to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for nine years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. republicans gear up as their delayed convention gets under way. two big speeches from ann romney and governor chris christie, each representing the big ideas

that mitt romney is trying to sell. state tour of college towns today. can he recapture the enthusiasm of first-time voters? team romney is hoping jobs numbers will stand in the way. bracing for impact. isaac churps up the gulf, expecting to make landfall as only a category 1. that's the good news. but it's some time tonight and it could sit there for a while. the president delivers a statement on isaac from the white house in less than an hour. good morning from tampa, florida. i'm outside now. as you can see, the weather has cleared up here. it's tuesday, august 28th, 2012. this is "the daily rundown with chuck todd." congress couple mack. robert gibbs from team obama. lots more. lawrence o'donnell. you name it. let me begin with my first reads of the morning. hours from now mitt romney and

paul ryan arrive. two big speakers, chris christie and mitt's wife, ann. >> i like my speech. i really like ann's speech. our sons are already in tampa and they say it's terrific there, lot of great press. we're looking forward to a great conventi convention. >> can you give us a little preview? >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. >> two big speeches from ann romney and chris christie represent the two key goals that romney needs to achieve to make this convention a success. call it the soft sell and the hard sell. ann romney, who has been married to mitt romney for 43 years, her job is to humanize her husband a little bit and make him more three dimensional, if you will. >> i wish everyone could see him how i see him, because as a mother, i've seen him, how compassionate he has been with me, as a wife and raising these small children. and how he always valued my work as being more important than

hi his. >> campaign tweeted this fogt off ann romney, making welsh cakes to bring to the convention. not worried about her speech. and tough love, which is what he's known for, christie will argue the job of a leader is to make tough decisions, no matter how unpopular they may be in the short term. he previewed his speech on the "today" show. >> we'll wait till tonight but i will say i'll use new jersey as an il administrative experience as what can happen if you stick by your principles and look for ways to solve problems. >> but one illustrative example he probably won't point to is new jersey's unemployment rate. matt lauer also asked christie who famously said you can't lead by being an enigma, about romney's tax returns. >> he's not releasing any more of his tax returns. at some point, 7 0 days out, we

have to take the man at his word that he's not going to do it. you can always look back in retrospect and say maybe i should have done this or that differently. in the end do i think any american voter is saying i'm not voting for him because of this? no. >> earlier yesterday, karl rove was critical of how romney has handled the tax return situation. we'll discuss that later in the show. thanks to isaac, republicans have scrambled to adjust their convention schedule. monday's session was over as soon as it began, 32 seconds after republican chairman gavelled. >> the 2012 republican national convention in session and called to order. the 2012 republican national convention stands in recess subject to the call of the chair. >> and there you had it, the convention was in recess. there are other signs of isaac

here in tampa, louisiana delegation's empty chairs were a symbolic reminder. their state's republican star, a scheduled time proo ed prime ti governor bobby jindal will be a tampa no show. one thing about these late conventions, though, it is more dangerous for the other candidate to stay quiet and allow the opponent to bask in free media. this morning, as you see the president, he's not sitting on the sidelines. he is kicking off a college tour, two-day swing through colleges in battleground state that is will take him to ames, iowa, colorado and charlottesville. while our nbc news wall street journal poll found the president maintains a substantial lead among voters 18 to 34, the issue that the president has is they're not as enthusiastic as they were four years ago. when asked how interested they are in this collection, 52% of young voters called themselves a

nine or ten when it comes to interest. that number was 62% four years ago. expect the president to spend the next couple of weeks focusing on young voters during this stretch as colleges open up and start their fall semesters. they'll be trying to register those young voters. mitt romney, focusing on young voters who face a shaky career start. stay with msnbc and we'll have full coverage of the president's statement on isaac. it is now bordering on hurricane status as it looms off the gulf coast, packing winds 70 miles an hour, threatening an area nearly 300 miles wide. weather channel's jim cantore joins me now in new orleans with the latest. jim, it's got to be good news that it's still not a hurricane. i think there was some fear it

would already be one. >> reporter: yes. >> by now. at least we've got that going for us, do we not? >> reporter: yes. 48 hours ago, we were supposed to be looking down the barrel of a category 2 hurricane. we're not. we're look at a tropical storm that may be a hurricane. there's really no difference between a 70-mile-an-hour tropical storm or 75-mile-an-hour hurricane except a promotion, if you will. your time something impeccable. this is the first rain that we are now getting from isaac just moving into canal street on the big easy. you can see behind me some of the palm trees blowing pretty good. wind gusts 30, 40 miles per hour here. when you're in a city, all bets are off. the wind will get funneled and pushed through these buildings pretty quickly. that means, certainly, a chance of getting into, you know, stronger winds than the storm is producing itself. the big fear in new orleans is this. we're not going to have damaging, destructive winds because we don't have a cat 2 hurricane. will we get one of these rain bands set up right over top of new orleans, producing three to

four inch per hour rainfall rates, which they could do? the pumps will not be able to push that kind of water out of the city that is 12 feet below sea level. no way. that's the biggest fear right now. that's been resonated as well by city officials this morning. chuck, back to you. >> all right. that's the problem, the fact that it's sit tlg. jim cantore, the best in the business. thank you, sir. back to tampa here, republicans want to make sure they're not known simply as the party of white men. there's diversity among the speakers at this convention. this year they're also making the effort to showcase diversity of the delegates. take a look at the seating chart. states and territories like puerto rico, american samoa and the virgin islands are being given prime spots closer to the podium, well within camera range. joining me now is one of the leading diversity voices within the republican party, congressman tim scott from south carolina. when i did my tour of the floor,

that jump ed out at me. i thought boy, they've listened to the criticism before, where republican party will have a diverse array of speakers and then the camera shot pans to a very white crowd. >> it's very important for us to continue to make sure that the republican party is, in fact, the party of america. one of the ways to do that is to make sure that the diversity of america is represented everywhere with, not simply on the stage, but also in the audience. that's a very positive sign for where we're going as a country and who we are as a party. >> do you think this has been an issue, though, that you have the fact that african-americans are supporting a president in historic numbers and hispanics might support in historic numbers a democrat. it simply means there's not enough white voters to put mitt romney over the top. >> we're looking for voters who understand that the future of america is more important than the last 3 1/2 years. if you look at the last 3 1/2 years you come to the conclusion that 8% unemployment, how do we

create jobs for all americans? i like the picture of america as one nation. i think you'll see on the floor today and tomorrow a diverse america being represented at the republican convention. it's a good thing. >> member of congress first term, we'll put up our approval ratings for congress. 12% approve, 80% disapprove. it's the friends and family. who are these 12%? i always get the joke, will you please find out who they are? but congress was unpopular before you got there. >> yes. >> you took over. it's still unpopular. what's your explanation? >> if you think about the philosophical divide that is the reality of america today, when folks want, you know, republicans want us on the right, democrats want the left, and you put that body together, america as a whole will be very unhappy with the product. you have two polar opposites. >> is that the problem?

if they were compromised do you think you would get more rewarded by the public? >> not necessarily. you need to find compromise and common ground is hard to find when you're philosophically so opposed. we don't see democrats and republicans that are trying to build rapport and credibility with each other. that doesn't get covered by the news. the last two to three, four months we've had over 8% unemployment. that does get covered. we're trying to focus on the issues that bring america together. if we do that, congress comes together. and it will help our dismal approval ratings. when you look at it from district to district, the reason why so many folks are being re-elected it's because within their districts they are still fairly popular. >> isn't that the problem, though? look, in our own polling, we had this lowest approval rating and highest disapproval we have ever recorded together in the same poll. at the same time, we've had the

highest number of people who said their member deserved re-election. it's like we live in two different worlds. >> it represents the unique position we find ourselves in as americans. we find ourselves faced with two options, a philosophical disposition that says we must collect all the resources and bring them to washington. the other simply says the 330 million americans or so should be empowered to make the best decisions on our own behalf and you find that the country is split with districts that believe in two different philosophies. >> i understand that. how does it break? you want the voters to break it? why shouldn't the leaders in congress break it? >> leaders are trying to break it. the challenge is that we're on two separate pages. what i believe will happen, elections have consequences. this year, november 6th, voter will have an opportunity to either empower our party and bring us a president to the

white house and senate -- >> what happens if they send a mixed message? >> you'll have more of the same. >> the ac -- >> it's kind of working. >> it's kind of working. we're just getting started here in tampa. up next, mac attack. what's better than one mack? we've got two. congressman mack and his wife will both be here. plus, isaac is churning out there in the gulf. we're keeping a close eye on the storm track. the president will speak live from the white house about the storm in less than an hour. you can see that right here on his schedule. >> plus, take a look at the speaker schedule for tonight. it starts at 7:00 pm. speaker boehner will kick things off, believe it or not, in the first level of prime time. as you see, a whole slue of newly elected folks in 2010 will get a turn at the podium. inform ikki haley, ted cruz and

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so, being a member of the same political party doesn't necessarily mean you see eye to eye on everything. so just how much room is there for disagreement? mitt romney and paul ryan have spent time the last few weeks trying to square their views on everything from the budget to women's health care and also insist it's okay to have a difference of opinion. joining me is florida senate candidate and current congressman connie mack. also with me his wife,

california congresswoman mary bono mack. florida and california have a rivalry, you're going to lose that. i deal with david gregory, california. let me start with you. i understand you are not comfortable with the party's platform. you think the party's platform on abortion is harmful to this issue of the gender gap. >> well, that's not the reason that i disagree with it. i am who i am. i do wish that we would sort of move to a softer side of the platform. it's the same platform we've had year after year, every four years. it hasn't changed. i just continue to be who i am and fight for what i believe in. i think we would be better se e served if we loosen that up a bit. >> do you think the party risks having this debate, you know? sometimes the debate was about which trimester abortion could be illegal and now it's about --

do you think todd akin moved the debate to the wrong place? >> the important debate should be about jobs and the economy. i go out and speak to my constituents, that's what they're talking about, jobs and the economy. i think congress should reflect what the people are talking about. in that case we don't sit around and parse abortion. i think that's a difficult place for political discussion anyway. i think we should be talking about things we can really affect, which is jobs and the economy. >> congressman mack, where are you on this platform? do you disagree? >> i am pro life but on rape and incest, there needs to be exceptions in the life of the mother. we're individual candidates who have our own thoughts and ideas and what makes this country great is that we can have differences of ideas and thoughts, but we bring them together. we put that out to the people of the state of florida or california or the country and they get to make a decision.

>> i remember there was a little bit of a controversy about the ryan budget. and you had said you didn't vote on it the second time and there was one report that said you didn't vote on it. you didn't think it went far enough. there was another. there was this idea, were you against the second ryan budget or not? >> what i said was if i was there, i would have voted against it. what i'm looking for is -- >> and why? >> a lot of reforms that ryan has put out are good reforms. we need to balance our budget and we need to do it not in 28 years but in under ten years. and we can do t i think about my son, who is 9 years old. and if we have a plan that doesn't balance for 28 years, he is going to go to high school, go to college, graduate, get married, have a job, start planning for the future of his kids before we balance the budget. we can do better than that. >> congresswoman mack, what do you make of this -- you voted for the ryan budget both times.

the romney campaign is doing one attack on medicare that attacks a president for cutting medicare. yet isn't that the same thing that a lot of republicans have advocated over the years, slowing the growth of medicare? you think it's a mistake, sort of an ideological off-key message? >> i'm frustrated right now with the whole tone of this debate. we, as americans, need to agree on this fundamental basic fact. that is medicare is going to go broke. start from that premise. if we have some real bipartisanship in congress where we talk about that fundamental truth that i think americans believe in wholeheartedly and build outwardly from that. there's been no discussion between the white house and congress with a real path forward. americans -- this is noise, about $7 19d billion taken out of medicare to be put in obamacare. i think you need to have a discussion between the white

house and congress that addresses the problem. but i'm annoyed that people are refusing to admit the very basic fact that it's going to go bankrupt if we continue on the path. >> when you're disagreeing on an issue, how does that go? >> he's wrong. >> yes, dear. >> is that it? is that why you're running for senate? >> she has her constituents in california and we do have disagreements. >> is it fair to say you're more moderate, you're more conservative if you were to put you guys on a republican ideological chart? >> i don't know. it depends on the issue and how things are cast. what connie is trying to say, we represent different constituencies and have different life experiences and different backgrounds and we come to our conclusions our way. my brother gave us some very important advice when we got married. that is you can either choose to be right or you can be happy. >> i'm a happy man. >> when we do disagree -- >> there you g that's what the country is try iing to figure o,

right? congresswoman mack, congressman mack, thank you for coming on. we've got a party crasher in the house. look who is coming up next, robert gibbs. plus we're waiting to hear from the president on tropical storm isaac. first, our trivia question for you. when was the last time both the republican and democratic conventions were held in the same city? chuck todd@dailyrundown. the assigns coming up on "the daily rundown." melody shay, founder of asa products led the company to more than $3 million revenue in three years. but some bad decisions caused

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hurricane isaac and tropical storm isaac, not a hurricane yet, isn't just casting a shadow over the republican convention

but adding uncertainty over the president's schedule right now. he is still scheduled to travel to ames, but with the storm bearing down on the gulf, that could change. his trip -- the vice president' scheduled trip to florida has already been called off. robert gibbs is here. i imagine you're not here to observe chris christie's speech tonight. the president is obviously giving a statement before he goes on the campaign trail. what is this balance? should he be out there campaigning when the republicans called off a day, they were uncomfortable about it? should the president be out there campaigning when new orleans may be facing a beating? >> from having worked at the white house, i think you know this, chuck. you're always the president. no matter where you are, if he's at his daughter's play at her school, he is still the president of the united states. he has spent a lot of time with our fema administrator over the past three or four days.

already signed an emergency declaration for louisiana so that resources can be preset and, look, i would encourage anybody all along the gulf, listen to your state and local officials today and tomorrow. pay heed to the warnings that they're giving and make sure that you're in a safe place. >> let me talk quickly about what the president is doing today. this issue of college campuses, your numbers are there. your margins are there. your enthusiasm. why do you think that is? >> i think part of it is we remember when we were in college there were a lot of distractions. everything was competing for a little bit of time. i think tas kids get back to campus, they start getting back into a more normal routine for them. and i think that gives the campaign and the president time necessary to talk to them about what's truly important in this race. he will be talking about college affordability and what we've done to make it a little easier

for folks to pay for college. >> that unemployment rate when you get out of college is tough. it's higher than the national -- >> you should see the unemployment rate if you don't get through college. it's about twice as high for those that do have a college degree. that's why it's so important we provide people in this country with the opportunity. mitt romney famously said, as we have in that commercial, if you do two things to afford college, borrow money from your parents or shop around for a cheaper school. i don't think that's the message we want to send to people in this country who are working hard and getting into college. nobody in this country that can work hard and get into college, whether it's a four-year school or two-year school, no one should be prevented from going simply because they can't afford it. >> i want to play for you -- governor of maryland, doj chair, something he said about the medicare ad. this is what he said. >> when you have a party that says coded things that makes

totally false ads up about falsely saying the president is trying to undo welfare reform, i think you're going to see a lot of pretty heavily and not so subtly coded messages from the romney-ryan campaign. >> all right. he used this word twice, coded. not so subtly coded messages. what's this coded message that you think the welfare ad is trying to say? do you believe race is part of this? >> i don't know if they're dog whistling to people in their party. the ad is 100% completely false. there is not one person in this country that has looked at this ad from an independent perspective and said the president has in any way, shape or form ended the work requirement. >> why do you think they keep it up there? >> you know, look, they're not burdened by the facts, chuck. they never have been. mitt romney never will be. and if they can try to convince people in this country that the president is giving away government benefits to people

that now don't have to work, i'm sure they're happy to have that message sink in. it is, again, 100% not true. nobody that's looked at this believes it's true. there is a strong, vibrant work requirement in welfare and, quite frankly, there should be. >> are you losing the medicare argument? >> no, i don't think so. this is a debate that we're going to have for the remainder of this campaign. look, it's a pretty good example. your last guest who is in florida. i don't know if you were worried he was somehow going to back up right off the stage here when he was talking about medicare. the guy running for the u.s. senate in florida understood that the ryan budget was simply too far to go on medicare for seniors and for people that are going to be seniors right here in this state of florida. people know that what they're going to -- >> these early ads, have they

been much more aggressive and you guys have been slow? >> i don't think we've been slow. their efforts, they want to privatize medicare, put it in a voucher and stick people with the bill when it doesn't nearly cover their medical expenses. >> are you doing a press conference on bane? >> we'll talk a little bit about what mitt romney means for middle class families. we've got former workers at companies. when i say former, it's because they lost their jobs, but mitt romney walked away with a lot of money, which is a story that rings true and you see a lot of in his business arena. >> good to see you. >> i'm here to get my capital gains tax cut. >> all right, smarty. we're waiting to hear from the president on tropical storm isaac. plus, check out the on-deck circle. another couple congressmen coming in, tim griffin from arkansas on the operative side of things and from utah. remember, no credentials, no

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tropical storm isaac now taking aim at new orleans, just one day ahead of that terrible anniversary, seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina's landfall, about 100 miles off the gulf coast, packing winds of 70 miles an hour. it could reach hurricane strength later today. the good news is that it's taken so lon long to reach that strength. president obama makes a live statement about that storm shortly. we'll bring you that when it happens. >> in two days, mitt romney will give the biggest speech of his political career as he tries to reintroduce himself to america. taking advice from someone close to him. >> i'm drafting the convention speech and thinking about the kinds of things my dad would say if he had the chance to offer that speech. be bold. don't worry about what people think. just be bold. get the job done. that's the advice he would give

me. >> joining me now, two congressmen, tim griffin of arkansas, jason chafitz of utah. thank you both. congressman griffin i want to start with you. in 2004, the last time a sitting president was running for re-election, you were on the operative side on the bush-cheney re-elect. talk about the challenge you saw sitting in where the obama folks are sitting, dealing with the opposition convention and the advantage of having -- being able to go second. >> well, i think that when you go second, the other team, the other side has telegraphed everything that they're -- >> their whole message is out there. >> yeah. and you know exactly where they're coming from. it's like in football. if you get to watch all the plays beforehand and know where to go. but at the end of the day, we know what the arguments are going to be on each side. there's no surprise really. we've been having -- and the

campaign didn't just start this week. this has been going on for a long time. >> sure. >> and so, you know, some of this media aspect is starting this week and the final push will start now. but there are really no revelations at this point in politics. and i think that both sides are already engageding on a lot of the issues that are going to be critical as we move forward. >> right. >> i think a lot of it is already known. >> one of the challenges that supposedly mitt romney has in this campaign, congressman chafitz, is telling more about himself. one of those issues is faith. you come from a state with a high population of lds. do you think he has been too hesitant talking about his mormon faith? >> i don't think you want to elect a person whose talking about me, me, me. this is an opportunity for the romney family to introduce the family, talk about their vision,

their policy. >> it's intertwined. >> oh, sure. >> a lot of time studying, gets to know governor romney. his faith say huge part of his life. unlike other politicians over the years, he doesn't share. he hasn't in the past. >> i think he has naturally talked about policy. but i haven't heard or read what he has said but bob white, close friend. he will tell a very personal story about governor romney. ann romney tonight will also be critical. if you want to see the nucleus of that family and how they operate and raised these five wonderful kids, you have to look at ann romney and the trials she went through with ms sw & those things. a, it's more trouble for the obamas because people will fall in love and say gosh, these people did go through some trials. despite some of the rhetoric to try to, you know, portray him as something that he's not. they have a wonderful family. >> a lot of members on congress

on today. i'm going to ask them about this medicare. congressman griffin are you comfortable with the ideological message being sent, the romney campaign is attacking the president for doing something republicans have advocated for over a decade, slowing the growth of medicare. they don't talk about part two of this mitt romney -- the second criticism i know well. it goes to fund something else. you're against the cuts? you're against the -- >> yeah. here is what i would say. i'm very comfortable. i have been forward-leaning on this issue. if we are going to save medicare it's not enough to reduce the amount of money. what you have to do to save medicare is you have to reform the inner workings so that it is preserved for generations to come. the problem -- the big problem that we have, in addition to the cuts that don't do anything to restructure is the the independent payment advisory board. what it does, it doesn't say, hey, we're going to change some

of the rules so that it's more efficient, it's better, there's better quality care. it just says, hey, when we run out of money, the ipab is going to start slicing. i have never advocated for cuts without reform. i believe you have to fundamentally improve the system. >> would you be out there, congress chaffetz, saying i'm going to restore all the funding? >> have you to change the direction of -- >> governor romney is saying restore all the funding. is that a mistake? >> i would say this. we have to completely change the way that it works. people attack me and others and say, you want to change medicares awe kns we know it. i say medicare as we know it is going bankrupt. we have to change it structurally to save it. >> i want you to answer that. >> i totally agree with what tim is saying. for those 55 years and older, we're not going to make these alterations but for younger

generations we need to find a bipartisan change. you can't use it as a piggy bank, by pulling $700 billion plus out. that's some trickery. >> let me say this on the record. if the choice is leave it funding obamacare or restore the funding and kill obamacare, absolutely. i've already voted to repeal obamacare. the answer is yes. >> jason chaffetz and tim griffin, thank you. i think this debate will continue. >> probably. >> supersized political panel is next. jonathan martin and msnbc's own lawrence o'donnell. they'll all be here. but first, you're asking for it. white house soup of the day. it's very fitting. it's hot and humid. it's chilled watermelon. i'll asked griffin what he thought of chilled watermelon when he was in the white house. pitching is 100% mental. you have to be locked in.

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back now live from tampa. supersized political panel. i'll run through it quickly. former bush white house political director, sarah fagan. lawrence o'donnell, host of msnbc's last words. and jonathan martin, senior political reporter for politico. political, politico. i do my best. i want to start with some buzz that startd with politico. jonathan martin, you -- >> he always does, doesn't he? always start with his politico. >> you had karl rove on. he was asked about the tax return situation. >> right. >> here is what strategist karl rove said. sarah, i want to get your reaction on this, too. >> this is an issue that has hurt romney because, again, it's fed people who already have an instinct and suspicion about him. he's a rich guy. must be hiding something. i've always been a little

mistyfied by romney's response. i would have called them earlier and more forcefully than they have. >> jonathan, to sum up -- it was tougher for us to hear. >> i heard it. >> rove mystified about how the romney campaign has handled this situation. >> thought romney had a bad summer, in part, because he was acting strangely when it came to his tax returns. why keep that an issue, drag it out and not put more of them out there to stop the issue? haley barbour, by the way, made similar comments later in the morning and had a very memorable line talking about the obama campaign trying to portray romney as this exotic rich guy. he said they're trying to portray him as a wealthy bureaucratic who has the life as a known equestrian. that has defined romney all summer. >> i think i would have handled it differently. the x factor here, of course, is

that we don't know what's in the tax returns and there are people -- >> that may be the issue. >> that may be the issue. in fairness to them, they have a more complete picture than all of us, who are on the sidelins s here, just commentating. >> once you were an operative before you got into the tv business as an operative, have you been surprised that the romney campaign basically allowed the obama folks to make this an issue half the summer? >> no. there's nothing mystifying about it. there's a simple rule to this. you just got close to it. if disclosure is worse than the problem you have from hiding them, then you must hide them. we now know -- we're far enough into the story where we have what, in the political world passes as proof that there is something in the tax returns that is so politically incriminating that it may even be disqualifying and that's the only reason they're not releasing them. there's no other political -- >> i'm hearing a freight train

in the background. >> that's why i went louder. >> it's not -- chris christie this morning seemed to second guess it this morning. it is one of these things that i think is starting to fade just because it becomes -- you sort of wear yourself out, punch yourself out if you're the obama campaign. >> we're still talking about it. this speaks to a larger issue the romney campaign has had all summer. they've let the democrats and obama define them completely and haven't really punched back. they'll try to do that tonight. they have judged that this campaign starts now, ten weeks to redefine romney. the problem is that obama has spent months and months defining him. >> in fairness, if you look at the abc poll out today on every major issue, whether it's the budget deficit, medicare, handling the economy, romney is either ahead or even on some social issues like fa s like edd

handling health care, only on women's issues is the president dominating. romney heads out of this convention on friday in pretty good -- >> still in the game. >> no question about it. >> when we come back, i'll do the trivia first, when was the last time both the republican national convention and democratic national convention were held in the same city? i have a worse thing here for everybody here. >> easy. >> one person was technically alive when the convention happened. 1972 in miami beach. it was the same time the convention was held in florida. gathered from july 10th to 13th. they picked george mcgovern. then nomination of richard nixon. i was alive for both of them.

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let's bring back our panel. lawrence o'donnell. this convention is successful for mitt romney if? >> they put on a convention for women where they can support, that will be a successful one. >> i think it broadens the appeal of mitt romney. if he connects with people on a personal level, this is a success as a convention. >> olympia snowe said it yesterday. it is all about women. he has to broaden the appeal to women. she actually said the republicans and romney have isolated women. and pushed them away. this week is important. >> i know the republicans get mad. you are not focusing on the

economy. >> if he takes the first step what i called the living room threshold, can this country live with him for the next four years? >> shameless plugs. i'm start with you jonathan. >> the '72 campaign. "the 18 day running mate." that ill-fated pick. he was eventually dumped, of course. jill barsh at "the washington post." >> we all used to work for jill. >> is the national journal panel series. i'll be on thursday. >> and a little tv show on msnbc at 10:00 p.m. several nights a week. it won't be on for the next couple of weeks. >> that is if for this edition of "the rundown."

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comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system... from beautyrest. it's you, fully charged. good morning. i'm chris jansing. we begin with breaking news right now. president obama is about to speak about tropical storm isaac from the white house. that storm has the gulf coast in its sights and expected to increase to hurricane intensitn. it is a big test for the federal government after hurricane katrina seven years ago. this storm continues to throw a wrench in republican plans. as mitt romney is scheduled to become the gop nominee today. they are hoping the show