>> gretchen: as well as congresswoman michelle bachmann. >> brian: and the oak ridge boys promise it trim their beards. >> steve: plus condoleeza rice will be with us and we hope you will join us live from tampa as our coverage kicks off. tomorrow will be the official first day. >> brian: if you have to run from the tv, run to the radio. we start at 9:06, bret baier is just getting dressed. see you tomorrow. bill: a soggy morning here in tampa, it's day one, kind of sort of here in the the republican national convention. good morning from tampa, i'm bill hemmer. how you doing, martha? martha: i'm doing just great. it's a bit windy and wet this morning in tampa and the big concern is for the going. the storm is starting to strengthen. the keys taking a pummeling over

the weekend. isaac forecast to make landfall in new orleans as a category one 7 years to the day since katrina. the warning is issued for the panhandle all the way to new orleans. rick leventhal is in mobile, alabama. what are the conditions? >> reporter: conditions are fine right now but they expect things to deteriorate the next 24 hours. there is a hurricane watch in effect and the governor has issued a state of emergency and they are issuing mandatory evacuation orders. this is mobile bay. it relies heavily on water:born commerce. you can see a lot of the

container ships have been secured and other ships have been moved out in anticipation of this storm. evacuations are beginning. anybody in noble and baldwin counties in what they call zones one and two year the water living close to any of the four rivers. anyone in low-lying areas. they have been told to get out now before this storm gets here. the governor also putting the alabama national guard troops on stand by. they are making every preparation they can despite the fact it's tracking west of mobile. bill: it is a first storm of the year, rick. sometimes they get more attention and sometimes less. how serious are the people living there taking this storm at the moment? >> reporter: when they see that radar it's giving them because.

on dauphin island on the coast they are starting to board up some of the homes there. people are starting to heed those warnings and pack up their stuff and get out. we have seen vehicles on the road pulling trailers. we just came from pensacola and people were boarding up there and getting out of pensacola there as well. they know anyone on the right side of the storm faces the strongest impact from the hurricane. >> reporter: rick, thank you, we'll be in touch throughout the day. the storm slowed down from this storm 24 hours ago. but isaac passing over florida with soaking rain, wet, not a lot of damage thankfully. key largo seeing wind and minor floating. the town of miami, a lot of rain and strong wind gusts. but most floridians and tourists

taking this storm in stride. >> it was rough but it was a good time and a good atmosphere. >> it's a boring day. we need to get out and see what's going on at the beach. bill: despite the party-like atmosphere in some places, storm surges and flooding still a concern. isaac's bands move westward. martha: isaac is packing a new threat and that's a spike in gas prices. several oil platforms on the gulf have been shut down. we are seeing some long lines at gas stations in new orleans at people are trying to stock up, not taking any chances if they fill those tanks to get the gas for generators as well before

the storm hits. good morning, stuart. how do you see this playing out? >> reporter: the wholesale price of gasoline is up 10 cents a gallon. the wholesale price will eventually work its way through to the pumps. millions of people are already paying $4 a gallon for gasoline. california, washington, new york, illinois. they are paying $4. when the 10 cent wholesale price passes through to the pumps millions more will be paying $4 a gallon. oil up about a dollar. and isaac has already hit the pump in florida. last week tampa's well prices up 13 cents a gallon, miami up 11 cents. the national average has been brought to $3.75.

gas prices on the rise, and they are going to rise some more. it was coming because of refinery problems in the midwest, a refinery fire in california. and some strong demand by summer drivers this year. that's why prices were going up already. this is kind of the icing -- not the icing on the cake, but it raises prices some more because of the threat to oil production in the gulf and refining operations in louisiana and texas. martha: stuart, thank you very much. stuart varney, back in new york. >> another reason why isaac is expected to have a major impact on the price of gasoline. the storm is expected to be a category one or possibly a two. the gulf of mexico storm at the

moment forcing short-term shutdowns of 85% of the oil rigs. martha: context on the hurricanes in florida. the sunshine state has been hit 114 times between 1851 and 2010. 37 of those have been major hurricanes. boy, are they used to that kind of activity. 40% of all u.s. hurricanes hit florida cat 3 or higher. pam a has been hit twice in the past 25 years. bill: i see sunshine out the window. just a little glimmer oh say tuned on that. tropical storm isaac barreling into the gulf of mexico. louisiana governor bobby jindal saying he will skip the republican national convention

as long as his state is in the storm's cross-hairs. >> my priority is the safety our people. as long as this storm threatens the public safety in louisiana i'm not going anywhere. i'm not thinking about the convention or politics. our top priority has to be the safety our people. as long as we are in harms way i need to be doing our job. bill: forecasters say isaac is expected to be a strong category one when it comes onshore late tuesday night or early wednesday morning. as we reported already, it many the 7th anniversary of hurricane carina later in this week -- hurricane katrina when landfall is expected there. martha: the big day will begin tomorrow. governor romney behind the scenes we are told busily working. he has been getting ready for

his speech, putting finishing touches on that. also meeting with the chairman of his transition team for the white house. that's mike levitt. he has been assembling a team to prepare for a romney white house. paul ryan is in janesville, wisconsin which will include a sendoff from his high school. bill: we'll check in on that a little bit later. we have brand-new polling numbers. 50% of registered voters say that governor romney will do a better job of handling the economy. 43% suggest that president obama will do better at that. the economy is job number one

how do you see that number there? >> that is a good number for mitt romney. when you look at the number of people who say their vote will be affect bid their perception of the economy it's 7 in 10 voters. so that's a good number for mitt romney. as long as he's leading by 7 points he's got the wind at his back. bill: these are be themes. the economy is one of them. the federal budget deficit is another. romney leads obama 51%. >> debt and deficit, number one, number two, the economy. bill: why do you think these numbers have been so static? >> there hasn't been any major event that would seem to trying ear big change. we haven't had one candidate

have a significant gaffe. but now we are seeing in some of these numbers. if you are the romney campaign look at these numbers you have some to see opportunity everywhere. they shored up their base. there is more enthusiasm among republicans and these numbers on the economy are good for them. bill: you saw an opportunity for governor romney in these polls when it came to immediate care. >> mitt romney has a 3-point advantage over president obama on the issue of medicare. we are just two years removed from the dominant conventional wisdom. you can't talk about medicare or entitlement reform -- we have seen a steady campaign on medicare which the republicans seem to be at least breaking even. bill: it's contrary to the

conventional wisdom. >> no question it is. in part it's they came out and so skill any made this a debate about medicare on one hand and obama-care on the other. it's not just medicare the status quo versus medicare reforms -- bill: romney ryan are saying saving, not cutting. >> and the president wants short-term cuts. bill: steve, thanks. martha: the sun is coming out. here is some background on our beautiful host city. the area that makes up tampa bay includes tampa, st. petersburg and clear water, florida. 3 million people call this area home. they are breathing a see you of relief that they don't have to evacuate. it's a hot spot for people

retiring and lower cost of living has been a big draw for this tampa area. it's a beautiful spot that we are pleased to be spending the weekend. bill: isaac swaths florida. that your athlete headline. then you get to the convention which will be topic number one tomorrow in all likelihood. >> that's looking through the rearview mirror. we are in an increasingly tightening race for the white house. a brand-new poll from ohio raising some eyebrows and getting interest. bret baier will be here with that story. bill: as the race continues to be so darn tight, president obama calling his opponent extreme and says he would be willing to compromise with a republican congress during a second term in the white house after calling his opponent

extreme, reaction from a floim supporter. martha: a new reaction from governor romney. he sat down with chris wallace in a fox news exclusive. >> i they have a pac that says m responsible for someone's death and he wants to distance himself from that. i would say that's today campaign of twiciveness and anger. hey, i love your cereal there -- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way, right? lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

march report sun's coming out and they are getting ready to gavel this convention at 2:00 this afternoon. the big stuff pant speakers gets underway tomorrow. let, head over to the bar section it many early for you guys to be over there, they are just sipping coffee.

bill: governor mitt romney hitting back on the way the president is running his campaign. there was an exclusive interview on "fox news sunday" with chris wallace. he says the president is the one dividing america. >> when the president accuses me of being a felon or his staff does an doesn't distance himself from that and he has a pac that says i'm responsible for someone's death and he doesn't distance himself from that, that's a campaign of divisiveness and anger. it's a campaign went haves and the have nots, one location versus another. bill: kirsten powers an editor of the "daily beast." what did you think of the way he took off on that. >> i think it's exactly right.

this is a campaign of personal destruction against mitt romney. there is a politico reporter who has an e-book about this. the president has great personal disdain for mitt romney and has no qualms whatsoever about running this extremely divisive campaign of destruction. one of the themes coming out of the convention is the campaign should be about bigger things and the direction of the country. not what happened at bain capital in 1999. >> i think it's beneath romney to be saying this. for him in an interview sounds whiney to me. i think they are trying to pull down the president's likability numbers. that one place where romney is behind is on likability. one of the accusations they are calling him angry.

whatever you want to say about barack obama, angry is not a word people -- bill: i take this comment to go at class warfare that republicans have argued president obama has done the past several months when he says i think his whole campaign has been about dividing the american people. >> the president has a cool stan calm affect. we know that's true. but he can't run a hope and change or morning in america-style campaign because his record doesn't support that. so they have to suggest mitt romney killed somebody. if you are a candidate for president and you are accused of kill something one you might take note of that in interviews and criticize the other side for doing that. bill: at some point mitt romney was going to respond to that. >> that aspect i think is fine if you talk about how it's been framed and how he's dividing the

country, i don't think there is a problem with that. calling it vicious and they are angry. i don't think anybody is going to think of those words with barack obama. >> it's a good idea to try to associate the president with his campaign. this is the president's strategy, a cool, calm customer above the storm. but this is his campaign. he hasn't denounced any of them and his super pack has accused mitt romney basically of killing a woman. >> the president says he doesn't think mitt romney killed anybody and it was the super pac and the republicans changed their tune on the super pac because when mitt romney was running his vicious campaign against niewpt gingrich. mitt romney had nothing to do with the super pac, now barack

obama is completely responsible. >> mitt romney didn't accuse newt gingrich of killing anyone. the ad was vicious and out of bounds. mike was saying maybe that went a little too far. he won't say it. bill: you remember from that interview at the end. my father told all politicians to be bold, damn the consequences. has he been bold? >> the rap on him is he's overly cautious. the pick of paul ryan changes that image. it shows they no longer believe it can just be a referendum about trashing the president's record. it has to be about an affirmative agenda. that's something we'll see the next three days. bill: back over to martha. martha: the political logic is in the end vp picks don't matter

much. but is the gop ticket of rock any-ryan turning that idea on its head. george pataki with join us with his take on that. back to tampa in a moment.

martha: look at all this around me. this is not exactly your grandmother's convention. they do things very differently. lots of bells and whistles. lots of high-tech. social media is moving the whole campaign message throughout the course of this convention. lots of voter outreach is underway. steve brown is work on that this

morning. good morning, steve. >> social meeting is in the middle of the battleground. it will serve as the central hub of all these conversations. >> there is an app to watch the convention live on your phone and a youtube page where viewers are encouraged to chat. >> the screens surrounding the stage will be used to put up facebook pages and tweets. >> we can take them and have them do google hangouts with folks in their home state. >> this gives us four days to focus our message and deliver it unfiltered. >> unfiltered is the key when it comes to social media campaigns. >> they can leap frog the

mainstream media and go direct to voters who then spreads the message on their behalf at no cost. >> the republicans have erased the social media advantage obama had in 2008 due to the use by seniors. >> in a sense, leveling the digital playing field and providing more opportunities to compete. >> we'll talk to steve throughout the week. social media will and big part of this convention. republicans calling it the convention without walls. the party hired a full-time blogger, digital communications manager to only talk to people online. they have facebook and twitter

sites and a youtube channel. martha and i have our own twitter handles @marthamccallum. i could tweet and you two tweet me. martha: the political wisdom has been a vice presidential candidate doesn't matter that much in an election. but why the romney-ryan ticket could be breaking that mold. former new york governor george pataki joins us. bill: former presidential candidate herman cain is fired up. he's in tampa. he's here live with his message for president obama. >> this administration has nothing positive to run on so they are running on distractions, distortions, and divisions. but we the people of the united

states of america, black, white, red, green and blue are not going to be fooled because we are not stupid. ♪

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parts of the gulf coast bracing for isaac. states of emergency have been declared in mississippi and louisiana. the highest winds about 65 miles an hour. but expected to strengthen as it barrels through the gulf of mexico. it has slowed down a little bit, too. yesterday it was moving at 20 miles an hour. now it's down to 14 miles an hour. it can gain some strength as it goes. martha, i can walk and talk. outside we planned to have a lot of our programming from live outside here on this terrace plaza area. but with the impending weather outside it made it difficult. the palm trees are blowing. the storm, the outer bands come whipping around the area. we had a lot of rain yesterday and overnight. for the moment we have a bit after break here. maria, what are the corresponded

gnats now? >> reporter: we are starting to see tropical storm isaac continue to intensify. the center of the storm system is more than 200 miles away from the city of tampa. you guys are feeling the impact of those outer rain bands. tropical storm isaac is a lorng storm system that extends over 200 or about 240 miles outward from the storm system. you will start to feel the impact before it even makes landfall along the northern gulf coast. we have noted the pressure has continued to drop. 988 millibars right now. maximum sustained winds of 19 miles per hour. we'll see updates throughout the day. the next. it could be a category one hurricane before making landfall

across near the city of new orleans. we are anticipating a storm surge across parts of the northern gulf coast, 6-12 feet above normal tide levels. up to 18 inches of rain and the chance for tornadoes in some of the outer rain bands as they move onshore. bill: maria, thank you for that. you could cut this weather with a knife, it's so thick. that the arena where things kick off at 2:00. they will go for 15 minutes. then gavel down for the day and tomorrow will be the first kickoff day for the convention. a bit of a delay like we saw in st. paul. two hurricanes and back to back conventions. the odds of that -- martha: moving on here this morning, political experts usually say a vp pick always

gets lots of attention but it rarely moves voters in the end. but there is an editorial this morning that suggests the romney-ryan ticket may be changing the rules of that game. in that piece business kristol writes this. what if every -- mitt romney trailed by am 5 percentage point in the real clear politics average of polls. two days later he trailed by 1 point, his strongest rally in the campaign season. what do you make of that logic that bill kristol writes about? >> i think he's write. we think conventional rules of politics don't apply to a

current election. the fact is they are all different. i think as point out and you pointed out, picking paul ryan was a brilliant move by mitt romney. what he's saying, i'm not just putting out policy papers and talking about balancing the budget and reforming entitlements, i have specific programs and the guts to work to achieve it if the people give me the chance. another point kristol made in that article. conventional wisdom, the voters don't care about all these issues, they do. voters are engaged and understand the country is headed in the wrong direction. that's why the romney-ryan ticket did the right thing. i think they are going to win this election. martha: we do have some polls that show the impact of some of this that we want to pull up on the screen for our viewers at home. this is the first team ticket polls that we have had here at

fox. this is what they look like. obama-biden 43%. romney-ryan 45%. ryan versus biden in terms of opinion of these two players, favorable 46% bind, 45% ryan. what do you make of these numbers? there was so much discussion about how paul ryan was unlikeable in a lot of people's opinion. his views were so extreme and his budget was so controversial that he was a crazy pick for mitt romney. >> paul ryan is a very likeable guy. as the american people get to know him. not only is he intelligent and understands washington and has the right ideas and change things. but he's a likeable guy i can identify with. that poll, you saw biden's favorable was 1 point higher than paul ryan's. but paul ryan was unknown

virtually by 20% of americans. they will get to know him. they will like him. they will understand he's a serious candidate. i think it's a very good choice. one other you were talking about. the twitter accounts and the virtual media. i think the conventional wisdom that young people will vote for president obama is something governor romney has a chance to turn around. it's the young people getting killed by the deficit. $16 trillion we'll hit this year. we can break that conventional wisdom by november when it matters. martha: it's fascinating when you think about the fact in the past 80 years an incumbent has only lost twice. carter and the first president bush. it is an uphill battle against an incumbent always. what compare sons would you make to what happened in those two

elections and the kind of times we are living in now and what they might tell us? >> two things. one is whether you think the current president is doing a good job. and clearly the american people understand that president obama has done not a good job. and the second thing i would look at is, is the country headed in the right direction? and overwhelmingly americans believe by two to one that we are headed in the wrong direction. these are telling numbers. they don't mean governor romney is going to win. but it means he has an excellent chance if he can get his message out to the american people. the president can run on his record. so he's going to attack and demonize the romney-ryan ticket. i think the american people know better. they are engaged because they know we need a change in direction in this country. that's why i'm optimistic about

our ticket. martha: we are on the cusp of the next chapter as this thing gets fired up in tampa. governor, thank you so much. bill: we also saw ann romney sitting down with chris wallace at the romney summer home in new hampshire joking about how much input she has when it comes to issues in the campaign. >> let's talk about your role in the campaign and in the white house. do you give your husband advice? >> not on policy. >> do you give advice on after. >> poor mitt, he gets advice from everybody. >> i didn't know she didn't give advice on policy. >> ann is really good at seeing things in ways other don't see them and being able to provide that openly to me and i value it very highly. she has been my best friend

obviously and my counselor throughout my life. bill: mrs. romney was expected to speak tonight, that has been moved. she'll be one of the leadoff speakers tuesday in prime time in tampa. that was a funny line. i didn't know she didn't give advice. martha: you would never have seen fdr and eleanor sitting down trying to convince the public that they have a good relationship. but you look at these two who have a strong relationship and respect for each other. president obama the same. it matters. the couple that is presented in this political environment very important these days. bill: you will see that on stage with the romney family and the team and the way they tell his personal story about his life and his family and faith and his professional life with his company. his time with the olympics.

martha: the young male romneys will wear the name tags? they do look a lot alike. great guys. team romney with a strong reaction to comments the president made over the weekend about the governor himself. john sununu reacts to the president's "extreme" remarks. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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bill: new reaction from the romney campaign. welcome back to the republican national convention as our coverage rolls on. there is a live look at the white house as we continue our coverage. we want to make mention of this interview the president did blasting governor romney for what he said was dishonest arguments and calling the governor's views extreme. >> can't speak to governor romney's motivations. what i can say is he signed up for positions, extreme positions, that are very consistent with the positions a number of house republicans are taken. whether he actually believes in those or not, i have no doubt that he would carry forward some

of the things that he's talked about. bill: reaction now from the romney team. john sununu, senior adviser to the romney campaign. they got you down from that room in new hampshire, just for a time. >> a short time. bill: what do you make of your man's extreme views? >> i put it in contrast with the extreme failure president obama has given america. we have had the extreme expenditure of $5 trillion worth of additional debt. we have a president who passed a major bill, obama-care without a single republican vote. that's extreme. we have a president who condones ads to suggest mr. romney was a partaker in the process of a woman dying of cancer. there is the extremity. mitt romney is bringing spending

down to historical levels. that's nominal. mitt romney is talking about getting taxes to where they used to be. that's not extreme. mitt romney is talking about giving credit to the entrepreneurs of america who built this country. that's not extreme. what is extreme is the failure of the obama administration and the extreme unemployment. bill: what he's suggesting in that interview is if governor romney were to win this and become president he would adopt extremist views, then he went on to say that president obama is the one who is repaired to make a whole range of compromises to quote his words from the interview that wrote rankle even members of the democratic party. he would be willing to work with republicans in congress. >> he had four years to do something like that, not a hint of it. he sent a budget out to

congress, not a single one of his budget got a single democrat vote. how can you have a president that can't get democrat votes for his budget claim he's going to create a bipartisan atmosphere? this man never made a hard decision in his life. is overwhelmed by the presidency and seeks refuge by playing golf and going to fundraisers. bill: we'll see a more personal side of your man. you are pleased with what you encountered here and you think it's a well-run organization. because you believe the romney team has discipline, here is what governor romney said in politico. i know there are some people who do a very good job acting and pretend they are something they are not. you get what you see. i am who i am. >> and he's absolutely right on. i have gotten to know mitt and ann romney the last few years. they are good people. they are warm people.

what you see in terms of their commitment to family values is real and what you see in terms of a guy who fixes problems both from the public and private sector and his great perform and as governor of massachusetts, that's mitt romney. bill: i want to talk about the convention. you have been here almost a week. you came down tuesday next week. i won't put you to the test on that just yet. but with this storm lurking out there. certainly it's thrown you off your game. the question is how much? >> we are concerned for the people in america that this storm may hit. you have got to understand it's a serious issue. but this convention will go on. we are moving monday's events to spread them tuesday through thursday. friday people will look back at the convention and not realize had been disrupted. bill: that will be the headline. what you remember is paul ryan and mitt romney? >> you will remember mitt romney leading the ticket, paul ryan

and you will see a united and enthusiastic republican party ready to save america from the debacle obama has given us. bill: john sununu. they let him out of his box. martha: he's doing just great. good to see you, governor. one of the big tasks in front of mitt romney is to close the gap they have with women voters' he has started to do that a little bit in the polls. but we are going to show you how the campaign plans to win with women. we are live on the convention floor. plus herman cain is back. big rally for their supporters the other night. yes says republicans need to keep their eye on the prize. he will be here live. bill and i live in tampa right after this. >> we must keep in mind the ultimate mission. because four more years of

president barak obama would be a nightmare.

martha: we are back. my turn. i'll show what you we are working with here. we have the tampa bar area where we are interviewing some guests. i want to take you inside to show you the nerve center of this operation. all the folks behind the scenes, bill and i try to make it look easy back there. but the people who make it all happen are back in this room. i want to take you back here for

a moment and so you some of what we have got working here. here is jamie ball, she is the queen of production. she makes it all happen. these are the coveted floor passes for the big night and all the convention activity gets underway. we have our media acquisition, our producer. that's where we bring in all the video that comes in. let's head over his way for a moment. this is our nerve center assignment desk. dave sharp working hard in the gingham shirt, making it all happen. they are getting all of our guests lined up and making sure reporters are in place. speaking of reporters let's head down here and see if any of them are actually working. steve brown and james rosen. are you doing any actual work over here? how you doing? >> you are lovely as always. martha: thank you. steve, what you working on?

>> reporter: drying out my shoes, mostly. that's not a issue for wry wingtips. er in in great condition. martha: you are a man who has galoshes. >> reporter: you know how to wound a man. martha: you have done a fantastic job pulling it all together. and we have the food back there which is where you will always find steve doocy. bill: that's normally how we see reasons and brown, kicking back. updates on isaac. also the show will go on in tampa as we await the start of the republican convention. charles kraut hammer is live and where he says this convention is governor romney's one chance to shine. >> it's an honor to be the nominee of my party, but this is about an opportunity to get america on track again. that's what i'm thinking about.

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martha: preparing for the kickoff of the convention. it will gavel down at 2:00. and folks are preparing for what isaac may bring their way. on alert for tropical storm isaac expected to develop into a hurricane. that storm brushes south florida, drenching rains. we are getting sunshine near the tampa area. but it's taking a path that's eerily similar to the one that hurricane katrina took on the same days back in that awful august. it could slam into new orleans and the gulf coast 7 years to the date katrina changed so many lives forever. our mission is twofold as we are coming to you live from the republican convention in tampa. what's today, monday morning. i'm megyn kelly, good to have you with us. bill: we are keeping track of

the storm, we are watching the convention as it rolls onward. we'll get an update from the hurricane center on the track of the storm. for the folks up and down the gulf coast they would like for it to say where it is, 65 miles an hour, a minimal storm when it comes to the size of hurricanes they have seen roll up on their shores. we are also tracking the presidential race. it's a dead heat in late august as republicans get set to kick off their big gathering here. this new poll, though tblbt battleground state of ohio, look at this from the columbus dispatch showing president obama and governor romney neck and neck in that poll at 45-45. a lot of times we have seen that polling with governor romney trailing president obama by a point or two.

but that's as close as it gets. martha: we'll talk to bret baier about that. but, bill, you can kind of feel the momentum starting for the republican national convention. the sun is out in tampa, the mood is a little bit better. john sununu says they have one eye on it. chris christie tomorrow night, the governor of new jersey going to give the keynote address. ann romney will be here. that's a big outreach to the women. paul ryan gets a big sendoff from his high school in janesville, wisconsin. your feel we are getting rolling in a big way. bill: with that storm rolling, what you will remember from this convention is the convention and not the storm is what john sununu told us. you remember the introduction of

sarah palin and john mccain, not the storm. martha: let's go over to john roberts. he's just across the way at the tampa bacon vengs center known as the times forum. how is everything looking as they try to get things back on schedule? >> things are looking good. today has been canceled. but they are getting thing ready for tomorrow when they believe they are going to have a full day as everybody waits to see where isaac is going. you have been talking about women voters. like so many elections in the past this will be all about women voters. they made up the majority of the electorate. they are more reliable voters than men are. and mitt romney needs to have them. he trails president obama by 11 points right now. at a campaign event in ohio he was reaching out to women voters talking about the economy. promising that he would do everything he could to help the growing number of women who have

small businesses. pam bondi says she believes mitt romney's policies are exactly what women are looking for. martha: we don't have that sound for john right now. >> reporter: pam bondi is traveling out there with mitt romney and says they are reaching out to the best of their ability for these women voters. the obama campaign is saying a lot of the policies the romney-ryan ticket are pursuing are policies that would actually hurt women and they have been putting forward republican women that say the party has moved to far to the right for them. condoleeza rice, governor nicky haley as well as ann romney who kicks it off tomorrow evening. martha: we'll talk to some of those women on america's newsroom as well.

john, thank you so much. john roberts. we'll check back in with you a little bit later. bill: you will hear a lot of this. the topic of reform. governor romney not backing down on the debate on reforming medicare. he says he's the right man at the right time to fix the healthcare entitlements so many people rely on today. >> your big reform, the premium support doesn't kick in for another decade. how would you keep medicare solvent when it starts to run out of money in four years. >> i'm replacing obama-care, so the thing i will replace obama-care will will hold down the cost of healthcare and keep it from growing that the massive rate it's been growing. i'm not just getting rid of obama-care, i'm replacing it. cutting medicare by $716 billion is not degree done to save

medicare, it's being done to pay for obama-care and it makes medicare less solvent. bill: governor romney says his healthcare plan will not raise tax and he promises to seek the healthcare's law repeal on day one in office if elected to the white house. martha: we are learning ann romney has been given her own secret service detail which is not a surprise given the high-profile position she'll have here. agents were seen with her at a grocery store. it's standard practice for the wives of presidential candidates to receive that kind of protection as the day gets closer. governor romney has had secret service protection with him since january. bill: we are tracking the romneys there in massachusetts, and moment ago, governor romney and ann romney left a building

heading back to their home and he was asked how the meeting went. he said quote i like my speech, i really like ann's speech. our sons are already in tampa. they say it's terrific there, a lot of great friends. that coming across the wire there on the romneys today. security also a major concern as you can imagine at the rnc. police arrested a knife-wielding protester believed to be part of a group occupy tampa. he was seen walking around with a group of other protesters inside the eventone. police say he was spotted with an 8-inch machete strapped to his leg. he faces charges of carrying a prohibited item and resisting arrest. martha: the rnc's keynote speaker may be helping out in tampa as well. speaking to delegates on sunday

morning he referred to one of his more well-known statement that got a lot of attention as a possible inspiration for them meeting him around here. >> i think we'll enjoy the next few days down here in florida. the weather will come and go. they brought me down here specifically as i'm sure you know, brought me down here on sunday to make sure if there are any idiots on the beach, to tell them to get the hell off the beach. [applause] martha: that famous line from governor christy of new jersey. the tropical storm known as isaac has forced many of the events to be postponed. it's not expected to do as much damage as predicted so that's good news. they will start with the meat of the matter over the course of the next several days. bret baier the anchor of pegs. >> reporter: joins me -- the anchor of "special report."

joins me live. we saw an ohio poll from the columbus dispatch. no republican candidate has ever gone to the white house without winning ohio. now it looks tied 45-45. some interesting numbers and tightening in this race. >> reporter: that is a really big deal. that columbus dispatch poll coming out tied at 45-45 changes what had been the narrative in ohio which was the recent polls had president obama up 5, points. the spread now in real clear politics, the recent average of polls is 2 points with president obama in the lead. you see a tightening in ohio. you have seen it in other states. but it had not tightened that much in ohio. it hadn't moved as much as other states in the midwest. republicans need ohio. in fact some have you cans strategists were starting to work the map around to see how they could get to the number 270

electoral votes without ohio. when you start talking like that you know things were not going in the right direction. this poll is a good thing for the rnc and the romney camp. martha: interesting numbers. within that -- some of the internals in the poll, 10% of the voters who reacted to those said they were unup decided. half of those undecided voters said last time around they voted for president obama. if you were a counselor to mitt romney you have to be encouraged and say that's an opening for us. those '08 obama voters in ohio. >> reporter: that's some of the things you will see here at this convention. some of the messaging will be going after those folks who are disenchanted with obama. small business owners. you will hear i'm sure a lot of you didn't build that line coming back up. and they will make a play,

really, for the people who voted for president obama but now are undecided, but leading towards mitt romney. but they are not sold on mitt romney yet. they are just not there. i think there will be a real play this week for that. martha: bret, thank you so much. we'll see you over there in the prime time coverage in the coming nights. thanks, bret. bill: back to the other big story. extreme weather alert as the state of florida starts to recover from a serious lashing thanks to isaac, a tropical storm hitting the state. tornado watches were in effect across the state until an hour ago. reports of flooding and high winds and torrential rain. phil keating lived through all of it as isaac moves northward. what do you have there, bill? >> reporter: that was expected as daylight and less dangerous conditions allowed damage

assessment teams to assess the damage along the south side of key west. you can see the impact of the storm surge blocking the entire left lane of this road. we have wind and wave action. the winds 30 miles an hour. but as far as power outages, they just spiked the past couple hours up to 66,000 people in miami-dade, broward and palm beach counties still without power. we are getting reports out of haiti where isaac first came through, 19 people are dead from this tropical storm. its reach is very large. the centers just off of key west yesterday afternoon. but the serious heavy rain and wind stretched all the way into the coast about 400 mile from sensors. this is what the entire going as -- the entire gulf coast has to look forward to.

bill: phil keating is live along the keys. here is martha. martha: we are following a number of developing political stories here in tampa, including what would a romney white house look like. as always, the candidate is getting ready for a transition in case it comes. the details as he reveals his plans to accept his party's presidential nomination. bill: what about the tea party. their support and enthusiasm. how critical to governor romney winning in november. tea party favorite herman cain is here. you will hear from him next. >> they may not be homojeanous. a sound bite doesn't describe every conservative or tea party person. one found bite doesn't do it.

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martha: former presidential candidate herman cain and michelle bachmann firing up hundreds of tea party supporters at a unity rally in tampa tonight. mr. cain says he has only one objective in his mind. listen. >> even though i am no longer seeking the position of president, i am still on a mission to defeat barack obama in november, 2012. [cheers and applause] >> we on a mission. we are on a mission. [cheers and applause] martha: firing up the crowd there, and herman cain joins me now. good to have you with us this morning, mr. cain. >> thank you, martha. who was that guy.

martha: who was that man firing up that crowd? you didn't sing to them last night. >> i didn't sing to them. it was about a serious message, and that message was we are on a situation. martha: they look at the enthusiasm that your can dance see garnered from the tea party group, michelle bachmann as well and they say, where did it go? >> the tea party citizens movement is still there, but they are not doing as many rallies as they had. why we did the unity rally, while the delegates are going to be inspired by listening to the slate of speakers, we wanted to keep the nondelegates inspired. they are still there, they are just working on the ground. martha: there were reports today that said there wasn't a whole lot of talk about mitt romney by name last night. even in the early stages of his can dance see, concerns that he

wasn't really a tea party candidate. my question is, how much did the paul ryan addition to the ticket change the attitude toward the ticket from the tea party in your behind? >> huge. i have talked with a lot of people across the country that are not delegates, that are not elected officials, adding paul ryan to the ticket enhanced the whole ticket, because people understand that in order to effectively run this country, or any organization, you need a strong one-two combination. and so the enthusiasm has not waned it is still continuing to go up. so i think that that helped. the other thing i think that helped is mitt romney gets a bad rap about not being likable. when i was a candidate, he is one of the most likable people that i thaubgd to whe talked to when we were doing the debates. the selection of paul ryan said a lot about mitt romney's leadership because he could have made a safe choice an didn't. martha: it's very interesting

that you say that. i have said that that decision is an executive decision. you are a ceo and an executive in your personal history as well. is that how you interpreted that, in terms of what the best plan was for him and his candidacy on the ticket. >> absolutely. when i first saw governor romney and paul ryan standing together. i said that is a ceo and a cfo. i happen to believe that representative ryan's skills, abilities and strengths compliment governor romney's experiences. and i feel that is coming through to a whole lot of team. martha: the tea party is concerned with a lot of issues, a huge one is cutting spend. what are you hearing from the tea party faithful and how fired up they are about a mitt romney candidacy, that goes become to our discussion about that they weren't fired up about him initially. has that changed in.

>> yes, that has changed . the process is what it is. i was competing against governor romney, representative bachmann, we were all competing. now that that process is over with i know some of us are uniting behind the candidate. i said that all along, any candidate that we have i'm going to support. i don't have a role here but i'm keeping the enthusiasm up of the people on the ground. it has changed and changed positively. martha: what is your read on the african vote in this election. >> i believe the african-american vote on the romney-ryan ticket is going to be bigger than any polls suggest. martha: why? >> because of the people that i run into traveling, going through airports, going in hotels, friends of mine. they are closet conservatives, but the polls aren't going to pick it up. you may have heard about that nbc "wall street journal" poll that said that zero african-americans are going to vote for mitt romney. well, i'm not a zero, and at the

rally last night i said would all my fellow zeros please stand up. you had probably a couple of hundred black americans stand up who are going to vote for mitt romney. so that poll is misleading. when we looked into the details, they only interviewed 120 black people for that sample size of a thousand. i don't think that is representative. martha: herman cain always a pleasure, good to see you, sir. we'll be here throughout the week. bill: i don't think we've ever called him a zero, have we? >> i hope not, bill. bill: nice to see you. in a moment here i'll take you inside the republican national convention, down to the floor and show you the subtle way that you can tell just how important every state is for the presidential campaign and why certain states are much more important than others. mitt romney, how is he trying to define himself for the person public today? some of his most recent interviews give us many clues.

bill: we've come from new york down to tampa for the week for the republican convention and one way you can tell the importance of a state for a campaign is based on the seating assignments here. down in front is wisconsin. paul ryan teny electorial votes on moy right. virginia, 13ee location toerl votes. 13 electoral votes. even closer to the stage is the all-important battleground state of ohio and it's 18 electoral votes. no republican has ever won the

white house without winning ohio. when the delegates aeu arrive here later in the week and mitt romney is here on thursday to make what will be the political speech of his life, the delegates from ohio arguably will have the best seat in the house. >> yes they shall, and they'll be there with their delegate hats on and balloons and everything else they brought down. 68 delegates coming from ohio, another 63 at delegates will be sitting in those select seats down front. you look at that poll that came out today from columbus dispatch, even, dead even between obama and romney at 45-45. what did you think of the set up inside there. martha: i think it looks great. it has a certain intimacy to it. the set has 13led screens, you'll see movies projected from those. all designed by the republican party to reach out to people and give them their message throughout all of this.

it's going to be quite interesting. looks in in there, yeah. standing firm and firing back, what governor mitt romney is saying to critics who have questioned his leadership style. an historic look back at how critical the conventions have been in deciding who would be president. our own chris wallace spills the beans on some of his own juicist convention stories. stay tuned for that. >> i was walter congress kite's go for. go for coffee, go for pencils. i started dating nancy congress kite, walter's daughter. she was my first girlfriend. >> i didn't know we were going down this road. >> but it's true. [ female announcer ] with swiffer dusters,

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bill: we are officially three days away before mitt romney officially accepts his party's nomination. our live coverage continues here at the republican convention on "america's newsroom." governor mitt romney firing back at some of the critics who have questioned his leadership style. telling poe lit particular could he. you get what you see, i am who i am. juan williams is a fox news political analyst with me now here in tampa. good morning to you.

>> good morning. bill: you are who you are, right. >> i am who i am. bill: what do you think of that comment that suggests that listen, don't look for something in me that i'm not. >> i think it's a point of frustration. but it's also -- >> frustration? >> it is. bill: how come? >> he feels he has tk-pb defamed. they have gone aftebeen defamed. he's very proud of his record in massachusetts, and he feels like eyes record as a businessman is exemplary. he says, you know, what they focused on the fact that i'm a little wooden, i don't exactly emote well, but, you know, they've gone after the taxes and bain and all that. he feels it's personal. he's frustrated that the american people don't know him. that's why it's so important at this convention that he introduce himself. strategically what i'm hearing from republicans is he's not

going to make an effort to become more personal. he's going say, i know how to do this job, i can do the job better. bill: look at my job, look at my resume. i remember asking him what he learned from losing in 2008 that would help him in 2012. >> he said i read too many articles in 2008. i learned to let that go. i can't control it. that tells me he's a changed man and learned something from four years ago. >> i noticed last week he made that skroebg abou joke about, nobody asked for my birth certificates. the critics on the other side says that is a reference to the birther controversy. when he was asked about that he said, that was a joke, i'm not looking back i'm looking forward. that speaks to what you're talking about. he's centered on who he is, he's going to be comfortable with who he is. chris wallace yesterday was asking about his dad, do you feel emotion about getting the

nomination. he says i'm not going there, i'm not doing it. bill: new polls show that they like him by 10 points. romney 32, obama 32. that has to be a disconcerting number that they are sealing in the fox news polling. the numbers that came out from the columbus dispatch in ohio today, 45-45. every one we bring on here, we ask them what explains why these numbers simply do not move? what is your explanation? >> look at the country is polarized. we are locked in. there are a small number of people who have not made up their mind. even on the independents, they recently had owe bam autopsy by 10. in 089 obama was plus 8, now x see him down by ten. that is an 8-point swing. we've seen four swings between obama and romney. it continues to reflect the unsettled nature of the very small percentage of people who haven't made up their mind.

bill: they want to figure out what mitt romney is all about. the other thing he said over the weekend is that barack obama had every piece of legislation he wanted passed, and romney is going to make the case that it did not work because we are stuck above 8% unemployment. and then he's going to refer to the fact that they are looking for somebody with a record, as he said, and i'm a person who has a record. so look at it, and make your best choice. >> he's got to do better than that. he's got to say, here are my ideas, ideas that will move us forward than are better than the ideas being used now. i think that that is the pressure on him. when i look at this convention i look at ann romney, and her ability to make him more human and to reach out to female voters who are really a critical demographic. bill: that will be tuesday night. >> for him he's got to say, you may not feel that i'm exacting mr. comfortable, warm and fuzzy, but i really know how to do this. trust me. bill: we'll hear that. thank you, juan. good to see you. >> good to see you, bill.

>> stay dry. bill: will do. martha: governor romney of course is almost guaranteed to be the g.o.p. nominee in a few days. there was a time in u.s. politics when a party's nominee would really not be known, that this was a rough-and-tumble process at the convention. distinguished journalist marvin calb and edward rmurrow bring us a lock at conventions past, what we can learn from them, how far we've come and the leaders the conventions produced. >> i accept your nomination of the presidency of the united states. >> an american national convention is just that, it's a national coming together of people of the same political party. >> it's part of the tappess tree of democracy. >> there was a time of course when we did not really know who the nominee was going to be. there would be a fight on the

floor of the national convention. the 1952 republican convention, the republicans had lost five elections in a row. they wanted desperately to win one. what they did was to settle on a world war ii hero, dwight d. eisenhower, unquestionably one of the great heros of our time. >> i accept your summons, i will lead this crusade. >> in the 1980 republican convention ronald reagan. >> we have it in our power to begin the world over again. >> this very conservative former governor from california was going to be the party's nominee. he had this mark of a smile, a wonderful way of speaking, people liked him very, very much. in 1988 everybody knew that george h.w. bush was going to be the nominee of the republican

party. >> read my lips. >> reagan spoke at the convention. it was very interesting because he evoked the memory of one of his great moments in the american movies. >> go out there and win one for the gipper. [cheers and applause] >> it's four days, it's going to be on television. people will have an opportunity to partake of the political process. martha: very interesting to look back, isn't it? we'd like to thank marvin calb, and edward r. murrow for that special report he brought us there. between the two of them they have more than 60 years of experience covering politics, now our very own chris wallace and brit hume share with us their earliest memories reporting on conventions, the republican national convention first, take a a look. >> 1964 my first convention, i

was 16 years old. i got my job at cbs news on pure merit. [laughter] >> at the convention. maybe i got a little help. i was walter congress kite's go for. i was in the anchor booth with walter. nancy cronkite was my first girlfriend. >> i didn't know we were going down this road. >> it's true. that is a convention memory. >> it is indeed. >> you should have seen nancy back in 1964. in 1980 i was on the floor for nbc news at the convention and the big story was that reagan was going to pickford as his running mate. it was going to be a copresidency, he was sweeping the convention in detroit. the reagan political directors came out on the floor. they were going to announce george bush. i got the word 45 seconds before leslie stall and i was in the papers the next day as the big scoop. >> true or not wallace had no

moves back in the 60s or there after. >> i don't know what i was doing but i wasn't getting pencils for walter cronkite i tell you that. the most distinct memory i have where the nominees are no longer decided at the convention was reagan coming in in 1976. ford beat him by 117 delegates was all and when ronald reagan appeared in the hall and his name was placed in nomination there erupted on the convention floor in kansas city, a demonstration that really was a spontaneous demonstration, and it went on and on and on and on, and it was the story of the night, it completely up staged everything else that happened was this enthusiasm within the party. four years later he was the nominee, and the rest is history. martha: wow. you know, it makes him sound really old to say they have 60 years combined experience. they certainly don't seem hold to us. it's great to have bret and

chris here and a look back at the history of the conventions and to the days when they were decided on the floor. i was saying to somebody last night, i am still moved by going through these experiences, by standing on the floor. when you catch somebody stand up there and accept the nomination of their party for the highest office of the land it is a stirring experience regardless of the fact that it doesn't get decided down there any more. bill: the memories you take away are very specific. george bush in philly in 2000. barack obama in boston in 2004. sarah palin on the floor in 2008 in st. paul. the memory that will come out of this convention here in tampa. what i'd really like to know is what nancy cronkite thought of chris wallace. >> she was a looker apparently. chris hasn't quite got even her out of his mind. bill: there is another part to this story, folks. we are updating -- waiting an update on isaac. that storm continues to churn. the national hurricane center is only moments away from their latest updates.

woeulee get back to you. 800 flights canceled. that number continues to rise. when can we expect that storm to become a hurricane before it hits the gulf coast? stay tuned for all of that in a moment. martha: getting ready for governor romney's big moment. what he needs to say when he has that prime-time spotlight on him if he wants to win the presidential election. charles krauthammer coming up on that. >> i think he's got to be real. i think that's the problem. if you look at the objective conditions of this election, obama shouldn't be anywhere near in a tie with mitt romney, he should be 20 points behind. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. as much advanced technology as the world around it.

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martha: welcome back to tampa, everybody. conservative commentator charles krauthammer says governor romney really has one big chance to change the course of this election. here is what he says mr. romney must do to bring it home at this convention this week. listen. >> i think he's got to be real. i think that's the problem. if you look at the objective conditions of this election obama shouldn't be anywhere near in a tie with mitt romney. he should be 20 points behind. romney, the reason that he's still neck in neck is because people don't really know him, and see him as stiff, and they are not quite sure they want to change horses. and that's why he's got an

opportunity obama doesn't. obama is going to make a speech next week but everybody has heard him a hundred times, it's not an important speech. he made 37 speeches on healthcare alone. but romney is going to have his one shot to let people see this he's human, he's not robotic that he cares, it's about this empathy business. martha: very interesting. glad now to be joined by charles krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and fox news contributor. charles good morning. good to have you with us. >> a pleasure to be here. martha: you know, it's interesting, i just was reading online moments ago about he and ann romney walking out of an event and the reporters shouted to them, you know, how is the speech coming? how is the speech coming? can you give us a preview? he says, yes, thank you, ladies and gentlemen, that was all he was willing to reveal about what was in that speech. no doubt he feels the power of that moment and how important it will be for him. what does he need to do, charles? >> i think it starts with ann

romney's speech. as i was trying to explain last night in that clip you showed, romney's problem is people think he doesn't care. i was looking at a poll this morning, the latest poll on who cares most about you, obama is ahead by 22 points. with this lousy of an economy and with obama having had four years, he pretends this is a choice election, i've got a plan. he had a plan in 2008, he's been in office four years. the plan obviously hasn't worked. why should people believe he has another plan, if it's a referendum on obama and when he's done he loses. he should be neck-and-neck. the problem for romney is, is that people think he doesn't care, and i think that's what a convention can do. the ann romney speech i think is very important because she's the best thing he's got going for him. when it comes to human nicing, softening him and showing them a man who clearly has empathy and feeling but he has a lot of showing it. and in his speech he doesn't

have to go and give a lacramose rendition of his life or tell a lot of somebody stories. he has to speak in terms that are empathetic that are a lot softer. i don't think a lot of hard rhetoric is what he wants. he needs to show he's a guy who is very confident, who does have plans, but deliver the message in a way that shows that he cares. he's not going to be up there with obama on the ratings of caring, but as i was trying to explain the other day, if he can cut that gap in half the election is over, he's won it. martha: you know, it's interesting, when you ask people who cares about you more, i wonder if the response to that question doesn't come in part from, you know, a concern about benefits being taken away, president obama, a lot when he gets up and speaks talks about not taking anything away from people. we live in a country now where so many americans receive a government check in one way or another. it seems that part of what obama's campaign has embraced is

this idea you don't have to panic u don't have to fear, none of these checks are going to disappear. we are going to take care of you. >> i think you're right that it is rooted in some way in policy. classically people say the democrats are the mommy party, and republicans are the daddy party, and mommy isn't going to remove your breakfast from you. and they always think of the republicans as mean guys who just want to cut. with romney's case it goes beyond the policy, because the reason that becomes a credible argument is because they feel from his personal history that he doesn't care, and that's where the hundreds of millions of dollars obama has spent on all these ads, attacking him as a vulture capitalist and that that outside group, the ad they ran where they essentially said that he killed a steelworkers wife, he lace off a steel worker and then he kills the wife with cancer, i mean an unimagine plea

vutuperativ ad which you cannot imagine being used against anybody else. that lace the ground for the policy issues. he's the guy that doesn't care, now he's the one with policies that don't care. i think that is the obama argument. you can win the case by saying, your policies will save medicare, save granny, save the poor, have a safety net but you have to get through the personal part and undue the impressions left by all that negative advertising. that is the task at the convention. and i think he can begin to do it thursday night. martha: we'll see. there is some indication that he has started to sort of loosen up a little bit, become more comfortable with communicating some of those ideas. we'll see if he can bring it home. that is truly what his campaign wants to accomplish this week. charles, thank you so much. always good to have you.

>> you know i suggests maybe he should go out on stage with the dog that he had on the roof of the car. i think that might be -- and have the dog endorse him right there, i think would be the winner. martha: we'll hope they see this charles and that they communicate to the campaign, see if they like that idea. >> okay. assuming he is still alive. i don't know. martha: i don't know. thanks, charles. bill: one group of republican voters may not be quite as happy with mitt romney's nomination, ron paul supporters say he's not getting a fair shake. will they go quiet into the night. james rosen is on that moments away. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol

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bill: the republicans are not the only ones in tampa this week. libertarians making their presence known throughout the city and their support for ron paul. our chief washington correspondent james rosen live on the convention floor with their story today. james, good morning. >> good morning to you. even though ron paul prevailed in no primaries or casino caucuses this year he had control over a few delegations here. there will be a tribute to him as well. ron paul's contribution will be limited. 7,000 people packed into the university of florida's sun dome yesterday for what might have been the swan song for congressman paul who turned 77

last week and is not seeking re-election in texas, the 14th district. introduced by rand paul the elder paul us defiant as ever and says his libertarian follower is larger than the vote count would suggest. >> the support out there is much, much greater and they don't feel comfortable coming to a republican primary, so the support there i would say would be two or three times as much as the number of votes we got in the primary. these arthaoergcheerin >> they offered ron paul a speaking slot in which he could say anything he want, then he said to the crowd, just kidding, just kidding. bill: what about his followers? how are they absorbing this grand event devoted entirely to mitt romney and paul ryan. >> one has to understand their

disappointmentment. wise men were predicting that ron mall was destined to win the iowa caucuses. his followers liked his limited government, independenting the fed and non noninterference with foreign policy. they told us they are going back to their republican counties, most of ep them to try to win change from within. bill: i trust you. >> you should. martha: he did speak to them and that is what he said. fox news alert for you now, minutes away from our very latest update on tropical storm isaac. maria molina is live in the weather center with the latest on isaac's path, power and continued threat that it poses as it heads towards the coastline, that will be right after this break.