriguing legal cases of the day. the lap top computer of the future is here. it's greener, cheaper, and hopefully will soon be in the hands of school kids who could never afford it before. the guy who invented it? he is on the next list tomorrow. >> when we started designing the lap top we were just looking at how do you protect the key board and the screen? how do children sort of carry it around? we set aside between 10% and 30% of our work hours toward those kind of projects. i can't tell you that's just what made business sense every

month but i can tell you that is what made human sense every month. >> the next list, agents of change. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've goto think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ but not how we get there. because in this business, there are no straight lines. only the twists and turns of an unpredictable industry.

so the eighty-thousand employees at delta... must anticipate the unexpected. and never let the rules overrule common sense. this is how we tame the unwieldiness of air travel, until it's not just lines you see... it's the world. yep...doh. [ boy ] slurpably fun and a good source of calcium. dads who get it, get go-gurt. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours.

♪ and the next great idea could be yours. during mattress price wars at sthe feathers are flying! through labor day, get 3 years interest-free financing and save on a huge selection of posturepedic and beautyrest mattress sets. even get 3 years interest-free financing on every tempur-pedic and serta icomfort. when brands compete, you save! don't miss mattress price wars. and hurry, this special financing offer ends labor day. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

all right. there's outrage in south africa today after 270 platinum miners were charged with the murders of 34 fellow miners. those miners were shot dead by police officers. the miners were involved in a deadly clash with police officers two weeks ago. south africa's justice minister is demanding an explanation and the release of the miners. victims have rejected an apology from the german inventor. the drug taken by pregnant women caused thousands of babies to be

born with shortened arms and legs. foreyears victims have demanded justice. the head of the group says the apology is too little too late. >> i have read the speech and the so-called apology. it's the sort of apology you give when you're really not sorry. i suspect he might not know what shock is. shock is having your precious child born without arms and legs. it's accepting that your child is not going to have that life that you wanted for her. >> thalidomide was not approved for widespread use in the united states. a new chapter in penn state's tarnished history ends in defeat today. the nittany lions lost the season opener to ohio university. it was the first game following

the jerry sandusky child abuse scandal that rocked the team and the university. it was also the first home opener since 1949 without legendary coach joe paterno. paterno died two months after he was fired from the team. isaac has had a lot to do with rising gas prices. right now the national average is at $3.83 for a gallon of regular unleaded. it's up eight cents over last week. some stations in the south have seen a 20-cent jump in the past week and a lot of it is because of the closure of oil rigs and refineries that were in the path of isaac. all right. he has won the third largest powerball in history. $337 million is written on that check right there. donald lawson quit his job working on the michigan railroads after learning he was the winner. but he says the win won't change him a whole lot. he'll keep on living the simple

life. all right. mention the song "sweet home alabama" or "free bird" and you know what classic southern rock band i'm referring to. band members tell us the story of how they got the name lynnyrd skynyrd. it may have something to do with this man. are you okay, babe? i'm fine. ♪ ♪ ♪ with a subaru you can always find a way. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

you want to make sure it goes up and stays up. [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here. that's why i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. [ chirp ] and the fastes push-to-talk nationwide. [ male announcer ] upgrade to the new "done." [ chirp ] with access to the fastest push to talk, three times the coverage, and android productivity apps. now when you buy one motorola admiral rugged smartphone, for ninety nine ninety nine, you'll get one free. visit a sprint store, or call eight five five, eight seven eight, four biz. hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. wells fargo. together we'll go far.

wells fargo. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.

try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. align. align naturally helps maintain digestive balance. ♪ ooh, baby, can i do for you today? ♪ try align today. they've be together for the most part some 40 years. their music sparking memories of weddings, proposals, and school dances, sweet home alabama, free bird, what's your name? now you know exactly who i'm talking about. lynerd skynerd. i sat down with the vocalist johnny van zandt and the guitarists about how it all got

started beginning with the band's name. >> it was his gym teacher. i should let him explain it. >> his name was leonard skinner so with a different spelling but he used to get us in trouble for having long hair in school. it was just down to our eyebrows or touching our ears back in the '60s but we liked the beatles and we wanted to be a band so we tried to grow it long but in gym class e noticed it shaking and stuff and would kick you out to get a hair cut. so after a while, we just quit school and said, no. we're not doing it and grew our hair and played in the band. now you kids stay in school. >> that's what i was going to say. >> doesn't work for everybody. >> it doesn't work for everybody. >> now it's kind of weird. >> think about that. when he finally learned that, wait a minute, lynerd skynerd is kind after play on my name. >> we spelled it different so he

wouldn't sue us. >> oh. >> we're not that stupid. >> he opened a realty company in florida, jacksonville, and a couple night clubs called skinner's place. >> yeah. >> and we stopped. he introduced the band a couple times on the tribute tour when we started back saying i'm the real leonard skinnered and i'm going to introduce lynerd skynerd. >> here to confuse everybody. they're touring the u.s. show casing their new album "last of a dying breed" and you can see more of my interview with the band tomorrow 5:00 eastern time right here on cnn. they were a lot of fun. all right. that's it for me. i'm fredricka whitfield. cnn newsroom continues at the top of the hour and right now keep it right here for sanjay gupta, md. hello there. hope you're enjoying your labor day weekend. today we'll hear about an exercise danger in the water that is very unique in that very fit people are