we are getting a press briefing from the governor of florida and the mayor of miami. we expect it to start at any moment. when we get new information, we will bring it to you. >> we will be back live in 3 hours. >> america's news headquarters is next. >> shannon: a deadly tropical storm barreling toward the u.s., isaac's first strike will be the florida keys and the tropical storm could grow into a dangerous category 2 hurricane and hit the northern gulf coast, even though tampa is not directly in the storm's path, republicans are deciding to play it safe, canceling the first day of the convention. we have live team coverage on the latest tropical storm isaac and the convention. our coverage live from tampa starts now. we are awaiting a news conference from governor rick scott. he has cancel aid speech he was scheduled to give in prime time tomorrow ands to focus on the storm preparation. he will hold a news conference

shortly to tell us more about the preparation for tropical storm isaac. he has declared a state of emergency, which frees up resource, including the national guard. ly is here live. >> the tampa police chief, castor. we have tampa fire ems chief and the commissioner, we have the chief deputy sheriff of hillsborough county and the national guard and the tampa coordinator. so what we have been doing all week is making sure at the state, federal and local level that we gather all the information, so everybody is working with the same information. so we can make the best decisions around the state. we have to make sure that we do this for the state of florida. we want to make sure we are coordinating the state, federal

and local resources, that's what the effort -- everybody involved has been doing all week. we have had -- we just finished our 11:15 briefing, including federal, state and local rnc. 10:30, we had a briefing with the utilities around the state. they are very -- they are focused on making sure they have moved forward resources that they need and they have done that. they have been deployed. we are experiencing minor outages down on the southern part of the state. as you know, the tropical storm is starting to hit the keys right now. the latest is still moving west, as it comes up the coast. the keys are clearly going to be hit with tropical storm-force winds. and very heavy winds. the panhandle will be still looks like we will have landfall in the panhandle. tropical storm debbie -- the

land is still -- we are still saturated. so we have a big concern about flooding. in the tamp athe biggest issue right now is the concern is going to be wind. but around the state, we have rain, we have wind, we have storm surge and the risk of tornadoes. i personally have cancelled -- you know, i cancelled my activities for the rnc for today and tomorrow. i have done it for tuesday. locally in the tampa area, if someone's staying close to the beach, stay close to the beach. don't start venturing into the tampa side because you don't know what is going to happen, as far as your ability to get home. we have asked locals to minimize travel. but we are going to have eye am very hopeful that the rnc will have a great convention. now, for everybody in our state, if you are a resident, you probably already know these things, three days of food and

water. have your medicine, fill up your car. there is standing water, don't go into it. if you see a power line down, call somebody, don't deal with it yourself. be very, very, very cautious. the -- as now, with regard to the convention, we make sure that the delegates have information about how they should act with regard -- some of them have never been around a hurricane. floridians, we deal with these things. you can see that the storm is moving west. we are not only worried about what is going to happen to florida, but we might need to help other states, including a state that has dealt with hurricanes, we know how to do this. if it ends up going further west whether it's alabama, mississippi, louisiana, florida will be helpful. at this point, we will take questions. i don't know if anybody wants to add anything.

>> shannon: you have been listening live to florida governor rick scott, talk about this fact that florida is under an emergency order as isaac moves into the keys first. you can see the track, it looks like it is scheduled to go up through the gulf, possibly gain steam on the way. let's get more from our own fox weather expert, maria molean. >> reporter: good to see you. we are expecting the storm system to continue to intensify. it's gradually organizing and producing heavy rain in the southern part of florida. we have seen a lot of heavy rain across most of the state, over several weeks. the ground is saturated, there is a very big concern about flooding. we can see a foot of rain or more. and as the rain bands move onshore and interact with the land, some of the storms can rotate and produce tornadoes. so there is a tornado watch for miami, up into fort myers, until 5:00 p.m. eastern time.

we will continue to see the tornado watches throughout the rest of the afternoon and even as we head into monday. so we have two days here in tampa fort possibility of tornadic activity. the latest update is that we have maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour, currently, the storm moving to the west-northwest at 18 miles per hour. very warm water across the gulf. so the storm is going to become a category 1 hurricane and possibly even a category 2 hurricane before landfall across southern parts of mississippi, maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. that's not too far away from a category 3 storm, at least 111 miles per hour by then. shannon. >> shannon: maria molina with the late ev on the storm track. thank you very much. although tampa will not take a direct hit from isaac, officials

say safety first it a city already bogged down with security operations for the massive convention will deal with that headache, essentially, and led the rnc to push things back for a day. steve brown has the latest. >> reporter: yeah, hi. when you have a four-day event to push it into three day, you are going to have to have a serious makeover of scheduling. they have worked on this for weeks and months, to nominate mitt romney officially. now they have to reconfigure all of that. there will be, for fortes' perspective, a session, but just a forte. have a listen. >> we are going to convene on monday and then we gallon to an immediate recess. the program let elements for monday, we will roll into the rest of the week. we are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to do so, starting on tuesday. we look forward to an exciting event. >> you mentioned at the top of

the show that governor rick scott will have his happeneds full, dealing with hurricane isaac, he has opted out of his speech. we got confirmation from bobby jindal's office that so long as the people of louisiana are in peril or harm's way of this storm, including the city of new orleans, he will delay his departure, so long as the state might be a target. we are hearing that another gulf coast governor, rick bryant won't be leaving his state until he is convinced that his people are safe, his office saying that safety is their primary consideration. so in terms of juggling, three governors, two of which are scheduled to speak. so there are openings, becoming available. but they are trying to preserve as many of the speakers as possible and look for tuesday to be a little bit longer of a day. we are told that that is likely where the roll call vote will be, where the mitt romney address will be and it will be a longer day to try to squeeze in

the speakers. shallshannon. >> shannon: steve, thank you very much. haley barbour has had to deal with a lot of hurricanes in his lifetime, including in 2008, at the start of the g.o.p., when gustav hit the gulf. he has his predictions on how this could play out and what the latest polls do or don't mean about the race. >> thank you, shannon. >> shannon: your thought, the start of the g.o.p. convention and a storm moving into the gulf. huto deal with gustav, how does it impact things? >> if you saw the screen today, this storm will go well to the west of tampa. but hurricanes rotate counterclockwise so the bad winds and the drerchg rain will be to the east. that's why these party leaders have been prudent and said, we are not going to take a chance, first of all, this is a an

80-mile-per-hour event, which is not a big hurricane. but you can't drive buses over bridges when the winds are 40 miles per hour. the tenting will have to be taken down with 60- or 70-mile-per-hour winds, so that would have 20,000 people waiting to get into the hall, and get drenched. it is not because there will be a catastrophe, but it is prudent. even on the gulf coast; this could be a bad storm, but this is not katrina. but you know, we always say, pray for the best and prepare for the worst. >> it sounds like that's hathey have done here. we have had interesting information about polls. you have a lot of perspective, having been through a lot of presidential campaigns. president obama's handling of the economy, among likely voters, 42% approve. 54% disapprove. so that's a 12-point disadvantage, but continues to poll personally well and people continue to say, they are very much considering voting for president obama: how does that

factor in, where they don't trust him on the economy and how he is handling it? >> it is interesting because the economy is the number-1 voting issue. the economy and jobs, every poll, democrat, republican, newspaper, television, number 1. you can see why. last year, we had the fewest small businesses formed in america in decades. personal income in the last 4 1/2 years has gone down $4,000 a family. sure, it's the worst. how do you explain that a bunch of people that think obama has failed on the economy will still vote for him? they don't know mitt romney enough. they have made the decision that had president has not done a good job. but i think he is trying and i want to see if the other guy's better. very interesting, if you compare it to 1980, shannon. reagan was behind 9 points here at the convention -- >> in august. wasn't because people thought jimmy carter was great.

they had made up their minds, he was not a successful president. they made their mind up about barack obama. but they weren't sold on reagan. he never led until october. after the debate, people saw reagan who, they had been told was crazy, dangerous, warmonger, super right winger and they thought, i liked him. he seemed like a nice guy. carter dropped 10 points. but it happened very late. i see this very similar, romney now has to make the american people understand that not only is barack obama a failure, particularly on the economy and jobs, but that he is the kind of guy who can turn this country around and fix things and get their families a chance to enjoy the american dpreem and the future. the question i hear most is, i worry that this is going to be -- my children and grandchildren are not going to inherit the same country i inherited. barack obama's problem, mitt romney's opportunity. >> shannon: let's talk about the

latest polls and the fox news poll, puts the romney/ryan ticket at 45% and the obam/biden ticket 44%. the president does have an advantage by a point and-a-half on the real average. what does governor romney need to do this week to break away from that? to change the tide? >> let the american people see the real mitt romney. the guy who has been hugely successful on his own and bought failing businesses, got people to invest money, including pension funds, to invest money in him that he uses to buy failing businesses and turn them around, save hundreds of thousands of jobs. did he save every single one? of course want, but 90-something percent, huge number of jobs. got askedded to do the same thing for the winter olympics and he did that. got asked to do the same thing for massachusetts dit

successfully without raising taxes. and mitt romney the person. here's a guy who said father left him a very large sum of mon whemitt romney was a grown man, gave it all to charity. he said, i'm making it. i want to make it on my own and i want this to go for the kind of things that my father cared about helping people because i care about helping people. that's a fantastic legacy for a person before he thought about running for president. people need to see that mitt romney. that paul ryan. >> shannon: what about the fact that the obama campaign has done a good job using the same successes and highlighting the negative, the jobs that were lost under bain and the things that didn't succeed and the fact that the romneys are wealthy and out of touch and the average american is not someone they compare about. >> that's the theme of the obama campaign for one reason -- obama can't say america's better off. he can't say, your family's better off because we are not. he has to try to discredit

romney. it is interesting that he tries to discredit romney and some of the things where romney is most admirable by telling just part of the story. also, they want to try to spare the republicans on medicare. every campaign, the democrats say the republicans are going to cut medicare. we hear it every four years. interestingly, one time since medicare came into existinence 1965 has medicare spending actually gone down. it was under a democrat president, bill clinton. i don't blame bill clinton for it at all. they made an adjustment. when we talk about cuts in medicare quote/unquote, they are not talking about spending going down. paul ryan hasn't proposed that, we are talking about it going up less fast, increasing more slowly, but never to the extent that barack obama did in obamacare to take $716 billion over 10 years, out of medicare and give it to another program,

his program, obamacare. that's never happened again, though, even with that, medicare spending will go up. and the american people get it after this many campaigns. >> shannon: we know the medicare conferring is one you are more than willing to have and you hope the drones well with it. thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> shannon: there is a lot of pressure on governor mitt romney in his prime-time speech on thursday night, the first chance to introduce himself to all of america, those who may not have been listening. fox sunday scored an exclusive interview with mitt romney and his wife. romney said, if there is one thing he wants people to take away, it's that he believes in america and its exceptionalism. >> i look at this as a responsibility and a privilege. it's an honor to be the nominee of my party. but this is about an opportunity to get america on track again and that's what i am thinking about. >> chris wallace got a rare look inside the romneys' permanent life. he was in their kitchen.

check this out -- flipping pancakes, hanging out with them and the family. it's something you may have never seen. join chris for politics and pancakes with the romneys, after america's news headquarters today. should the show go on in tampa? there are those who say that republicans should scale back more than they have planned to do. should the g.o.p. convention go on as planned if isaac become ace major hurricane, not hitting here but somewhere else in the gulf. tweet us your answers. can our country be energy independent by 2020? that's what mitt romney is aiming to do. we will ask a leader in the natural gas industry what he thinks. and tropical storm isaac is barreling trtd key, threatening to grow into a dangerous hurricane. what does that mean to florida and to the rnc? tampa not just the host of the convention city, it's a swing statecity in a swing state.

up next, twha floridians want to hear. >> i would like to see a little more fire... coming from romney. a little more attacking obama. >> i would like to hear more... what are they really going to put into the schools, more programs, more pay for the teachers, more funding for the schools is really what i am looking to hear in this election. ♪ why should saturday night have all the fun? get two times the points on dining in restaurants, with chase sapphire preferred. -oh, that's just my buds. -bacon. -my taste buds. -[ taste buds ] donuts. how about we try this new kind of fiber one cereal? you think you're going to slip some fiber by us? okay. ♪ fiber one is gonna make you smile. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new fiber one nutty clusters and almonds.

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>> shannon: hurricane isaac is expected to hit the florida keys tonight. but the state of florida currently has an unemployment rate of 8.6%, with areas like tampa among the hardest hit. we have two lawmakers very familiar with what matters to floridians, the agriculture commissioner and republican congressman connie mack, also a u.s. cant candidate for senate. >> thanks for having us. >> shannon: congressman, i want to ask you about the op-ed from charlie christ, saying he applauds and shares it is visions of p.m. president obama.

>> no one in florida is surprised. charlie left the republican party a long time ago. his -- his values and principles stand on the republican party. no one in florida is shocked. >> shannon: all right. what is it that the florida voters care most about? this state went for president obama in 2008, how does that change -- or does it this time around? >> they care about someone who will bring strong leadership with a plan for putting people back to work and making them secure in their homes again. you know, charlie christ, bless his heart, he is so desperate to be in the parade, he will wear anybody's costume. we have a governor in rick scott and a candidate in mitt romney and connie mack who are focused on putting people back to work, building on the strength of enterprise and entrepreneurism, and peeling back the regulations that the last 3 years of the obama administration have placed on small businesses. >> shannon: i'm from florida, so

i know "when you say "bless his heart," i know what that means. what is the rb message that republicans need to communicate more effectively to connect to the floridians? >> i think it's important that we tell the people in the state of florida and in the country that we believe in them. if you look at this election, it's about who do you trust isn't democrats believe in more government, more government regulations, more taxes. you know, they believe in a system that holes people down. we believe in lifting people up. we believe in freedom. and so, the hopes and dreams of the people of the state of florida and america is what the republican party stands for, standing with them, supporting them, we need to put our faith and trust back into the entrepreneur, the risk taker, the people who get up in the morning and are excited about what they do, they want to be able to compete in the united states and around the world. they don't want to have government pushing them down. >> commissioner, that touches on a lot of what you do, the issue

of regulation, something that mitt romney said he wants to roll back, responsibly. democrats will say, republicans are the party of people who don't care about your kids having clean water and clean air. they want to make it a free-for-all. >> it is not a fine line with this administration because they have left so far into the theater of the absurd. commissioner of agriculture, we're dealing with an administration in washington who wants to ban kids from having fourh and ssa projects because it would involve livestock. doesn't want them to work around agriculture, even though the average age of the farmer is into the 60s. they want the corp of emergency engineers to regulate ditches like a navigatable waterway like this waterway. they want to throw out common sense and have the courts and judges decide the clean water act, instead of duly elects senatorred. the fine line was 3 years ago,

they are so far past a fine line, it's a bright line betweenon oppressive regime and agencies that will be unhinged in a second obama administration. and mitt romney who has lived under the regutions and understands how to unshackle america's businesses. >> there is a small numbers my district. they want to expand their business. in the process of trying to expand, it took them 31 permits and fees just to be able to expand the building before they hired the first employee. this is a government that is out of control, over regulates and over taxes. senator nelson voted to raise our taxes 150 times. this is just -- we have gotten so far away from what our government used to be about, we want to get back on the side of the people. >> shannon: something else here in florida several lawsuits with voter roles, early voting and that kind of thing, commissioner, how do you think that fight will play out and do

you think this has the impact to change a 1 or 2% prais? >> here's the thing -- the tempest in a tea pot about voter and voterification and things like that it's a commonsense principle that you should be here legally in the united states and present an i.d., the first time i ran for congress, we spent $2 million to be on television. my former next door neighbor was working the polls the day that my wife and i went in to vote. she made me show two forms of i.d. i had been on television. everybody knew was a candidate. i was personally women and to the poll worker and i had to show two forms of i.d. i was not offended by that. that's a commonsense approach that people on the left are using as a way to get out the base. but the bottom line is that florida wants to conduct free and fair elections, we encourage people of all ideologies to

register and get involved in the american process. and may the person who wins the most votes win. but let's eradicate voter fraud. >> shannon: we know the legal fights are not over. thank you both for coming in. >> coming up on america's news headquarters, oil tycoon. t. boon pickens had a change of heart over governor mitt romney's energy plan. and right now, tropical storm isaac is turning toward the keys and threatening most of the gulf coast with hurricane-force winds. rnc organizers are moving forward. but how? and is it a smart idea? >> the show's going to go on. we are going to get the business done and nominate mitt romney and paul ryan. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health.

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>> shannon: even though tampa is not in the direct path of the tropical storm, more cancellations can be could be on the way. peter doocy has more. >> reporter: the convention will be gaveled into session tomorrow, but events lbs cancelled until tuesday. they hope to begin laying out a revised schedule today. but there is a potential that a direct hit by this hurricane, up the gulf coast could prompt more cancellations. as romney gets ready to take center stage this week, president obama is not pull anything punches. in an interview with the sorked press, obama said that romney has locked himself into, quote, extreme positions on economic and social issues and would impose them if elected. and vice-president biden cancelled plans to campaign in florida tomorrow. according to authorities, all nine of the bystanders wounded friday near the empire state building were hit by bullet ors

fragments fired by police. officials say officer his no choice but to open fire to stipulate a gunman who had killed a co-worker, 3 of the 9 are in the hospital in stable conditionful the first man to walk on the moon has died. neil armstrong's family says he died after complications from cardiovascular procedures. he described himself as a white sox, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer. he was 82 years old. he was an american hero. back to you. >> absolutely was. peter, thank you very much for keeping us updated. >> there is a lot of talk about where isaac is headed. but the storm's killed four people in the caribbean. and in key west, everybody is batoning down the hatches. the outer bands are starting to hit the key, where phil keating is live, bracing for the storm.

>> reporter: well, the weather is deteriorating as the hours progress. and this is going to be the story up and down the keys all day today, worsening wind, worsening rain. you can see the boats here are all tied up, the tree, the palms are starting to bend much more than they were earlier this morning. tropical storm isaac is forecast to strike down here in key west or perhaps further up the keys, around marathon, 38 afternoon or this evening. it is going to be eye very strong tropical storm or possibly a category 1 hurricane. but it is moving very fast. 18 miles per hour. yesterday, as we drove down from miami to key west, 120-mile journey, very steady stream of cars were evacuating, heeding the recommended evacuation suggestion by the emergency management officials. as of now, the deteriorating conscience are too dangerous, emergency officials are urging

everybody who is still in the keys, don't leave, stay put, stay undoors and stay safe. it is not a storm to be messing with, no matter whether it's a tropical storm or a cat-1 hurricane. back to you, shannon. jigs. >> shannon, all right, phil, stay safe. will governor rom no's energy plan work? that's the final word from t. boon pickens, earlier in the week, he criticized the plan, saying it didn't give enough attention to natural gas. we'll see how it unfolds, but it's heartbreaking to see resources in america not understood. high is here to tell us why some say he has changed his mind and to clarify what happened. thank you for joining us. tell us what you are now confident that the plan is a positive step in the right direction. >> well, i am impressed. it's the first energy plan from a presidential candidate -- in my memory -- i go back to nixon. he said we would not import any

oil by the end of the decade. we import 60% of the oil. other canned datedidates have had the statement -- elect me and we will be energy independent. romney has said in 8 years, we won't import oil from the mideast. he has a plan. and this plan is extremely important to the country. it also has a part in it for demand. we have so much natural gas in the united states. we have done very well on finding oil, too. so we have -- we have plenty of oil. we have plenty of natural gas. we have plenty of resources. we need to decide from a plan how to dough deploy those resources, get them into our economy and restore our economy. we can build this economy back on the back of cheap energy. we did it in the -- we did it 30 years ago, 40 years ago, we did it on the back of cheap energy. we can do it now.

he says he can employ millions of people. he's right. that's what will be the outcome of our using our own resources. >> shannon: how would you contrast his plainplan with what we have seen over the last 3 1/2 years from the current administration? >> well, if you go back four years, obama, when he got the nomination said, we will not import any oil from the mideast in 10 years. that was now almost 4 years ago. he has 6 years to go. and no plan. we have never had a plan out of the obama administration. they talk about things, but they never do anything. and so -- but i am confident that romney will produce on what he says he doll. >> shannon: part of his plan is about significant regulatory reform. he says it can be done responsibly. do you think that's one of the key issues hampering our able to become independent at this point? >> it is. but, you know, i started on an

energy plan for america 4 years ago. from that time, on pickens plan dot-com, visigned up 1.7 million people in this country that are in the army with me to get a plan for america. we believe that we are going to have a plan. >> shannon: t. boone pickens, thank you for joining us to talk about this plan and your plan and we'll take an in-depth look coming up, thank you, sir. it technically ron paul is a candidate for president. he has his own event. he has plenty of his delegates, which begs the question: will his supporters get behind mitt romney? we will ask herman cain, right after this break. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables?

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>> shannon: the tea party helped many lawmakers get to wash. right now, many tea partyers are at an event with ron paul in tampa. all of this has us wonder figure they will fall in line with governor romney. many call him more of an establishment-type candidate. let's talk to a former presidential contender himself, the one and only herman cain. the minute we tweeted it, people went crazy. they want to hear what you are doing. have you an event that you say is very important, bringing together all the factions, within the g.o.p. party. do you think it's possible to get them excited and behind mitt romney? >> yes. our unity rally that we are holding this evening and people can find out about it on herman cain.com and click on unity rally. we are expecting an overflow

crowd. the idea is, make a statement about unity and how critical that is in this upcoming election. a lot of people may have different levels of enthusiasm, but they cannot have different levels of unity whether it comes to the ultimate objective of defeating president obama. >> shannon: do you think that the addition of paul ryan, willing to tackle fiscal issues and talk about med air and other difficult things, do you think that will re-energize the folk who is maybe were going to support mitt romney but not be essentially excited. >> there is no doubt that adding representative ryan to the ticket helped to energize the base. first of all, since governor romney selected representative ryan, it said a lot about his leadership. that is, he wasn't -- he didn't just take the safe choice. he could have taken the safe choice, but he took a choice that he knew would be attacked by the democrats and the two of

them together, when i first saw them standing together and they made that announcement, i put my corporate brain on and i saw ceo and cfo -- that's the type of team we need in order to lead this company -- country. i believe he will definitely energize the base and add excitement to the total ticket. >> shannon: do you think that the tea party -- and not just the tea party folks, but others who are working a lot of other grassroots issues, do you think they have changed the conversation over the primary season and the last couple of years, influencing the g.o.p. platform and the discussions that the republicans are having? >> i absolutely that's the case because the tea party sectors are not having as many rallies, they are doing a lot of work below the radar. that's why ted cruz in texas and richard mured nocindiana got elected. that's why the official in nebraska got elected. so the tea party people, not

just the people who formally identify themselves, they are having an impact, working at the local level in their states and i think we are going to see some big movement in november. >> shannon: i have to ask you about an nbc news, wall street journal poll that broke down the race. but they say, zero percent of african-americans are planning to vote for mitt romney. i am assuming you might be in that zero percent. >> i am not a zero! >> shannon: no -- [laughter] >> shannon: what do you think of that number? what do you think the g.o.p. could do to connect and better communicate with the african-american community and convince them to give them a listen to their ideas? >> first of all, that is want correct. i meet and run into black americans all the time who are conservative who, say they are going to vote for the republican ticket and on and on and on. i get this on the radio, as a radio talk show host, running through the airport, i believe that that poll is false, just like i don't believe that 95% of

all black people voted for obam at last time around. this convention is one way how the republican party can make a statement to black america. they are doing it. mia love, from utah, a very articulate young black lady, running for office. and they have former representative davis from alabama who is a democrat and allen west. so what the republican party needs to do is put some of these strong voices that happen to be black and conservative in front of the american people. the mainstream media's not going to do it so the republican party has to do it. the romney campaign will have to do it, just like fox news is doing it. >> shannon: all right. herman cain, always good to see you. thank you for coming in. >> my pleasure. >> shannon: the home of the republican convention and florida is a swing state this time. up next, we have more on the

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>> shannon: as isaac strengthens to what is expected to be a hurricane, politicos are pushing back the official first day of the rnc. many are woshdzing if the schedule will be compressed even more. florida governor rick scott cancelled his speech and activities tomorrow before the rnc made its announcement. others include mike huckabee, south carolina governor, nikki haley and senator rand paul. now that isaac may be bound for alabama or louisiana, governor robbert bentley has cancegged his trip. and the mississippi governor will delay his trip and will continue to monitor the storm. and vice-president byjoe biden has cancelled a campaign tril trip to norda, saying he wants local resources to be focused on the the state, preparing for storm damage. and debwasserman-schult has cancelled a why republicans are bad for florida press

conference. specially armed vehicles are swarming the streets of tampa for the convention, out of $50 million in federal grant money that tampa got, $3 million left. close to 4,000 officers will be on the street, protecting conventiongoers as the schedule is a bit up in the air with the details about what is moving, what is coming and changing by the minute. we will keep you updated. the tampa mayor has been on the ground, trying to prepare for the convention and making sure that the residents will be visiting in the wake of tropical storm isaac. he will be here after the break to tell us about the latest and republican governors unit in opposition to the welfare work requirement. the arizona governor is among them. we'll sit down live with governor jan brewer after the break. ♪

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>> shannon: after swamping cube what and blamed for at least four deaths in haiti, tropical storm isaac is gaining new strength as it bears down on the florida keys where its outer bands is have already arrived. the hurricane watch for the northern gulf coast extended to include new orleans. the storm is expected to become a dangerous category 2 hurricane while it is out there turning in the gulf before it hits in louisiana in the panhandle late tomorrow or tuesday. i'm shannon bream. america's news headquarters live from tampa starts right now.

the next effects of isaac t all across florida. though tampa is not in the storm directly tampa is postponing the start by one day. thousands of enthusiastic republicans from all over the country have come here. tampa's mayor joins us to talk about how this is all playing out. thanks for coming in. you won the bid two years ago and there had to be discussion of hurricane season and august in florida. what are the odds. how do we prepare for a storm if it happens during the convention. >> one of the things living in the tropics is you get accustomed to this. part of our dna. we rain and prepare. 50,000 more people and 15,000 members of the media complicate it a little bit. we would be ready to deal with it if it was actually a serious storm which it is is not. >> shannon: the bands can bring in low lying rains.

beautiful setting right on the water. how do you plan for that and make sure that flooding issues, those kinds of things won't impact the convention itself? >> monday there will be high winds and rain and no significant tidal surge. you will be fine. don't need to wear your boots tomorrow. >> shannon: i bought some new ones. >> that was a good enough reason there. there will be some standing water but there won't be significant tidal surge. >> shannon: a major factor just in teal dealing with the convention security getting people in and out and all of the check points and those types of things. how are you dealing with the fact that they may have to deal with storm issues just with the security issues too. >> we trained for that. we will execute our plan. we prepped for this rnc for a year and a half. we do hurricane training all day all year any way. we layered that on top of each other. we literally go hour-by-hour

putting on the hurricane hat and the rnc hat. the city is prepared and open for business and we are excited about hosting this. we will put on a good show and tuesday wednesday and thursday ought to be just fine and we'll have weather back to the beautiful, florida, that we normally have. >> shannon: when i got here it was sunny, got, gorgeous, what you would expect. best advice for those traveling into the area, delegates who aren't here or other coming into the convention or related events. >> automotive caution. there will be heavy and i -- use caution. heavy rains and bands of winds. drive slowly and carefully and take extra time where you need to go. if the rain gets serious get unneath an overpass so you are not putting yourselves at risk. it will be a very small storm. it will pass through probably ob monday night. tuesday ought to be clear. for the most part most of the delegates are here. they will stay in the hotels monday and probably enjoy indoor activities and then ready for tuesday. >> shannon: we thank you for

give us the latest update as you deal with not the completely unexpected but some what unusual circumstance is. mayor, thank you. >> tank you. >> shannon: we want to quickly now get an update on the weather. let's check in with maria with the latest on isaac and where it may be headed next. hi, maria. >> good to see you. a brand new computer model run stating that the storm system is forecast to shift further off towards the west. important enough to take things too seriously. possibly landfall from isaac as a hurricane tuesday and wednesday next week. continuing to keep an eye on the storm system. the center 80 miles to the southeast of key west in florida and already bringing new hampshire heavy rain and we are seeing more thunderstorm its forming across the center of the storm system. basically kind showing that the storm system is is continuing to intensify. a big concern across parts of florida is we could see tornadoes. tornado watch including the

city of miami and fort myers until 5:00 p.m. eastern time. flooding a big story here. could see up to a foot of rain. hurricane warnings across parts of southwestern miami and hurricane watches new orleans and across panama city. we could be seeing landfall out here from sigh zac isaac as a 2 hurricane. shannon? >> shannon: maria, thank you very much. as republicans work on changing up the convention schedule the man who will be their nominee took a rare day off the campaign trail enjoying time off at his vacation home in new hampshire. as the convention gets ready to rev up mitt romney sat down for an interview with fox news anchor chris wallace. jon roberts has all the inside desails. i understand there were pancakes involved? >> there were but not in the part of the interview we will show you. at the convention site in the forum in tampa republicans are anxious to get convention underway hoping they don't use

yet another day some where along the gulf coast. anxious to get mitt romney's story out to america, the importance of faith and family. governor romney did go to church today alongside his family. republicans say he and ryan are the ticket to lead america into its future. president obama says hey wait a minute, a lot of concerns here and a lot of things we don't know about mitt romney. case in point why does he need to have the offshore bank accounts and did he get favorable tax treatment because of that. in his interview with chris wallace for "fox news sunday" chris asked him about that. here is what the governor said. >> i mean i had no involvement in this but the blind trusts that are going to have some currencies, u.s. currency and some in foreign currency. that tends to be something which investors do but they are trying to make that seem like it is some unsavory action and frankly all the taxes are paid exactly as owed and there is no tax savings by visit too of

having that vehicle. >> the romney campaign struck out against president obama in a new ad contrasting his cuts to medicare now proposed in obama care to criticisms that he leveled at john mccain back in the 2008 campaign for wanting to do essentially the same thing. and the obama campaign hit out at governor romney today taking aim at thursday night which is going to be his big night when accepts the republican nomination. take a quick look at some of that ad. >> on august 30 mitt romney stars in it the do-over. critics have called his previous work wildly misleading. four pinocchios. pants on fire. >> there has been a tradition in politic its that the opponent stays dark for the week while the person who is accepting into the democratic or republican nomination has the week to themselves. so much for tradition, shannon. >> shannon: yeah, a lot of tradition going out the window this week.

john, thank you very much. last month the obama administration sent out a memo that could change the work requirement tied to welfare. triggered letters from at least nine governors warning the move could wipe out progress made by the bipartisan welfare reform law passed in 1996. joining us to talk about that live one of the governors fighting back, jan brewer of arizona. governor, thank you so much for coming in today. >> thank you. i'm honored to be here. >> shannon: let's talk about the letter. the white house is saying the action doesn't necessarily tell states they have to change the requirement. trying to give them lee way to find their own best solution. what is is wrong with that? >> i think that is awfully wrong, the bottom line is we all worked so hard like you said in a bipartisan manner to encourage people to look for work as they are were receiving some welfare bonuses if you will. and by reducing that and taking that wacowards that means -- back wards that means these people won't be looking for work and history shows if you are out there looking for work the long chance is that you are

going to find a job and you won't be he on entitlement. you feel better about yourself. this is all wrong. anybody with any common sense understands it is not the right thing to do. >> shannon: you you offer adler to the administration specifically to health and human services outlining objections. do you expect to get a response? what would you like to hear from the administration? >> i always expect to hear and get a response from the administration. however, i don't always get a response. come forwardould woman forward and say what they have done is a mistake and we need to continue in the path we were going because it has been a successful program. why take something so successful and has a record and do away with it? makes no sense. he wants -- i believe this administration basically just simply want to make everybody dependent on government and it is not healthy. it is just unhealthy. >> shannon: it is not a secret that you have had tension with the current administration. this is one of the latest issues. i know as well that there are a number of steps that they have taken recently the directive

dealing with deportations and action for young people who would stay here in the u.s. given leeway to make things right and get an education and join the military whatever is might be. you said they won't be able to get driver's licenses or other public benefits in arizona. is this your sense that the administration is continuing to roll things off that maybe they can't get things done through congress through this wasn't executive order but directives and orders like that that essentially some argue take on the legislative role? >> absolutely. executive fiat. he should not have the power to move forward and make those kinds of policies and make laws without congress. it is just unbelievable that they would even attempt to do that and he has done that and it is inherently wrong. in arizona, the voters overwhelmingly on two different occasions voted that no public benefits with be given to

illegal aliens in the state. i issued my directive saying that they needed to uphold the law and enforce it. and so it is just going back and forth. with this administration, the political pandering obviously is what it is all about and he he thinks that he is getting away with it. i think the american public is -- if they are not in an outrage they are soon to be outraged and we will see a victorious november election. >> shannon: meantime between now and next january if there isn't any chance in administration any common ground that you have with the obama administration? any things that you and the president could agree on when it comes to issues of border security and other problems in arizona? >> i think that they are and we do. we need to sit down and come up with a sew he luke that works for america -- solution that works for america in regards to illegal immigration and we need our are borders secured. mexico is arizona's largest trading partner. it is important that we have good relations with that country and with that state south of arizona and we want to

continue those good relationships because it is good for our economy and their economy and we know we have other issues that we need to really address. it makes it very, very difficult but i believe that the hispanic community will think about the different platforms that the republican democrat party, the federal government and the president has had three good years to do things that they have promised and they weren't able to deliver. we need a change in administration and we can deal with those very sincere humane issues that we are facing. >> shannon: all right, arizona governor jan brewer. always good to see you. have a great week here in tampa. >> looking forward to it. >> shannon: one of the key things to watch at convention is whether or not the romney ryan ticket can connect with hispanic voters. we will talk to puerto rico's governor. meanwhile the rnc chair says it is full steam ahead with a little bit of a delay. >> we are going to be able to have a great convention. tell the mitt romney story.

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>> shannon: a hurricane watch extended to include the new orleans metro area as tropical storm isaac crawls toward the u.s. the watch now stretches from louisiana to the florida panhandle as far as we are talking about now a direct hit. the outer wands are lashing the florida keys where it is expected to move in later today. isaac is gaining strength and could become a category the 2 hurricane before hitting on the northern gulf coast late tuesday or early wednesday. this week's gop convention expected to be the most latino focused convention in the party's history. gop leaders hoping to convince hispanic voters they have nor offer. according to a recent poll they have a whole lot of ground to make up in the meantime. puerto rico's governor who has endorsed governor romney will speak at the convention on wednesday and joins us to talk about how governor romney can convince latinos he would be

their best advocate as president. i understand we have a bit of a delay. with that in mind ask you about the attacked that in 2008 roughly 70% of hispanic voters voted for president obama. how can that change? do you expect it to change in 2012? well, i am convinced that it will change. especially given our two main concerns. number one is jobs. and governor romney is better prepared to create jobs especially after what has happened the last three and a half years across the country. number two, we have a major concern with what is going on in terms of the fiscal situation. we need to get our budget under control otherwise our children and grandchildren will be paying for it for years. and governor romney and congressman paul ryan are better prepared to handle both our issues which are issues across-the-board regardless of your ethnicity. >> shannon: and governor just moments ago i interviewed

governor jan brewer and she has obviously and the state has take and tough stance on illegal immigration there. it is one of the issues that democrats say we are not going to attack hispanics and not going to attack immigrants, we are the better party because we are more compassionate and understand your needs better. how do you address those kinds of arguments from the other side of the aisle? >> the best way to understand the issues affecting the hispanic community is creating jobs and getting government off our backs and eliminating unnecessary regulations, lowering taxes and making sure that our children get a better education. >> shannon: can you give aus little bit of a preview of maybe what you plan to say this week and how you are hopeful that you will be able to connect the gop in a stronger way with the latino community? >> well, as i mentioned

earlier, regardless of whether you are hispanic asian american or whatever, job security, you want to see jobs create the across the country. in the hispanic community we have a lot of small and medium sized business owners and they are concerned as is to whether there will be higher taxes, concern about overregulation by the federal government. concern whether their children will have a better america than they did. and that is exactly what i will be talking about. >> shannon: are you encouraged that you along with another -- a number of other high profile latinos will be on the prime time speaking schedule this time around and do you think the gop made a special effort to be more inclusive to have more of an outreach? >> well, at the end of the day if you look across the country there are three hispanic governors, all three of us are republican.

so at the end of the day, we as a party have opened our doors for years and the values that actually are prevalent in the his panic community are exactly the same values that our party espouseslican party escaped for america. >> shannon: we look forward to seeing you here in tampa. safe travels to you, governor. thank you very much for your time. once popular governor of florida throwing his support officially behind president obama. can cha charlie crist help. chris is here to help us figure it out and more. good to see you. >> good to be here in florida with you. these are your people. >> loving it. they can be your people as well. they love chris stirewald

because you keep it real. the op ed from charlie crist was a republican when was the governor of florida. he has strong words in endorsing president obama saying i share his vision. a lot of folks here in florida say they are not surprised by that. what do you think it means? >> i don't want to be cynical shannon, not in politics, just politicians. crist as we know is widely speculated to be considering a run against incumbent rick scott and this is probably a way to set himself up and he wants to show that he really does like barack obama. but remember, i don't know charlie crist has been a moderate republican. a conservative republican. back to moderate republican. back to conservative. left the party. became an independent. endorsed barack obama. i don't know how much his opinion on this really will sway voters but it may help him. >> shannon: so more about him

than the president. >> yes. >> shannon: i want to talk about real cool things during the convention coverage that involve twitter. tell us how this will work and what kind of data we are getting about this. >> we talked before with the viewers about the twin dex the twitter index. which measures where twitter is in the universe for barack obama and mitt romney. basically says where they stand and it is great because it tells us how they are effectively reaching out online and using their tools. yes, it skews democrat because twitter users tend to be younger. it can be useful. if you look i think there is a chart about twitter tracking hurricane sigh zac isaac and ye spikes and how they go. we will be able to do that essentially in real time at the republican national convention as the week goes on. we teamed up with twitter and we can go through and say how twitter likes the speech and

responding to things it is a goes through. great interactivity for viewers to actually have their opinion and perspective heard while doing our broadcast. it will be awesome. >> shannon: almost immediately you can get feedback. this isn't as simple as looking at hash tags. much more complex. >> they can dive deeper into the data. you don't have to use complicated hash tags. about put our opinion out there and a they have a rhythm that searches to find match and positive or negative sentiment. we will be able to give you real data about how the speeches are going over in real time. something we have never been able to do' and frankly i will admit i'm excited about it. >> shannon: i'm excited, too. another great tool to keep the pulse on what people are talking about. we had isaac there. we might have another. >> do we have the twitter political index for the day? can we see that? it is cool, too. >> shannon: this is more about looking at the candidates and how they are in line. >> that is the twitter

political index i talked about. we will be able to do that in the evenings actually score the peach. how did twitter like the speech. chris cristie gives a talk. how did they like it. >> shannon: something tells me just based on the twitter traffic i have gotten already they will like him. we look forward to all of our coverage this week and power play live from tampa this week a special time this week. >> one hour, 11:30 to 12:30 eastern time. the hottest ticket. >> shannon: it is. fabulous. thank you. >> yes, ma'am. >> still to come an update on tropical storm isaac and where it could hit. not only florida but danger up in the gulf coast. plus, has congressman paul ryan given mitt romney a boost in the polls? we will take a look at that. ♪ why not make lunch more than just lunch?

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floridaians praising for

isaac and most of the northern gulf coast on high alert. isaac is forcing safety concerns for the convention in tampa. iran says it is not isolated from the rest of the world. it welcomed a group of 120 developing nations to the nonalign movement but the opening comes with a bit of conflict. reports that a hamas leader has not been invited but is insisting on attending anyway. and palestinian president mahmoud abbas is refusing to be there if there is a hamas presence. the summit is seen as iran's attempt to reach out to the international community. more than 500 senior citizens in south carolina treated by a fake doctor. he stole the identity of his friend who is a doctor and then allegedly used the documents to convince a senior citizen care center to hire him. he worked there treating people and seeing them for more than six months. his friend realized what he was doing and that he had opened credit cards in his name and

called police. >> shannon: governor romney's decision to pick congressman paul ryan has his running mate seems to have paid off in some polls. romney budget any narrowed the gap to two points in wisconsin after the announcement. while the really politics average shows romney behind by roughly two points. joining us is senator ron johnson. thank you for coming in today. >> shannon, glad to be here is. >> shannon: wisconsin getting a lot of time on the natural stage in the last company of years. >> right. >> shannon: your campaign was huge in your defeat of the sitting incumbent for and in the wake of that challenges to scott walker which he survived and others who were challenged there as well in the state. what is the mood? what is the political feeling in wisconsin right now? >> i think we are pretty well energized by governor romney's selection of paul ryan. but you people say that wisconsin isn't in play. of course, it is. i mean take a look at what 2010.ed in november of 21st

i do believe that the citizens of wisconsin are fiscally conservative and they have this very apparently odd concept that the government ought to live within its means. take a look at the 2010 race it was a simple race. president obama ran through a very unon popular healthcare law and i ran on the repeal of that law. what changed in two years other than we are close to implementing that jennifer lange unpopular law and added 2.5 trillion today's our debt. obviously governor walker was rewarded by having courage of addressing a problem and fixing it and survived that recall with flying colors. i'm very optimistic governor romney will take the ten electoral votes. >> shannon: how do you respond to those who say what happened with the governor and union leaders it energized the union leaders and union base in wisconsin more than before and they will be more determined than ever to get out and make sure that the state doesn't go for a republican? how do you respond? >> look at the recall.

that was their real chance. the recall, in fact -- the fact governor walker survived that spirited the base. as i travel around wisconsin the people on our side are certainly energized. they understand what is at stake. conservatives we don't take to the streets very often. we do tea party rallies and pick up after yourselves. wiebe and large get behind good candidates and go to the polls and vote. even taking a look at these polls right now if you you take a look at the exit poll in the recall it was too close to call. governor you walker won that going away. so i just don't think they quite have the models done right in terms of what the voter enthusiasm is and who is going to turn out. again, i'm optimistic. >> shannon: what do you think the addition of your colleague, congressman paul ryan to the ticket does in wisconsin? >> it is certainly helpful in michigan. shannon the reason i was pleased is not only paul ryan is just a mine man, theyville a difficult time demonizing him on the left. he is knowledgeable. he can help craft a piece of

legislation and help get it passed. for me what it really confirmed is what i already new having sat down and talked with governor romney. governor romney is dedicated to fixing these problems and dedicated to putting forward real solutions about leading. you don't pick paul ryan if you are not serious about fixing the problems. as i travel around wisconsin and america we have a marvelous economy. this is the land of opportunity. the missing ingredient is leadership. president obama has until led. governor romney and paul ryan will need. a positive sign. >> shannon: you you campaigned on repealing the healthcare law or at least in opposition to the healthcare law. if the romney-ryan ticket were to be elected how realistic do you think it is they would be able to repeal in some sense the healthcare law? would they have to go after funding and just specific portions because you couldn't outright repeal the entire thing especially the fact that a lot of these things have kicked in. >> without 60 votes in the senate it will be difficult for total repeal. it will be important to get a

marriagity of republicans in the senate. we do need to run the table here. if we stop the implementation of the healthcare law it will have to be through a budget process. we will actually pass a budget. we haven't passed a budget in over three years. it sets up the reconciliation process that you can start defunding this with just a simple majority a vote of 51. governor romney is dedicated to stopping the implementation if not total repeal. every republican running for senate is for doing that. the house voted for repeal. we have to run the tables if we going to do that and it is so important that we do. not only with the healthcare law harm healthcare quality and lead to rationing and limit innovation but it will be the final nail in the coffin in terms of bankrupting this nation. i don't see how we can afford this healthcare law. >> shannon: see how the republican team does communicateing that message here at the convention. have a great week. >> thanks for having me. >> shannon: the romney camp playing catchup with a key group of voters. the superpanel gives the gop

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governor mitt romney's wife ann back in a prime time speaking slot this week. the first lady of the gop convention will take the stage tuesday night. supporters believe she is one of his best advocates among female voters. the latest fox news poll show the president leading among women voters. that is the first topic today with the superpanel. rnc communications director shawn spicer. republican strategist and former press secretary to the bachmann and santorum presidential campaigns byron and byron york. thank you for coming this it today. >> great to be here is. >> shannon: i got a.b. e-mail that says at 5:15 a quarterback to discuss potential changes in the schedule. what is the latest.

no big events on monday. picking up on tuesday? >> i think youville to wait until 5:15. we are apparently trying to look at the program. the number one factor are is people's safety. not just the people here but the people trave traveling her. constantly being reassessed with the information provided by local, state and federal officials. our number one goal is the safety of the folks coming here and citizens here and second be to ensure that we still put on a fantastic convention and are able to talk about what a great team mitt romney and paul ryan are are. >> shannon: and part of the push obviously as we talked about there with ann romney speaking on the trail seems very comfortable now as if she were a candidate now. many ways the spouses are often viewed in that light. how do you think that she does when it comes to bringing female voters into the fold? >> she does a great job whether talking about attracting female voters or talking about people that are super profamily and

prolife. but she also is able to touch on the governor you's business experience and show that he had a great job in the private sector and did very well there which is important here. and she makes him a more well rounded candidate. we know he is a great politician. we know he is a great businessman but now we know with her that he is a great family man and a great man of faith. so that is the kind of qualities that people in this country are looking for to lead this country and she just puts a spot light on that. >> shannon: byron, you are with the washington examiner and with that discussion in mind the democrats have in many people's estimation very effectively done a good job of saying that the gop has some type of war on women. they have hit on a number of issues and said it is just not the camp that you should go with. they are not going to serve you well as a woman. how does the gop respond to that and effectively message against that. >> this means everything to the democrats. there is a significant enduring

gender gap between the parties and democrats think if they can peel away a few more college educated women from the independent and republican kathe can win. this is hugely -- category, they can win. this is hugely important. the role of mrs. romney is fighting back. the campaign has sort of progressively debuted mrs. romney on the trail. i remember being in iowa when she first started with a private home in the cesar rapids area maybe 20 people in the living room and said let me tell you how mitt and i met and told this enduring story for white awhile and that has been spreading through the republican ranks and they are hoping that they can get the same effect from the podium at the convention. >> and one thing on the note of the quote, war on women. this is more of a war for women. i work for concerned women for america and we have been all over this country on a bus tour. women are not just concerned about getting free birth control pills and the social issues. they are multidimensional

people and voters. they are concerned about jobs and the economy and putting gas in the tank and food on the table and if they can have decide if they can put their kid in football or ballet classes because they don't have enough money. they are concerned about the number one issue jobs and the economy and they trust that governor romney can fix it. >> why they are going there is because ther this h is a major distractsion. if housing prices back up, education costs, whatever it is, if things were moving in the right direction the obama campaign would be out there touting that. at this point left to manufacturing different types of wars and tactics to get away from talking about their own record. >> shannon: there are a number of prominent gop female speakers scheduled this week. as you work on scheduling and the tial decisions won't be rolled out just yet but how you important is it to the rnc to keep the female speakers in the prime time spots like ann

romney now being on tuesday to make sure that potential voters look out and see women are valued in the party? >> you will see a diversity among the speakers and not just the women. we have great hispanic speakers and mayors and governors that have done a great job some of them only in their first terms becoming a leader in the party and in the country in terms of what they have been able to accomplish. i think you will see a diversity among our speakers. but there is a great number of female speakers out there talking about how they are proud to be republican. they are proud to support mitt romney and paul ryan. and the vision that they have for turnin turning this country around. >> sean: shawn, alice and byron if you stick around. that is it for panel one. a whole lot more to come. the convention could give one or both of the tickets a boost. who is going to lead the horse race when the two big events our over? our superpanel is back right after the break to break that down. is it done? [ john ] no. were you just... no.

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>> shannon: welcome back to america's news headquarters. live from tampa this week. it appears that it as dead heat in the presidential race right now. the latests poll shows that president obama and governor romney in a virtual tie as we head into the conventions. how much of a convention bounce will governor romney get this

week? our superpanel is here to talk about it. thank you all for sticking around. byron, i will start with you. what can this ticket if everything goes well, the speech on thursday night prime time from the then official nominee, what kind of bounce can they expect? >> as much as all political junkies have been talking about the race and about mitt romney's choice of paul ryan as much as they have all been talking about that they really haven't had a formal national unveiling to the voting public and that is what this is. it is covered not only by all of the cable news networks but by the broadcast networks and people who might otherwise be watching a sitcom are actually watching mitt romney and paul ryan are perhaps for the percent time in their life. this is a huge -- first time in their life. this is a huge thing. the campaign is not worried about a one week bounce. who dares about a one week bounce if you just go back down. they are worried about making the positive impression as the

campaign goes on is a good foundation for them to work on. >> shannon: americans are by and large familiar with president obama and know him and a lot less familiarity with mitt romney. that caked over the last few months. how -- that changed over the last few months. >> plan for this week is to put more of a personal face on him and as well as paul ryan. see more about the men and their politics and see that we can do better as a country and we did build this and we can change things around. we will see the personal face on them and the great thing in the fox poll a great number in there is the enthusiasm. romney is beating obama in the enthusiasm. what we are seeing as soon as rean was announced the enthusiasm within the party went through the roof and this week it will continue to build on that and the enthusiasm will continue and that is going to make the difference between now and november. we are also going to continue to pull in the independents who are going to be key in the selection and that is why this week is critical in it defining their politics as well as their persona. persona. and because i

>> shannon: and because it is so critical. worried about losing the first day? >> we would love a full four day convention. we will have an opportunity to introduce mitt romney not just himself but mrs. romney talking on behalf and a lot of governors who worked with him and so there is an opportunity to do that over a three day period or two day period or whatever it ends up being. we have an opportunity to tell the american people who haven't necessarily sat down and focused on the election. everybody knows who president obama is. is you are happy with 8.3 unemployment or you are not. happy with escalating debt or you are not. this is the chance to say i want to understand who this guy is and what makes him tick and what his vision for a better tomorrow is and get to know paul ryan as well. but the other thing that is interesting in the polls is it is not just the national polls. look at the battleground polls in a state like wisconsin that barack obama won by 14 points is suddenly up two points for mitt romney. virginia, north carolina up. florida polls up there. it is the battleground states where you will see a lot more of that enthusiasm really

propel us forward going out of here. i don't see how the democrats get any kind of bounce because when they go to the convention you know what you got. you either like it or you don't. nothing is going to change your mind after a couple days of hearing jimmy carter speak. >> shannon: what do you make of the polls that shawn citeds with changes in the swing states and appears that the romney-ryan ticket is getting trackion. a better job of messaging or people tuning in, learning about them? >> i think they are doing a better job. everybody's remark that mitt romney seems more lively and on his game when he is with ryan. he is enenergiesed any younger guy. people heard that mitt romney is a villain and a tax cheat and may have killed a a woman. the whole idea is to portray mitt romney and say look, this is actually a good man. he has done lots of important things. a good man in his personal life. he is is not what they have

been saying he is. i think that is extremely important for him to say. >> and a track record of success. everything that he has done in the private sector, at the olympics, and as governor it is a record of turning things around and getting them working which is what he think most people in this country are ready for. >> shannon: we will leave it there but thank you all very much for your time today and have a great week here in tampa. >> thanks, shannon. >> shannon: we asked, you you answered. your twitter responses up next and the latest on tropical storm isaac from meteorologist maria molina, after this bre. s by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's.

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>> shannon: meteorologist maria molina a brand new update on isaac. let's go to her for the latest. >> good to see you and everyone. a brand new update from the national hurricane center stating that isaac has really not strengthened a whole lot in the past 12 hours. maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour and we still do have a hurricane watch in effect for areas just east of morgan city in louisiana to indian pass florida including the city of new orleans and also area around that area. basically that is what we are looking at. still expecting to see a category 2 hurricane across parts of the northern gulf the next couple of days tuesday into wednesday. right now there does seem to be more convex near the center of the storm system. heavy rain across parts of the key hes and parts of south, florida. locally up to a foot of rain possible out here. the other big story is the risk for tornadic activity.

tampa and fort pierce into miami and the keys. the risk for tornadoes. a tornado watch still in effect for here until 5:00 p.m. eastern time and you can see the h heavy rain bands coming through into parts of south, florida. locally up to a foot of rain possible out here. a brand new update. maximum sustained winds 60 miles per hour. the storm system moving towards the west northwest at 18 miles abouter hour. isaac is forecast to move into eastern parts of the gulf. the water out here is very warm. temperatures well into the 80s. so that is going to provide the fuel for the system to continue to intensify by early tomorrow morning it should be a category one hurricane. more intensification forecast and then as we head into early wednesday morning landfall forecast just to the east of new orleans with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour. just shy of category three hurricane strength. by the way, wednesday would be the basically anniversary of when katrina hit the area in

new orleans. kind of a not a good sign out here. again, a very strong system forecast to make landfall across parts of the northern gulf and also important to not focus on where the center of the storm system with make landfall because isaac is very big. tropical storm force winds extend outwards up to 200-miles from the center of the storm system so keep that in mind as well. shannon. >> shannon: i know that you get updates on a regular schedule. can you tell us when when you will have more fresh information? >> the next at 5:00 p.m. >> shannon: thank you so much, maria. >> thank you. >> shannon: well, with tropical storm isaac barreling toward florida and now up in the gulf coast it is sending gop organizers scrambling. events postponed until tuesday because of the storm. a new convention scheduled set to be released sometime today. they will try to squeeze in as many people as they can into

three days instead of four. stay tuned to fox news for the breaking update and coverage. as we learn more we will tell you. day one already pushed back and some say that republicans should scale back even more if isaac bullpens becomes a major hurricane. tom said no the convention should not go on. a major hurricane is not something to take be likely. paul disagreed. they he should go on with a full agenda. the hurricane will not seriously hinder the proceedings and michael with what we think was a bit of humor. he said this they should cancel it and have it in north carolina the first week of september. i think there is another convention there that same week. thank you for sharing. that is it for us here in tampa. "fox news sunday" is next. chris wallace an interesting exclusive interview with governor mitt romney and his wife ann. he visits them and you get a personal look inside. they make pancakes together. mixing