we will be there, bright and early, 6:00 a.m. eastern time, throughout the whole week, for fox and friends. have a fantastic rest of your weekend, and sunday, great to be with you today. >> steve: and, stay right here on fox for the latest on isaac. >> right now, brand new stories and breaking news on a special sunday edition of happening now. >> mitt romney's official nomination is all but certain but a big storm is raining on his parade, literally, tropical storm isaac, delaying events at the republican convention in tampa, we're live on the scene with the latest and also, isaac has just turned deadly, at least 6 people killed, as the storm slammed into haiti and cuba. the florida keys now in the cross-hairs and we'll bring you the information live in a moment and here's a live picture key largo, likely to become a hurricane soon and the latest on a storm track, a big story here, "happening now."

a "fox news alert," hello, as jon said a special edition of "happening now." nice to see you on' weekend. >> it is great to be here. you are back from a couple of days off. >> it makes things better. and, everybody, we are glad you are spending time with us today, i'm jenna lee and the republican national convention is delayed a little bit as tropical storm isaac sets its sights on south florida and a lot can change over the next couple of hours and days. >> and we'll be watching it, i'm jon scott, a special edition of "happening now" and the stage is set at the tampa bay times forum and the r.n.c. chairman, announcing the change in plans, and delaying most of monday's events, until tuesday, saying safety first. >> i sure you understand our first priority is ensuring the safety of our delegates and guests, members of the media, attending the r.n.c. convention. >> take a live look at the national hurricane center photo from miami, where forecasters

are giving the latest update on isaac, we are monitoring that and we'll bring you the latest developments, just ahead. in the meantime, isaac is churning over open water now. it is warm water. it likely will be at hurricane strength, when it reaches key west, by this evening. forecasters say the tampa area could see a storm surge from 3 to 5 feet and another major concern is the western gulf including new orleans. the storm already knocking out power to thousands near miami as people across southern florida stock up on supplies, and brace for flooding with sandbags. >> you just never know. it could go one way, another way and i'd rather be prepared than be sorry. >> when debbie came through and hovered there for a while, we sustained some pretty hard-core damage, so, we don't want to go through that again. >> hurricane charlie did to the southern areas, where my mom lives in port charlotte and punta gorda and the devastation

is unbelievable. i just want to prepare my family. >> we are in so many ways fortunate in this country, with our infrastructure, and our responders. look at the latest video from haiti. the storm there, blamed for at least four deaths, entire villages there, under water now. the damage in cuba, also extended with flooding, downed trees, power lines and homes destroyed. we have team coverage for you, steve brown is live in tampa, meteorologist janice dean live in the fox extreme weather center. and we begin with phil keating streaming live from key west florida who has the latest on the storm. phil what is the latest there in the keys? >> reporter: the latest is, if you did not take the county recommendation to evacuate voluntarily, yesterday, stay put as of now. the emergency management director for monroe county telling everybody who has not left basically to stay indoors, and, don't go outside, a lot of businesses boarded up as well as houses putting their shutters

on. we're live on duvall street, of course party central here in the party capital of key west and world-famous sloppy joes and is dead and it was dead last night and as we drove down u.s. 1 yesterday afternoon we passed a steady stream of traffic heading out of the keys towards miami-dade county and, joining monroe county, cancelling all schools tomorrow. so this is going to be a day-long event. and look at the satellite shot of tropical storm isaac. still packing 65 mile-an-hour winds, right now. by the time it makes landfall, maybe around 8:00 tonight, somewhere in the keys, most likely in the lower keys, like where we are, key west, very likely, it could be a category-1 hurricane. so it will be on the edge of tropical storm and hurricane strength, without a doubt. so it will be a day-long of deteriorating weather conditions, as, right now, it is not so bad down here in key west, however, everybody here is

-- have been through a lot of hurricanes and tropical storms and they know these satellite loops in the forecast don't lie. the wind and rain and possibly flooding as well, is on the way, jon? >> and it is not just the wind, i mean, a category-1 storm, not the most severe winds but it is the flooding that is the big concern, right? >> reporter: yeah, particularly, all up and down the keys. very low elevation, and seven years since the last hurricane hit florida and that was hurricane katrina -- and hit new orleans, actually. but hurricane will ma caused a t of flooding, and key west, a lot of the town under three feet of water. people still riding it down, you know, the folks down here in key west consider themselves independent and hearty folks, not always the easiest people to get to evacuate, but, at this point, those who did not leave yet, are being urged to not leave, not get on the road,

because the airport is closed, no more flights are coming in or out and the only way in or out, bac back to my every is u.s. 1 and, at this point they say it is too dangerous to venture out in your car, because as i mentioned the weather condition will absolutely deteriorate and 5,000 people lost power in miami this morning because of the initial squalls. >> all right, phil keating live in key west, there, phil, thank you, we'll check in with you later. >> we'll move a little north now, the approaching storm has republicans adjusting their plans for the presidential nominating convention set to get underway officially in tampa and will open as scheduled on monday but the rest of the day's events will be postponed. steve brown is live in tampa, and, steve is what is the -- does the rest of the week look like? >> reporter: well, you have to expect that something has to give when talking about four days worth of events and now, pushing into a three-day calendar and what we are told is they are feverishly working on it at the r.n.c. after

cancelling monday's event, essentially, they'll gavel in and gavel out. so they can get the clock running on monday. and we are told that primarily, what they are trying to do is preserve all of those speeches, four nights worth of speeches, into three nights. and, they are still trying to figure this all out. >> we made the move yesterday to postpone monday's events, we're going to convene on monday, and then we're going to go to an immediate recess. the program elements for monday, we'll roll into the rest of the week. and you know, we are cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to do so, starting on tuesday, and we look forward to an exciting event. >> reporter: one of the things that you can look for, likely to happen, is that tuesday, that opening now -- now the opening day, really the opening day where activity will be going on, they'll have a longer tuesday. to try and accommodate all of those speakers and all of those elements, jenna? >> it will be a busy week as it is, steve.

>> reporter: yes. >> a bit of an understatement, isn't it? and you brushed on it a little bit but what do we know for sure that has changed? >> reporter: before the weekend started we new ann romney's speech would be rolling from its originally monday-slotted date to tuesday and that will happen and the roll call vote was set to happen on monday and that has appears to be likely tuesday as well because it appears the mitt romney campaign and the r.n.c. wanted that to happen early in the week and the rest of it, we are hoping to learn sometime this afternoon, as you can imagine, trying to get the logistics, all of the time stables squared away for an event they've been planning weeks and months and try and turn it around in about 24 hours, tough job but we're told sometime this afternoon we should have a good idea. >> not easy but at least you know to plan for extra cups of coffee on tuesday, see if we can work that into the schedule, we'll be back to you as we hear more, thanks. >> reporter: thanks. >> americans are asking and we're answering. we'll have a panel of political pollsters and it is a big week for politics and we'll take your question about the convention and the race for the white house, and the latest polls, and

you can tweet us, with what you want to know, tweet m me @jenna/fnc or, @happeningnow and we'll put your comments on the air, next hour. >> isaac causing convention organizers big headaches now but not the first time, mother nature has messed with the best-laid plans. four years ago, hurricane gustav slammed into louisiana, prompting republicans to cancel events on the first day of the convention, and st. paul minnesota, instead of politicking the day was devoted to fund-raising and right left efforts for storm victims. >> it is a nice remainder this week, you can plan and talk about policy so much but there are a lot of unknowns out there and it always happens. >> and they'll always fall during hurricane season, these conventions. >> that is a good point and we'll track isaac, throughout the day today, the outer band are already battering south florida, and that is where we saw phil keating and janice dean is live with the fox extreme weather center report and, jd, it is not just florida you are

look at now? >> no, i want folks across the northern gulf to really pay close attention to the forecasts that will be coming out and we have a new advisory coming out at 11:00, jenna and jon and it will be crucial, because a lot of the forecast models are trending westward, and, a lot of these forecast models are showing the track, potentially, going into new orleans as a strong category-2, possibly category-3. i don't want to say it will happen but it is time to start your plans, because, as each advisory comes out, it is looking more and more like it is going to be a northern gulf coast event. now, of course the storm system is on florida's doorstep, moving across the keys. south florida, we have the risk for tornadoes. not only throughout the day but into the overnight and into tomorrow. they are weak tornadoes but they can cause damage because of the outer bands and the counterclockwise motion going across land so tornado watch in effect until 5:00 p.m. but this is just the tip of the iceberg. we'll see tornado watches all up and down the florida coastline.

there is your latest advisory again, new advisory coming out, at 11:00, sometimes we get it early and as soon as it comes out we are going to air, because every moment is crucial as this storm is going to travel across very warm gulf waters, and i think we are possibly going to see another shift at 11 o'clock and this will include more of the new orleans area, unfortunately. so as we go further out in time, tampa, you will still feel tropical storm force condition and could see storm surge and will see tornado watches, et cetera, et cetera, but this is the area i'm really concerned with as we head into tuesday and wednesday. category-2, but that is a strong 2. 105 miles per hour and the national hurricane center has language saying it could be a major hurricane and, again, 11 o'clock will tell us a lot. it is hard to show you these tropical storm models because, you know, it is all kind of pointing to the attention of new orleans. but, it is time to start thinking of your plan.

if the storm goes west of new orleans, the worst of the storm surge, the worst of the water, is going to go into lake ponchartrain. this is not set in stone but i want people to pay very close attention. this could be a very, very serious, serious situation, jenna and jon, back to you. >> as we get the information breaking on the latest report from the hurricane center, we'll have you back. >> soon as it is out. >> thank you so much. >> right now, safety first. approaching isaac, forces republicans to alter their plans, and how could it distract from message mitt romney and his party want to get out to america, next week. we'll get to that. >> and before they head to florida, the one group of key voters the republican ticket is targeting. a group so far favoring the president in the polls and we'll take a closer look at that as will, as we come back here on "happening now." hey, i love your cereal there --

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>> jon:ite -- >> republicans are essentially postponing their big gathering in tampa, due to an uninvited guest, tropical storm isaac. we have been talking about him, and he's barrelling his way toward florida and the gulf coast. and the impact the delay could have on what governor romney and republicans hoped would be a big opportunity to get their message out, with the primetime spotlight, largely on them. let's talk about it, joining us from tampa, david drucker, the associate politics editor for "roll call." so, you know, we have talked about this, david. they have been planning this for years, really. there are all kinds of speeches and events set and now here comes the tropical storm, or a hurricane. how much is it going to affect the republicans trying to get their message out? >> well, jon, i guess this is

what happens when you schedule an event like this, at the peak of hurricane season in an area where there are hurricanes, but, that aside, i don't think that this is too much trouble for the republicans if the delay doesn't go beyond monday because the networks already decided, broadcast networks, not fox news and not the other cable-nets they were not going to cover it in primetime and that is why the romney campaign made sure ann romney's speech was moved to tuesday and they did other juggling and i think if it is kicked off as it is now planned on tuesday the republicans an romney will be fine in terms of their goal of communicating who this guy is and what he wants to do if elected president. >> jon: we saw four years ago though the convention was in a hurricane-safe city, st. paul, there were still alterations made because of hurricane gustav hitting louisiana. you don't want to be seen partying and celebrating when people are losing their homes, and that kind of thing. >> no, and that could be problematic but i still think that people understand that

hurricanes happen, that you can still have a political event, and, i think what we were dealing with four years ago was a little different because hurricane katrina was only three years past and there was still a lot of sensitivity about that. this could be a problem if the hurricane hits new orleans and it is extremely bad but i don't think the republicans have to cancel the event tuesday, the entire event simply because there is a storm. >> jon: typically during hurricane -- i'm sorry. during conventions, one party has kind of laid low and let the other party have their moment in the sun and the democrats don't seem to intend to do that this time and there has been a lot of talk about ground game. president obama and the democratic national committee are saying, you know, the republicans might have the money to spend but we have the ground game. the head of the republican national committee said: "i find all of their ground game talk to be garbage.

they've got a decent ground game but overhype it so much we crush them on the ground, door-to-door and with absentee ballots." what do you make of that? >> well, i interviewed him yesterday and i asked him about the obama ground game and they've invested a lot of money and it is technologically advanced and i expect it to be probably among the best we have seen in presidential get out the vote efforts and he told me, based on what they did in wisconsin en the gubernatorial recall where governor scott walker won and avoided a recall they made 4.5 million live voter contacts and the process and system they put in place he thinks they can replicate and while he told me he thinks the ground game the obama team has is good he thinks the republicans will be good enough, if not better than a lot of people think and, so it is just something he is not too worried about and, interesting about these conventions, you are right. the opposition used to go fishing, take a vacation, and, i think this race is so close, i think the country is so closely divided that even if a candidate wanted to take the week off, i

don't think their partisans would stand for it and it is just this political environment we're in. what i'm interested to see in the fall is, are the republicans really -- have they brought their ground game along since the last -- four years ago, to the point where it can compete with the obama team? if the race is within a point or less, maybe a point-and-a-half or two, ground games can be crucial and if it is beyond that, it ends up not mattering. >> jon: david drucker from roll call, always good to have you on. >> jenna: jon and david talked about tropical storm isaac taking aim at florida now and it could become a hurricane in a few hours, we'll be tracking isaac's every move over the next couple hours and bring you the updates as we get them and also, a fox news scloexclusive, mitt romney and his wife, ann, sitting down with our own chris wallace on sunday, and it looks like they are making pancakes for them, i wonder if he is asked to do anything there, a

free ride... >> jon: george clooney and now, this. >> what they are doing on the campaign, in terms of strategy, chris joins us next. 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.

>> jenna: the side of the romneys we rarely see and in a fox news exclusive governor mitt romney and his wife sit down with chris wallace and they discuss campaign issues and policies as well the candidate's personal life and when asked what role ann played in his political journey here's what governor romney had to say. >> at the beginning i just loved her. now, she's much more than just the person i love, she's also the person that i really live for. ann is my counselor.

my friend. my inspiration, but also the person i love. and if there is anything -- if i have any time available, and people say, what would you like to do? the thing i'd like to do is be with ann and do something together. >> jenna: let's see what ann has to say, right? she's obviously a big supporter and talks about a side of her husband, she says she wishes all of us could see: >> i wish everyone could see him, how i see him, because, as a mother, i've seen him have compassion, as he has been with me, as a wife and raising these small children and always valued my work as being more important than his. >> jenna: joining us is chris wallace, anchor of fox news sunday. chris, we see these two strategies really coming to the forefront this week, you have the president wanting to paint mitt romney as more extreme and you have mitt romney's team wanting to paint him as more normal. for lack of a better word, you know? why do you think -- and you have done a lot of reporting on this and sat down with the family.

why do you think that is still a challenge for mitt romney? >> well, you know, i don't know that i have a good answer for it. i don't think mitt romney is naturally the most touchy-feely guy and there is a reason he was an enormously successful person in private business. i think he's a head guy, a logic guy. a reason guy. a numbers guy. loves to get into the data, and dig into it and fry to see what -- try to see what it provides in terms of evidence. and obviously there was -- it wasn't they wanted to spend time with me and they wanted to show him behind the scenes with his family and it clearly wasn't, while the decision to do it was calculate, it was pretty clear that this was the real mitt romney. when you see him relating to his wife, to his kids, to his grandkids, it is a different side of mitt romney and they know, because of the fact that the obama campaign has been somewhat successful in painting

him as this austere, forbidding guy who doesn't understand what middle class americans, real americans are going through, that they want to counter that. and, that is why they invite us up to the house in new hampshire. >> jenna: maybe they wanted to -- don't sell yourself too short, chris, maybe they liked the company. and, i saw you sit down with mitt romney by himself and then you visit with ann and the family and then sat down with mitt and ann together. being that you have seen mitt by himself and with his family, how big of an asset do you think ann is now to the campaign? >> tremendous. i mean, she's tremendous in two days. she's tremendous in herself, because she's such an appealing character and so smart, but as opposed to romney, who is -- i said a lot of reason and logic and with her it is more intuitive and much more about feelings and so, i think that she warms up his image. in addition to which, you know, i think her speech, this week,

whenever they end upholding it, tuesday or wednesday, will be very important in terms of helping people understand who this guy is but when they are together and you watch the interview -- and i hope people will watch it when it replays on the fox news channel today -- he changes and the campaign says he's so much better when she's around and she just relaxes him in quite a great way and i think to think lorraine, my wife, does the same with me, but i'm not running for president. mrs. sunday. but, in any case, yes, he's better when he's around her and they know it and one of the cute things, at the end of the interview in new hampshire they were like, because he was going off for a few days and when will i see you again and you could tell, they haven't married 40-something years but were a little bit like lovelorn lovers who didn't want to be apart too long. >> jenna: that is nice, after being married all of those years and, we showed the video of mitt romney making pancakes, you didn't have to cook, did you?

>> no, they were making her buttermilk pancakes and i'm not a big pancake fan, best pancakes i ever had. >> jenna: i saw mitt romney put peanut butter on his pancakes, too. you will learn a lot on the interview. everyone can see your interview with governor romney and his wife, a little later on today, if you didn't catch it on your local forx, you can see it replayed on fnc at 2:00 p.m. eastern time, we'll have it for you, a must-see interview, chris, thank you. >> jamie: and with chris's wife offering all of those cook books. >> jenna: a competition. >> jon: i wouldn't make the pancakes, either. we are tracking tropical storm isaac and it could soon become a dangerous hurricane. preparation underway in florida. but other states need to watch out as well. we'll be joined by the head of the state's office of emergency management, plus... isaac's impact on already high gas prices. how much can you expect to fork over at the pump in the coming days?