two people are dead including the shooter and nine people injured. >> pop, pop. and i started to run to my office because i was very shaken up. >> no one had really known what was going on yet. it was very chaotic. >> i heard somebody yell saying he's shooting. he's got a gun. he is shooting. then i'm looking in the direction where they're talking about who he is shooting at because i don't know. i heard the shot but i don't know what direction. i see people running and i'm like oh, my god. >> we have the latest now from nbc's mara schiavocampo outside the empire state building. we see the activity behind you but the events of the day people want to know what motivated the shooting here. what do we know about the shooter? again, michael bloomberg bringing attention on stricter gun laws he with like to see in this country. >> right now police are characterizing this as a revenge shooting. they say the 353-year-old jeffrey johnson came to his former work place and shot a former co-worker. now he had been laid off from his job as a designer at a

women's accessories company and police are saying that his co-worker was the intended target. now, after that happened, johnson tried to get away and that is when some construction workers alerted some police officers on patrol what happened. the officers approached johnson. they engaged. there was an exchange of gun fire and that's when johnson was killed. that is also when the nine other people were injured and initially it was unclear if they had been injured by johnson or by the police. now by all accounts it does appear those bystanders were injured by police in that exchange of gun fire. there is no evidence that they were hit by a round from johnson's gun. in terms of the conditions of the victims they were all taken to local hospitals where they're being treated for nonlife threatening injuries. the bulk of them were hit in the limbs, arms, legs. one man even hit in his foot. bloomberg has used this incident to draw attention to what he calls the national problem of gun violence. this is one of the most important issues for him. he has become one of the country's leading advocates for stricter gun control.

in the wake of the colorado shootings he was publicly critical of president obama and mitt romney chastising them for a failure to lead on this issue. he has urged the nypd to go on strike until more is done to get illegal guns off the streets. this is a big issue for him. also here in new york it's hit home recently in terms of crime statistics. over all murders are down but shootings up 11% this year. in terms of gun violence and the effect this is having on the city this is something we're seeing first hand here. >> mara, what is the security situation around the empire state building right now? >> right now if we can just go look behind me you can see a number of city streets close ofd as the investigation continues but generally speaking, in new york city there is a very high police presence at these high profile tourist destinations, the empire state building, statue of liberty, grand central station, times square. that is essentially antiterrorism. this is something that you've seen in the city since september

11. a very high police presence. but also recently because of this spike in crime as i mentioned there's been an increase in thefts, things like ipods. there has been a heavier police presence on the streets of new york city the belief that if you have more officers on foot patrol it will help deter crime. so that i think is part of what led to the apprehension and killing of this gunman so quickly. police officers have a heavy presence here and were on the street and people were able to alert them to what had just happened. >> mara schiavocampo live for us right outside the empire state building, the site of the mass shooting. thank you. news nation is also following developing news now in politics, questionable comments from governor mitt romney just hours ago. now putting him in the middle of the birther controversy. listen to what the governor said, maybe a not so subtle swipe at the president during a campaign event in his home state of michigan. >> i love being home in this place where ann and i were raised where both of us were

born. ann was born at henry ford homt. i was born at harper hospital. no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know this is the place that we were born and raised. >> the obama campaign wasting no time already firing back saying throughout this campaign governor romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them. it is one thing to give the stage in tampa to donald trump, sheriff arpaio and kris kobach but governor romney's decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across america. mitt romney tries to turn the conversation toward the economy and of course next week's republican national convention. let me bring in our panel right now. i'd like to start off with

garret. you were there. put this in context and help us understand what governor romney was talking about there. >> reporter: hey, tamron. good afternoon. we're here in michigan governor romney's home state. this came at the end of a rift that romney does almost every time he is in michigan. he goes through meeting his wife here, going to high school here, as part of the regular part of the conversation here. and then he took a turn to this remark here about the birth certificate and actually got a big laugh out of the crowd here and sort of threw the rest of the event a little offtrack. >> so, garret, i mean, obviously this is being presented as some kind of joke here but i understand that his team has come back with a followup statement regarding what they say he meant? >> that's right. the romney campaign was very quick to come back on this. they say they have never had any -- governor romney has never had any doubts about where president obama is from, that this was merely a comment, him trying to play up the fact that he is from here in michigan. they've really been downplaying it. there was no teleprompter here. they said this was not part of the prepared remarks.

they've been trying as quickly as they possibly can to try to get ahead of the story and say this was just governor romney talking about his own experience here in michigan but obviously the cat is out of the bag on that one. >> let me bring in mo. you heard the obama campaign bringing up obviously donald trump, sheriff arpaio, other people who have come out and had bold support alongside governor romney. what do you make of this, mo? why would he even go there? >> i don't know. i don't know whether this was mitt romney auditioning to actually be donald trump's surrogate out on the trail or maybe this was actually a brilliant strategy of his, you know, all morning no one said a thing about the republican party, about todd akin and the republican party's position on restricting a woman's right to choose. he has completely changed the subject. i don't know. at most it was i think playing up to his base which is a trap that mitt romney continues to fall into whenever he is in front of his own base. he tries so hard to please them. or it was just him being

politically tone deaf although the two are not mutually exclusive. whichever. he shouldn't have said it and he knows it. >> here we are now today talking about this and obviously the romney campaign would say oh, this is a distraction but as we pointed out this was a choice made by governor romney. he could have stuck to the script as garret says he's done in the past and not have gone there. when you have the supporters now saying here is the main stream media takin on obama's side and all of this. this was unnecessary. >> it was. and lots of times when mitt romney goes off the script and goes off the cuff, he does have this foot in mouth disease kind of problem which is what i think it was here. he probably very much was just trying to make a joke. he goes overboard sometimes trying to connect with his audience. and then he stumbled into some trouble. i think that's the case here and, yes, it does distract from the convention that's going to start in a couple days when they desperately want to get back on to a message about the economy. and this is a day away from

that. >> is it enough that the spokesperson tried to downplay it saying that he -- governor romney in the past has said that the president was born in the u.s. is that enough? >> for a day or two, no. because the clips that we're going to see are going to be mitt romney making that comment and then of course the obama campaign piling on and saying, that's not good enough. and then the next thing we'll see is the romney campaign trying to do some damage control. but what all of these voters and viewers are going to see is first mitt romney falling into this trap again. >> and a lot of people question his relationship, mo, with donald trump especially and having that dinner, that high dollar dinner in vegas even though donald trump was going on rants both on camera, off camera, on twitter, at any corner in new york that somebody would listen to him regarding this whole notion of him being a birther. >> i don't think there is any question donald trump is no asset to mitt romney and i think most people understand that except for maybe mitt romney who

constantly seems to be bending over backwards to appease donald trump. i think the big problem that mitt romney has got heading into the convention next week is now we're going on two weeks of him being completely off message. it actually began with the selection of paul ryan, which should have helped him but it took him off the economy and put them in a defensive posture on medicare. the todd akin controversy followed very quickly by the republican platform putting in very strident antichoice language. and now this. if he -- he's got to figure out how to get back on message and they seem to be doing everything they can to avoid it. >> let me bring garret back in getting back on message may of course include some help from ann romney. what is the latest on her speaking schedule? i saw in our last hour andrea mitchell was on with somebody from the romney campaign and he was kind of complaining. at least they believe that the network somehow wronged the rnc and there was a network change and that's why ann romney's speech won't be covered by the

networks. what is going on? >> there is a game of chicken going on between the television networks and romney campaign on this point. ann romney's speech was originally scheduled to be on monday. the big three networks said they did not plan to carry convention coverage in primetime on monday. there is some discussion about that speech moving to tuesday but it's a domino effect. if you move one speech you end up moving a lot of other items. the romney campaign is trying to put some pressure as i understand it on the networks to reconsider that decision but with hurricane isaac or tropical storm isaac at this point the entire monday schedule, everyone is keeping a very close eye on that as we go forward. >> what about rand and ron paul and their high profile speeches and visibility at the rnc? >> again, there is a little bit of a tight rope walk going on there as well. ron paul is supposed to tape a message, a videotape message not to speak publicly. his son rand paul sort of his primary, only major surrogate, as part of the rnc convention,

was also scheduled to speak on monday. ron paul has an event on sunday before the convention starts. there is sort of a fine line being walked by the romney campaign to make ron paul and his supporters feel included without having to potentially take over the convention in any meaningful way. that speech is something that also is being closely watched as plans continue to be in flux for monday. >> let me bring you in on this fine line as garret described it with the pauls. is it necessary at this point for mitt romney to, the word he likes to use, appease them? >> i think that is a consideration, certainly, for the romney campaign but what they are most concerned about right now is having ann romney shown in primetime so voters across the country can see her. as you know, tamron, the romney campaign has had some trouble appealing to women voters. that's very important going into the next couple months with the election is appealing to women. we've just done this story at real clear politics coming out in the next day or so about the

stark contrast in how women will be presented at the democratic convention as opposed to the republican convention. there are far more female speakers that will be shown in primetime from charlotte than there will be from tampa and the romney campaign really wants to put out ann romney so they can appeal to more women. that is their biggest concern right now. >> let me bring you in on this vice president joe biden making this unprecedented visit to tampa during the rnc. he joked with some football players the other day that he was crashing the party. obviously they don't want to upstage but the campaign does not want to be forgotten in the midst of us covering the rnc. >> yeah. look, it's traditional. that each party sends high level surrogates to the other's convention city in order to get into the news cycle. i do think it is a little unprecedented and very smart for the vice president to go. he and the president are going to be punching bags in tampa the entire week. have him show up and make the

case directly to the folks there where the national press will be gathered i think is a smart move. >> mo, aaron, garret, thank you very much for joining us with the developing story off the top. and a programming note. this sunday meet the press is live from tampa. david gregory will be joined by former florida governor jeb bush and senator john mccain. check local listings for the times. the national weather service has just released the lateest advisory for tropical storm isaac and we have new video as the storm moves through the caribbean. heavy winds and rain are lashing the southern coast of the dominican republic. preparations are under way in haiti and in the dominican republic as well as florida's coastal areas. including as we've talked about tampa the site of the rnc just days from now. let's turn to the weather channel's hurricane specialist bryan norcross with the latest. >> the issue in tampa is twofold. first of all bad weather. monday is the real bad weather day. tuesday is the potential

flooding day. it's a two-day problem they've got and the only question really is how bad it's going to be. let's start with where the storm is right now. you see a 60-mile-per-hour tropical storm but on the strengthening direction now. it's up to 60. i wouldn't be surprised if it goes to 65 or 70 before it comes ashore later on today in haiti. here you see the center is actually up in here just below the dominican republic there and it's heading, unfortunately, right in the direction of those poor folks in haiti but it's a lot of circulation. it's a big circulation so puerto rico is getting very bad weather and there is flooding going on there now. so in terms of time frames, cuba gets it on saturday and then it heads up toward south florida. so south florida, miami, and the keys have their direct effect on sunday and then we move into monday and so the weather, let's imagine the storm is in here, circulating like this. here comes the weather. into the tampa area on monday. but when it gets to tuesday, up

in this area, let's say, here is the circulation and now it is pushing the water into tampa bay. tuesday is the day the high water moves into tampa bay which causes the evacuation zones. is it going to be high enough to be threatening and to close those bridges and the other bad effects of rising water in that bay? that is still unknown. this is a very, very tough call for the folks that are trying to manage this convention. >> wow. bryan, i know you'll be watching it all and bringing us the latest information. thank you for coming on. coming up lance armstrong stripped of his tour de france titles and now banned from cycling for life. he still says he is clean. but is his brand permanently damaged? just a couple hours ago one of his major supporters said they are standing by lance. we'll tell you who that is. it's our gut check. >> if it's a legitimate rape the female bodies has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> what a week it's been for the

gop leading up to the big convention. we'll take a look at how the todd akin controversy might still cast a shadow over the rnc. it's in our political post script. you can join our conversation. a lot of you have already told us your thoughts on mitt romney's, quote, joke regarding birth certificates. twitter me or tweet me at tamron hall. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

welcome back. lance armstrong is now officially stripped of his record seven tour de france titles and banned from competitive cycling for the rest of his life by the u.s. antidoping agency. the head of the agency explained the ruling in an exclusive interview with nbc news. >> he will be immediately disqualified from all events he

participated in from august 1st, 1998 through the present and will be permanently banned from any future competition. it's a powerful reminder to athletes that doping never pays. >> the action was taken after he announced he was ending his fight against accusations that he used performance enhancing drugs. in a statement he said if i thought for one moment that by participating in the process i could confront these allegations in a fair setting and once and for all put the charges to rest i would jump at the chance but i refuse to participate in a process that is so one sided and unfair. joining me now senior writer david epstein, you write about this journey for lack of a better description he has been on. what do you make of his statement this is a one sided, unfair process? >> well he challenged the process in federal court and a federal judge in texas ruled the u.s. doping agency's process is

robust enough to offer due process but he chose not to go forward. >> what were the arbitration processes -- >> there would have been testimony from former teammates and officials in addition to blood tests. >> are any of those things public right now? >> mostly not. some of them talked to the news media and some testified before a grand jury but it's been sealed. it hasn't been before the public in the same way it would be. >> if it had gone to arbitration some of the details that perhaps could have been certainly damning to lance armstrong if true would have been out there. >> for sure. >> in a more visible way. >> it would have been a hearing, yes. he could have had an open hearing and gone forward with this process. >> many people wonder how we got to this point. lance armstrong, correct me if i'm wrong, has never failed a test right? >> he has never failed a test that caused him to be sanctioned. he's had a number of disputed

tests like one during his first tour de france win where he tested positive for a steroid, later gave a doctor's prescription which you are supposed to file ahead of time. there were several disputed but he never failed one that resulted in sanctions. >> he says he is clean, that this is not true. is there anything at this point lance armstrong can do to clear his name? he won't get the titles back. he won't be able to compete in cycling and quite honestly is probably at the age where he would not be very competitive at this point. nonetheless all of that aside what can he do if anything? >> i think he'll do what he started doing already which is make his opinion clear he didn't go forward with the process because he feels like it's unfair not because he thought he was going to lose. that said people will have to make their own opinion of that judgment. i mean, the u.s. antidoping agency doesn't bring these cases frivolously. they're 58-2. i think he was facing an uphill battle. >> at the bottom of the screen we have tweets from people and nike is one of the companies who is standing by lance armstrong saying he's our man. you look online, there are a lot of people, his fans, who are still supporting him. they see this guy, a cancer

survivor, he fought back, and they don't want to believe that these accusations are true. >> he is a cancer survivor. >> that is a fact. but the accusations regarding -- >> i think very much -- this has been a decade of allegations against lance armstrong. a lot of time people separate into camps where they say i believe this is a witch hunt and everybody was doping anyway or look. this guy is cheating. so i think there is a relatively small number of swing voters left. >> what about his brand? does this -- you have nike stand beg hind you. that is a big deal. what about his image? >> i think it will damage his brand because people who were on the fence my sense in interacting with them on twitter is they will see this as an admission of guilt if they are on the fence. >> we'll see what he does next and i guess what is next is get out there in pr moves and try to save his name and brand if that's possible for those few people you point out might be still undecided. thank you very much. >> thanks. >> later today tropical storm

isaac is expected to hit haiti where 400,000 people are still in tent camps after that devastating earthquake two years ago. we'll check in with our reporter in port-au-prince. plus, cory booker for governor question mark? details on the newark mayor's potential political plan. it by the way is just one of the things we thought you should know. will that pit cory against governor christie? time for the your business entrepreneurs of the week. alan adler, aaron gross and aaron ugoda are the driving force behind the new york based family owned business known for its matzah. they say the key to their success is not changing how their product is made. they bake and pack them the same way it's been done for nearly a century. for more, watch your business sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives.

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holds for his father george romney. one needs to look no further than his race in 1994, a campaign in which george romney played a key advisory role. >> his father i think essentially moved into the house and in belmont. he was a wonderful guy. always thinking. sometimes independent and often independent of mitt. >> your dad, what kind of advice are we seeing? >> he loved the campaign. and he he'd go on if you will rallies, he'd go out and speak to rallies, do parades, walk down the streets, shake hands with people. they probably wondered, who is this 88-year-old guy who is out there campaigning for mitt romney? >> massachusetts governor bill welsh sat down with mitt romney and his son shortly after mitt's loss to ted kennedy. >> the thing i remember most is what mitt romney was doing. he was turning sideways in his chair looking at his father with an expression i can only describe as hero worship. >> mitt romney the making of a candidate airs tonight at 10:00

eastern right here on msnbc. please stay with us. we'll get another update on the mass shooting at the empire state building. what we're learning right now. plus, we just talked about lance armstrong giving up the fight against the u.s. antidoping agency, losing all of his tour de france titles. do you think the damage is already done to his brand? it is our news nation friday gut check. be sure to check out our news nation's page. you'll find behind the scenes pictures, the entire news nation team, live picks from the show. news nation.com. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ]

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welcome back. we want to update you on breaking news, that shooting outside the empire state building in new york, two people dead including the alleged gunman. nine other people were wounded. nbc's ron allen joins us live from the site of that shooting and, ron, what more are we learning about this man? >> well, police are questioning

his neighbors, his friends, his relatives trying to figure out why he came down here today and carried out this act. right now you can see up here just in front of the empire state building across the way they are cleaning off the sidewalk. that is the place where two police officers shot dead the gunman jeffrey johnson, 58, and they're trying to clean that up right now. it's right in front of the empire state building and at 9:00 this morning there would have been hundreds of people inside the building trying to get up to the observation deck and more people here on the streets. when you stand here and think about this it could have been so much worse. we understand that the nine civilians and passersby who are grazed by bullets are all going to be just fine. none of the injuries are life threatening. and police say that there were 14 shots fired by police officers. they don't know how many shots the gunman fired. there is the possibility that police perhaps shot some of the passersby. police say the control confrontation happened within five feet of the gunman but you

have a gunman running down the streets of midtown manhattan, thousands of people around, angry. it's very fortunate that only one person or two people were killed -- the victim and the gunman. at this point police are still trying to figure out just what set this guy off. he'd been fired from this job, laid off from this job at an apparel company down that way about a year ago. why he came here today and carried this out is still a mystery. >> wow. all right. thank you very much for the latest there, ron. thank you. developing news from haiti right now where they are bracing for tropical storm isaac nearly 400,000 haitians are still living in tent cities. more than two years after the earthquake in 2010 that devastated that country. officials are worried about the potential of the spread of cholera, which has already taken the lives of 7,000 people. nbc's mark potter is in port-au-prince. >> reporter: the storm is expected to hit here later today and into the night and into saturday heavy rains of 8 to 12 inches perhaps as many as 20 inches which could have a

devastating effect on this coastal and mountainous country. the haitian prime minister is urging everyone to remain calm but also saying that people should stay away from the rivers. don't cross the rivers when the rains come urging them to tape up their windows. here in haiti with the extreme poverty, a storm bringing all of that rain can cause lots of problems because they have a history here of mud slides and flash flooding. nearly 400,000 people are still living in tents now two and a half years after the devastating earthquake. and the problem is that so many of those people just have no other place to go to seek shelter. red cross and haitian officials and volunteers are in many of the camps now urging those who can to go into the homes of relatives and public buildings and into schools but again the problem according to one aid worker is that there is just no safe place or very few safe places in this country for someone to go to escape a serious storm. another concern is that the rain, heavy rain could spread the cholera epidemic here which

has already killed some 7,000 people in this, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. back to you. >> all right. thank you. back to politics. and the news nation post script the gop now struggling to get back on message ahead of their national convention. it was a tough week for republicans to say the least starting with senate candidate todd akin's explosive comments on rape and abortion. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> i can't defend what he said. i can't defend him. >> rape is an evil act. i use the wrong words in the wrong way and for that i apologize. >> he should have dropped out of the race. >> i am suggesting that he get out. >> i've asked him to step down. >> if it was me i would step aside. >> the fact is that our vice presidential candidate agrees with todd akin. >> rape is rape. there is no splitting hairs over rape. >> he is trying to run away from that saying rape is rape but he did want to make a distinction. >> paul ryan is todd akin and

todd akin is the republican party now. >> joining us now nbc's peter alexander. peter, it's interesting we're talking about todd akin's comments. obviously not as severe. mitt romney's comments today on the campaign trail when he alluded to being born in michigan now setting off, you know, basically a twitter war, statement war from the obama campaign offended by the governor's remarks believing it's alluding to the birther movement. >> i think you are exactly right. the intention in these days leading up to the republican convention next week was to focus on what the republicans and romney/ryan ticket believes it is strongest on, the issue of the economy, what they say is the president's mishandling of the economy. they want to be focusing on the sort of formal reintroduction or even an introduction of romney to the american people. instead they're talking about the issue of abortion, one they have shyed away from through the course of this campaign. today the birther issue, another issue they believe doesn't help their cause going forward. but what was remarkable is we spoke to a lot of people here

and they say we didn't even notice that comment. most of the people said to me. some people said, yeah. that is an issue that still fires us up. as one woman in the crowd today said to me, tamron, she said i know that you say we saw president obama's birth certificate but i'm not convinced. i think that was a phony birth certificate. still in some parts of the party it exists as a sincere issue. >> we know that from the numbers that a significant number of people believe there are still questions there. so that leads me to ask, was that an intentional remark? you heard the crowd there even though as you point out some folks say they didn't hear it. there was laughter and applause. you talked with one woman who sees it as a significant issue. was that a deliberate statement by governor romney? do we know the answer to that? >> well, we can only tell you what the campaign tells us and they insist this comment was off the cuff. it was not a part of the remarks he was intending to give today. and while there are often teleprompters at events there was none here today. it appears pretty clear this is not what the campaign wanted to be talking about. it appears clear they didn't

think it would create such a rise as it has but knowing that it's such a sensitive charged topic they quickly tried to get out in front of it and believe me as you witnessed the obama campaign quickly tried to pounce on it. but the romney adviser, one of the senior advisers kevin madden telling us this campaign and mitt romney specifically has repeatedly and always said that he believes that president obama was born here in the united states. that's not going to quell the conversation tonight as you'll witness across the platforms. you know, all the network newscasts tonight and again likely tomorrow but it certainly is the way they characterize this issue. >> and real quick as we move forward to governor romney's time to shine, as it's been described with his big speech, do we know any more about the direction, we at least know he won't include any birth certificate jokes but what else might he say? >> you know, we don't know exactly what he is going to say in that speech. he was asked about it by a reporter recently and he said i'm still working on those remarks. they're going to have more time this weekend when he is off the

trail with paul ryan in ohio. he'll head back to massachusetts his true home state where he'll work on some of those remarks in ernest. some things we should anticipate learning more about are things we've already witnessed in the last couple days. today an op-ed in "the wall street journal" where romney embraces an issue the obama campaign has tried to attack him on, his business record at bain capital talking about the lessons he learned from his time there. in addition to that, on thursday we have now learned that he is going to more publicly than we've seen before embrace his mormon faith, the invocation will be given by a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints as well as several people who are now scheduled to be speaking that are also members of romney's congregation when he was the state president as it's called in the mormon church back in boston. they are expected to attest, praise his leadership skills. so they're going to try to focus on the biography in their terms including bain and mormonism and ann romney will play a very significant role. whether or not that speech takes place monday as scheduled or perhaps tuesday as it could happen in primetime so they can

get the most eyeballs possible. >> all right. peter alexander live for us. thanks, peter. up next your business host j.j. ramberg will join me live to talk about the role of small businesses in this year's election. what do small business owners want to hear from candidates? but first, there is a lot going on today and here are some things we thought you should know. the fbi and capitol hill police are investigating a number of death threats against congressman todd akin, his family, and his staff. the missouri republican has been in the spotlight over the controversial comments he made last weekend. just days before new jersey governor chris christie delivers the keynote address at the republican national convention, newark, new jersey mayor is sending signals he might run for christie's office next year. the new york observer reports cory booker has been meeting with county democratic chairs and the newark star ledger report booker will speak at the democratic national convention to present the party platform. soon you can use text messages to contribute to mitt romney or president obama. campaign officials say they'll

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with the original sugar-like taste you love and trust. splenda makes the moment yours. small business. two words presidential candidates love to use but are small businesses themselves responding? this sunday on a special edition of msnbc's your business small business owners talk about what they want to hear on the campaign trail. the host of course of your business joins us live. as mentioned we hear so much about small businesses, how they can be affected by health care, certainly by the gridlock with congress, not knowing what they'll pay in taxes. you really, what i enjoy about your show is you get a chance to hear the voices and not these myths of what some of these people are saying. >> it's funny. it's like a halo around small business so the candidates think they say small business and everyone thinks they're out there for the good guy. >> yeah. >> but we have this really fascinating conversation on the show this weekend about what small businesses really think about what the candidates are saying.

>> it's not just what the plan is but get the plan out early and stick with it. the big issue right now for small businesses like evelyn's, they don't know what's going to happen. >> business owners tend to think governor romney would be more amenable to the business environment, more pro business than president obama. >> obama inherited so much of that uncertainty that no one knew how to react to so getting how many -- 28, 29 months of increased growth, getting all of these new jobs acts passed, 18 tax cuts so far as i remember i'm told. i think he is doing an extraordinary job under the circumstances. >> you know, what you get from that, tamron, is small businesses don't vote as a block. you're not going after the small business block. they all have different needs and different opinions. >> but did you find there was maybe one common concern other than wanting their business to succeed and survive? >> yes. i think what brian said, the first guy you saw there, was uncertainty. so we hear a lot about uncertainty, uncertainty. i said, what uncertainty?

he said, we need to get plans. so if taxes are going to go up we need to know so we can plan for it. we can't find this out december 31st. he said it almost doesn't even matter who wins as long as we know what we're getting. >> do you find their uncertainty is directed at congress? i ask that because we have a new report about the middle class and the dwindling or disappearing middle class and many of the people blame for example congress and big banks for that. do they point the finger at congress for example and some of the gridlock here? >> i think what they point the finger at is washington. washington period. look. we are down here struggling. we're making payroll, trying to get people in the door. you guys aren't doing a lot to help. >> are they hearing enough specifics from both campaigns? >> no, not at all. that's what he was referring to. give me a plan so i know what i'm dealing with. stop talking to me about how you are helping small business. tell me exactly what you're going to do. >> all right. j.j. ramberg thank you so much. be sure to catch the special edition of your business with j.j. this sunday 7:30 eastern time, a.m. by the way on msnbc.

i'll be watching. thanks. and sentencing day for the norway massacre gunman tops our look at stories around the news nation today. anders braddic smiled when he was found sane and sentenced to prison the maximum sentence allowed under norwegian law. experts say he'll probably spend the rest of his life in prison since they can be held if considered too dangerous. his attorneys say he will not appeal. buildings have been destroyed by the panned roonder in california. about 2500 firefighters are battling that blaze. up next the news nation gut check for this friday. you can chime in. now that lance armstrong has been stripped of his seven tour de france titles will that permanently damage his brand? we'll tell you how to weigh in and you can join the news nation on facebook. we're at facebook.com/news nation. i am going to become facebook friends

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welcome back. we have new information on breaking news regarding that shooting outside the empire state building. two people killed including the gunman. nine others injured. according to our nbc affiliate reporter jonathan dienst two law enforcement sources said the suspect purchased the gun in florida back in 1991. he was not licensed to carry in new york city. the weapon was purchased in

florida in 1991. he was not licensed to carry that gun in new york. so this is a new bit of information we've gotten in from jonathan dienst at our local affiliate in new york. back to tropical storm isaac we want one more update on the track of that storm. let's go to the weather channel hurricane specialist bryan norcross. what's the update? >> tamron, we're continuing to watch this storm get stronger down in the caribbean. and we think that this is going to come ashore in haiti here later on today as near a hurricane. wouldn't be surprised to see it just cross over into category one. let's look where we are right now. officially as of the 2:00 advisory, a tropical storm with 60-mile-per-hour winds but increasing. the pressure a measure of the intensity in a different way is decreasing. the lower the pressure means the stronger the storm. now moving to the northwest. so it was moving along generally west. now it's switched more to the northwest as expected. and it is going to impact the western part of haiti there

which is so vulnerable of course. now here is the story. you look at this thing and you say okay. there is the storm. not really. the center is up in here and the fact that we are seeing these bright thunderstorms right there near the center tells us that it's going through a process of intensification. there is the center. the circulation is very large like that. so keep that large circulation in mind as we look at the track. and the time frame. so saturday it is in cuba. then sunday the weather is deteriorating in south florida and here you see from miami, now remember they said it was a big storm. if the center is there you're talking about winds like that so that is involving all of the metropolitan south florida, miami, fort lauderdale, and on up the coast. even if it's over here there are still going to be very gusty winds. bad winds in the keys and gusty winds over south florida. how strong exactly will it be? the hurricane center is thinking since it is going to go over cuba it is not going to have

time to really intensify so you have a strong tropical storm. could it be a hurricane? yes it absolutely could. people in south florida need to be ready for a hurricane but it is not going to be a super strong category 3 or category 4 hurricane we don't think. the story here is more the size. talk about tampa a second. i know your viewers are really interested in tampa. here is the deal. when the storm is coming up here the bad weather in tampa is on monday. then it gets up here and it pushes water into tampa bay. the potential of flooding comes on tuesday. so monday and tuesday are questionable how bad it's going to be in tampa bay. >> right. >> we're not sure yet honestly whether it's too bad for them to hold this convention or not. there are still question marks tomorrow. >> all right. thank you so much for that update. it is now time for the news nation gut check. we talked earlier about cycling champion lance armstrong ending his fight against doping charges saying he refuses to participate in a process he described as one

sided and unfair. well now the u.s. antidoping agency has stripped armstrong of his record seven tour de france titles and banned him for life from the sport. so what is your gut telling you? does this permanently damage lance armstrong's legacy? go to facebook.com/news nation to cast that vote. thank you for joining us for this friday edition of news nation. have a great weekend. i'm tamron hall. we are back on monday. we'll see you at 2:00 p.m. eastern time right here on msnbc. meantime "the cycle" is up next. [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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here in manhattan work place violence is on everyone's mind after a shooting spree outside the empire state building. >> republicans are ready to storm tampa for the gop convention and isaac could rain on their parade. >> if the show does go on mitt romney could become the official nominee as