and please express to me what happens to that $4.6 trillion that he shifts towards the rich, how it is, exactly, that we pay for that. and if that counts as fiscal conservative for you, you don't speak english.

the president and his number two traded jabs with team romney ryan. all the issues are fair game. from energy and jobs to medicare and wall street. steve handelsman has more. >> they're clashed over energy. barack obama in iowa and mitt romney in ohio with coal miners, slamming the president for toughening regulations. >> for you don't believe in coal or energy independence for america, then say it. >> wind is one alternative the president pushed. >> the the wind industry supports 7,000 jobs here in iowa. that's worth fighting for. that's what's at stake right now. >> an election about big choices was the president's theme on his iowa tour and the challengers, romney raised medicare in a new ad. >> now when you need it, obama

cut $716 billion from medicare. >> that's a cut to doctors and hospitals, not seniors. romney's running mate, paul ryan's plan would keep the cuts and in years make private coverage an option. ryan was in colorado. >> a failure of leadership to create jobs and get our spending and debt and deficit under control. >> in virginia biden charged romney would drop tough new rules on big banks. >> unchain wall street. we will put y'all back in chains. >> staffers chairified. he meant deregulation would hurt the middle class. i'm steve handelsman in washington. >> last night steve schmidt, aide to john mccain in 2008 talked about the democratic criticism of the medicare plan and told rachel the republicans

were not ready to answer the attacks. >> with the pick of paul ryan, it was very predictable that the line of attack was going to be what it is from democrats and they have been articulate on it over the first 48 hours. they will have a great opportunity at the national conventions in two speeches with audiences that communicate on the issues directly. if you are running house republican campaigns or senate races, medicare is a scary issue for republicans. >> don't miss the rachel maddow show week nights at 9:00 eastern here on msnbc, the place for politics. elsewhere the results are in from three republican primaries. wrestling secretary won in connecticut. she spent $61 million combined in the primary and her failed senate run in 2010. in wisconsin, former gop

governor tommy thompson fought off three rifles for the nomination and in florida congress john micah beat a tea party congresswoman to win the nomination in the newly formed district. elsewhere authority in central washington state said a fast-moving wildfire has destroyed at least 70 homes. the 40 square mile blaze on the eastern slope of the cascade mountains is just 10% contained. at least 900 people have been evacuated. as high temperatures and a lack of rain continue to plague the u.s., u.s. farmers are struggling to cope with the worst drought in 50 years. jay gray visited one missouri and farming community. >> for many across the midwest, it's never been as difficult as this year. >> this year with the intense heat with the lack of rain, we had two measurable rains since april 30th here at our dairy.

>> burned out field, crack and broken earth, while in town, restrictions necessary place because city wells are running low on water. >> the drought has been excessive for several weeks. it's not just that we had the 100 degree plus temperatures, but they started early. >> 114 have been declared disaster areas. they are extreme drought conditions. it's the worst the family has seen in more than 50 years of dairy farming. the ponds are dried up and pastures have noplace to graze and they have to pay for feed. cost that will be passed on to consumers. >> this is just the beginning of something that is not going to be good for everybody. you are going to start this in a few months. >> until some substantial rain comes down. jay gray, nbc news, port county , missouri. >> all day, nbc news will have

indepth coverage of this drought of 2012. it is affecting the environment to prices you pay at the super market. this will be across the many platforms of nbc news. here's your first look at the other news going across america. the powerful storm through through and a homeowner documented the destruction of his own barn. a camera shows the roof being ripped away by the winds reaching nearly 70 miles per hour. the storm damaged other homes and knocked out power to hundreds. a ground collision between two planes left one right on top of another. the bigger plane, a gulfstream jet is towed when it broke loose and ran into the smaller twin-engine turbo crop that was sitting parked. in colorado, there was a bear who was just hanging out and

wandering along the ledge before making his way to a tree during his escapade. it's one of three bear sightings. >> it is christmas in august in new york. the radio city rockets gave the crowd a preview of their 2012 christmas show spectacular. santa claus even braved the less than wintry weather to help the ladies kickoff their new season. let's get a check of the national weather with bill who has the forecast. bill, we were talking about the brought earlier in the show and you see the peculiars and how it affects people and it will trickle down quickly. >> money-wise. it's not going to be pretty. corn and other products gets shipped across the globe. here's how it looks. this is updated once a week. it will be updated east coast time from last week. you will see where the heart of

the drought is. one spot with exceptional drought conditions in georgia, but the worst has been throughout middle of the country. the red colors are exceptional. the dark red is the extreme. it has been from indiana and it was bad through iowa and nebraska and lately spreading southwards. arkansas was one of the worst hit states. we haven't seen much in the way of rainfall through august through this area. we have gotten relief through ohio and indian a. as far as what you need to know, here are the faxes and figures. this is going on record. the widest coverage since 1956. this is easily considered and compared to the extreme heat and drought conditions in the bowl in the 1930s. farmers's krobs with an estimated $10 billion and costs the taxpayers to reimburse the farmers. we have rain in the drought zone and we picked up two inches of

heavy rain and too late for a lot of crops throughout the region. we will remain relatively dry throughout the region during the day. when we come back, we will talk about the heavy rains moving through new england and severe thunderstorms early this morning. >> thanks so much. coming up, retailers rise. housing debt is on deck and the overcharge that gives power failure a whole new meaning. your first look at the business headlines is straight ahead. . >> coming up, an unsung hero in the red sox clubhouse, plus, charlie sheen. you know this is going to be big. you are watching first look on msnbc. max.

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welcome become to first look and here are the top stories making news this morning. the former prime minister of syria who defected last week said the regime of the president is collapsing and that government forces now control only 30% of syria.

oklahoma death row inmate michael hooper was executed by lethal injection last night for the killings of his former girlfriend and his two young children. they refuse to consider his challenge of oklahoma's method of execution. >> the highest court in australia upheld the world's toughest law on cigarette packaging. starting in december, company logos will be replaced by these graphic health warnings and images of cancer-riddled body parts. the annual your shower lit up the sky over hawaii. actually tiny pieces of a comet that has been seen each summer for more than 2,000 years. here is your first look at scrambled politics. the latest gallup poll shows the job approval rating for congress continues to drop. where congress passed only 61

bills, lawmakers's approval is down to 10%, tying the worst rating in 38 years. dennis cardoza of california abruptly resigned his seat after deciding not to run for reelection. he told the sacramento bee in light of the fact that nothing is going to happen for the rest of the year, this seemed the right time to make this move. >> the "new york times" reports congressman paul ryan's plan was blasted by david stockman, a budget director for ronald reagan. he said mr. ryan's plan is devoid of credible math or hard policy choices and it couldn't pass if republicans were to take the presidency and both houses of congress. the republican national committee said marco rubio of florida will get a spotlight role of the gop convention introducing mitt romney to accept the nomination. former first daughter chelsea

clinton told vote magazine she is not ruling out a future in politics. she said i believe engaging in the political process is part of being a good person. >> white house aides confirmed that president obama is one of the first modern presidents to have a home brew. white house honey ale coming in a light and dark variety and the honey portion of the name is taken from first lady michelle obama's garde beehive. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. >> now here's the first look at how wall street will kickoff the day. the dow opens at 13,172 and the, and p was down a fraction and the nasdaq lost five. looking at overseas trading, the nikkei fell four points and the hang seng tumbled 239.

investors bought early on and news that retail spending hit a five-month high. it may rebound and selling set in and the production signals, company dos not believe spending will continue. among retailers, home depot got a boost after a higher outlook. we seal if it translates to housing related reports throughout today. earnings from beauty brand estee lauder looked good and michael kors climbed 16% and an upbeat forecast. groupon shed a quarter of its worth after weak growth raised questions about his feature. standard chartered bank agreed to pay $340 million in civil penalties over an alleged money laundering scheme with iran's government. atm maker ncr tumbled 10% on the

allegations of doing business with black listed banks in syria. a suspect has been charged with stealing more than $60,000 worth of computers and personal items from the northern california home of the late steve jobs. imagine this. a connecticut woman found out she was paying the electricity bill for street lamps outside her house for the past 25 years. unfortunately the power company did pay her back with interest in the amount of $10,500. makes you want to check your bill. coming up, the reds walk off and double whammies and the yanks japanese starter tosses a two-hitter. the wild thing makes his return to the mound. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you are watching first look at msnbc.

>> welcome back to first look. a season of band relations between red sox players and bobby valentine turned uglier. here's fred rogge in. >> when it rains, it pours. according to reports, a group of players told ownership they no longer want to play for manager bobby valentine. the games must go on and the sox didn't look like they wanted to play. mark reynolds and a pair of homers capped off a 5 five-run sixth. they won it 7-1.

the red sox hate to see this. i had rohiroki had it. they belted a home run, 17th of the year. new york led it 2-0. mark teixeira followed it up and charlie sheen threw out the first pitch. he was wild and so was the blue jays henderson alvarez. that didn't work. then came the go ahead run and the white sox was winning and beating the jays. andre ethier and you wouldn't expect luis cruz on the offense. that's what happened in pittsburgh. three hits and three rbis. angels need something if they get back in the al west race. albert pujols with his 26th and angels win it and snap a

three-game skid. jimmy rollins fought off and neither team scored the rest of the way. picked up a career characteristicry with the phillies and beat the marlins. from a home run to a starting game, the jeds for the walk off shot and since he won the fourth straight, 3-0. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. >> we have the weather channel forecast. storms coming. >> rough in new england. we don't normally get storms like this. they have been intensifying. you probably have been woken up in the middle of the night and now they are crossing into western connecticut. another line through springfield along the mass pike. they will move through the 495 loop and from boston and from hartford to new haven. new york city looks clear. the storms did miss you. connecticut and massachusetts,

definitely the travel trouble spots and another round of storms later this afternoon. that time we'll include new york, filly and possibly d.c. dallas and ft. worth with flooding this morning. >> thanks so much. >> an olympic gold medalist goes hollywood and which ex-is taylor twist singing about now? more from kristin stewart's cheating standal and whether they are true. you are watching first look on msnbc. [ lenn if take anafn.ic on wi c

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[ dennis' voice ] pood- one serving of cheesed's is the size of four dice. one serving of cereal, a baseball. and one serving of fruit, a tennis ball. - you know, both parties agree. our kids can be healthier... the more you know. >> mitt romney's pick paul ryan

criticized president obama for not doing enough to create jobs. yeah. in response, obama was like didn't you just get a new job? thank me later, buddy. what's your problem? >> read about a new security camera that recognizes people from their facebook photos. that should be a huge photo the next time people commit a robbery with a duck face. >> jimmy welcomes the "today" show kathie lee gifford. hope solo and rapper ti as late night with jimmy fallon is on your nbc station. time now for entertainment news. did you hear the rivers that surfaced that kristin stewart lost a role due to the cheating scandal? so it continues. i will tell you more. reports stewart was dropped from a follow-up to snow white and the huntsman were countered by

the studio that insisted she could be a character in the sequel. could. operative term. as for ex-president obama effort pattenson she landed the role of lawrence of arabia in the queen of the desert. >> he has lost some break up weight. elsewhere-time gold medalist will play himself. this is going to be hilarious. have you interviewed him? he will be totally amazing. the animal rights organization peta sent an open letter to lady gaga calling her a turn coat for wearing fur. bobby brown entered treatment for alcohol treatment and let the guessing games begin, taylor swift wrote another song about an ex-boyfriend and a couple of things people think it is. maybe joe jonas, titled we are

never ever getting back together. >> joe jonas? >> she only writes songs about breaking up. this is the first look on msnbc. willy is next. >> a comment made by joe biden asking the president to take his campaign of division, anger and hate back to chicago. how did the obama team defend about putting people back in chains. paul ryan continues to dance with the third rail issue of medicare. the question is has the romney campaign answered where the candidate stands on the ryan plan? it is starting to come unglued as a report said many of the red sox players don't want to play for the manager bobby facility. what orho