good morning. i'm chris jansing. right now isaac is just sitting over the gulf. hundreds of thousands of people are without power with the worst of the storm still to come. the streets of downtown new orleans, barely visible because of the storm. and take a look at this. route 90 in gulfport, mississippi. the road completely washed out. flooding, of course, one of the biggest concerns right now. in plaquemines parish just south of new orleans, water is coming over the levees. people are on rooftops and in attics. the coast guard will try to rescue between 20 and 60 people. let's start in new orleans. tamron hall is there. and this is what all the folks we talked about were most worried about, tamron, that isaac was going to sit and sit and sit and the rain and wind were going to continue. tell us what's going on there. >> absolutely, chris. this is the worst case scenario. i talked with the army corps of engineers yesterday. they hoped those breaks we saw throughout the day yesterday

would be the best thing to happen to new orleans. that would give them some time to get some of this water out. the pump system can only remove about an inch of water an hour. we're looking at three to four inches an hour. as i said yesterday, i don't have to do the math for you. you know what that means. right now i'm on the famous bourbon street area. french quarter. bourbon street just a short ways away. we were up last night watching this storm. and it literally just laid its hand over this region. and that hand continues to smack down at this hour. you mentioned plaquemines parish. we're trying to verify information of just how many people did not heed the warning, did not get out of there under the mandatory evacuation and are right now perhaps stuck in their homes waiting for this storm. in many cases, i can't even say they need to do so patiently because you know the obvious fears. it is the day -- to the day that hurricane katrina came into this

town and took 1,800 lives in this region with it. so you can imagine what those people in plaquemines parish are thinking right now. the coast guard cannot go in until we get a break in this. power outages. about 500,000 when you combine the entire gulf coast region. louisiana, mississippi, alabama. power workers cannot go in until this -- the wind reduces to 30-mile-per-hour range. they have, to obviously, put their lives first as well. so you have folks without power. hopefully they heed the warnings and they were able to get in and get some supplies. but the reality of the situation is hurricane isaac is not leaving any time soon. patience is key but safety is of the utmost importance. we're waiting to see what this storm does next, chris. >> we saw a good wind gust almost take you. tamron, be safe out there. let's give you an idea about the situation all across the gulf coast. tamron mentioned all the people without power. 451,000 is the number we're

getting just in louisiana. no power to those folks. in bay st. louis, mississippi, floodwaters washed out homes near the coast. more than 2,000 people are in shelters and this morning, about 4,000 homes are without power in that state. and then over in alabama, an eight-foot storm surge is threatening mobile bay. also still a possibility for tornadoes spinning off from this storm. we said it isn't going anywhere this storm. let's go to paul goodloe who is in gulfport, mississippi. what are we looking at? >> hours and hours of rain that's been blowing on 30, 40, 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts blowing through here. i'm getting whipped right now. i'm actually standing about 30 yards from u.s. 90 which has been shut down. by the way, there's a curfew here through noon. supposed to expire this morning but extended to noon here in harrison, hancock and jackson counties. the reason i'm standing in the road, it's a lot safer. a big live oak tree.

seven years ago right now there was a 29 to 32-foot storm surge which devastated this area of coastal mississippi. this tree did survive but, still, there's a lot of shaking branches going on here. that's probably going to be okay. ever since then, a lot of trees have been replanted because this area was wiped out. this is a fairly newly planted tree and it's been buffeted by the winds all morning along. i can see the root bulb start to wobble here. winds gusting over 55 at times. we're seeing a lot of heavy rain. 3 1/2 inches and counting. here's the thing. we're in for a marathon here. this is not just a couple of hours of really strong winds like katrina was. consider katrina like usain bolt. this is more like a marathon here. we'll be here for the entire 26.2 miles which might take perhaps two days here dealing with tropical storm force gusts blowing through. relentless rain will start to saturate the ground and combine that with a constant wind.

no major damage just flooding along the highway. that's why it's closed and already trees and limbs down. expect that to continue to increase as we head throughout the next 24, maybe even 36 hours. >> paul goodloe, thank you. we'll continue to update the storm throughout this hour and throughout the day on msnbc. with isaac still churning, the republicans have kept open the possibility of a change in the convention schedule if that situation worsens significantly. vice presidential candidate paul ryan headlines tonight. but today, everyone is talking about those two blockbuster speeches last night. new jersey governor chris christie gave the keynote but ann romney spoke from the heart. >> i read somewhere that mitt and i have a storybook marriage. well, let me tell you something, in the storybooks i read, there never were long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. and those storybooks never seemed to have a chapter called

m.s. or breast cancer. a storybook marriage? nope. not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage. >> now by contrast, chris christie did what he does best. he got tough. >> we have become paralyzed. paralyzed by our desire to be loved. our leaders today have decided it's more important to be popular. to be popular, to say and do what's easy and say yes rather than to say no when no is what is required. >> but democrats panned the speeches saying most didn't talk enough about the nominee, mitt romney. >> this was a very angry convention tonight. full of insults. this was not a plan for mitt romney's or mitt romney's plan to build the middle class. >> i want to bring in major garrett and "the washington

post.." >> caller:ist. >> caller: icolumnist eugene robinson. you want to fire up your base, send them back home, ready to go to work for mitt romney. on the other side you have all those undecided voters. let me start with you, major, because you were in the room last night. and i was a little bit surprised to read from peggy noonan, she thought some of these delegates weren't especially fired up. maybe they left a little confused. what was your take being in that room? >> i wouldn't say the delegates, based on my impressions, chris, left confused. i think they were a bit subdued. i'm not sure if it's because the convention was delayed a day or the proceedings went on in a formulaic fashion. they were either largely ignored or didn't really charge up the audience at all. there was an enthusiasm gap before ann romney took the center stage and chris christie of new jersey. so it seemed the room was subdued. i would never characterize a political convention as being

confused. delegates know what they are about, what they are supposed to do when they leave. last night lacked a little bit of the energy. i've seen at previous democratic and republican conventions. >> eugene, i assume you watched this from the comfort of a couch and a television. what was your impression? >> i did. i did not have an adult beverage in my hand, but at any -- you know, i thought ann romney was terrific. i thought she was very good. she came across as human and accessible and approachable. i think you could quibble about the body language when mitt romney actually appeared and he still didn't seem to be the warmest or fuzziest guy in the room to say the least in his sort of walk-on role. but i thought ann romney was great. i thought chris christie, you know, he had the energy. he had the spirit. he didn't say a whole lot. if you actually look at the speech. i mean, there were very few

specifics in there. and there was, frankly, not that much about mitt romney. there was more about chris christie and what chris christie had done in new jersey. >> let me play a couple little clips, if i can. i want to look at a little more of each of the speeches. let's start with ann romney. here's another moment. >> this is important. i want you to hear what i'm going to say. mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. >> there was a big headline in "the new york times" today, gene, that suggested -- or questioned whether she might have overshadowed her husband. does he in a way, have a tough act to follow? >> well, he does have a tough act to follow. look. this convention, as far as i'm concerned, really is about mitt romney's speech. it is -- it will be his introduction to many americans

who haven't really heard him give a speech, who this guy wants to replace the president. they might be thinking about voting a different way. it's his chance to make that first impression on a lot of people. and so the bar is set very high for him, i think, and i'm not sure -- he's not warm and accessible by nature like she was last night. so it's going to be a tough act for him. >> let's talk a little bit about -- >> chris, if i could jump in on that. i talked to some delegates about that last night on the floor. and there was a sense that it's quite possible, these are delegates. now it's not a scientific survey. i didn't talk to all 2,100 of them, but i talked to a few. it's possible by the end of this convention that mitt romney might deliver the fifth best speech. mean beg heinz his wife, behind chris christie, behind paul ryan and behind marco rubio. >> wow. >> that's okay from their point of view because they are like, everyone knows that romney

doesn't win the presidency based on one speech. he can get himself closer. but they really believe that this election is about a choice for the country -- >> but doesn't he have to -- >> and a referendum on the president's record. and if he doesn't perform, it's okay. >> for those undecideds out there, doesn't he have to present himself as a strong alternative to this president who is so likable to so many people and who seem inclined, frankly, to give him a little more time to accomplish what he originally set out to do? >> certainly, exactly as you described, chris. of course, my conversations were with republican delegates on the floor of a republican convention. they've already given mitt romney and, from their perspective, the things he doesn't actually bring to the political conversation a break because he's their nominee. they've sort of agreed that, okay, he's the nominee. he's the leader of the party and this election will be mostly about him but it's also going to be about the larger context of the economy and whether americans want to change course and trust mitt romney enough to

give him the reins of the presidency. and republicans i talked to on the floor said, we think the country is about to make that decision whether or not this is the most spectacular speech of mitt romney's life or not. could be the fifth best speech and he could still win. for those not the hall, watching in and tuning in and trying to evaluate mitt romney, he's got a high bar and needs to cross it with some distance. >> to that same point, the whole idea of having a keynote speaker is to have somebody set all this up. to have somebody sort of set the stage for the nominee. let's talk about chris christie and i'll start by playing another little piece of sound. >> you see, mr. president, real leaders don't follow polls. real leaders change polls. >> all right. he didn't mention, as you pointed out, mitt romney until the 16-minute mark. did he miss an opportunity here? >> well, look.

there were two things i expected christie to do among several other things. number one, i expected him to do more obama bashing because sometimes the keynote speaker can do the sort of slash and burn that the nominee can't do. he did surprisingly little of that. and the second thing, frankly, was teeing it up for mitt romney the candidate. and as you said, he waited a long time. >> i'm sorry. i need to interrupt you. i'm sorry. i want to thank both of you for being with us. we have an ongoing rescue outside of new orleans. this is in plaquemines parish. tell me what's going on, gabe. >> hi, chris. how are you? back there we can see some people have just been rescued. from what it looks like, either that or their residents coming to plaquemines pair toish see if their homes are already. the deteriorating conditions you can tell. in the past few hours the

national guard and emergency responders are going on the other side of that flood wall and they are trying to rescue people that may have been trapped in their homes. now we're told that the national guard is making plans to rescue about 60 people that may have been trapped in their homes. so far they've rescued about 20 or 30. the parish president is saying these conditions, this storm surge is just horrible. it's worse than katrina, he says. on the other side of that wall, we were able to walk up that hill and we saw roughly about 10, 15 feet of storm surge. that wall is about 20 feet or so of storm surge. it's the highest wall, we believe in this area. but on the other side is a rural community. most of the people evacuated. but they've been coming back throughout the morning to see if their homes are still there. anybody that did stay behind, however, it's a very -- we don't know. we just don't know what is going on with them. we know that we peered over that flood wall and we saw nothing other than water. the emergency responders

actually could not take their boats into some portions because they could not get underneath the power lines. that's how high the water was. so, chris, i'm going to throw it back to you. but an ongoing rescue happening near plaquemines parish southeast of new orleans. huge storm surge. >> we're going to allow you to spend a little time to go and get more information, gabe. we'll get back to you if you get new information for us. rescues under way. as many as 60 people who may be trapped in their homes in plaquemines parish. let me remind folks that plaquemines is where katrina first made landfall. we'll be right back with more. hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations. with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever.

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responsibility. what's your policy? ve wo i n er o

president romney, boy, i like the sound of that.

>> democrats are crying foul this morning. remember the romney campaign ad claiming president obama has abolished the work requirement for welfare that was uniformally debunked? last nitric santorum said this at the convention. >> under president obama, the dream of freedom and opportunity has become a nightmare of dependency with almost half of america receiving some sort of government assistance. this summer, he showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare. >> i'm joined by kansas republican governor sam bro brownback. good to see you, governor. >> good morning. great being here in tampa bay. >> this has become a big issue, the whole welfare thing. and fact checkers have called these ads and statements

erroneous. so why are so many republicans still making this argument? >> yeah, i can't speak for why people are making the arguments other than they are pointing out the dependency of people on the federal government and the federal government is broke. so some change has to be made in this system overall. that's what a lot of republican governors are doing. changing the system. and i think the country is ready for this big type of discussion. it's why paul ryan is on the ticket, really, i think. it's about time for us to make these discussions about the dependency on the federal government, how big it is, how broke it is and how do we move forward as a country to rein in this federal debt and deficit and give our kids a better future. >> you agree these claims that the work requirement has been abolished are false? >> as far as i have seen. but i don't know all of the bases to it. i know the basis to this dependency on the government. and how big the government is and how big the entitlement state is and how much of a debt we're leaving to our kids.

it's probably about $50 trillion to $60 trillion of unfunded obligations that we really have to have a discussion about how we're going to deal with. what's the obama plan for dealing with that? there's a republican plan. let's get this discussion and have a discussion about the major issues of the day instead of little small things that maybe you can move and motivate people on. what we really need to talk about in the country are the big things. we need to major on the major things in this presidential debate. >> let me ask you about something chris christie said last night. he talked about the need for shared sacrifice among americans. democrats would ask, where's the shared sacrifice when you slash taxes on the wealthy while reducing entitlements like social security and medicare and i'm sure you've seen the polls and you know that your nominee has a problem that a majority of americans believe that his policies would favor the rich and hurt the middle class. what about that, governor? >> and i -- well, i think that's a problem when you have poll

numbers like that. but i think if you look at the overall reality of the situation, of who pays all the taxes in the country, you've got a broad sweep of different taxation things. as far as sales taxes, property taxes, you have income taxes. you have a whole different set of things. and what we're talking about in the country is what do we do on tax policy to make changes to cause growth to happen in america? because we need growth to happen. and all tax cuts are not created equal in that sense. one thing in the past, i favored a cut in the marriage tax. but if you do that, it's good social policy because it doesn't really create growth. what we need it to create growth because that's 70% of our problem. we need more growth taking place in the country. that's why the discussion taking place on tax policy right now and also how do you control the overall long-term spending within the country. >> we're going to hear some of those arguments, i assume, from paul ryan tonight.

kansas governor sam brownback, thank you. we appreciate you being with us. >> good join you. meantime, president obama is back on his tour through swing state college towns this morning heading to the university of virginia. the president told students in iowa and colorado yesterday not to believe the hype coming from republicans. >> they will send an avalanche of attack ads and insults. they will try to distract you and sometimes, how do i put this nicely, they will just fib. time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. melody shay, founder asa products led the company to more than $3 million revenue in three years. but some bad decisions caused sales to plummet to a tenth of that. instead of giving up, melody got her mba and took what she learned to rebuild her company. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. muplin inst cat ]arntlr

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to politics now where the democrats are planning a little counterprogramming to the rnc. michelle obama will appear on the late show with david letterman. last night's convention featured a whole lot of people who will probably vote for mitt romney, but ron paul says he is still an undecided. >> is it a possibility you could vote for barack obama? >> not too likely.

>> is there a possibility you could vote for the libertarian candidate gary johnson? >> there's always a possibility ever everything but i haven't made up my mind. >> john boehner insisted the president's stamd could get him thrown out of a bar. >> if a guy walked into a bar and heard that story and said, well, if you've got a business, you didn't build that, well, you know what we do with him, don't you? we'd throw him out. >> and on a night where everyone was focused on mitt romney, a big loss for ben quayle. part could be chalked up to attacks over his father, former vice president dan quayle. in a newly combined district in arizona, he lost to another freshman congressman, david schweikert. with summer ending and your vacation probably over, my must read is timely. secrets from the world's happiest workplace. first of all, wait until you see where it is. it's up on our facebook page at

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only from starbucks. started her day at a romney breakfast in tampa. last night she elect triified the home crowd as she tried to sell her husband to a national tv audience. >> you may not agree with mitt's positions on issues or his politics, but let me say this to every american who is thinking about who should be our next president. no one will work harder. no one will care more. and no one will move heaven and earth like mitt romney to make this country a better place to live. >> nbc's john yang is live in tampa. was in the room for last night's

speech. we were talking to major garrett a few minutes ago. he was suggesting the room was maybe a little bit unusually subdued, at least compared to past conventions. some ovations for sure for ann romney, right? >> some ovations and a lot of emotion. i looked around. i was in the connecticut, minnesota delegations. there was a lot of emotion. a lot of -- clearly people moved by what she was saying. a lot of tears. i also had a clear view of the vip box where the family was sitting and, boy, was there emotion there. the five romney sons, their daughters-in-law hanging on every word she was speaking. a lot of tears. a lot of misty eyes. a lot of emotion in that speech. people, i think, were looking for her to reveal personal things about governor romney that we may not have heard before. we might not have heard that. a lot of people talked about the need for her to humanize her husband, to make him more likable. i talked to a republican

official last night. i asked him about that. he said that's not the goal. the goal is to show that he is a good man. that he is someone you can vote for and be confident in. that he is an able man. he kept repeating the phrase a good man. so i think that was the goal last night. and talking about emotion, after the speech when governor romney went into the vip box and listened to chris christie's speech, whenever christie praised him there was a real swallow hard and nod and say thanks, chris, and almost tears coming to his eyes. it was almost embarrassing for him to listen to that last night. chris? >> thank you so much, john yang. let's talk more about this with publisher, journalist and msnbc contributor karen hunter and republican strategist susan del persio. good to have you both here. the audience really is the audience at home. it's these undecided voters, not so much the people in that room

who probably love ann romney anyway. look. i thought she was very personalable, susan. i thought she looked fantastic. but even if people come away from that liking her more, does not necessarily mean that they'll like mitt romney more? >> if they do like her more, it's because they've learned more about her and her family and that will carry over into mitt romney. i also think this is more of a roll out for ann romney, not just a single speech. i think she's going to touch on a lot of the themes that she brought up last night, including more personal stories as she continues on the campaign trail because she will prove to be one of his biggest assets on the campaign trail. >> it's so funny. a number of people have said they think the two best campaigners out there ann romney and michelle obama. that aside, do you think last night she made people maybe a little more open? even if it just makes them a little more open to mitt romney on thursday night? >> i don't know what -- everyone is praising her this morning. i'm not going to stay anything

bad about her, but i don't think she made ann romney look more human. those on the bubble feeling iffy about him. if she told us one more time that he made her laugh or they met at a dance, there was nothing new presented last night that made me feel any more close to mitt romney as a human being. if anything, it took me back to the 1950s. i felt like she was relating to a crowd that doesn't exist today. >> i think there was something else going on. and it wasn't really hidden. and that was she was trying to appeal to women voters out there. let me play a little clip from the speech. >> it's the moms of this nation, single, married, widowed, who really hold this country together. we're the mothers. we are the wives. we're the grandmothers. we're the big sisters. we're the little sisters, and we are the daughters. you know it's true, don't you?

i love you women! >> problem is women don't particularly love mitt romney. and one of the things i was talking about as i was watching her, you're trying to dig him out of a whole that in part, todd akin dug. is that a fair assessment? >> todd akin contributed to the problem. when you even look at some of the polls going back a month ago there was certainly a problem for republicans. >> already. >> so -- with women. so it already existed. i think if you can look at someone like ann romney and i think the goal is to say, look at her. she's smart, articulate, someone who i can relate to. i can now understand a little bit more about her husband, obviously, having to be some kind of person that she can be with that he's got to be a good person as well. but, more importantly, i think what she did have to openly address women. and say, we are going to try and court you. which they really haven't done

at all. >> but didn't it feel a little like you were being pandered to? it was like the sally field moment. i love you, women! and then the whole -- i had tuna pasta last night for dinner and i felt a little -- >> did you? come on. >> i was like, wait a minute. am i poor? i was listening to her trying to relate to the working people out there, folks who have to buy gas and the prices are too high of groceries or eat ramen noodles or mayonnaise sandwiches, something that people who are poor can relate to. i thought she was trying too hard to connect to people she really can't connect to. >> it was pandering, and she was doing a hard sell, but you know what? this is the first time she's been out there. we've all been watching this for six, eight, nine months and watching what's happening. she had to make a hard sell. i think this is the opening for her. i think she's going to continue to play on those themes. >> don't we want an authentic sell? not a hard sell. someone who is genuine? >> i think it was -- >> my husband really does love women. >> let me ask you about that point. >> but it was obvious one.

just because it's obvious doesn't mean it can't be heartfelt and genuine. >> she was trying to help people understand that mitt romney is really this great guy and i want you to understand the guy that i know. but there was a are? the "l.a. times." that kind of misses the mark.what mitt romney needs to do is convince the middle class that he'll do a better job at addressing your struggles than barack obama has done. most voters think, and we were talking about this earlier, that mitt romney is going to favor the wealthy. is that really what has to happen tonight with paul ryan? tomorrow night with mitt romney? ultimately this is about those undecided voters in the middle class and who is going to help me. >> i think it will focus more on who is going to help me get a job more than worrying about the tax code and the wealthy and who he is going to help as far as that. it will come down to the -- >> isn't that a main part of their argument? the main part of their argument is that this tax plan is structured because we believe by

getting tax cuts to the wealthy, they're going to create more jobs. >> they have a problem with that because it hasn't worked in the past. there's a track record for this not working in the past. so, yes, i think you are absolutely right. they have to appeal to the middle class. everyone who got up there, including ann romney, talked about themselves and not what they're going to do for the american people. >> that wasn't ann romney's job in all fairness. that wasn't ann romney's job. sdwhat mitt romney say on thursday night? that's the beginning and end. he has to outline something and offer it. >> i hope he takes some maalox because he didn't look too comfortable. >> great having you on set. a navigation app for shoppers. cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. a lot of stores are having these apps. you go in and put in what you want and it shows you where to go. >> absolutely. you don't need to like go around and around sfercearching for th ketchup because you only need

your phone. walmart recently added a feature that displays the aisle number of its entire inventory. and later on this year, you'll be able to see floor maps as well. walmart isn't the only one doing this. others like target, home depot, walgreens. they've all got various helpful features such as floor layout plans and those aisle numbers in those apps. retailers traditionally have been reluctant to release detailed merchandising data, but it's kind of become a reality. and mobile apps have become such a huge sales channel. they've begun adding coupons. the prices of things, store hours, even barcode scanners. and it does make sense and money because 20% of retail sales are apparently lost because shoppers just can't find items. >> that's an important statistic. fascinating statistics about shopping online and when to get the best deals. >> there's retailer reporting

service called sum all. and it has identified the best and the worst days and the months to find online deals. the data is compiled from about 3,000 merchants over four years. and it probably will not surprise you at all that november offers the biggest discounts followed by post-holiday january, but the calendar also warns you march is a terrible time to shop if you are looking for sales. as for the best days, the best days to buy, tuesday and thursday. and forget about big savings on sunday. and also new companies, in other words, start-ups, companies maybe only around a year or two, they offer the biggest deals versus established ones to try and lure you in at the start. here's my favorite stat. the analysis also shows that people from britain, the brits are the best bargain hunters. guess who are the worst bargain hunters? australians. >> i don't believe it. >> i'm a great bargain hunter. >> i don't believe it. >> thank you, mandy drury. good to see you. we're going to take a quick break. when we come back, we'll update

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but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day,

and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to help keep bones strong and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. your favorite patient is here! [ dad ] i choose great taste. i choose boost. we are get something late breaking information from plaquemines parish where there are rescues under way. a team of 120 people from a national guard unit have started that rescue operation outside of new orleans. well is a less populated subdivision on the eastern side of plaquemines parish that is flooded. so they've been coordinating, not just with the national guard but with the coast guard, police, u.s. army corps of engineers. these are dangerous rescue situations. people who did not leave their homes. we've heard of people on offi r

rooftops, in attics. they tried to look over the wall and couldn't see anything. lots of rain and high wind caused by hurricane isaac and that is going to continue. as we get more information on the success of these rescues, we will let you know. but the back levee along that area has been overflowing with water since early yesterday. let's get the latest on hurricane isaac. the weather channel's mike seidel joins me from orange beach, alabama. mike, what can you tell us? >> we've got the new advisory, chris, coming out from the national hurricane center. and i can tell you what it's going to tell everybody. the storm is not moving. hurricane isaac is just basically thrown on its brakes. it has made a second landfall. the winds theoretically should start winding down but really is getting us this rainfall. over here on orange beach we've moved out of that sphere of influence of the heavy rain. it's shifted just to our west. you can see on the radar the big spin. and look at that doughnut hole.

that's the center of isaac. and watch. it is really not moving. it drifted west this morning and threw on its brakes. and it's raining at an inch an hour. we talked about totals as much as 20 inches. we may do more than that in louisiana. over here, four to five inches of rain. it ended during the middle of the night. it's all shifted away. the beaches have been hammered. typically at high tide, the water is about 100 feet beyond this pole. so you add about 100 feet and here comes the tide. up almost to where the dune kind of starts. this is the highest tide we've seen. it's going to be high here in about 10:20 central time. no power went off here in orange beach. i don't see any damage. wind gusts only to about 60 miles an hour. right now winds blowing at 30 to 35 miles an hour. almost 500,000 customers in mississippi, alabama and most of them in louisiana this morning without power. it's going to be a slow moving storm. i think right now it's going to take until about friday morning to get it into arkansas.

so the rainfall is going to be biblical. and this is going to be a story we'll be covering for a couple of days. and when you think about seven years ago, people on roofs of their homes and again today, it's a chilling effect there in the parishes here like plaquemines, louisiana. >> without a doubt. who among us can forget those pictures. i'm sure we'll be getting some from plaquemines. thank you mike seidel. he speaks a weird language... [ gargling ] drinks green stuff. he says he's from albuquerque. i'm not buying it. i mean, just look at him. and one more thing -- he has a spaceship. [ whirring ] the evidence doesn't lie. my dad's an alien. [ male announcer ] the highly advanced audi a6. named to car and driver's 10 best. experience the summer of audi event before september 4th and get exceptional values on the audi you've always wanted. t dog. before september 4th every bite goes above and beyond the call of deliciousness. that's a big 10-4 kosher.

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well, president obama continues his college tour today touting support for programs to help students. governor chris christie used his keynote address to slam the educational establishment and especially teachers unions at the convention last night. >> we believe that the majority of teachers in america know our system must be reformed to put students first so that america can compete. they believe in pitting unions against teachers, educators against parents and lobbyists against children. they believe in teachers unions.

we believe in teachers. >> i'm joined by randy weingarten, president of the american federation of teachers. it's good to see you. you know convention speeches aren't just for those there. they are for the undecided voters watching this on tv. and this speech would suggest that mitt romney's campaign believes those voters will be influenced by attacks on unions, especially teachers unions. what do you make of that? >> well, look. that's been pretty consistent in terms of mitt romney's position throughout this campaign. remember, he said a few months ago that he would keep the department of education just to use it as a club against teachers unions. and, you know, for chris christie to say that yesterday when at a couple of weeks ago, he actually gave teacher unions great props for that bipartisan overhaul bill he took tremendous credit for yesterday. in fact, what he said a couple of weeks ago was you don't get

anything done without teacher unions because that's critical to the input -- to get the input of teachers. so i think this is what's going on, chris. >> well, i also think that the romney campaign may be looking at that gallup poll recently that showed 29% of people -- there are only 29% of americans who have confidence in the public school system. so what does that tell you, and are some of the reforms that the republicans are suggesting maybe necessary? >> the reforms the republicans are suggesting are the reforms we've actually been doing for the last decade and they haven't been working. and so that's really -- so that's really what's at issue here. there's two things here. number one, mitt romney needs working people to say that they want a different approach in terms of the economy. and so the only way he thinks he gets working people is to divide working people from the unions who have actually been trying to get working people the jobs and

the voices that they need. and so what you saw last night was a speech that, in terms of chris christie, not ann romney's speech, was a speech that just tried to tear down. was a speech that was full of anger and not full of answers. but at the end of the day, what's happened in american education is that we have the best scores we've ever had. yet it can't be about memorization anymore. it has to be about how we help all kids get to the quality instruction they need so they can be -- have the choices they need for the future. and we're trying to do that at a period of time where 46 out of 50 states have cut spending for education. so you have parents being concerned about what education looks like. you have teachers who have the lowest job satisfaction. and you have basically ten years of no child left behind which

was a fixated policy. rather than confront that and say how do we solve this and change this and create hope, they have to tear down the only place where teachers actually have voice, which is within their teacher unions. >> american federation of teachers president rand randi weingarten, good see you. that wraps up this edition of "jansing & co." big lineup tomorrow. i'll talk to mark halperin, andy stern and barbara comstock will be here. reed wilson from the national journal. iowa governor terry branstad and charles blow. thomas roberts is up next. >> hi, everybody. the agenda coming up the next hour, hurricane isaac storming ashore along the gulf coast. new orleans suffering the most flooding in areas where levees were not upgraded since katrina. we were moments away from the 11:00 a.m. weather update and we have reporters stationed along

the gulf states to bring you an update. then we move to tampa. an all-star lineup gets ready to take the stage. can paul ryan sell his ticket and mitt romney. plus a look back at a highlight reel of some of the moments you may have missed from the rnc's first night. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ normal voice ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪

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like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. breaking news on msnbc. four states facing the threat of hurricane isaac. it's the seven-year anniversary of hurricane katrina. 120 members of the national guard are involved in the rescue operations to get evacuees out of harm's way in that area. here's the scene just moments ago covered by our gabe gutierrez. >> we know that we've peered over that flood wall and we saw nothing other than water. the emergency responders actually could not take their boats into some portions because