tonight on "nightline" -- eye of the storm. hurricane isaac is slamming the gulf coast with millions of people warned to take cover. we are here. with the latest on the fierce winds and rising waters. must love mitt. at the republican convention, presidential nominee mitt romney's wife tells everyone why she fell for him. and republican rock star chris christie promises the party faithful that they will too. and x-man. out to rage against the machine and he wants to be your vice president. meet paul ryan. first member of generation x ever on the presidential ticket. >> from the global resources of abc news with cynthia mcfadden in new york city, bill weir in

new orleans, louisiana, and terry moran in tampa, florida. this is "nightline." august 28th, 2012. >> good evening to all of you in the west. i am bill weir, and this is new orleans under hurricane isaac. as we come on the air, the eye of the storm is churning, sliding just to the west of the crescent city. as the relatively weak category 1 hurricane. but if you look up and down canal street where mardi gras floats and cable cars cruise on happier days, nothing seems weak about this right now. and what a way to mark the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina, the storm that changed so many lives up and down the gulf coast, had us wondering how would this storm compare, would people be ready? to give you the whole picture, we have our extreme weather team up and down the gulf coast tonight and we'll check in with each one of them in just a moment. but first, this is the image so

many people are watching in shelters of plaquemines parish and the bars of the french quarter tonight. the latest track shows that isaac came ashore at 6:45 p.m. local time at the mouth of the mississippi with winds of 80 miles an hour. those gusts may be much weaker than katrina's. it looks like isaac is destined to be a slow, wet moisture machine which could dump 10 to 20 inches of rain in some areas already saturated and drench the midwest in the coming week. this is what isaac looks like from the international space station tonight. a massive swirl of energy, hundreds of miles across. and this is isaac from the wet and windy streets of new orleans where trees are falling. power lines are snapping, transformers blowing under the strain of those powerful gusts. after a handful of arrests of looters taking advantage of evacuated homes, sheriff, police and national guard are out in force tonight. but once the winds reach over 60

miles an hour, many parishes refused to respond to 911 calls from those who chose to stay and ride it out. and after spending billions to shore up the levee system that broke here seven years back, the infamous 17th street canal is having no problem containing isaac so far tonight. there are some surges that are going over some roads. we're hearing reports, also over 200,000 people without power so far tonight. when this thing blows past, it's going to be a sweltering few days here in louisiana. now, to get a full picture, as mentioned, let's check in with our abc news extreme weather team starting with ryan owens, who is southwest of us here in houma, louisiana. ryan, how are you doing? >> good to see you, bill. we're about 60 miles south and to the west to be exact from where you are. we're awfully close to the gulf of mexico here and to the center of isaac.

to the actual eye. that is expected to pass right over us. clearly that hasn't happened yet because as you can see, we're getting plenty of rain as well as some winds. we've hunkered down next to the public library here which is right down the street from a shelter that a lot of people here are taking advantage of. about 175 families there, mostly parents with their small children. they did not want did take the risk of losing power, not with small kids. one mom has a 4-year-old son whose name is isaac. she says he's getting a little bit of grief around the shelter once people figured out he has the same name as the storm that forced them from their homes. bill? >> you've got to wonder how many isaacs will be born nine months from tonight. let's go to ginger zee east of us from gulfport, mississippi, sometimes a forgotten spot when we talk about a post-katrina world. how are you holding up? >> we definitely have intense

banding the last couple of hours. rain and high wind on and off and it's been pretty intense. i am crossing a highway and i can do this because it is shut down. this is highway 90, a major thoroughfare along the beach here from the biloxi bay bridge all the way to bay st. louis bridge. it's shut down completely. only emergency vehicles can pass. we took a drive out earlier. you can see the flooding. big intersections completely flooded over, 1 to 2 feet of water at times. this is only the start of the storm. so flooding will be the lasting headline certainly throughout parts of the gulf coast. now, the storm is far from over, you can hear it here. but it was huge when it made landfall in plaque mines parish. plaquemines parish had an 80-mile-per-hour guster take off parts of his roof. why does one place get a 40-mile-per-hour gust, another 80? take the storm speed to the northwest, this whole thing moves counterclockwise. on the right side of the storm

you'll have the storm speed plus that inner wall speed. therefore you'll have it a little higher up in what we call that right quadrant. >> ginger, we'll take extreme weather lessons from you any night. thank you, be safe. matt gutman is in gautier with the latest. >> 100 miles east of you, the rain and wind starting to pick up, feels like small needles stinging your face. we're been at this marina all day watching these waters rise. this pier is normally several feet above the water, now several feet beneath it. all the wind and the force of the waves here literally forced it to crumble apart, it's falling apart as we speak. it's one of the reasons we've seen evacuation orders here on this marina all these coastal communities. the folks aren't too concerned about the wind you're seeing,

it's all this water. now, driving through here really seems like most folks are taking these evacuations very, very seriously. but as this weather continues to worsen there's more bad news, floodwater's only going to get worse, bill. this is low tide, by morning it's supposed to be even higher than this. >> this is the most dramatic part of the storm but some of the most dangerous days are to come. thanks to all of you. when we come back, my much drier coanchor terry moran will join from us the republican national convention. big night in american politics. but i want to remind everyone that sam champion, myself, the rest of the weather team will be out in the storm all night to bring you the latest on hurricane isaac. first thing on "good morning america." we'll be right back. it doesn't get any better than endless shrimp at red lobster. with a wide variety, you can mix and match all day. scampi, grilled, the fried -- there's nothing better.

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hello, i'm terry moran from tampa, florida, and the republican national convention. tonight, ann romney came to this convention with a mission, to humanize her husband. and governor chris christie of new jersey threw his considerable political weight into the mix with a speech that fired up the delegates, they might need it. right now, mitt romney remains a vague and frankly unappealing candidate to many voters. the latest abc news/"washington post" poll just out tells the grim tale. romney's got the lowest popularity of any presidential candidate in decades. 40% of americans view him favorably. 51% have an unfavorable opinion of him. that's worse than dukakis and worth than al gore, worse than jimmy carter. the stakes were high when ann

romney stepped out on that stage tonight. >> -- the united states, ann romney. >> reporter: she came to the podium cheered by delegates who cheerily adore her and understand how crucial she is to this campaign. >> florida, welcome. >> reporter: she had a story to tell them. a love story. >> i want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us. tonight, i want to talk to you about love. >> reporter: this was a strong, confident woman reaching across the big gender gap in this campaign with a direct appeal to the broad american sisterhood. >> we're the mothers. we're the wives. we're the grandmothers. we're the big sisters. we're the little sisters, and we are the daughters. i love you, women. >> reporter: the message of this speech was simple and unusual in politics. i fell in love with mitt, she was essentially saying, you can, too. >> he was tall, laughed a lot. he was nervous. girls like that.

it shows a guy's a little intimidated. he was nice to my parents, but he was also really glad when they weren't around. >> reporter: ann romney had never given a prepared speech before, she said. never used a teleprompter. and she told diane sawyer today she was a little shaky about the whole thing ahead of time. >> what do you do when you're nervous? >> i take a deep breath. the funny thing is i really don't get that nervous when i speak. and i don't get that nervous when i do tv interviews or anything else. the only time i've been nervous is when i show my heart. show my horse. and go figure. one judge. >> out of the podium, she remembered their early days. >> we walked to class together. shared the house keeping. ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish, but those were the best days. >> they have to like the person they're going to look at for the next four years. >> reporter: cokie roberts has been coming to conventions since 1964, she sees ann romney's

moment one of the toughest challenges any candidate's spouse has ever had. >> does that mean they're falling in love with mitt romney? probably not. will they like him better after her speech? probably. >> reporter: perhaps only a wife could testify like ann romney did tonight and take head-on president obama's main attack on her husband, that he is too much to understand ordinary americans. >> you know what it actually amazes me to see his history of success being attacked. but as his partner on this amazing journey, i can tell you mitt romney was not handed success. he built it. >> reporter: all those years together, she said in an impassioned conclusion add up to one great point she wants voters to grasp. >> i can't tell you what will happen over the next four years. but i can only stand here tonight as a wife, a mother and a grandmother, an american, and make you this solemn commitment. this man will not fail.

>> reporter: and then there he was. there they were. the kids who married so young. the couple who have been through so much, a man and wife, now setting sail for the white house. and so the love story ended. and it was the jersey boy's chance. governor chris christie of new jersey, they love him in this party. but what he offered them was very, very different from ann romney. tough love. >> our leaders today have decided it's more important to be popular. to be popular. to say and do what's easy and to say yes rather than to say no, when no is what is required. tonight, we're going to choose respect over love. see, we're not afraid. we are not afraid. we're taking our country back. >> reporter: and christie gave them red meat, too. >> we believe in telling hard-working families the truth about our country's fiscal realities.

telling them what they already know. the math of federal spending does not add up. here's their plan. whistle a happy tune while driving us off a fiscal cliff, as long as they are behind the wheel of power when we fall. >> reporter: the delegates roared their approval. christie's in your face style fits the mood of this party perfectly now. confrontational, ticked off maybe, looking for a leader. so when mitt romney emerged to join ann earlier, how many of them were still wondering, is he the one? pressure built on mitt. next up, he loves grunge rock and could be america's vice president. all about paul ryan next. you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated.

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tomorrow, those featured

speaker is paul ryan, 42-year-old running mate, when he takes the stage it will be a lot of pride in the lollapalooza generation. >> reporter: two well-groomed white guys. at first glance, about as cutting edge as a j. crew catalog. >> welcome. >> reporter: but this ticket does blaze new ground. mitt romney, first mormon ever nominated. >> it's a really clear choice. >> reporter: paul ryan, first person from generation x ever to be on a major party ticket. ♪ >> reporter: ryan is squarely in the age bracket who know where they were when kurt cobain committed suicide. ♪ here we are now entertain us >> reporter: weren't even alive for jfk or rfk. on his facebook page ryan lists nirvana among his favorite bands, along with metallica. and rage against the machine.

apparently, the feeling is not mutual. in "rolling stone" the lead guitarist tom morello said ryan is the embodiment of the machine. >> i don't think he's the machine. i think he's trying to change the machine. i think he's trying to change a really broken machine. >> reporter: like a lot of gen-xers hanging out today at the gun slinger lounge, he seems to be a given-xor. remember "family ties"? the kind of guy you could bring home to mom. >> the guy was homecoming king, right? you don't get to be a homecoming king unless you're a cool guy. i don't understand why everyone thinks he's a dork because he's into budgeting the economy. >> we're going to lead. >> reporter: ryan's facebook stats reveal the majority of his 2 million likes are from baby boomers, not gen-xers. >> we want to grow the pie so

everyone has a chance at the american ideal. >> reporter: in a real way, ryan's gen-x status may explain his approach to policy, specifically his call for entitlement reform. this is a generation that doesn't believe social security and medicare will still be around when they retire. >> i mean, i'm 29. a lot of my friends are now malemployed. they're working jobs to educate, moving in with their parents. >> more people live at home with their parents today than the 1950s. we have more young people unemployed since the government started keeping track. this generation can do better. this generation deserves better. >> reporter: to them, paul ryan gen-xer is no joke. i'm david wright in tampa. >> watch out. thanks to david for that. thank you for watching abc news. jimmy kimble's up next.