right now on "andrea mitchell reports," monster storms. a large and powerful hurricane irene roars across the bahamas with drenching rain and punishing winds. the category 3 storm is now taking aim at the east coast. first stop north carolina outer banks where mandatory evacuations have been ordered. then up the coast with the potential direct hit to new jersey and new york. millions of people. we're tracking the storm with live team coverage. what you need to know to prepare. bounty hunting. the walls close in on moammar gadhafi. rebel forces try to root out regime loyalist frs tripoli as they join the hunt for libya's ousted dictator. and the end of an era. an ailing steve jobs steps down. what will the departure of technology's great est inventor mean for apple and the rest of us? and a dramatic announcement from stevie wonder last night.

he was able to touch the face of the martin luther king jr. statue and now will make it possible for other blind people to have the same experience. >> as i touched this memorial of dr. king, i think of what i hope we all will do. i hope we'll remember the meaning behind the monument. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. as you can see behind me, rain here, but up and down the coast, a bigger threat. a threat that could devastate the entire east coast. the storm is packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles an hour. it is expected to make landfall along the eastern coast of north carolina as a major hurricane saturday evening. it will then race up the east coast, potentially causing

billions of dollars in damage. nbc news meteorologist bill karins is tracking it all. bill, thanks so much for being there for us. give us the latest. what is the time line? the remarkable thing is not only the power of this storm but how accurate these predictions seem to be. >> right now we're pinning it down, andrea. i don't expect too many wobbles in the forecast. it wobbled east a couple days ago, west yesterday, and now i think we'll pretty much watch it fall within the path as predicted. we're within 48 hours of landfall on north carolina and within 60 hours of it moving up the jersey shoreline. in that time period, our computers get more and more accurate. 13-foot waves already reported off the florida coast. irene is as close as it's going to get to areas like miami and west palm beach. the worst of the weather is near you now. it's not that bad, but it will get better from here on out. let's see you what we're dealing with. here's the path. the red line is the center point. the yellow cone is the cone of uncertainty, which goes all the way to d.c. and the whole bay of

chesapeake and all the way out there to cape cod. we're thinking we're going to go somewhere in the middle of that yellow cone. that's going to take the storm and rake it right along the shoreline. what got my attention is the advisory came out. i knew eastern carolina would get a strong blow from this storm. i was hoping it would weaken more than they're thinking. we're still thinking off ocean city, maryland, we're going to have 100 mile an hour winds. that's more than they're used to, in southern new jersey too. let me break down the timing. that's what everyone is wondering, what should i be doing what when? when do i need to get my supplies? first of all is the tropical storm force winds. once those are near you is when you stop doing what you're doing. tomorrow evening is when the storm force winds move through wilmington. saturday at 6:00 a.m., the area of red is the storm force winds. southern portions of north

carolina, even south carolina, by saturday morning it's too late. you should be in your safe room and not moving anywhere. as we watch the landfall through saturday afternoon, eastern north carolina will be the worst of it. look how far to the north. by saturday evening southern new jersey could get tropical storm force winds. this is a huge storm. it's not intense like katrina was or rita or even andrew, but it's a huge storm size-wise, and that's why new york city you'll wake up sunday morning to tropical storm force winds while the hurricane is just off the coast of virginia beach. that's kind of the timing of it. then we watch the worst of the storm as it begins to weaken. jersey shore sunday about noon. new york city sometime between noon and 5:00 p.m. that's the timeline. the bottom line is we're not going to be missed by this storm. it will be a $1 billion disaster for the eastern seaboard, and everyone has 48 hours to get what they need done. >> and you're thinking severe flooding even in places like new york city. it was so rare to see mike bloomberg having a news conference warning of that. mass transit implications. and to the west of the storm

path, there could be very heavy winds and power outages. >> like where you are in d.c., your biggest concern is the heavy rainfall and the trees blowing down in the tropical storm force winds. when we talk about the jersey shore, virginia coastline, all the coastal areas up through southern new england, we're talking about the storm surge on top of an astronomical high tide. even though it's a low end category 2 or category 1 hurricane, we're going to see a significant storm surge for a storm of that intensity. that's why areas around new york city, the battery park area, coney island, out towards southern portions of fire island in long island, there will be a lot of evacuations, andrea. people need to get out there. >> do you expect they have to evacuate nantucket, cape cod, areas like that as well? >> a the love places like cape cod, the visitors may get out of there. but the areas hit more often are more prepared. just areas like new york city and virginia and maryland, we haven't done this as often. people aren't going to be quite as prepared.

evacuation orders will be coming out the next 24 hours, i'm sure >> bill karins, thanks so much for giving us the road map, tough as it is. as bill just mentioned, north carolina is now in store for the opening hit from hurricane irene. one official there is warning that, if people do not get out soon, quote, nobody can guarantee their safety. ernie seneca from north carolina's department of crime control and public safety, is now on the phone. ernie, thanks for joining us. you've had mandatory evacuations already. now at this stage, is there still time for people to get out? what should they be doing in your area? >> certainly. we've had evacuations under way in hyde county. other counties will be added to this list. people need to have emergency kits in place in case they're without electricity or running water for several days. if they've been ordered to be evacuated, they need to follow the local direction on that and leave.

governor bev perdue today declared a state of emergency for counties east of interstate 95 in north carolina, and that's 39 counties. that basically brings to the fore state agencies to respond to this hurricane. >> what about traffic? are people having difficulty evacuating because of back-ups on those bridges and on 95? >> we are not aware of any here, have not heard of any. >> do you have the resources you need? are you going to call in the national guard? do you need military help? or do you have enough in public safety to be able to respond? >> in the department of crime control and public safety, we have the national guard is actually under this department. and we have 20 national guardsmen who have already been activated. we have 160 more on stand by. actually, 160 more will be activated tomorrow.

we have quite a few others on stand by. we're working with the federal emergency management agency. they are here assisting us. and we're working with our local counterparts on the response. >> thank you so much. good luck to you and all of your team out there. ernie seneca from north carolina. thanks for helping us out. >> thank you very much. >> we, of course, will stay on all of the storm news throughout this hour, throughout the day, all day, all night right here on msnbc. fresh fighting is now erupting in libya's capital today. rumors are flying about the location of moammar gadhafi. now one of the world's most wanted men. nbc's stephanie gosk is live in tripoli. stephanie, all these rumors. what is the best sense you have, the best ground troops on where gadhafi is? >> reporter: the truth is, andrea, i have no idea, and i don't think anyone really does. the rebels thought they had an idea earlier this afternoon in the neighborhood of abu salim.

this is a neighborhood that's very close to gadhafi's compound, and the suspicion was that his officers and perhaps even gadhafi himself and his sons escaped through tunnels and actually found themselves in that neighborhood. there was a heavy gun battle there today, and there are rumors circling around that gadhafi himself was there. so far, that's proven to be untrue. there were other fights around the city as well. there was a gun battle at one of the hotels here in town that used to be run by the government. the owner is said to be quite a gadhafi loyalist, and there are a number of western journalists there. we've known this was going to happen. it's a real statement on the fact that this city right now is not stable, and it's not going to be stable for some time to come. we are going to see these pockets of fighting over the next few days, and the hunt for gadhafi is certainly on. if they find him in this city, there could be quite a battle. >> stephanie, gadhafi has again warned that that the resistance,

the regime supporters should hunt out the rebels. that does sound delusional. he certainly is potentially fomenting a lot more violence and making it harder for this interim government to get control. >> reporter: for sure. he made another radio address, and just the very fact he's in a position where he can make a radio address, where he can call in and make a statement, means that he's in a secure enough location where he has some form of communication and the ability to organize people around him. the question is how many people does he have around him? how many people are willing to fight for him? that does remain to be seen. evidence today that they are out there. this was quite a battle in abu salim today. >> stephanie gosk, thank you so much from tripoli. just two weeks out of the gate, rick perry catapulting to front-runner status in the 2012 republican race. for how long will he stay there? and the man that brought us the iphone, ipad, and so much

more says it's time to go. with steve jobs exit from apple will mean to one of the world's most valuable companies. we continue to track hurricane irene as it nears the coast. send me your thoughts on twitter. and follow the show online. [ male announcer ] this is lisa, who tries to stay ahead of her class. morning starts with arthritis pain... that's two pills before the first bell. [ bell rings ] it's time for recess... and more pills. afternoon art starts and so does her knee pain, that's two more pills.

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is there a new republican front-runner? just two weeks after getting into the race, texas governor rick perry is now surging in the polls. up 12 points against mitt romney. but romney says he's not concerned. >> the field is still fluid. they're going to be potentially other candidates. i heard today george pataki is thinking of getting in. i heard potentially i saw karl

rove thought sarah palin might be getting in. >> are you worried about the new front-runner for the nomination? >> just one of guys running. >> welcome to both of you. i know you guys really miss not being in the middle of this particular fight. but tony, what about rick perry's surge in the polls? a very strong start. >> yeah, no question. >> the so-called pundits, we're all saying, wait a second, he stumbled. he talked about high crimes and misdemeanors and all the rest with poor ben bernanke, but he really registered with primary voters. >> he did. look, i think the other candidates in the race so far haven't coalesced support in the republican primary. that's actually not unusual. the other guys were low teens, 10% in the previous cycle, and

rudy giuliani, andrea, was at 34% around this time in the race. a lot can change. a new entrant in the race when republican voters haven't made up their minds on the existent field is going to come in with a lot of force and attention, especially one from a very large state like governor perry. >> and rick perry was on with laura ingram today. listen to this. >> i speak plainly. i call it like i see it. look, i'm not an establishment figure. never have been and frankly i don't want to be. i dislike washington. i think it's a seedy place. >> for all the talk that mitt romney would be the toughest general election candidate against barack obama, it could well be that someone like rick perry with his anti-washington, plain talking kind of claim might be a much more -- a bigger threat. >> surement you saw mitt romney out there, and he looked a little rattled. even despite the first week where rick perry said and the

pundits said he has a real problem. you look at a candidate like rick perry, he's in front. he said that medicare and social security are unconstitutional. he used the word treason to describe the fed chairman. he's used the word secession to describe what he wanted to do during the health care debate. i think it's interesting that's the sort of person that's ahead in the republican primary. >> there's another plain talking person out there, and that, of course, is sarah palin. one of your former colleagues karl rove sounding off on palin's reaction to rove, who clearly commented on all the palin videos that have been hitting the web. let's watch that. >> i'm mystified. look, she is all upset about this, saying i'm somehow trying to sabotage her in some way and how dare i speculate on her future. if she doesn't want to be speculated about as a possible presidential candidate, there's an easy way to end speculation, simply say i'm not running.

>> that was karl rove. you've seen him in that mode before. >> sure. look, karl's got a great point. sarah palin is either going to be in the race or not in the race. can't get upset about speculation. one way to end the speculation, as karl said, is just state you're not running or say you are running. until then, if you're a public figure and you have hopes of running for president, you're going to get this speculation. >> and, now, the book. dick cheney's memoir, long awaited. nbc's jamie had exclusive insight with her exclusive interview on msnbc "dateline" on monday night. here's deck cheney talking about his former boss and colleagues. >> do you think president bush will feel betrayed that you revealed these private conversations? >> i don't know why he should. >> you don't think so? >> no. >> you have always said that you believe the president deserves to be able to trust the people around him. >> right.

>> by revealing these differences, you don't think you're betraying that trust? >> no. >> and he goes after colin powell, condoleezza rice -- this is not surprising. what is the impact, are you thinking? what does it tell you about george w. bush and dick cheney? >> i think george w. bush and dick cheney are inseparable as friends and historic colleagues. >> after this book too? >> even after this book. president bush, i think, actually wants to see senior figure out there talking about the decisions that were made and how they were made, and, of course, he had his own book with his own view. his view on it is historians over time will look at the record from the major senior officials in the administration and piece together the history and come to their conclusions, which i think over time, as you piece it together, will be fairly accurate >> and condoleezza rice has her

book coming out in november. >> she's a professional from the ground up, and she knows how to take care of herself. >> it's a very kind read, but i have to say this is an example of what would have to be one of the most disloyal vice presidents that we've seen in the modern age. no vice president has done anything like this, revealing conversations like that, revealing information like that. i disagree with dick cheney on every policy issue, but just on a core character issue, it's disappointing to see somebody do that to this office. >> jamie will have all the exclusive details. she's spent hours and hours with the former vice president, and we look forward to all of that reporting. bill burton, tony fratto, great to see you both. >> thanks, andrea. and the east coast preparing for hurricane irene. right now the navy is moving dozens of ships out to sea through ports in virginia. hundreds of thousands of residents fleeing north carolina coastal towns where mandatory evacuations are in effect. and in new york, mayor mike bloomberg says he will make a

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in june mitt romney called greenhouse gas emissions a, quote, significant contribution to climate change. apparently, he's changed his mind a bit. here he is at a town hall in new hampshire. >> do i think the world's getting hotter? yeah, i think it is. >> you said it was caused by humans or mostly caused by humans. >> i don't know if it is or not. i don't know if it's mostly caused by humans, but i'm not willing to spend trillions of dollars on something i don't know the answer to. >> maggie abram, the senior political reporter for politico. mitt romney was supposed to be the sort of moderate, mainstream, more, quote, conventional candidate in the republican field. feeling pressure from the right? >> oh, i think that two national

polls showing that he is no longer the prohibitive front-runner, if the front-runner at all, is very worrisome to him. i think he's going to have to be very careful about what he says on the campaign trail, and i think every word is going to be watched going forward to see if you are seeing a shift to the right to sort of appease the tea party conservatives activist base that tends to vote in these primaries. his supporters argue he didn't change his position at all, and this is very consistent with what he's said in the past. i do believe there's a shift in emphasis about whether he believes humans caused the earth's temperature to change. i think, again, we are running in a presidential race in what is going to be analyze the very, very closely. >> isn't that a big problem for romney because in the last campaign he did have to fight off criticism that he was shifting with the wind. if he does that again, it brings back the, quote, flip-flopper accusations, fair or unfair.

>> absolutely. he's been working very hard to try to get aaway from that by focusing extremely heavy on the economy, the economy, the economy. any day that mitt romney is talking about anything other than the economy is not necessarily going to be a great day for him, and it's also not a day he's probably going to win because rick perry is so socially conservative, is so appealing to the evangelical base. that's not an area where mitt romney can compete. mitt romney needs to stay very focused in one direction. >> also in new hampshire, questioning the science of climate change, is not a great position for the independents and the others. >> i think you're right, especially for mitt romney, whose campaign is counting on democratic leaning independents who don't have a primary to vote in this time, he needs to be careful about the type of things he's said. and rick perry talked about climate change and questioned the science behind it when he was in new hampshire, but, again, he is someone who is known to be conservative. any time he does something that

just reinforces the image of him as straight talking and who he is, it helps him. mitt romney, as you said, can't afford to get away from that. >> maggie, great to see you. thanks so much. >> you too. thanks. and the nbc news/politico republican debate at the reagan library is two weeks away. wednesday, september 7th, 8:00 p.m. eastern, moderated by brian williams. be there. next, we're live on the outer banks. residents have been told to get out now as hurricane irene closes in. this is "andrea mitchell reports." don't get enough vegetables. so here's five bucks to help you buy v8 juice. five bucks. that's a lot of green. go to v8juice.com for coupons. you can count on us.

we're continuing to follow hurricane irene as the mammoth storm lashes the bahamas and heads towards the east coast. north carolina governor bev perdue has declared a state of emergency for counties along the east coast, and tourists and residents alike are packing bridges seeking higher grounds. kerry sanders joins us live from atlantic beach, north carolina. kerry?

>> reporter: i'm actually standing in the water here for a reason. as you know, a hurricane gets its strength from the warmth in the ocean. the atlantic waters here are 80 degrees or warmer. which means there's a lot of fuel for that energy that hurricane irene is now on open waters. so there's a real concern not only of the path it's going to take but how strong this hurricane will get. here in atlantic beach you can see there's still some people at the beach. it's mostly empty as compared to yesterday. that's because tourists have been told time to leave, time to get out. it appears they're beginning to understand that vacations are being cut short. residents will begin leaving tomorrow. the idea is to get their homes prepared and get their supplies to leave. the big concern from the red cross, from the emergency managers local, from the state, and even from fema is that people have something very simple. it's a four-letter word -- plan. have a plan. they want people to make sure

their cars are filled with gas now. already we've seen some gas stations that have run out of fuel. so if you're late to the game, that's a problem. and that you have some food supplies and an idea of where you're going to go. i was looking at a little piece of history here. hurricane charley, which was 2004, category 4 storm, came into sanibel island in florida. people were 55 miles inland in arcadia, didn't think they needed to prepare, and they were flattened. so a hurricane, especially one b as big as this, especially like the size of texas, can come far inland. this is not just a coastal event. andrea? >> kerry, this is such scary stuff. you are the expert on hurricanes all the way up the coast. florida may be spared this time, but your warning is really well taken. thank you so much. and you be safe. >> reporter: sure. >> we're joined by the weather channel's brian norquist with the latest on who may be hit the

hardest. brian, you got your attention last night. i was here last night when your alert went out to all of us. what are you seeing with the storm track? you've been all over this. >> andrea, unfortunately, i'm not seeing anything different than i've seen for the last few days. this has the making of the hurricane of our lifetime, in terms of the impact on people from north carolina all the way through new england. having studied hurricanes for a loong ti long time, i've been looking, along with many other people, at the worst case possibility that tens of millions of people could have a direct impact. unfortunately, this is the kind of storm we can't absolutely say that that's it, but unfortunately the odds are favoring a really tremendous impact. let's take a look at where the hurricane is right now. there you see it over the bahamas heading in the direction of the carolinas. but it is going to make a turn and we're up toward the north carolina coast. the odds are of a significant

hit in north carolina, whether it's a direct, near worst case hit, that remains to be scene. but a significant hit with a category 3 hurricane, perhaps even stronger than that. and then points north. and we're talking from norfolk all the way up through the delmarva, the new jersey shore, potentially the new york city area. we can talk more about that and on up into new england. this track that the national hurricane center is forecasting, which obviously hurricane tracks can always potentially go back and forth. the government has deployed more resources at this than they have deployed everything they have into making the best possible forecast. and the forecast coming out of the computers and out of the national hurricane center in miami are for a track similar to hurricane way back in 1821 that we've always kind of kept in our minds as a terrible scenario for new york city and the environs,

and unfortunately they're forecasting that now. this is a very, very serious situation. >> what could be the impact in new york city? this was a rare occurrence that a mayor of new york city, mike bloomberg today, warning about the possibility of even people getting out of low-lying areas of the city. >> there's a big evacuation planned for new york. it's not like new york officials don't know about this because here's the problem. as you have the new jersey coast and you have long island and you have the corner there. if the hurricane is coming up and it's moving all this water, and we've seen it in mississippi and all kinds of other places where all this water comes ashore, it gets wedged into that corner, and the water has got to go into new york harbor, flooding lower manhattan, flooding jersey. the raretan bay is a tremendous flood threat, flooding the lower part of brooklyn. at the same time, you have long island sound water from the north coming down the east river, flooding east side of n manhatt manhattan, and vast areas along the north shore of long island.

likely, laguardia airport under water, jfk under water, and large, large areas of the coastal sections there. that's a scenario. we're not saying that's going to happen. that's what they have in their mind, and that's why bloomberg said what he did. >> bryan norcross, thanks so much for the warnings and thanks for being there. president obama on top of the concerns spoke with the head of fema this morning as federal officials make their emergency plans. nbc's kristen welker is in martha's vineyard, where the president is trying to wrap up a ten-day trip. what a vacation. star crossed indeed. what are their plans there now? >> reporter: hi, andrea. it certainly has been, what a vacation indeed. officials tell us president obama is still planning to leave on saturday, which was previously scheduled. they say at this point the hurricane is not going to change its plans in terms of when he's going to depart. as you mentioned, the president spoke with fema administrator craig fugate earlier today, as

well as secretary janet napolitano. they are getting out in front of this hurricane. they have dispatched crews from carolina all the way to maine. they have also set up a number of warehouses in the region, which are housing things like massive generators, generators that are big enough to power hospitals, as well as, of course, food, medical supplies, baby supplies. so they're really trying to be prepared for what might be coming. this is a lesson they learned during katrina, that it's important to get out in front of a hurricane like this. president obama also telling administrator fugate to stay in close contact with governors as well as state and local officials. again, andrea, the president very much staying on top of this situation and planning to leave on saturday. andrea? >> kristen welker, thanks so much. presidencies are often defined, for better or worse, in moments of crisis. how should president obama

handle this one that may be coming? ron mcclain served as chief of staff to vice president joe biden and before that to al gore. this is a critical moment. we saw what happened to george w. bush after katrina. they're clearly trying to learn from that example. should the president be doing anything right now about his vacation? should he be leaving? >> i think it's fine for him to leave on saturday. what he's dog, he's president of the united states wherever he is. he's president of the united states at martha's vineyard. he's talking to minister fugate and secretary napolitano. what he's doing differently, he's getting ahead of it, he's getting in front of it, and he's put the right people in charge. >> are there people in the white house right now most likely saying you've got to worry about the politics. it looks bad. you're on a golf course. does that matter, or are people legitimately just saying he takes the job and the crisis with him, and he manages it? >> look, i think he takes the job and the crisis with him and he manages it. what's going to be remembered is not what he does the day or two before this thing hits, but how well the administration handles

the disaster if the worst happens and the disaster does hit. as i say, i think the key decision was made here two years ago when he picked craig fugate to be head of fema. there's no one who's handled more hurricanes at the state level than craig fugate. he was the chief of disaster response in florida when they were hit with more hurricanes than any year in the state's history. obviously, george bush had the history of michael brown, who had been an arabian horse official before he took over fema. you've got the right person in charge, a great team at noaa doing the forecasts, and getting the country ready for what's coming. >> the president was expected back, he was going to be the big speaker at the martin luther king ceremonies, the dedication ceremonies. we don't even know if that's going to be delayed. so far this week in d.c., we've had the earthquake with significant damage to the washington monument, to the cathedral, the national building museum, and other buildings. plus libya. the president on his vacation has had to deal with libya,

which has been a constant. >> yeah. so i think it's time to finally put a fork in the idea that august is a quiet month in washington. >> perhaps. >> between the debt ceiling and libya and the earthquake and now the hurricane, you know, all 12 months of the year are busy months, and august is now a busy month. i think august has been a month that has been a political problem for the president. during the campaign in 2008, during his first year in 2009. but, you know, he also have a strong finisher. i'm sure he's going to come out of it strong and lay out his job to deal with this crisis, lay out his jobs plan early september, and get the focus back where it needs to be. >> the republican candidates have taken an interesting turn. first rick perry, now even mitt romney questioning the science of climate change. just as someone who worked closely with al gore for so many, many years, where is this

in the political spectrum? is it because the economy is so rough and people don't want to hear anything about global climate change in the near term because they think it's going to cost jobs? >> there's a hard line group in the republican party and scientists, researchers sponsored by the oil industry that are driving this debate on the republican side of it. it's not just the hurricanes. we've had rough weather all across the midwest and the plains and what not. >> is it good for the republicans? >> i don't think it's good for the republicans. sound science is sound politics. and the sicience tells us we hae a problem. it's primary politics. i think everyone understands that. these guys are worried about the energy michelle bachmann has in the republican field. they're all running to the right. i think it's a shame to see someone like mitt romney run from his record as a relatively moderate governor and try to run to the right to capture the

perry and bachmann voters. i don't think it's going to do well in the long run. up next, getting libya back on its feet, playing the oil card. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. ♪ geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance.

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hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. coming up on "news nation," we're following the latest on the category 3 hurricane irene. right now more than 200,000 people are being told to evacuate by tomorrow. we'll have the state by state updates for you. any minute now we're expecting a new update from the national hurricane center on where irene is headed and when it will make landfall. 55 million people could be impacted. meteorologists say this could, in fact, deliver a devastating blow to the east coast. all the details you need to know coming up on "news nation." and now to libya. as the rebels try to gain control and find moammar gadhafi, what are the next steps as they try to create an interim government and a new economy?

we're joined by the managing editor of "the financial times." how much damage has there been to the oil fields, and what will it take to get libya back online? >> there serm has been damage to the oil fields. tripoli is trying to talk optimistically about getting the oil flowing fast. there are those in the international community hoping that is going to happen. and the fact that the oil prices have fallen in recent days i indicates there's optimism. the reality is not going to be so simple. people watching very carefully to see what happens next in terms of the logistics. and aside from the issue of oil, there's also the incredibly important question of when the money that's going to be currently held by western governments and has not been disbedi disbursed because of the sanctions flowing from libya, when the money will start flowing again. the crucial vote today in the united nations on the sanctions committee which could well determine whether the money will

be released or not. as of yet, that money hasn't been releaseded, and that's needed for infrastructure building for things like oil and other parts of the economy. >> and because south africa and others are blocking it. the african union blocking the decision, which would actually put real money, $1.5 billion at least, into the hands of this interim leadership. >> absolutely. i mean, there's some very interesting politics developing inside the african union right now. it partly reflects a sense of unease in many parts of africa about the site of nato backed force, essentially helping in the overthrow of gadhafi. and there are plenty of people inside africa who don't much like that idea. and the other problem, of course, is that south africa doesn't like to be seen as being too strongly on the american western side, and that's, again, complicating things. >> a couple of other quick items in the financial world. a big investment. warren buffett betting his $5 billion on bank of america. that sent that stock up after a

real crisis there. and then apple. steve jobs. let's talk about that. he's finally giving up control of apple. the brilliance of steve jobs cannot be overestimated. >> absolutely not. apple has createded an extraordinary machine of a company, and aside from being briefly the world's largest market in terms of -- largest company in terms of market cap, it overtook exxon mobil recently -- standard & poor's gave it a credit rating that was higher than the u.s. government a week ago. so it was an extraordinary company, and yet so much of the creative genius has been focused on steve jobs. the big question now is whether that can actually be passed on to other people. there are a lot of other products in the pipeline. it won't be an issue that apple needs to deal with immediately because certainly those products will keep rolling out. the question, though, really is what's going to happen two, three, four years down the road. >> gillian, thank you so much

for all of that. good to see you. >> thank you. and hurricane permitting, this weekend the martin luther king jr. memorial will be dedicated on the mall here in washington with the president speaking. last night i was privileged to be master of ceremonies as the memorial foundation kicked off several days of ceremonies at a dinner that had to be moved at the last minute because of earthquake damage at the national building museum. the big surprise was stevie wonder, the man who got ronald reagan to first make dr. king's birthday a national holiday. he talked about how he had recently gone up in a cherry picker to touch the face of his hero, the statue, and will now make it possible for other blind people to have that same experience. >> what i'd like to do before i say anything more is commit to the foundation $10,000 a year that will allow as many people that are blind to go up in the cherry picker to see this.

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so, which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor jonathan capehart is an editorial writer to the washington post and joins me now and we have to talk about the most improbable find in gadhafi's compound which is his photo album and the notes to condoleezza rice. >> yeah. it is always amazing when you get behind the walls of secrecy behind some of the compounds to find out what they have, and the idea that moammar gadhafi, the sort of on the lam leader of libya having a photo album as you are showing right there of

pictures only of the former secretary of state condoleezza rice is pretty amazing. head-scratching. >> well, she did of course make the trip, and that signified normalization and part of the process, and he gave up his nuclear equipment, and they at least met and all of that, and obviously, this is not reciprocal, and slightly delusional, but it is just amusing. >> well, he loved to call her leezza. and l-e-e-z-z-a, and shortening her name. he had a thing for her. >> and in any case, i am sure it was not reciprocal in any case. we should talk more seriously about the threat to the east coast, and the storm and the political impact potentially as the president copes with yet another crisis on his vacation week. >> another crisis in august as we have beeen talking about,

august is not the kindest month for president obama, and it is due to hit atlantic city tonight, and the state of virginia has already declared a state of emergency, and reminding people that when states of emergency are declared, you need to have that in order to unlock a lot of the local and particularly federal -- what's the word i'm looking for -- monies and material that will be needed to cope with any kind of damage that might be the result of irene. >> jonathan capehart, thank you very much from leezza to irene, i tell you. everybody, be safe. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." tamron hall, my colleague has a look at what is next on "newsnation." hi, tamron. >> hi, andrea. in the next hour we are getting in a new advisory on hurricane irene's track and right now thousands of people are fleeing the east coast for preparation of the category 3 storm. governors in three separate

states have declared states of emergencies and we have teams of forecasters and reporters standing by to give you the latest. and right now, rebels are in battle with the loyalists, and they have surrounded a compound where they believe that the dictator is hiding inside and this as gadhafi sends out a new audio message. this is live in libya, and we will have all of this and more when "newsnation" continues in a moment yup, we had a good year at chevy. they gave us a consumers digest best buy award. then they gave us an iihs top safety pick and you... well, you gave us your approval.

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