we simply cannot afford to give the reigns of government who will double-down on trickle down. thank you. >> the show stopper, bill clinton, political maestro brings the democrats to their feet. >> and tonight the man himself president obama makes his case to be the next two-term democrat. the acceptance speech moved indoors and it might get a little loud. good morning to you. welcome to "early start," we're happy you're with us. i'm zoraida sambolin in new york. >> i'm john berman, live at the cnn grill in charlotte north carolina for the democratic national convention. zoraida, this was a tour deforce

last night, bill clinton, big dog, showing he might be out of office but not out of tricks. he was part accomplish, part preacher, part lawyer with a comprehensive and exhaustive defense of president obama's record and on offense, making the case for four more years. this was all the more remarkable. remember, their relationship is complicated to say the least. cnn's dana bash joins me now. dana, this was long, 45 points. you got the sense of the people in the audience would have taken even more. >> 48 minutes and 30 seconds by the producers of this program's count. he went offscript as he does do it was bill clinton after all. they certainly did eat it up. it was aspaech that the democratic party certainly was waiting for. >> reporter: this is the lasting image of the evening an embrace four years ago few could imagine. but the former president made

clear, bitterness over the bruising battle between his wife and obama is ancient history. repeatedly making case for four more years as only bill clinton can. >> if you wants a winner-take-all, your own your own society you should support the republican ticket. but if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility, we're all in this together society, you should vote for barack obama and joe biden. >> reporter: the man who could famously feel your pain vouched for obama's empathy. >> i want to nominate a man who's cool on the outside but who burns for america on the inside. >> reporter: he eagerly reminded people he presided over historic economic prosperity as he pushed back on gop arguments that obama could have done more.

>> no president not me not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years. now -- but he has -- he has laid the foundations for a new modern successful economy, a shared prosperity. and if you will renew the president's contract, you will feel it. >> reporter: and he tore apart the romney economic plan. >> they're going to cut the taxes way more than they cut spending. especially with that big defense increase. and they'll just explode the debt and weaken the economy. and they'll destroy the federal government's ability to help you

by letting interest gobble up all your tax payments. >> reporter: arguing today's uncompromising gop has been hijacked by the right. he framed obama's willingness to compromise in the most personal of ways. >> president obama appointed several members of his cabinet, even though they supported hillary in the primary. heck, he even appointed hillary. >> heck. >> that was so vintage bill clinton. that obviously was by far the highlight so far. earlier, the way that the day started was not so good. it was pretty awful, even chaotic for the democrats. they tried to fix an error that they realized they made politically by taking out the word god from the plot form and taking out the concept of jerusalem as israel capital. they changed it but they did it

in a way that they had to have a voice vote to do so. and the chair of the convention, mayor villaraigosa had to go it three times to be able to say i think we have pictures of this, that there was a two-thirds majority. i was standing there, john during this awkward moment. there was booing actual booing in the room. there were not a lot of people who were happy about that. >> this was a moment of chaos and completely unforced error for the democrats and one they cleaned up fast but maybe not completely. i should say later on "starting point," soledad o'brien will talk to debbie wasserman schultz. her controversy and and flat-out contradictory explanations for this change in the platform. brianna keilar talked to her last night. it was a stunning infer view. we'll get to that later. first, more about this speech. i want to bring in ryan lizza a

cnn contributor and writes for the "new yorker." he's the principle writer this week of the clinton/obama relationship. could bill clinton possibly have done anything more for barack obama? >> you know i've been looking at all the reviews this morning and even among conservatives. the harshest criticism you can find is that it went a little too long and maybe it should have been edited down. the more i thought about it watching the speech, when you know these guys have had a difficult relationship, when you know at the bottom they're not close friends as bill clinton said in an interview before the speech, he said we're not close friends. >> we don't have a romance. >> they don't have a romance. when you know that and watch the speech and you see him go logically through the case for why obama is better than romney to me it makes the power of the argument a little stronger. if you're sort of loosely attached obama voter from 2008 who's looking at this guy and is

skeptical skeptical, wondering what's happening to the economy, who better to make that case to you than somebody who's been skeptical of obama for a long time as well. it was the guy to do it. this was an amazing speech. >> it was like a lawyerly defense, barack obama. who are the voters he's trying to reach? >> they're white down-scale voters who frankly democrats, not just obama have struggled with or haven't won much more than 40% in decades. and those are the people that bill clinton has always done a good job speaking to. he comes into this speech with a 69% approval rating. michelle obama the night before has high approval ratings. it's a powerful one-two punch, two of the only national politicians that have ratings like that. most politicians just don't get that high anymore. >> a former republican consult and who made ads for none other than mitt romney came on cnn after the speech and said they should shut down the convention right now. that was the speech that may have elected barack obama.

that's pretty out there. >> i wonder if alex is getting calls from his republican friends saying, hey, tone it down, alex. >> it is true. you asked the question about who he's trying to reach. i think that there are no question that there are -- i mean you probably know some personally, people who are 2008 obama supporters who just are disappointed in him. and disappointed in what he has done. and for president clinton to do this and not just give i think you're right, a lawyerly explanation of why but also to give it in a wa i thatting loos like he's emoting and he means it it's hard to -- >> sometimes more effectively than the white house has done itself over the last few years. we'll bring you back and talk more about this. dan that bash ryan lizza. thanks for being with us. we move on. a bit more from overnight. the romney campaign were predictably unenthused by bill clinton's remarks. saying the speech helped bring

obama's failures into focus. the they released a statement that says in part, after four years he could say you were better off. barack obama hasn't worked across the aisle. he's barely worked with other democrats and has the worst economic record of any president in modern history. those reviews from the romney campaign not as good as perhaps from some of the othe commentators last night. the battleground state of ohio could decide the race for the white house in november. it was the buckeye state that formerly gave barack obama the democratic nomination, moments after bill clinton's speech. >> ohio, madam secretary, casts all 188 votes for the president and the next president of the united states, barack obama. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> the convention wraps up tonight with speeches from vice president biden and, of course the big speech from president obama. the vice president did pay a visit to the time warner cable arena yesterday for a walk-through on the stage. the vice president getting a feel for what he'll be looking at later tonight. now, the vice president and the

president were supposed to give their speeches outdoors in front of 74,000 people at bank of america stadium. but democrats had to move the speech back inside because of weather concerns. by the way that change in venue means they're not going to have any balloons. no balloon drop at a convention. the bottom of the hour we talk to margaret hoover and richard socarides. former president clinton did not do it in his speech neither did mitt romney. that's why u.s. service members will be listening to president tonight to see if he mentions the war in afghanistan. we go live to kabul, coming up. [ bridesmaid ] blacked out... but i'm a bridesmaid. oh! "x" marks the spot she'll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast... ...to the capital one venture card. fly any airline any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use.

what a coincidence? what's in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. 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 grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you,

around the country around the corner. us bank. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation'military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you,

usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. i didn't think it was anything. i had pain in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. welcome back. 13 minutes past the hour. u.s. service members will be watching president obama very closely tonight as he caps the democratic national convention. they're waiting to see if he will mention the war in afghanistan.

his gop rival, mitt romney did not mention afghanistan at all during his speech last week at the republican national convention. we follow the developments in kabul. have you been speaking to the soldiers there? there was a will the of criticism from the vets saying, what about us? >> reporter: zoraida, i have spoken to u.s. troops. i have to say, they were shocked and disappointed that the republican presidential candidate mitt romney did not mention the war in afghanistan made no mention of it whatsoever. you know there are 80,000 u.s. troops who are fighting and dying here in afghanistan and if you are auditioning for the role of commander in chief, then the last you can do is acknowledge those men and women. we know that this is an unpopular war there's no doubt about it. two-thirds of americans are against it. unfortunately the public is growing tired of it losing interest in it. but this can't go from being

obama's war of necessity to america's forgotten war. zoraida? >> what is it they are saying they would like to hear? >> reporter: i think they want to hear the president acknowledge them. i mean, i don't think there's any doubt he's going to mention the death of osama bin lade fact that he's pulled troops out of iraq and he has a plan for afghanistan as well. but the fact that they should be mentioned and hopefully will be mentioned, is a great thing for morale. these men and women are working they're fighting they're training and they are dying. and it is very disheartening for them to hear their leader or their potential leader not even mention the hard work that they are doing, the sacrifice that they are doing. i can assure you that all u.s. troops including general john allenby, the commander of nato forces here in afghanistan will be closely watching what president barack obama has to say at the democratic national

convention. >> thank you. we appreciate that. tragedy in nebraska where four people died after a school bus collided with a tractor-trailer. this happened tuesday afternoon near blue hill, nebraska. the webster county sheriff says both drivers were killed, along with two passengers on the bus. the ages of those passengers has not been released yet. four children between the ages of 6 and 10 were injured in that crash. costa rica is reeling from one of the strongest earthquakes to ever hit the country. it's surveying the damage at this hour after yesterday's 7.6 magnitude jolt hit the peninsula. there are conflicting reports about casualties there. emergency officials said one person had died from a heart attack that happened during the quake. the president later said there were no human losses. show me your papers stands. a federal judge denying a

request to block the june decision that upheld it. she originally blocked the provision in 2010. the aclu says it is prepared to keep challenging the law by documenting racial profiling in the state of arizona. kickoff to the 2012 nfl season was a kick in the gut to the super bowl champion new york giants. the dallas cowboys beat big blue 24-17. cowboys quarterback, tony romo had a big night with three touchdown passes. as for those replacement refs, what about them? they were nearly invisible. the replacements were really not a factor. good news for the nfl which has locked out the regular officials in a contract dispute. it is 5:17 in the morning time for your early reads. first up from the charlotte observer, we told you the weather forced a venue change for the final night of the democratic national convention. first from the cavernous bank of

america's stadium to the much smaller time warner cable arena. here's the rub. from 65,000 people who thought they'd be witnessing history in person have suddenly been disinvited. many stood in line for hours to get the tickets. they put in time volunteering for obama's re-election. campaign officials say that they promised the shutout ticket holders a conference call with the president this afternoon and they're working to arrange some kind of event later on for the president to meet with them in person. there are a lot of upset people. last night this smaller arena was packed. the fire marshalls shut the doors for a while. it can't possibly fit many more people than it did. there will be a lot of angry people. >> really disappointing after you volunteer those hours to the campaign. hopefully they'll get the conference call. listen to this john possible jitters after the aurora shooting. a man with pink hair wearing joker make-up at a florida movie theater caused someone to call police. this is the orlando sentinel. it has a story a 21-year-old christopher sides, there's a picture right there he was

spotted in a melbourne movie theater while waiting to see the expendables 2. police arrested sides on a previous misdemeanor warn for failure to appear in court. he was unarmed and police say he was cooperative during his arrest. very bad taste there. >> understand. yes. understand concerns i have to say. for an expanded look at all of our top stories head to our blog cnn.com/earlystart. we keep hearing this question, right? are you better off than you were four years ago? christine romans applies that question to the stock market. by the way they clean themselves in the bathroom.ttvwkun+og#wvs#q'ppu;v?2v.ac=u;lt"p/wlñkñ0k9%"@nkgh@ú&cg8 try charmin ultra strong. with a new duraclean texture it helps you get clean.tt@l"bé(kk?h plus it's four times stronger than the leading value brand. and you can use up to four times less. charmin ultra strong.ttvwkun+og#wvs#q'ppu;v?2v.ac=uúje1

you gotta taste this soup. i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. also discover daily moisturizing body wash. for healthy skin that starts in the shower. only from aveeno. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs g of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. [ female announcer ] quaker yogurt granola bars. they're whole grain good... and yummy good. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola

bars. treat yourself good. [ owner ] i need to expand to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance

and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. capella university understands businesses are trying to come back from rough economic times. employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. when you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu

welcome back. we are minding your business this morning. u.s. stock futures are higher ahead of the opening bell. christine romans is here talking about the big meeting of the european yawnunion. >> we have data showing us europe is sliding into recession. europe is our biggest trading zone. that means american factories are not sending as many goods over there. those are american workers who don't have as many jobs. the people you're seeing is mario draghi. he holds the key here. mitt romney, the president can battle it out for presidency in this country but mario draghi and what the european central bank does to stimulate the

european economy is what the world is watching. he is very very important for whether europe gets out of its mess. if europe gets out of its mess, that's good news for american exporters and workers. i want to look quickly at stocks. stock futures are up this morning. there must be optimism with whatever will happen with mario draghi. over the past four years, the stocks, are you better off than you were four years ago? look at stocks for a minute. you don't hear people mention stocks, in part because stocks are recovering from a horrific moment. september 15th four yearsing a ing aago, lehman brothers went bankrupt. stocks were in a tail spin. jobs are the most important thing right now. and so a stock market recovery is really overshadowed by what has been an anemic jobs market. >> that seems to the most important thing for everybody. it's still good news to see the

50%. >> right. >> but we still bottomed out. >> a lot of people took a big hit. tomorrow we'll get a jobs report in this country. i'm calling it anemic. cnn money is calling it an expectation that's gloomy. i'll go with anemic. 120,000 jobs added. it's not enough to get back any of the jobs that we lost. but here again, if you look at what this would be with i a little bit of a slowdown from the prior month july 1520,000 jobs. you would hear conservatives jump on that number. say, look, this is a failure. i want to look back four years if we're going to go back to that construct of are you better off than four years ago. in september 2008 we lost 432,000 jobs. so six or 700,000 jobs this time last year, two months last year it's just a reminder how far -- how far we've come and how much things have changed. >> i know you're not a big fan of -- >> i'm not a big fan of taking

four years and looking just at those. >> tunnel vision there. >> exactly. >> thank you very much christine. >> welcome. now back to john berman, live in charlotte for the democratic national convention. >> thanks, zoraida. we're talking about two men who have had quite a rocky relationship in the past. boy, you couldn't tell from looking at barack obama and bill clinton on stage last night. this is quite a hug. we'll have more on that hug and more from the democratic national convention live, coming up.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. rethink possible.

i hate to break it to you

but we're going to keep president obama on the job! >> a throwback as former president bill clinton says barack obama offers the best path forward. >> and president obama with a tough act to follow tonight as he gets ready to make -- or take that podium and make his case to be america's choice in 2012. good morning to you. welcome to "early start," we're happy you're with us, i'm zoraida sambolin in new york. >> and i'm john berman live at the cnn grill in charlotte north carolina for the democratic national convention where tonight after listening to speeches from his wife and one of his predecessors, barack obama will close the democratic convention officially accepting his party's nomination once again for president. last night, it was bill clinton who gave a passionate political and surgical speech in support of president obama. it was also a very long speech. and it included this quite a man hug, despite a complicated and sometimes testy, frankly,

relationship between the two men. with me here to talk about this is dana bash, former senior clinton adviser and newyorker.com writer richard socarides, margaret hoover as well. bill clinton played defense and offense, which i thought was extraordinary. he threw out a lot of numbers and made a lot of statements. i want to listen to a couple right now. first we play the defense where he defended obama's record and then i want to talk about the offense where he said what he thinks the republicans would do if they took control of the white house. let's listen. >> when president barack obama took office the economy was in free-fall. it had just shrunk 9 full percent of gdp. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. are we doing better than that today? the answer is yes. they want to actually increase defense spending over a decade

$2 trillion more than the pentagon has requested. without saying what they'll spend it on. and they want to make enormous cuts in the rest of the budget, especially programs that help the middle class and poor children. as another president once said, "there they go again." >> so margaret, i'm going to ask you one of these questions you love to get. even republicans are saying this was quite a speech. >> nobody can deny it. bill clinton is the 20th politician of the 20th century. >> she even wore blue today. >> he has a wonderful ability to cherry pick packs and create a narrative out of them and retell history in a way that's favorable to him frankly. and also to the story that he's trying to tell. he did this several times.

he did this with health care saying that health care has only risen 4% over the last two years, thank god for obama care. the affordable care act largely hasn't taken into effect, mostly because of the economy that 4% increase. they can take it. also there's been massive raises in premiums over the last couple years which most people are attributing to the affordable care act. there are problems as you go through the speech the broad brush strokes he made may not look as rose colored at the end. >> taken as a whole it looks pretty good. this was, i thought, a master class for the american people in and the state of our government the state of our politics and only as this president -- this former president could deliver. when i watched this i thought to myself this guy is the greatest political campaign speaker of our generation. >> he's also your former boss. >> he's also my former boss. i watched this watched him talk for eight years. this was if not the best speech of his life, pretty close to it. >> you any what's interesting,

quickly as i was watching? obviously barack obama came on to the stage because -- and got his name because he's such a good communicator. and it just goes to show that there is communicating and then there's communicating. >> richard says master class. i've heard that phrase a lot overnight, master class. why hasn't the white house been able to give this master class over the last four years? >> this is almost impossible to do. what he did last night is almost impossible to do. he explained to the american people the direction this country has to go in. how he got here. nobody can lay it out here. i thought he gave the best explanation of anyone ever on the issue of the $716 billion in medicare cuts. it was a brilliant explanation, very understandable. this guy can make politics and policy understandable to everyone. >> on subject -- go ahead. >> he can also talk about things that frankly president obama can't talk with debt and deficit. he could say when i was

president we had a balanced budget. that's something that's uncomfortable for president obama to talk about. >> on the subject of master class, the democrats can use one. they removed any mention of god removing support of jerusalem as capital of israel. they have since put it back in. how big of a problem is this for your party richard? >> listen, i think it's a total nonissue. what people are focused on from last night, there are a bunch of terrific speeches leading into the president's remarks. elizabeth warren gave a great speech sandra fluke gave a great speech. >> this was a mess. >> i think it was a little mess they fixed pretty quickly. i think the platform was not in sync with the administration's position on this and they changed it. it was a mistake and they fixed it. >> that's right. i think the thing that is so perplexing and baffling is how it happened particularly because this is coming out of a republican convention where everybody was focused on the

platform. and the fact of the matter is it was clear that the people who should have been focused should have had their political radar up for something that could have come back to hurt them they didn't. >> this is not even a blip. >> not even a blip. >> it's extraordinary that you can so overfocus on the republican platform and say that defines the party. and then say it doesn't define the democratic party. >> we'll stand by our platform. >> today, not yesterday. >> we tweaked it a little bit. clearly -- listen, everybody knows where the president stands on these issues. the platform was not in conformity with the white house position and our position as a country. >> this is a throwback to the way conventions used to be. they used to do business and openly disagree. >> floor fights. >> oh, my gosh, can you imagine actual, real drama. >> what can be happier than journalists. we have to move on. thank you guys so much we'll talk more politics in a bit. we have more political tidbits to get to first here. congressman paul ryan is saying

that bill clinton is sim mr. i a different kind of democrat than barack obama. mitt romney's running mate admits president obama inherited an economic meltdown but he insists the president's policies, they've only made matters worse. in this interview with our very own piers morgan listen to ryan compare the styles of the current and former democratic presidents. >> bill clinton gave us welfare reform. bill clinton worked with republicans to cut spending. bill clinton did not play the political games that president obama is playing. president obama gave us more borrowing, more spending, much more regulating and is putting a chilling effect on job creation. >> paul ryan will be campaigning later this morning in colorado springs. so what is mitt romney doing these days? he emerged from debate prep in vermont for a pizza break. he couldn't resist slicing up get it, president's economic record. >> two big numbers came out this week. 16 and 47. $16 trillion in debt.

the other number is 47. 47 million people now on food stamps. when it came to office, there were 32 million. there's just no way he can square those numbers with the idea that america's doing better, because it's not. >> romney returned to his debate prep after the pizza run with ohio senator rob portman playing the part of the president. port man, a phenomenal debater himself. former congresswoman gabrielle giffords is in charlotte and will be in house to hear president obama's speech tonight. giffords' spokesperson told cnn that gabby giffords will attend the democratic convention. sorry, i had a blip there. before we get to more politics, let's send it back to zoraida in new york. >> i want to chat with you a little bit. you were there live for the speech that bill clinton gave. i know you've covered politics for a long time. that man hug surprised me. were you surprised by it? did it come across as genuine to you? >> it was -- the answer is yes and no. yes, it came across as genuine despite the fact we knew it was

coming despite the fact they had to do it and that just goes to show what a skillful politician bill clinton is. that was truly the amazing thing about this full-throated, full throttled defense of barack obama. bill clinton and barack obama are not close. bill clinton gave this defense of barack obama's program and on every step every step of the way, he didn't just do everything he had to do. he did three steps more. he went further every step of the way and included their appearance on stage. they could have shaken hands but they hugged. so, you know we knew they were going to appear on stage together. that had been released before. they managed to pull it off and look natural doing it. >> absolutely. it seemed genuine and easy, i thought. so i just wanted to get your take there. thanks for that, john. we'll check back in with you shortly. 39 minutes past the hour. a little more than a week after hurricane isaac slammed the gulf we have another hurricane looming on the horizon.

more on where leslie could be heading. that's coming up. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] did you know that mach3 can last two times longer than a disposable? ♪ ♪ mach3 has high definition blades coated with 4 strengthening layers to help its blades stay sharp so it can last two times longer than a disposable. get an incredibly close shave day after day. switch to gillette mach3. better shave, great value. guaranteed. gillette the best a man can get.

i'm so glad you called. thank you.

we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money and financial information. here's your temporary card. welcome back. how was london? [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far. here's what happened... i was talking to my best friend. i told her i wasn't feeling like myself... i had pain in my pelvic area... and bleeding that wasn't normal for me. she said i had to go to the doctor. turned out i had uterine cancer a type of gynecologic cancer. i received treatment and we're confident i'll be fine. please listen to your body. if something doesn't feel right for two weeks or longer, see your doctor. get the inside knowledge about gynecologic cancers. knowing can make all the difference in the world.

yoip. good morning, miami. 81 degrees right now. 88 later. you'll have isolated storms as well in the area. sure looked pretty this morning. 43 minutes past the hour. the newest storm of the hurricane season her name is leslie. she is churning right now in the atlantic. rob marciano on where she could be headed. good morning to you. >> good morning, zoraida. not only leslie but overnight michael went from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in a matter of just hours. there's the eye. we haven't seen one of those in a while. it's the first major hurricane of the season. category 3 status. this is michael and this is leslie. small but stronger. winds of hurricane strength only go out 125 mile5 miles from the center of michael. leslie, much larger wind field.

this does pose a threat to not only bermuda over the next several days potentially as a category 3 storm or higher but getting up towards nova scotia and the canadian maritimes. no real threat to the u.s. coastline. waves and rip currents certainly a threat. that will be ongoing through the weekend. be careful there. watching this chunk left over chunk of isaac that has not kind of re-emerged in the gulf of mexico. they'll probably fly a hurricane hunter aircraft into this thing later on today to see what's going on with it. it could become another tropical storm again. they probably would name it nadine as opposed to isaac. that's sman tickemantics at this point. that soupy, tropical air mass in place across the eastern third of the country. a couple fronts that come through over the next couple of days to knock that down. until then, 83 in new york city for the high temperature 77 after some high temperatures yesterday that were much warmer and storms in chicago.

zoraida, back up to you. >> that michael looked scary there. >> yes, yes. any time you get the eye opening up like that, it's intimidating. no threat to any sort of land mass out there. we can watch it and admire it from afar. >> that's good news. thank you very much rob marciano live in atlanta. hurricane icesaac could be bringing remnants of an old crisis back to the gulf. coming up tar balls on the beach and what oil giant bp plans to do about them. ♪ ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... [ whispers ] 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime.

so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs g of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover.

the democrats big dog fired up the convention crowd last night in support of barack obama. bill clinton telling americans they need to stay the course, laying out a detailed point by point argument for four more years. >> he has laid the foundations for a new modern successful economy. a shared prosperity.

and if you will renew the president's contract, you will feel it. >> and tonight in what is supposed to be convention's biggest moment, president obama will accept formally his potter's nomination. now, bill clinton didn't have the only fiery speech last night. massachusetts senate candidate elizabeth warren was a hit with the convention crowd. she insisted the system is rigged in favor of big oil, billionaires and wall street ceos. she used mitt romney's own words to make the case for a second term for the president. >> mitt romney's the guy who said corporations are people. no governor romney corporations are not people. people have hearts, they have kids. they get jobs they get sick. they cry, they dance. they live they love and they die. and that matters.

>> elizabeth warren is locked in a tight race with republican senator scott brown in massachusetts. zoraida, the outcome of that race could determine the balance of power in the senate. >> she gave a very powerful speech. it is 50 minutes past the hour here. 13-mile stretch of louisiana's coastline remains closed this morning as sheens of oil and tar balls keep washing ashore in the aftermath of hurricane isaac. the coast guard reports finding three oiled birds. bp officials say they're heading to the area to test the tar balls to confirm whether they came from the 2010 deep water horizon spill. 2012 has been the worst year for the deadly west nile virus since the disease was first spotted in the u.s. back in 1999. just under 2,000 cases have been reported so far this year. that includes 87 deaths. the cdc says cases were up 25% over the past week and health officials expect the number of

cases to rise through the end of september as well. another very bloody day in syria. intense fighting between rebel forces and government troops breaking out across the country with 258 more deaths reported on wednesday. 115 of them in the city of aleppo. take a look at your screen. secretary of state hillary clinton discussing the syrian crisis with china's foreign minister, that is in beijing. no progress there. china insisting any solution should could from the syrian people and not outside forces. the national transportation safety board wants external cameras or other anti-collision devices installed on larger planes. they're trying to cut down on wing tip collisions during taxiing. the ntsb says three recent mishaps now under investigation involved pilots in large aircraft who could not see the tips of their wings. superstar illusionist david

copper field says he is donati a rare, private audio tape of martin luther king jr. is the hotel where he was assassinated. the tape was discovered rcently in a tennessee homes attic. reuters reported one dealer appraised that tape at $100,000. piece of history there. john? >> wow, good for david copper field. interesting. zoraida, in the next hour of "early start" we have a lot to talk about. we'll look ahead to president obama's big night and big into bill clinton's rather epic speech last night. we'll be joined by a great guest, don baer. he serve as communications director in the white house. also ryan lizza, he wrote a fascinating inside look at the obama/clinton relationship. what did ryan lizza see on that stage last night?

how about that hug? later on "starting point," soledad o'brien talks with debby debbie wasserman schultz. she talks about her own controversial and frankly, contradictory remarks. plus he took the torch from the likes of john mcenroe agassi andy roddick's emotional farewell at the u.s. open. you will not want to miss that. all that and much more coming up in the next hour here on cnn. if you change the channel you will regret it forever. first, a text from hillary in the middle of bill clinton's speech? if you've checked your facebook overnight you might know what we're talking about already. it is hilarious. that is coming up next on "early start."

[ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

capella university understands businesses are trying to come back from rough economic times. employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. when you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu

welcome back to "early start." 5:57 in the east. taking a look at what is trending on the web this morning, john. peyton manning makes his debut with the denver broncos, i know you know this, this send against the steelers. he's had the top-selling jersey nfl.com since april. one local school is not allowing kids to wear it. weld county school district 6 says manning's number 18 jersey has been banned because of the number's gang affiliation. the 18th street gang in this case. the ban has been in place for four years as part of its dress code for all schools. >> you know i thought this was overkill. i heard about this before. i have to say after reading into it, thiscy aseer jous deal an a lot of schools have this issue. if may not be as frivolous as you think. bill clinton getting a text

from hillary during his speech that lasted close to an hour last night. it says wrap it up the photos being shared all over facebook this morning. originally on buzz feed. this is a joke of course. you remember the famous text from the hillary craze on web earlier this year. by the way i should tell you, the secretary of state watched the president's speech on a sling player. she's in east timor and she watched it on the ambassador's computer in east timor, which is an awesome place to watch television, zoraida, if you ever get a chance. >> i'll remember that. diversity is a democrat's calling card. it's been on full display at their convention in charlotte. it's not lost on "daily show" host jon stewart. >> they had it well covered by filling the convention hall with democrats. black people asians, jews, muslims, hippies veterans babies, 1940s boxing reporters,

1840s sheriff. muppet americans and, of course newman! hello, newman. how effortlessly diverse is the democratic party? remember the fuss at the r in. c over rising latino star marco rubio? the democrats have not only a rising star they have an extra one of him in casey briggs. democrats have so many latinos they have doubles. we simply cannot afford to give the reins of government

that will double down on trickle downs. >> still the show-stopper bill clinton park rock star, part policy nerd as he brings the democratic party to its feet. >> and as you all know, tonight, the man himself president obama makes his case to be the next two-term democrat, and the acceptance speech moved indoors. we suspect it will be very loud. good morning to you. welcome to "early start." i am zoraida sambolin in new york. >> i am john berman live at the cnn grill in charlotte north carolina, for the democratic national convention and last night it was a tour deforce bill clinton showing he is the big dog, he might be out of office, but he is not out of tricks. he had a comprehensive and exhaust civil defense of president obama's record. offense, too making the case for four more years. this is really all the more remarkable because their relationship is pretty complicated to say the least and

dana bash joins me and this is more than 45 minutes long and people soaked up every minute of it. >> here is trivia. it was 48 minutes and 30 seconds long. that is 15 minutes longer than the speech that he gave to a convention in 1998 that was panned. it got panned because it was rambling but this speech was anything but rambling. it was rousing and exactly what the obama campaign was hoping for. >> this is the lasting image of the evening an embrace just four years ago few could imagine. the former president made clear bitterness over the bruising battle between his wife and can obama is ancient history repeatedly making the case for four more years as only bill clinton can. >> if you want a winner take all, you're on your own society, you should support the republican ticket. if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared

responsibility, we're all in this together society you should vote for barack obama. >> the man who could famously feel your pain vouching for obama's empathy. >> i want to nominate a man who is cool on the outside but who burns for america on the inside. >> he eagerly reminded people he presided over historic economic prosperity as he pushed back on gop arguments that obama could have done more. >> no president, not me not any of my predecessors no one could have fully repaired all of the damage that he found in just four years. now, he has laid the foundation

for a new modern successful economy, a shared prosperity, and if you will renew the president's contract, you will feel it. >> he tore apart the romney economic plan. >> we simply cannot afford to give the reigns of government to someone who will double down on trickle down. >> the compromising gop has high jacked by the right and framed obama's willingness to compromise in the most personal of ways. >> president obama appointed several members of his cabinet even though they supported hillary in the primary. heck, he even appointed hillary. >> bill clinton was not alone in primetime. democrats tried to widen an already huge gender gap chose

two female speakers liberal icon in massachusetts democratic senate candidate elizabeth warren. >> the system is rigged. look around. oil companies guzzle down billions in profits. billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. >> the georgetown university student rush limbaugh called a slut for advocating access to contraception at her school and talked about mitt romney's silence and the president's support. >> when he hears that a young woman has been verbally attacked thinks of his daughters, not his delegates or his donors. >> a strong an evening that started out rough. >> the reason it started out rough, john is because they had to fix an unforced error, a big one, and that is when the democrats affirm their platform it was missing two very

important things the word god, and also the idea that jerusalem is the capital of israel. it was a big deal they put that in and took it out and privately democratic officials and activists went nuts and they took it to the floor with two amendments to put those things back in and they had another issue. it was kind of chaotic. i was on the floor watching it. the chair of the convention the los angeles mayor, he had to ask for the vote three times in order to be able to at least say that he got two-thirds majority in order to amend this and there was booing there, and republicans are seizing on this. it wasn't entirely fair what they were booing and of course they were saying they were booing booing god. >> it was not a pretty picture. later on "starting point" soledad o'brien talks with debbie wasserman, the chair, about the controversial changes

to the party platform and her controversial and sometimes contradictory explanations of this and we want to hear from you about this. should the democratic party platform include reference to god and language declaring jerusalem the capital of israel. let us know at cnn.com to vote in the early poll and leave your comments on the poll. i want to go back to last night to the bill clinton speech and want to bring in washington correspondent, the definitive piece about the clinton obama relationship and to me this seemed like a lawyerly case for barack obama. >> yeah, very detailed, very specific. he went point by point rebutting all the arguments at the rnc and sort of like the anti-michelle speech. michelle obama gave a personal case. this is i know this man and i know and i have watched him make these decisions and here is why you should vote for him. i mean not to take anything away from that speech it was brilliantly delivered, but it is not so hard to get your wife to

give a speech but bill clinton, it is different. this is a guy that fought against barack obama and who has this long complicated relationship, so when he speaks in favor of him it means something a little more. your point about all the problems in the platform another thing barack obama has to appreciate that speech is it blew away that story which is a pretty big deal. >> absolutely. the other thing as i was watching this thinking to myself bill clinton is a politician that loves to be wanted and the fact that and you laid this out so well in your piece the fact that he was waiting, waiting, waiting for president obama to come to him as the elder statesmen and say what can die and how do i fix this he has been dying to have this moment. >> likes to rescue. >> and he was feeding off it like it is oxygen. >> i have never seen a human being look happier than bill

clinton on stage last night. is that important politically or just interesting? >> i think it is important. i think he is up there looking enthusiastic and truly this is not a grudging case for obama. this is in laying out a big choice between t two parties and saying -- he didn't say this but a subtext to the speech it doesn't matter what i think personally about obama it is this choice, and if you look at this rationally and logically policy by policy you have to choose this guy. >> we heard all of these speeches about i love him, i love him more i love him most and bill clinton -- >> at some point obama faded from the speech. i mean play and logic to pick out where he talks about obama and the subtext was it doesn't matter what you think about this guy, it is about the direction of this country. >> and on that note another key goal for the obama campaign in talking to if he officials there to bring americans back in time to when they felt good about the economy and the prosperity and the feeling that the government

can actually make things better, not necessarily big government but things can work and that seemed to deliver. >> one of the few politician that is can talk about the debt and deficit without seeming like a hypocrite. it is hard for obama to do it. clirnt clinton can do it. >> great to have you this week. only one more day of the convention. withdrawal already. thankfully we have a bit more from over night. the romney campaign, their turn, predictably unenthused by bill clinton's remarks saying the speech only helped bring president obama's failure into focus. it released a statement that says in part bill clinton worked with republicans, balanced the budget and after four years he could say you were better off. barack obama hasn't work add cross the aisle. he barely worked with other democrats and he has the worst economic record of any president in modern history. not good reviews from the romney campaign. the battleground state of ohio that could be the state that decides the race for the white house in november and it was the

buckeye state that formally gave barack obama the democratic nomination last night moments after bill clinton's speech. >> ohio, madam secretary casts all 188 votes for the president and the next president of the united states, barack obama. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> the convention wraps up tonight with speeches from vice president biden and president obama as they officially accept their respective nominations. now, the vice president did pay a visit to the time warner table arena yesterday with a walk through on stage and so he can get a feel for what he will be looking at later tonight. it is a little different than they thought it would be. the president and vice president were supposed to give their speeches outdoors in front of 74,000 people at bank of america stadium and democrats had to move the speech back inside because of weather concerns. that means tens of thousands of people are out of luck. many people who volunteered their time will not be able to get in tonight and another thing is the change in venue means they will not have a balloon drop.

at the half hour we'll break down bill clinton's speech when we're joined by don baer who helped write the 1996 renomination speech so really an inside look at bill clinton a little later. have to tell you no reason to go through withdrawal. i know that are you a political junk and i this is difficult but the election is in november and guaranteed there will be plenty to talk about from here to then. right? >> and i get to be back with you on monday. that's reason enough alone to leave the conventions. >> so sweet. i miss you too. we'll check back in a moment. moments of pure terror for a california bank clerk, kidnapped, told by robbers that there was a bomb strappedes to her body. the full story coming up.

energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment. we're america's natural gas. at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different.

i didn't think it was anything. i had pain in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge.

with the spark cash card from capital one olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! put it on my spark card! [ high-pitched ] nice doin' business with you! [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? ordinary rubs don't always work on my arthritis. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis.

bill clinton he wowed the crowd with an passioned defense of president obama but was it all true. we'll take a look at one of the comments he made about president obama's handling of the economy and tom core man has our fact check. >> former president clinton threw out an awful lot of numbers. what was the overall message? the overall message was that barack obama is a natural heir to the clinton legacy, that he is doing the same sort of things in a big way but with one caveat, mr. clinton insists that the times are so different that you simply can't expect the same

results. >> president obama start the with a much weaker economy than i did. listen to me now. no president, no president, not me, not any of my predecessors no one could have fully repaired all of the damage that he found in just four years. >> you see the context he is trying to give to this whole situation. look at the comparisons. like president obama president clinton came into office with soaring unemployment 7.1%, that's very close within a few tenths of a percentage point of what president obama faced when he came into office, but that's where the similarity ended. in the clinton years unemployment got better, better for the first term better for the second term, steadily moved toward almost full employment. that has not been the case for

president obama. in the clinton years average raises rose 30%. nothing like that has happened for president obama. mr. clinton inherited a $290 billion deficit, changed it to a $236 billion surplus by the time his terms office were done. mr. obama inherited a $459 million deficit and today it is 1.3 trillion. other things changed as well. you can see the trick that's being attempted by the democrats here. it is not an unfair to thing to try. what they're trying to say is believe in barack obama because he is like bill clinton but in all of these metric that is matter to an awful lot of voters, you also have to understand it simply can't be done the same way. it is more a matter of context as opposed to right or wrong but important context for voters to consider. >> zoraida back to you in new

york. >> i love the fact we do the fact checking. i put that on facebook and twitter so folks can make those decisions for themselves. thank you, john. >> great stuff. a school bus tragedy in nebraska, four people dead this morning after a bus collided with a tractor trail or tuesday afternoon near blue hill nebraska. the webster county sheriff says both drivers were killed along with two passengers on the bus. the ages of those passengers has not been released. four children between the ages of 6 and 10 were injured in that horrific crash. frightening moments for los angeles bank manager and her co-workers. police say robbers kidnapped the woman, rigged her with what they said were explosives and forced her to rob her own bank. the manager told the co-workers what was happening grabbed cash and threw it out the bank's back door to her abductors who drove off. police were able to successfully remove the device from the woman and they later detonated it.

a teary andy roddick, did you see this, ending his tennis career after the u.s. open after losing in four sets. roddick had announced this would be his last tournament. the last american man to win a grand slam the u.s. open in 2003 and als the last american man to hold the world number one ranking. we keep hearing this question. are you better off than you were four years ago? coming up christine romans applies that question to the stock market. ade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes lling hot dogs g of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. ask me. [ male announcer ] if you think even the best bed can only lie there... ask me what it's like when my tempur-pedic moves. [ male announcer ] ...talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america. ask me about my tempur advanced ergo.

ask me about having all the right moves. [ male announcer ] these are real tempur advanced ergo owners. find one for yourself. try your friends on facebook. see what they have to say unedited. ask me what it's like to get a massage anytime you want. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. [ woman ] ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait till i'm too old to enjoy this. [ male announcer ] treat yourself to the ultimate sleep experience and save up to $400 during the tempur ergo savings event. plus visit tempurpedic.com for full details on our 0% apr financing with four years to pay. don't wait. the tempur ergo savings event ends october 14th. visit tempurpedic.com now. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america.

welcome back. it is 22 minutes past the hour here and we are minding your

business this morning. u.s. stock futures are higher at the opening bell. christine romans is here talking about the big meeting of the european central banks in frankfurt and why this matters to all of us. >> it matters. it matters so much. the eurozone is our big customer. when your big customer is hurting, that means you're selling less to your biggest customer and that's why europe is so important. you heard me say that before. today we have new information thathe economies in europe are falling deeper into recession. the person on the screen is mario draghi, they call him super mario, the president of the european central bank and we'll be looking for signs from him about what the ecb could do to stimulate the european economy. that's what we're watching today. it is really important. you're watching the president and mitt romney and a very tight and fierce political battle in the united states. that's the political battle right now that means so much to your money and that's what's happening in europe. i want to take a look at stocks. stock futures are higher as you mentioned and we have been telling you the stocks had a pretty good summer. in the middle of this whole

conversation this week of the are you better off conversation, no one is really talking about the stock market. the stock market is better off, no question over the past four years. this is just since january 2009 up some 50% even if you go back to the fall of 2008 when there was a big campaign going on. you're much better off since then as well. about 20% higher since then. people don't talk about this and say i feel better in the middle class because of stocks because when your house is hit and you're worried about jobs, those are much more important right now. in the third quarter of 2008 gdp in this country our economy shrank 3.7%. in august 2008 we lost 274,000 jobs and in september we lost another 432,000 jobs. when you look from election season to elections season campaign to campaign you can see just the huge difference in what's been happening overall from the economy. big jobs report friday. >> yes. >> i am looking for about

120,000 jobs. that's what we're expecting there. >> the one thing -- >> are you a football fan? >> you know i am not. i am learning football. >> the one thing you need to know about your money today, the effects of the drought in your wallet, especially for football fans. chicken wings, corn ip whiches nachos, they're already up this fall just in time for football season. it got so much more expensive to be in the man cave with all of your friends eating bad food. drought in the midwest is the worst in 50 years. the stories we talk to you about hit you. enjoy the nachos. they're worth their weight in gold. >> that is awful. invite me to a football game. i will tailgate with you, my first football game in new york city. how about that? >> how about water and carrot sticks. >> that does not sound appear ties. i was going to say beef but unfortunately those prices are up as well. >> let's tailgate. i would love to tailgate. >> it is a date. 25 minutes past the hour. back to john berman live in charlotte for the democratic

national convention. i know you want to come with us. >> i am upset about the nachos. not my nachos. the economy is hitting my nachos and then it is serious. thank you very much. >> sure. >> here at the convention we're talking about tonight, it is the big night, president obama with a tough act to follow as he gets ready to take that podium just 24 hours after former president bill clinton, president obama will make his case to be erica's choice in 2012, more live from charlotte coming up. [♪...] >> announcer: with nothing but his computer, an identity thief is able to use your information to open a bank account in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock, the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today.

ntgomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish

impact life expectancy in the u.s. real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. i hate to break it to you. we're going to keep president obama on the job. >> the former president makes a rousing case for four more years of president obama. >> churning right now in the atlantic, dual hurricanes one of them already a powerful category 3 storm.

on that note i am still going to say good morning to you. welcome to "early start." we're happy you're with us. i am zoraida sambolin in new york. >> i am john berman live at the cnn grill in charlotte, north carolina, for the democratic national convention. this morning they're riding high after a bill clinton classic the former president with a long endorsement as he officially nominated president obama for the second term. the bar is high for president obama for his acceptance speech tonight here in charlotte. he obviously faces a number of challenges. we'll talk about all of this. with me is john baer, the former communications director and chief speech writer for her the clinton white house. you were in the clinton box last night watching this speech. >> i was. it was a great honor to be there, and a lot of fun with a lot of the old clinton crowd. it was a lot of reunion. >> how did it look from where you were sitting. >> fantastic. i thought it was a great speech. it was a full speech and a terrific one and i think if you pull back from everything the

president said, the message of this speech was something that no one yet has been able to do. he provided a narrative. he provided a story line for what the last four years have been about to really frame it and help explain it to the american people and he did one other important thing. there is a positive forward motion to that story. we're moving in a good direction and that's what the american people need to hear. >> almost like a lawyer laying out his case. >> he is a lawyer. he is a lawyer. he used those skills to layout his case talking a lot about policy. i want to listen to one sound bite here. >> since 1961 for 52 years now the republicans have held the white house 28 years, the democrats 24. in those 52 years our private economy has produced 66 million private sector jobs. so what's the job score?

republicans 24 million, democrats 42. >> i have heard a lot of democrats say since the speech last night that bill clinton was more effective in making the case for president obama than president obama has been himself. >> well look, it is easier for someone else, especially someone as good at this as president clinton to make that case than it is for president obama to brag on himself as president clinton would say. that clip to me was one of the most effective parts of the peach. who else could take toes facts accident look back over 50 years and make it very clear his party's approach has been the one that's been the most successful. >> who is the target there? >> the target is everyone. it is independent voters. the target is the base the democrats ready to move forward and get motivated and the target is also those people that haven't decided of which we know that's where the swing is going to be in the key states and you did a great job with that. >> president obama has spoken with the mess he inherited when he took over the office. sometimes it doesn't seem to

resonate as clearly as it might have last night with bill clinton. bill clinton talked about that last night. let's listen. >> in tampa, the republican argument against the president re-election was actually pretty simple. pretty snappy. it went something like this. we left him a total mess, he hasn't cleaned it up fast enough so fire him and put us back in. >> now you were a key player in the 1996 reelect of bill clinton. barack obama approach this is convention like you did an incumbent. what does he need to do tonight? what does he need to say to the american people? >> i think building on this platform that president clinton has provided if you will as the great explainer of what has happened for the last four years and providing that narrative, now president obama needs to do in my view exactly what president clinton did in 1996. you go back and look at his acceptance speech which i did work on. it is like a second state of the

union address for the country. he is talking about the agenda what he is going to do in his second term and i think that now if you think about this as a narrative, as a story line, where does this leave us? where do we go from here and how will the next set of policies be those that will help carry us forward? >> you think it needs to be more policy or more preacher? >> it is more policy. the people are looking for specifics concretely. what do we do? if we're moving in a good direction, how do we keep the forward momentum going? >> they know where they have been. the people living in the country for the last three and a half years haven't they made up their minds. >> they want solutions. based on president clinton's speech here willing to believe we are moving positively forward. there has been a forward momentum but now we need to know how will we finish the job? i think that's president obama's part tonight. >> come back with us. i think we have a lot to talk about. >> thanks. >> we have more politics to talk about right now. a different kind of democrat, that is how paul ryan describes

bill clinton and mitt romney's running mate and barack obama inheriting an economic meltdown but he claims the president's policies have made matters worse. in this interview with piers morgan you have to listen to ryan compare the styles of the current and former democratic presidents. >> bill clinton gave us welfare reform. bill clinton worked with republicans to cut spending. bill clinton did not play the kinds of political games that president obama is playing. president obama gave us more borrowing, more spending, much more regulates and is putting a chilling effect on job creation. >> congressman ryan will be campaigning later this morning in colorado springs. meanwhile, mitt romney emerging from debate prep in vermont for a brief pizza break. he has been in seclusion most of the week getting ready for his first face-to-face encounter with the president next month. he could not resist slicing up the obama economic record. >> two big numbers came out this week. 16 and 47.

$16 trillion in debt. the other number is 47 47 million people now on food stamps. when it came to office there were 32 million. theres no way he can square those numbers with the idea that america is doing better because it is not. >> romney returned to debate prep after the pizza run with ohio senator rob portman who is playing the part of the president in these preparations. in ten minutes we'll talk about night two of the democratic national convention and what we can expect tonight joined by congressional correspondent dana bash, margaret hoover and richard socarides. it will be fun. back to you in new york. >> it is going to be a spirited debate. thank you so much john. 36 minutes past the hour. the cowboys, the giants, and the replacement refs. how they did with the game on the line coming up. ion.

drug and alcohol abuse is up. and those dealing with grief don't have access to the professional help they need. when you see these issues, do you want to walk away or step up? with a degree in the field of counseling or psychology from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others. let's get started at capella.edu i describe myself as a mother, a writer and a performer. i'm also a survivor of ovarian and uterine cancers. i even wrote a play about that.

my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer be brave, go to the doctor. ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. symptoms are not the same for everyone. i got sick...and then i got better. at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different.

look at our fine statue there, miss liberty. good morning, new york. 72 degrees right now, a little later cloudy but then we get to see the sun although there i see the sun peaking out. let's get a quick check on the weather with rob marciano watching two hurricanes now in the atlantic. good morning to you. >> good morning. one of those hurricanes is our first major hurricane of the season, hurricane michael, although it is a small storm you can see the two here, here is leslie much larger. michael is much stronger with winds of 115 miles an hour. you see the eye way out in the atlantic may not bother anybody, but expected to weaken.

leslie closer to home, larger wind field already waves starting to hit the east coast and that will continue to be the case. it may strike bermuda over the next couple days as a category 2 storm or higher and after that potentially into the canadian maritime. we'll watch that tz amakes a pass to the east over the weekend. heavier waves 10 12 maybe 15-footers at times. this is a leftover chunk of isaac that has reemerged in the gulf of mexico and they will fly hurricane hunter aircraft in there later on today and see what's going on. it could develop into the next tropical system and they will rename it but how much stronger it will get is of question. we have a couple of fronts that will likely nudge it to the east quickly and these will squeeze the moisture out inundating the eastern third of the country with warm tropical air and soupy stuff and one more day of that and temps in the 80s and lower 90s across the i-95 corridor and then start to get more cool fall like stuff as we get towards the

weekend. >> some people are looking forward to that. some people like those, 95, 98 100 degree temperatures. >> bring on fall. thank you very much rob. 2012 has been the worst year for the deadly west nile virus ins is the disease was first spotted in the united states. that was back in 1999. just under 2,000 cases have been reported so far this year including 87 deaths. the cdc says cases were up 25% over the past week and health officials expect the number of cases to rise through the end of september, they say. listen. aid 13-mile stretch of the louisiana coastline remains closed as sheens of oil and tar balls keep washing ashore in the aftermath of hurricane isaac. the coast guard reports three oiled birds as well. bp officials are heading to the yaer to test the tar balls to confirm whether they came from the deep water horizon spill. the nfl season kicked off last night.

did you watch? for the super bowl champion new york giants it was not pretty. they were beaten by the dallas cowboys 24-17. cowboys quarterback tony romo had a big night three touchdown passes. as for the replacement officials, to worries there. the replacements did okay. no blunders. good news for the nfl which locked out the regular officials in a contract dispute. a lot of people watching them. they thought there would be flub ups. good news they were invisible as they're supposed to be right, john? >> they did okay. they did okay zoraida. there is one night more to go here in charlotte, one night more may not biggest one. soledad o'brien is here with a look at what's ahead. >> this night tonight, it could be the biggest one. it all comes down to this. president obama will take the stage appealing for a second term. we'll talk about what he needs to accomplish, the specifics that he needs to layout not just for the audience in the arena but obviously the audience watching at home as well.

we'll talk about the challenges of following president bill clinton on stage. there is not going to be a balloon drop. we'll tell you why. the 2012 democratic platform, no one ever talks about the platform really. last week we talk about the rnc platform and this week the dnc platform and not because of what was in it but what was left out, the god, the naming of jerusalem as the capital of israel and we'll get to the root of how did that happen? the president had to step in. joining us live talking to chair woman debbie wasserman schultz and stephanie cutter and coribook ler join us and dick durbin and virginia governor bob mcdonnell and two superstars getting political, nba guard dwyane wade has written a book about father hood and we'll talk to will i. am and getting the

youth engaged. i wonder if that works if flo ri da. >> the story over the last 30 hours on this platform it is a changing moving target. >> i would say the story is weak. there was no drama. there was no conflict. >> it is going to be different in a few minutes on starting point. for president obama he does have one tough act to follow. what will he see tonight that will top bill clinton's speech last night? more from "early start" live at the cnn grill coming up. can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. we discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. it's just one way purina one is making the world a better place... one pet at a time. discover vibrant maturity and more at purinaone.com.

we have been breaking down

day two of the democratic national convention right here in charlotte and we are looking ahead to day three president obama's official acceptance speech tonight. with me is cnn senior congressional correspondent dana bash, a former senior clinton adviser in new yorker.com writer richard socarides and republican strategist margaret hoover. richard, i want to start with you. this is your party, your convention. >> quite a party so far. >> what do we need to see from president obama tonight? >> i think president clinton set the stage perfectly and i think president obama will talk about where do we go from here? what is going to be different in these next four years. what is his plan, what is his vision for a second term, it is very important for a president to articulate that in a way and i think he will do it beautifully tonight and we're all really looking forward to it. he has to be positive. he has to say what is going to be new. what is going to be different? >> margaret? >> i think that president obama

really does have the advantage in that he goes last. he's had a week before of all of the republicans criticizing him or maybe not criticizing his policies and this entire week of democrats defending him. now it is up to him. he knows what the narrative is out there. he knows what the criticisms are he needs to answer and knows what the doubts are in the narrative he needs to double down on and explain. he has to answer the implicit criticisms. what about the spending? independents are concerned about the spending. what about the unemployment, 23 million people unemployed. what are you going to do differently? >> i agree. >> it has to be compelling and convincing. talking to his base and independents. >> and that's what obama campaign officials insist that he is going to do because that was maybe one of the biggest criticisms of mitt romney's speech when he gave his speech last week at the republican national convention that he didn't give enough specifics and they insist he will be not state of the union like but give some examples of the kinds of things that are going to be in his

agenda the second term. >> this lays out a challenge for president obama. he is often measured against himself while giving speeches because he has given great ones in the past. sometimes he has not. he has not delivered great speeches in big moments before. not many people remember his democratic national convention speech from four years ago and inauguration speech. >> if we have one worry as democrats, how do you top clinton's speech last night? i think this president, our current president is very capable of giving a great speech, and i think he will rise to the occasion. we're going to see a third night of really masterful speeches. >> what is he going to say? i know you think he will say it well. what is he going to say? what is going to be different the next four years? >> we will all have to wait a little bit to hear how he will articulate it. i think he will say we're moving forward and made a lot of progress and i think he will make the case that president clinton made beautifully last night and that is that we have to stay the course and keep going forward in the direction

we have been and that the economy is improving no one could have fixed this all by ims had in four years but i think there will be new stuff. i think there will be new stuff and a new articulation. >> something that you think that makes republicans nervous? what's the thing that's happened this week that makes them the most nervous or hardest to battle. >> bill clinton made a compelling case. some of the problems republicans have run into president obama debunked well and thoroughly. maybe we have the sound. >> we do not have the sound. we know the fact check. we trust margaret hoover. >> i think republicans run into a stumbling block when it comes to making the case that you have to get past the talking points and the robo calls and the sound bites. i think i anticipate that we'll see a doubling down in negativity, where you continue to hear neglect it i have. >> i don't think so.

>> that we will go back. >> i don't think so. >> we will go back in time, back to the 1950s and 1812. >> i think it will not opposite. i think it will be extremely positive and one thing that no one talked about this morning that we haven't talked about yet this morning that clinton talked about is when he said politics does not have to be a blood sport. i thought that was a beautiful moment when he talked about hillary and how it doesn't have to be a blood sport and how democrats want to compromise. >> i will say this is a completely objective statement because i witnessed it over the past four years, particularly covering capitol hill. it is a blood sport for both parties absolutely. >> it doesn't have to be. i think that was the point. >> it is going to be until november this year. i think it is pretty much a done deal. >> it is going to be but it doesn't have to be. this country has come together and people from both parties are able to cooperate with each other. that's what we have to do going forward. i think the president will talk a lot about that tonight. >> good luck with that richard. margaret hoover richard socarides, dana bash we will talk again tomorrow and wrap up the week.

want to go to break now and we'll be back with "early start." ♪ ♪ [ watch ticking ] [ engine revs ] come in. ♪ ♪ got the coffee. that was fast. we're outta here. ♪ ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ ♪ 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. shrm. leading people, leading organizations. if you spend $400 million you

expect something in return. billionaire oil tycoons charles and david koch and their special- interest friends are spending $400 million to buy this year's elections and advance their agenda. what's their payback? politicians who will pass laws that benefit special interests, but hurt the middle class; more tax cuts for the rich eliminate the minimum wage big cuts to our schools, but big subsidies for oil companies, learn what you can do at...

[ male announcer ] away... [ children laughing ] ♪ ♪ ...is the smell of salt in the air. ♪ ♪ it's the sound a seashell makes. [ seagulls calling ] away...is a place that's beyond your imagination, yet well within your means. find your away. for a dealer and the rv that's right for you visit gorving.com.

delicious sugar-free vitafusion fiber well gummies have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. as always we have best advice and christine has that this morning. >> today's best advice is from debbie wasserman schultz, the democratic national committee chair and we asked her about the best advice she has ever received. listen. >> the best advice i have received really through my whole life has always served me well is work harder anyone else and always do your best. if you make sure you work hard and always do your best, you won't have in i regrets and you will be most likely to achieve your goals.

>> sounds exactly what i told my 6-year-old before first grade. work really hard on your letters and numbers and listen to your teacher. >> and do your best, right? the best that you can do. i know we have been talking about the conventions a lot and the rnc and now the dnc and there is another major event happening, the biggest sporting event in the world and wraps up this weekend the u.s. open has brought a number of surprises so far this year last night you know andy roddick played his last match, so i went to the u.s. open over the weekend and came away with another unexpected remarkable story. this one of triumph. ryan mcintosh is a ball assistant who happens to be an amputee. he lost his leg in afghanistan fighting for the u.s. army. tomorrow morning i will have the full story on how he was able to beat the odds to make it to the open. trust me folks, you are not going to want to miss this. it is such an incredible story of inspiration. now he is inspiring other soldiers who have had some major

catastrophes happen to them. please tune in because it really is remarkable and his dad plays a very important role as well. that's all for us at "early start." for john berman and myself i want zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with soledad o'brien live in charlotte starts right now. >> welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, bill clinton delivers for president obama. >> their number one priority was not to put america back to work. it was to put the president out of work. i hate to break it to you, but we're