he'll have a chance to lay out his plan and the american people get to know him. that will be terrific. >> sean: good to see you all. joe, we agree tonight. >> it's scary. the apocalypse. >> sean: thank you for being with us. let not your heart be troubled. greta is next. we'll see you back here tomorrow night in tampa with a crowd, 9:00 eastern. >> greta: this is a fox news alert. isaac is barreling toward the gulf coast, and it is dangerous. it is expected to make landfall in less than 24 hours as a category 2 hurricane. this storm is huge, so huge that it's targeted a wide stretch of the gulf coast. right now seven years after hurricane katrina hit, new orleans is again in the bull's eye, but four states have declared emergencies already and people are evacuating. rick reichmuth has more. >> south of louisiana, and we're seeing rain showers back here across parts of florida, now into the carolinas. when you start to feel the

impacts of this storm you'll be feeling the impacts for probably at least 36 hours. that means a lot of wind and a lot of rain for a lot of people here across the northern gulf. right now winds right just under hurricane status. the next advisory hopefully we'll have it right at the end of your show, greta. i think good chance we'll see this become a hurricane at that point. the official forecast still brings it to a category 2 hurricane going around the new orleans area tomorrow evening into wednesday. for a long time we'll be dealing with this. a lot of rain across parts of that mississippi river valley. take a look at these wind gusts. this is the time stamp. 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. new orleans, winds around 80 miles an hour. go into midnight. 87 miles an hour. go to the following morning, still tropical storm force. go into wednesday night. we still have winds into the 60s. so if you've got some problems with wind, if you've got trees that are going down, if you've got shingles going off, it is going to just go for so long. it's going to cause big problems. obviously storm surge continuing to pile up here, but in addition

to that a lot of areas that are maybe going to see 18 to 20 inches of rain pile up over the next four to five days. in the next 48 hours, new orleans, 12 inches. biloxi, 13 inches. that's in addition to the storm surge piling in. they'll feel the impacts by

there are concerns about this amount of water. they have to pump the water out of this city. and the pumps only work so fast. there are concerns that the rains might get ahead of it, but they tell us they're as ready as they can be, that the levees are in as good a shape as they've ever been, and themself they're ready. if the track of the storm goes as that one model predicts, rick talks about how it looks like it's going to come straight to new orleans at this moment. of course they don't know. if it does what they're predicting, goes just west of new orleans, any new orleanian will tell you that's a worst case scenario, because the worst of the storm is also on the right. your storm surge comes in. so with that 12 inches of rain that rick mentioned, plus the storm surge, there could be a lot of flooding here. and any meteorologist will tell you 90% of deaths that happen in hurricanes happen not in the winds, not in the lightning, but

in the flooding. that's their concern here tonight. >> greta: shep, besides new orleans, how about your home state of mississippi? that storm looks awfully big. the target, the bull's eye, seems to be new orleans. that's one big storm. it looks like

beginning with hurricane camille back in '64, then certainly hurricane katrina just leveled that coast. enormous concerns with this one. category 2. that's not what they want you to focus on. it's this water and the storm surge that can cause so much trouble. the hope is, greta, that by -- in some way that it will weaken, bull at storm models indicate it won't. >> greta: the other thing, too, like with katrina is whether or not it's slow like katrina and sits and pounds and pounds or whether it keeps moving, because that's the better thing. >> it really is, greta. if we go back just 36 hours, we were in tampa 36 hours ago, and this storm was moving at 20 miles an hour. that's a fast storm. the longer it sits over water and spins the more energy it picks up. you know, the land mass will kill a storm, you know, and the

water just gives it energy. this very warm gulf moisture, not as warm as it was at katrina thankfully, but very warm water. the longer it sits over it and spins, the worst destruction it can cause. now moving just 9 miles an hour with forward progress, thinking it may slow even more before it finally hits the shore, that just gives it more time -- it's as if the car sits at the fuel station and just keeps pumping and pumping and pumping so you can go forever. that's the fear for this storm. if it slows down to 7, 5 miles an hour, they don't have any way to know. that could make for a storm that would produce enormous amounts of water. frankly, new orleans can handle water, but not enormous amounts. you can only pump so much water out of an area that's under sea level. so this storm doesn't look anything like katrina. it's not going to cause that kind of damage. the stubborn from katrina was over 30 feet. it's not going to be like that. if it sits and spins and rains and rains and floods, there's only so much this area can take.

god bless the people of south mississippi having to deal with it all over again, greta. >> greta: shep, thank you. right now we're coming to you live from tampa, florida, where the republican national convention officially kicked off today. tonight we have an all-star lineup of guests. rnc claire reince priebus, former mississippi governor haley brewer, jan brewer and donald trump. but first florida senator marco rubio joins us. good evening, sir. >> good evening. >> greta: i thought you might want a thought on this hurricane. >> first of all, it's just unbelievable that on the seventh anniversary of katrina we're seeing such a repeat of it. hopefully the storm won't be anything as close to that. i'm confident the folks up there have done everything they can over the last seven years to improve their capacity. florida has been battered in the storms in the past. 1 year we had five.

i think it was in 2005. we pray for those folks and hope for the best. we'll see what happens. >> greta: we have an walked -- we're trying to do both stories at once, trying to figure out how to balance our time. so let me turn to the other story we're trying to cover. thursday night, are you ready? >> yeah. you know, i think it's an exciting moment for our country. the next three days will be exciting. obviously the storm is something we're concerned about. that's the first priority, the lives and well-being of people in the way, but we're also having an election in november. thursday night will be making clear two things. the man i'm presenting, the next president of the united states, mitt romney, is an extraordinary person. as ace husband, father, grandfather, leader in his church, in his community, what he did in the olympics, as governor, this is a successful person, not just a successful political figure. >> greta: do you persuade the hispanic vote? that's been a historically a

democrat vote. >> that goes to the heart of what this election is about. this election in many ways is a decision about what government's role should be in our economy and how prosperity is created. the president thinks prosperity is created when the government spends money. we've tried that for 3 1/2 years. it failed. this is an old idea. it's failed every time it's been tried. it's one of the ideas that people come here to get away from. on the other hand, mitt romney's belief is that prosperity is created when people have the confidence to invest their own money. >> greta: wait, that may be what he believes, but hispanics think they have the dream act with president obama with the executive order. it may be that, you know, if you're so convinced that governor romney is so convinced, there's a better way to do, how do you reach them and penetrate them to get the vote? >> that's the immigration issue, and that's an important issue and matters a lot. it's not some theoretical statistical issue. they know people impacted by this. there are real economic issues at play here. you look at unemployment rate in the hispanic community.

it is significantly higher than the rest of the population. the hispanic community is at entrepreneurial as any community in this country. starting your own business has become harder under this president. when a president is running for re-election, they're bragging about how much better things are they were four years ago. this president doesn't want to talk about his record. he wants to attack mitt romney. you saw the interview from two days ago, an unbelievable negative assault on mitt romney as opposed to bragging about his own record and accomplishments. that's very clear, and it will appeal to most americans. >> greta: are you a tad bit nervous? >> i don't know come nervous is a the right word. i'm honored. at the end, this convention is not about me, it's about the opportunity to present for our country a man who if elect president will really change the direction of this country in a positive way. >> greta: what about congressman paul ryan? what do you think is important for him to get across on wednesday night? >> i hope people to get know

paul ryan the way i've gotten to know him the last year and a half when i supported him when he ran. he's an exciting person and an ideas person. when people get to know paul ryan, just in the 15, 20, 30 minutes they'll have with him on wednesday night they'll be more excited about him as our vice president and as the second name on the ticket. >> greta: to win florida, what's going to happen in florida? >> florida is very much like the rest of the country. people are concerned about the future. they're concerned about the economy. you know, you meet people every day that were supposed to be retiring now, had to go out and find a job. people that thought these would be their prime earning years, instead they got laid off or kids that just finished college can't find a job. for them it's so important that the free are enterprise system works. 3 million people in florida is on medicare.

one of them is my mom. anyone in favor of leaving medicare the way it is right now, in favor of bankrupting it. we need to save medicare. paul ryan and mitt romney have a plan to do it. it does not change medicare at all for people on medicare today, but my generation, paul ryan's generation, our medicare will look different. that's something we should be willing to do in exchange for keeping our parents and grandparents' medicare the same for us. that's the least we can do. >> greta: isn't there a small part of you that hopes that your fifth grade teacher is watching, kids you went to high school with, to see what you're doing? come on. >> they'll say, if that guy can make it, anybody can make it. >> greta: have they gone over your speech at all? >> i write my own stuff. i very fairly write speeches. i'll write an outline of notes that i want to say. i rarely read from a prepared text. a few months ago i had a speech where i forgot the last page. i hope that didn't happen. >> greta: how much time you got? >> they wanted about 15 minutes.

>> greta: and you're ready? >> i hope so. >> greta: senator, good luck. we'll be watching. i think everybody will be watching. i don't mean to put pressure on you. senator, thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: tomorrow the tampa bay times forum will be filled with thousands and thousands of people. this afternoon rnc chair reince priebus calling the convention to order but recessed it within less two minutes. how does the gop plan to gets its plan across in three days instead of four. we asked the chairman. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> greta: everything is on schedule now? >> yeah, everything is on schedule. first day of the convention, it was a flawless day. >> greta: how long was it? >> about 90 seconds. we pulled it off. no problem. gaveled in, recessed. you know, we had to make the call, greta. running these conventions, it's not like waiting for the first pitch to make the call.

back on saturday, we had to make the decision when we were told that it was highly likely we were going to have these high winds and we had to get buses down in clearwater and st. pete, may not be able to cross the bridges safely. the secret service, as you can see, took all the tenting down from around the forum which meant we would have guests in about half of the entrances just waiting out in the rain. there was all kinds of -- >> greta: i thought you were worried about the media standing in the rain. >> well, that's true. we're moving on with tomorrow. we'll start it at 1:00. then we're going to move through the entire week as planned. >> greta: worst case scenario, let's say something catastrophic happens along the gulf coast as isaac makes its way, and we've got people struggling to save their lives, fleeing, will the show still go on here or will be there some abrupt change, or do you call it as it happens?

>> what you said at the end is important. there's for conversations that i'm having about not going through with the rest of the convention. we're full days for the next three days. if some of these hypotheticals as you've laid out regrettably come true, we have to be nimble. i don't know what that means actually other than we need to assess the situation as it comes and make smart decisions. the thing is, though, greta, everything we're talking about is a positive message for this country, that we believe in the american dream, that we're the party that believes in success and embraces success, not demonizes it that we think we can do better and provide a better future for america. those are positive messages for this country. and at the same time we also have to pray for the safety of those within the pathway of the hurricane. so it's a balancing act. we know that. we're going to proceed that way. >> greta: all right. the convention ends, if everything goes as planned, thursday night. everyone talks about thursday night as though it's, quote, the

end. that's just one more step in this whole process. what are your plans for friday? i mean, do you plan to go to charlotte, vice president biden was supposed to come here, but -- >> i was hoping he'd come here. he's our best surrogate we have in the republican party. we were hoping that joe -- >> greta: a surrogate for you? >> oh, absolutely. we were going to lay out the red carpet for him and give him whatever passes and party badges that he needed. >> greta: i don't think he wanted any. >> we had love him to come down and give a speech every day. unfortunately it's not going to happen. we'll have a presence in charlotte. >> greta: like what? is it mischief or -- >> no. i think it's substance and we're going to draw a contrast between a campaign that -- i got to tell you, i think it's a pretty divisive campaign, based on distractions. we think america wants to talk about serious things, like why president obama didn't fulfill his promises, why so many people are out of work. you know, barack obama's

policies didn't work. we know that. everything's gotten worse. we want to talk make things better. >> greta: governor chris christie is the keynote speaker. las he been asked to tone down his usual charming language, colorful language, i should say, or is he on his own? >> no one talks to chris christie that way. chris christie gets to do what he wants to do. i wouldn't want any new jersey attitude on me. chris gets to do what he wants. >> greta: and you must be personally excited about congressman paul ryan as an old friend. >> it's going to he about a special night on friday night. it's special for people from wisconsin, like you and others. i think it's a special night for both republicans and democrats back home to see somebody that worked hard, kept his head down, waited on god's timing, and, you know, good things happen when you have that attitude. it's a good lesson for everybody goig i'm always curious, because president bill clinton will speak the night of an nfl game. there was a problem last time around for some nfl games.

if a green bay packer game were wednesday night and congressman paul ryan speaks wednesday night, who would get watched in wisconsin? >> you know, i think it would be a split decision, but, you know, the packers are a pretty big deal. i think paul would actually prefer paul to watch the packer game. he's such a big fan. if he was sitting here, my guess would be he'd say watch the packers and rewind and watch me. parallel is a big deal, because he doesn't know he's a big deal. i think in this country, when real people that are just living the mission, come around, and they're honest and they care, and they work hard and they're decent, you know, those people should be rewarded. and unfortunately in politics, there's just very few of those folks around. >> greta: chairman, nice to see you. we'll be watching the rest of the convention of course. nice to see you sir. >> it's going to be a great week. can't wait to get it finally started.

>> greta: and hope that isaac doesn't cause more trouble. thank you. >> you bret. >> greta: chairman priebus has a special question for you. go to gretawire.com and see the special question. let us know what you think. straight ahead, former mississippi governor haley barbour has an unusual convention tradition. he's keeping it going in tampa. what is it? he's here to tell you next. also governor scott walker is here next. can wisconsin native and vice president paul ryan tip the scales for the gop? you will here from governor walker. plus donald trump just made big news in florida. what did he do? well, you'll have to wait to see for yourself. you'll hear from donald trump. don't miss that. "on the record" is coming to you from tampa bay all week as we continue our coverage of the republican national convention. you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated.

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>> greta: we're back live in tampa, florida, at the republican national convention. now political conventions are steeped in tradition, but former mississippi governor haley barbour is keeping up a tradition that's a bit unusual. he's been doing it for every convention for the past 24

years. governor barbour joins us. >> good evening, greta. >> greta: you have a tradition, i now know what it is, but i want you to tell the viewers here, because they're dying to know. >> since the '88 conventions, i wear black tennis shoes, i call them my dress reeboks. nobody notices. they think i have on reg black dress shoes. i've worn them for 24 years. i neveyou stand up all day. this is something that i do. >> greta: is it good luck? is it superstition in or is it just comfortable? >> it's old age. it's comfortable. i tell you, it's comfortable. it is less uncomfortable. >> greta: all right, good. fair enough. i think it's a good idea. all right, something else you said recently, you said that

governor romney can pull a ronald reagan here at this convention. what do you mean by that and what does he do to pull a ronald reagan? >> this is my 12th presidential campaign. i was around in 1980. reagan won the information, presumptive nominee, down 14 points to jimmy carter. by august he was still down nine points to ji jimmy carter. people knew jimmy carter shouldn't be re-elected, but they weren't sure about reagan. at the debates, they said, all the bad stuff they say about reagan, i like him. he seems normal and regular to me. this week mitt romney will have the chance to start doing what ronald reagan did, to disprove all the carpet-bombing that the democrats have done. i mean, they have said he doesn't care about people like you, he's a bad person, he's a vulture capitalist, he shifts

jobs to china, he's a pluto carat, his wife is a known equestrian. the american people want to know the real mitt romney. he starts at convention doing what ronald reagan did in 1980, saying this president doesn't deserve re-election, but let me tell you why i ought to be your president. >> greta: are the independents, undecided, the ones you're interested in getting at this point, you got your party. >> battery is very united, no question about it. >> greta: the undecided, are they going to be watching? is there any way to measure that and watch the -- do they traditional watch the debates? i mean, so you know they're out there? >> well, pollsters will tell you that they are not paying as much

attention as partisan, but pollsters will also tell you that for many of them this is sort of the beginning of the campaign, that they will watch, they particularly want to learn about romney, because they've been told all these terrible things. they're sitting there saying that the country's worse off since obama. we're in a recession. things are going in the wrong direction. so they're looking for somebody else. this is the launch pad. this is not the only thing. i mean, we won't tell you next friday that romney has done it, because the world doesn't work that way. this is the first big step. >> greta: president ronald reagan was smooth in the debates, and good. brook ipresident obama is good t debates, wouldn't you agree? is it almost -- it's quite a challenge for a candidate to do that, quite a challenge for governor romney. >> well, of course. any presidential campaign is a challenge. but look, the american people know that what's happened in the

last 3 1/2 years, they don't want four more years of that. if this is a referendum on obama's record, he's going to lose. it's more than that. this is not only a referendum on obama's failed record, this is people wanting to see what would mitt romney do to turn our country around. it's interesting. here's a guy that all of his career, in business at the olympics, in massachusetts, has taken an enterprise that had real problems, turned it around going the right direction. >> greta: you haven't endorsed him. why didn't you endorse him? >> in '08 i didn't endorse anybody. i think if you don't endorse anybody, way back at the front, why do you endorse them after they've won the nomination? >> greta: like me, too, right? >> yeah. i've done everything i can do to help elect mitt romney. i'll keep doing it. this is hugely important. i tell you, greta, i'm worried that my children and grandchildren are not going to inherit the same country i inherited. this election is a huge, huge

high stakes election. >> greta: governor. thank you. i know your wife is waiting from out of town. appreciate that, too. >> thank you, greta. >> greta: coming up, arizona governor jan brewer is here. she's been battling with president obama over immigration. she even tuck her finger in his chest on the tarmac in front of air force one. she has more to say tonight. governor jan brewer joins us next in tampa. and look out, here comes isaac. he looks very mean. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide.

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top priority has to be the safety of our people. as long as we're in harm's way, i need to be right here doing my job. that's what i'm going to be doing. >> greta: louisiana still represented in tampa. some of the state's delegates are attending the convention, but their thoughts of course are back home with their family and friends. >> it's challenging, because i want to be back home. my house is there. i did bring my family with me. i have family here in tampa. so i don't have that stress that i know a lot of my friends here do. so, you know, all the paths were showing that direction. so you just -- you know, it's hard to be here when your life is over there. >> greta: right now isaac is a slow-moving storm. that's not good news. katrina was a likewise slow storm. it means isaac could batter the gulf coast line for days. the greatest dangers, flooding from the rainfall and major storm surge. we're going to bring you the latest details on isaac's path

in just a few minutes. right now we are live in tampa where the republican national convention is getting ready to kick off its first full day of activities. arizona governor jan brewer is here in tampa. she's been taking on president obama on immigration. how important is immigration as an issue? >> i think immigration is really important. more than that i think about getting our borders secure, are the biggest issue that we need to accomplish. >> greta: one of the things on the republicans' platform, if governor romney is elected, the republican party wants the lawsuit against your state and alabama dropped. i take it you like that. >> i do. i support it. it's outrageous for the government to sue states for doing the job they won't do.

>> greta: how would you secure the border? >> the border is relatively secure in texas and in california. why can't they secure the border in arizona? we need aerial defense, more troops on the border, and we need them to understand that we are the gateway -- we are the gateway for illegal immigration into america. it's not just the aliens that are coming here and looking for work. it's the drug cartels. >> greta: it's interesting, your story, your state's story was all over the news when the sb 1,071st passed, and you got sued. everybody was discussing it, whether you're for or against it, whether you want to secure the border. now that the suit is pending, where there's skirmishes, legal-wise, there's no attention on the issue nationally. >> it's unfortunate, because we're still living in that environment, which is not healthy. not healthy for arizona.

very, very expensive. i don't know if it's completely languishing. you know, we have the issue now of the administration giving backdoor amnesty to people in america. and i to issue an order telling my administration that they were going to enforce the law, the law in arizona. they took away our 287g for investigation, from law enforcement, so now they can't even track them. on the very same day, what do they do? it's all political pandering at this point in time. there's a hot line if you believe your civil rights are abused, you can call directly into the department of justice. there they are, they're supporting the lawbreakers, kind of setting everybody up, and then they're taking law enforcement and taking their authority away, which they were sworn to uphold the law. >> greta: turning now to the festivities here.

what do you want to hear from governor romney on thursday night? >> america and i want to hear his story. i want to hear exactly what it is that he is going to do. i think i know, because i've heard him enough, but i think it's a reintroduction of governor romney to america, and that includes republicans and democrats and the independents. i think he has a wonderful story to tell. i think he's going to knock it out of the ballpark. >> greta: and congressman ryan, a good choice? >> great choice. it's a beautiful balance. >> greta: why? >> he's very sensible, and i think the public appreciates him for what he is. he's young, but he has a wealth of enjoy. he's brilliant and very, very well respected. he can be such a helpmate to governor romney. >> greta: last time, senator mccain, your state senator won arizona. it's expected governor romney will take arizona, right?

>> yes. my watch won't turn blue. >> greta: however people want to vote in arizona, that's their business, but a lot of people are excited in the city tonight, very excited next week in charlotte as we march down to november. governor, always nice to see you. >> nice to see you. >> greta: up next, wisconsin governor scott walker. right now his state is a toss-up. will wisconsin native, yes, let's say say th it, a cheesehel he change that? and donald trump coming up. a ge. it's better! no it's not! the pitcher comes up and he's out! [ dealer ] he can bunt! whatever. but we're good with 0% apr for 60 months? oh yeah, totally. thank you so much. that must've been brutal. [ male announcer ] the volkswagen autobahn for all event. at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know

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or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> greta: will vice presidential candidate paul ryan energize the gop in wisconsin? governor scott walker is here in 60 seconds, but first our headline news. >> oil refineries down in the gulf are shutting down now. gasoline prices going up as tropical storm isaac barreling toward louisiana. tonight government officials informed us nearly 80% of the oil production in the gulf of mexico is now halted. companies evacuating hundreds of offshore oil and gas production platforms, and that means a loss of about a million barrels of crude per day until the storm threat is over. on monday, fear of a reduced gas supply sent the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline up to $3.75. it could hit $3.80 by labor day. tropical storm isaac is also slowing down natural gas production, but analysts tell us

they won't know the full extent of isaac's impact on fuel and natural gas prices until the storm has passed. back to greta. >> greta: it's a tight race in wisconsin. president obama and governor romney running neck and neck in that swing state. will vice presidential candidate and wisconsin native paul ryan help boost the gop ticket in wisconsin? tomorrow wisconsin governor scotts walker will address the republican national convention. we spoke with governor walker here in tampa. governor, nice to see you sir. >> good to be with you. >> greta: it's like a fraternity here. you have representative ryan from wisconsin, reince priebus, and you're from wisconsin. >> it's a cheesehead revolution. we've got the mvp from football and baseball, miss america from wisconsin, we're taking over everything. it's a great time. reince and paul and i grew up just down the road from each other. >> greta: so it's fun. >> yeah, it is indeed. >> greta: is representative ryan going to carry the state?

in 2008, president obama won it by 14 points. it's now neck and neck. will he win the state? >> i think he will. not just because people like paul ryan. his congressional district barack obama carried. paul ryan won by over 60%. blue collar communities could push him over the top. the bigger sense it's not just what it says about paul ryan, but what it says about mitt romney. we knew he had the experience in the private sector, in the olympics, as a governor, to be a good president. when he picked paul ryan to be his running mate, we saw he won't be just good, but the exceptional president because he has the courage and passion to do just that. >> greta: i've been to janesville. that's a democratic area. >> it is. >> greta: the fact that paul ryan has been elected more than once there, so many times, tells me something. i'm not sure what it is, but it certainly says that -- >> people trust him. not only has paul been elected, but people outside of wisconsin may not realize this, paul just didn't win in a competitive district and continue to win big

time after that, the last several elections to prove to his colleagues in the house that you could run and win on his plan to bring fiscal sanity back to washington, he talked ads about it, flyers about it. the voters, the unemployed uaw workers from the gm plant in janesville are the guys inke nora that worked in a factory there that traditionally vote democrat like his candor, think he's a decent guy. >> greta: what will be your message when you speak? >> we turned our state around, we're heading the right direction, and we need that kind of turnaround in america and governor romney is exactly the guy to do that. i'm going to share a little bit of a personal story of someone that benefited from our reforms that i think will benefit from governor romney being the next president. >> greta: what about the -- obviously your state, there's a lot of passion around you. you've got lovers and haters of

governor scott walker. you did win the recall by more than you won the original governor. i recognize that. how does that rather hostile environment to you, how is that going to be reflected in the general election? >> again, in our election, i said this in june, a couple days after my election, even more so since paul ryan is on the ticket, if people look at mitt romney and see him as not just the "r" next to his name standing for republican, but "r" for reformer, that's enough to say independents and dissuade democrats. we need independent swing voters and so-called reagan democrats. mitt romney can appeal to them even more so with paul ryan on the ticket, but he has to talk about reforms, be the clear contrast. we're hurting in our state like most states are. our unemployment is better than the national average, but still

high. 42 consecutive months of unemployment over 8%. that's hurting. >> greta: it's dropped down to 7.3%, 34/10 points less than when you took office. at least that's the right direction. what do you attribute that to? >> in our case we changed the business climate. we understood that people create jobs, not the government. i'm going to stress tomorrow -- i think the current administration under president obama really had this view that success is measured by how many people are dependent on the government, particularly on unemployment benefits. that's not the pathway toward more freedom and prosperity for all of our people across the country. i think if mitt romney and paul ryan are able to make the case that they have a plan, a plan that will help all the people, all the hard-working taxpayers of our country do better, i think that's a plan that could ultimately win, a plan they have to lay out this week.

>> greta: what's the conversation like when it's paul ryan, reince priebus and scott walker hanging around? >> talk a lot about families. paul and i just texted a little bit about ago, i asked him how his departure was from janesville earlier today. he said it was a great response. great folks over at craig high school where you were at just a few weeks ago. we spend most of our time talking about our families. he checked with me during my campaign, made sure i was eating right, praying, doing exercise, which he loves. he's such a positive guy. people will be surprised to see how upbeat he is. maybe because we all came of the age back in the '80s when president reagan was our nation's leader. >> greta: governor, good luck tomorrow night. >> thank you. >> greta: straight ahead, donald trump made it to florida, but what about his big surprise? also isaac is preparing to slam the gulf coast. an update on its path coming up.

>> let's give a big round of applause to our 2012 statesman of the year award winner, mr. donald trump! >> greta: donald trump honored by the republican party of sarasota county, florida, but did the stormy weather force trump to change his convention plans? we caught up with trump in sarasota. >> first let's talk about the weather. hurricane, tropical storm isaac. what political impact do you think that will have on this convention? >> i don't think it's going to have an impact. it does miss one day. i was a big part of monday. i just got here and find out monday was canceled. i don't think it's going to have a huge impact. i think the message is going to get out. the message is going to be a message of jobs. it's about jobs. mitt romney is and was a very,

very successful person. he knows business. he knows jobs. he knows how to put people to work. you look at our unemployment, it's not 8.3%. it's probably 20% or 21%. 8.3% is fiction. minimum 15% or 16%. mitt romney will put people back to work. >> what's the takeaway romney needs to leave here to the 30 million-plus maybe taking a first look at romney? >> they have to be not be so politically correct. we're a country in tremendous trouble. we have to say it like it is. we don't have to be nice to president obama. we don't have to say he's a wonderful person, because he's probably not a wonderful person. and frankly they cannot be politically correct. they have to say it like it is. this country is in trouble. our president has done a poor job. we have to put this country back

to work. we have to stop other countries from destroying us, whether it's china, opec nations, or any other -- virtually any other country we deal with. you look at the country of colombia. relatively small trading partner. they use the word partner. that's not a partner. but $4 billion deficit with colombia. that's a small one. china's going to be probably close to $400 billion in deficits. we can't do it. we can't afford it. then we go, how do we pay for the deficits? we borrow money from china. mitt romney gets it. he's a great businessman. he'll change things. he's also got heart. he's a wonderful person. his wife is a fantastic person. i think it's going to be an amazing combination. >> you're talking about a shifting of the strategy, the romney campaign. you mentioned he needs to tell it like it is. is he being too soft? does he need to have more donald trump approach to things? >> he's a good person, a tough

person when he has to be. i think he'll show that toughness. i think he has to show the toughness. he's a very smart guy. i just say that you have to say it like it is. the old expression from the great howard cosell, tell it like it is. the country is doing terribly. we're in deep, deep trouble. four more years of obama, we're not going to make it. i'm not sure you can come back if it continues. obamacare is a disaster. it's going to destroy -- it's going to add to -- we'll be up to $17 trillion in deficits ver. $17 trillion. you never even heard the word trillion. it wasn't in the vocabulary. now it's commonplace. so at $17 trillion, employment at 15%, 16%, 21%, any way you want to cut it, you look at inner city unemployment, and that is a number that's probably 40% to 50%. the country cannot continue to go on like this. so i think mitt is going to get

the message across. when he gets it across, people are going to just love the message. >> in paul ryan's message, he's been very good at delivering the topic of medicare, but he's selling romney's vision of it, not the original paul ryan. are they succeeding on medicare in your opinion? >> i think he is. he's saying he's going to save medicare. because if you keep going the obama route, medicare is not going to exist any longer. if you look at what obamacare has done to medicare, they've stolen $716 billion from medicare. so they're destroying medicare. i think paul ryan and mitt romney will save medicare. i know they will. and people are starting to understand it. they're going to be very happy with what's going on, but they're going to be very, very unhappy if obama gets in. i think actually if obama gets in, and if obamacare isn't ended, i really think medicare will be a thing of the past. >> greta: coming up, isaac, the latest. he's barreling toward the gulf

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this is a fox news alert. just got a new advisory on isaac, he's getting stronger. rick? >> yes. the pressure had come down to 979 milly bhars. there is still a tropical storm. when you have this large of a storm this takes a while for winds to get in. and this is like a figure skater with arms out wide. and this can wind up quicker. so there is pressure falling. that means it's starting to get more organized

a good chance of a tropical storm, it's go to be happening across southeastern louisiana, maybe mississippi and at least a category one hurricane or stronger storm than that. storm surge is going to be a big impact here across the mississippi coastline and in across areas across lake pompblg. -- pompblg pompblg. >> tomorrow night, 80 miles per hour winds, gusting around 90 miles per hour at some point. the story with the storm is that it's going to last about 36 hours advance of the wind, rain and flooding and problems coming from that long of a storm we're going to be dealing with. >> rick we've been watching this because this is terrifying and spread out and almost everybody, i think in the media has covered that story which saw hurricane