anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" mitt romney arrives in new orleans to survey the storm damage after kicking off his general election campaign in florida earlier today. but his big moment in the spotlight came last night. >> mr. chairman and delegates, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> but how did they let this get upstaged by a soliloquy with a chair? >> i've got mr. obama sitting

here. what do you want me to tell romney? i can't tell him to do that. can't do that to himself. you're absolutely crazy. all right. i'll start it, you finish it. go ahead. >> make my day! >> thank you. thank you very much. >> ann romney today defended the act although she said it surprised her, too. >> i don't think anyone can go the way clint eastwood wants it to go. frankly, i was thrilled for his support. >> eastwood's chair affair goes viral, complete with a new twitter handle,@invisibleobama. and a new trend, eastwooding has

armchair copycats posting their own pictures, including one from the oval office. the obama campaign with this caption, this seat is taken. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. right now, republican presidential nominee mitt romney is in new orleans invited by louisiana governor bobby jindal to survey the damage caused by isaac during this convention week. thursday night was supposed to be romney's big night, his night to reintroduce himself, to warm it up, and he did. but on social media, his big speech is being overshadowed today by another performance. >> mr. president, how do you -- how do you handle -- how do you handle the promises that you've made when you were running for election and how do you handle -- how do you handle it? i mean, what do you say to people? do you just, you know, i know people -- people are wondering, you know -- okay.

i'm not going to shut up. it's my turn. >> joining me now, "washington post" columnist ruth marcus. well, give us our daily fix. first of all, he was unscripted. he was supposed to go three minutes. it ran 10:40 when every second is precious in prime time. presumably as a result of that, that really beautiful romney family video was not shown in prime time when all of the millions and millions of people were watching on the broadcast networks. what went wrong? what were they thinking? >> i cannot answer that last question, because it just about was as weird as it gets. you could tell from mrs. romney's response this morning, you could tell from the audience. it was just bizarre. but i would actually argue that even leaving aside the bizarreness of the eastwood moment or ten minutes of the moment, there were a lot of missed opportunities. i thought governor romney gave

really a pretty good speech last night, but it was discosunate. if you're going to talk about willingness to make hard choices, you want the nominee to say that in the speech. paul ryan talked about president obama as a sinister central planner. mitt romney had a different message. his message was he's a really nice guy, he just didn't do the job. another disconnect there. the biggest missed opportunity, the most powerful moment of the convention, the one that made me want to have mitt romney as my neighbor honestly were these magnificent tributes by fellow church members who talked about how he was there for their sick child. >> people were weeping in the hall. >> i was kind of weeping. >> they were so dramatic, yet they were not in prime time. >> exactly. >> i understand marco rubio being the introducer. he gave a great speech. he's a rising star.

but to have at least found one of those witnesses, the testimony from the fellow mormon neighbors and friends -- >> why have we not been hearing from them all along and why, if you know you have this prime time moment as you said, every second is precious, why are they not there? because all we've been talking about in the leadup to the speech was how mitt romney needed to use it to humanize himself. it's hard for people, any of us, to humanize ourselves. it's easier if other people say nice things about us. actually, what they had to say was beautiful. and powerful. >> of course, the other problem with clint eastwood, we can get into it more later in the show, is that his statements about policy, afghanistan and other policies, were not in sync with romney's policies. let's show a little of the speech, because the speech really did work. there were parts of that speech that were wonderful and beautifully delivered, and this was mitt romney talking about his mom. >> i can still see her saying in her beautiful voice, why should

women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation? don't you wish she could have been here at this convention? and heard leaders like governor fallon, governor haley, governor martinez, senator kelly ayotte and secretary of state condoleezza rice. >> they know they've got a job to do, trying to narrow this gender gap. they know they've got a job to do trying to narrow the gap with hispanics which is 63-28 in our last nbc/"wall street journal" poll. they've got to get above 30 if they're going to have a real shot. marco rubio and susana martinez and other hispanic americans were terrific surrogates there, showing that the face of this republican party in terms of their prime time spokespeople is a lot more diverse than what you're going to get i suspect from the democrats in terms of governors, top officials. >> they do have that bench.

i thought the clip you showed about his mom was really a two-fer because it was simultaneously humanizing, i'm a sucker for people who like their moms, and it went directly to the i understand women, i respect working women, i am there for you women issue. i thought in a very effective way. and because it was genuine and it was fact-based. >> we'll get more on this coming up, ruth. thank you very much. see you later in the show. >> i'll bring my chair. how does the romney campaign this morning explain the empty chair? tara wallace is senior communications advisor for the romney campaign and joins us from tampa. looks beautiful down there today. let's talk about the morning after. what was the calculus behind clint eastwood and the empty chair? >> well, certainly i think it defines this president, the obama presidency. let me just say i think last

night and the convention whole was really a defining moment for governor romney and for the romney/ryan ticket. the chair emphasized i think what many americans are asking themselves four years later, where is president obama relative to his promises made and promises not kept. so i think that that was pretty descriptive of the fact that president obama four years ago said we would be at 6% unemployment if we enacted what he believed were his policies that would work, and we see that we have been at -- at or above 8% unemployment nationally, 14.4% in black communities and 11% in hispanic community. >> tara, those points -- >> these policies he hasn't answered for and that's why i think many americans are left at having to ask essentially really out loud where is the president on answering and delivering on some of those promises. >> but tara, with all due respect, those are points, powerful points from your

perspective that could be made with a scripted speech. we all know, those of us who cover these campaigns, you who participate in them, that the prime time hour on network television in these campaigns is your big opportunity. every second counts. they clock this down to the mini second. they know when the video is going to go on. why wasn't the video in prime time? why wasn't it distributed to the networks 3:00 in the afternoon for the evening newscasts as we had been told only a few hours earlier that it would be? did something go awry? clint eastwood was supposed to go a couple minutes. he clocked in at 10:40. what happened there? >> well, as you know, listen, this has been four days of what we had to condense essentially into three days and at the end of the day, there were a number of stories that had to be told over the course of four days. you can't jam everything into the last day. you know, i think we did -- the campaign and the convention did a wonderful job showcasing these great stories in a broadway

for -- i mean, we're talking to our delegates, talking to america, and the prime time position is for the ticket and for governor romney himself. i thought it was orchestrated beautifully. i believe that he delivered on many of those points and he told those stories. i mean, a lot of us have -- those of us who have worked the campaign, know this candidate, know the stories behind the candidate. many americans don't know those stories. >> tara -- >> we delivered those in different ways last night and through the course of this convention week. >> but on the final night, did you think about having those wonderful neighbors and friends telling these heartwarming stories about mitt romney, did you think about having them instead of clint eastwood at that moment? or did you -- were you surprised that he went as long as he did and that he rambled? why not give him a script? >> with all due respect to the analysts and experts now, they

are kind of monday morning quarterbacking all of this, you can always monday morning quarterback about things and everyone is going to take something different away from the convention. i think at the end of the day, i believe in having diversity within diversity and we had diversity as related to women and minorities on the stage and relative to talent and entertainment and there's nothing wrong with that. you have to lighten things up. i think that's all that was. i think it was a good break in the system -- in the chain of things to lighten up the mood and then to once again zero in and focus on the fact that we have some very real stark hard realities these days and that this governor and this ticket have been able to deliver in the past and they will deliver going forward. and these stories help articulate that and how we frame those up, whether it's with a clint eastwood or with a marco rubio or with a kelly ayotte, i think that everyone has a story to tell about how this economy has impacted them and how this romney/ryan ticket is the team

to move this country forward. >> thank you very much, tara wall. thanks for showing up after a late night last night. we appreciate it. >> absolutely. i'm a little hoarse, as you can tell. >> we all are, actually. up next, bill burton and tony fratto. we will see if they are a little hoarse as well, with their theater reviews of the romney and eastwood performances. still ahead, we go live to the storm zone in louisiana. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪

that also becomes headaches. i was very skeptical about aspirin. bayer advanced was completely different. it really did get rid of the pain. put bayer advanced aspirin to the test for yourself at fastreliefchallenge.com. we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. r n wy thr

n atct so an itha n atct

last night, mitt romney channeled ronald reagan, even using the line the gipper used so effectively in that 1980 debate. >> every president since the great depression who came before

the american people asking for a second term could look back at the last four years and say with satisfaction you're better off than you were four years ago, except jimmy carter and except this president. this president can tell us it was someone else's fault. this president can tell us that the next four years, he'll get it right. but this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office. >> joining me now, bill burton, co-founder of priorities usa action, the pro-obama super pac, and former deputy press secretary for the obama administration, tony fratto, cnbc contributor and former press secretary for the george w. bush administration. you both know what the game is. tony, what was going on last night? >> you're talking about -- besides the excellent acceptance speech by governor romney? >> yes. besides the excellent acceptance

speech. given. stipulated. >> look, it wasn't my thing. i know it's a lot of chatter this morning but look, i was really excited by a lot of the speeches over the course of the convention and especially concluding with governor romney's speech last night. i thought he gave a really powerful speech for him and you know, he met the goal that a lot of people have set out for him in this convention, which was to, you know, tell a little more of the mitt romney story, who he's about, despite bill's ads that he's been running and the attacks from opponents. >> we're going to play some of that tape. >> i'm sure you will. >> we are going to play some of the speech and i wanted to get to that. first, what in a prime time hour when every moment is so precious, why would you have an 82-year-old star director and actor and a chair? first of all, is it disrespectful to the president of the united states? is that the mood you're trying to convey?

you're trying to reach out to women and hispanics. what diversity does that bring other than the chair faction? >> look, i think the romney campaign and the rnc could defend themselves on that. like i said, it's not what i liked. i think clint eastwood is iconic. i think most people out there, most americans will actually remember the clint eastwood endorsing and supporting mitt romney in this election and then they will move on to the issues they care about most, which is did he give them the confidence to lead them for the next four years and are the policies what we need. that's where we are in this campaign. >> fair enough. in fact, the "new york times" laid it out on the front page today, that this is really a marriage and some would say a bad marriage, and what the romney campaign has to do is persuade americans that they really want to divorce this man they fell in love with, barack obama. that's the "new york times" analogy. here's one of the moments from

that speech last night. >> how many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in america. many of you felt that way on election day four years ago, hope and change had a powerful appeal. but tonight, i would ask a simple question. if you felt that excitement when you voted for barack obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's president obama? >> clearly, what he's trying to do with the campaign, he's trying to give people who are still like the president, he's so popular, but don't like the policies, don't like the joblessness, don't like the way the economy is not turned around, give them an excuse, give them a way out so that they can vote for someone else. >> yeah. you know, i think that his speech was delivered fine. i think he did a good job delivering his speech but what was missing from it if he's trying to make that case is a real forward-looking vision of what he's actually going to do for this country. you had the sense of sort of like bob dole, when he was

trying to build a bridge to the past as opposed to president obama, who is looking to, you know, forward. it was also missing a real defense of the central plank of what his economic strategy is, which is cutting taxes for the wealthiest in this country which comes at the expense of the middle class but he didn't really make a case for why that strategy might work as opposed to what's happened in the past with that. i think the american people miss out on that debate if he's not going to make his own case. >> the staging was superb up until i think the point where clint eastwood came out, but the other piece of it was that earlier in the evening, you did hear these testimonies from friends, neighbors, people who are fellow mormons. this is a friend and neighbor talking about her daughter and the way the romneys came and helped throughout their struggle with a child who then eventually did die last year. >> as i sat with her in intensive care, consumed with a mother's worry and fear, dear

mitt came to visit and pray with me. as our clergy, he was one of very few visitors allowed. i will never forget how when he looked down tenderly at my daughter, his eyes filled with tears and he reached out and gently stroked her tiny back. i could tell immediately that he didn't just see a tangle of plastic and tubes and wires. he saw our beautiful little girl. >> it was suggested last night i think by david brook that it was political malpractice, tony, for them not to have done this a year ago or longer, shown more of the man mitt romney who was a bishop in his faith, who was a neighbor and a friend. >> look, you know, i learned a lot about mitt romney over the last four years. i've been paying close attention to him and the campaign. i don't know if they should have

had other opportunities along the way to try to tell this very personal story. i know it's hard for a lot of people to sort of make that jump, you know, to talk about themselves. george h.w. bush 41 used to have some of that same problem also. so it's difficult for some of these guys but look, i think there's time now when voters are paying attention to still tell that story right now. >> what do you expect, bill burton, coming out of this convention? do you expect a bump for them? they've had a lot of air time and there have been some compelling speeches and they do have some rising stars. >> there have been some very good moments for them. before the convention, they had a conference call where they talked about how on average candidates get an 11 point bump coming out of these things. i don't think, you know, despite clint eastwood, despite the fact that chris christie gave a 2016 speech for himself as opposed to mitt romney, i don't think anything happened that would stop romney from getting the 11 point bounce that they predicted for him. i think that he probably will

get a significant surge. >> now game on. thank you so much. bill burton, tony fratto, thanks for putting up with all this today. we know it's not your campaign, not your convention, but very interesting take. >> my party, though. i'm proud of it, thanks, andrea. up next, louisiana still struggling in the aftermath of isaac. first, paul ryan with eric cantor, campaigning in richmond, virginia. >> let's give all them a hand! look! she wears the scarlet markings!

out! your kind is not welcome here! nor your odd predilections! miracle whip is tangy and sweet, not odd. [ villager 1 ] it's evil! if you'd try it, you'd know. she speaketh the truth! [ villagers gasping ] reverend? ♪ can i have some? ♪ isaac is now heading to the nation's midsection but leaving behind heavy rains in parts of arkansas and missouri and illinois. two people died in plaquemines parish. they were found in their flooded home. in slidell, louisiana a pumping station overflowed, spilling up to six feet of water into homes. police and national guard rescued 150 people from flooded parts of the city since last night. the weather channel's reynolds wolf joins me from slidell.

are the waters now receding? what's the latest situation? >> reporter: they are indeed receding which is great news. just to give you background about slidell, louisiana, it was founded as a railroad town in 1882 and i have to tell you, even before then, we're talking before jefferson and napoleon agreed on the louisiana purchase, we've had issues with flooding in this area. with this particular system as isaac came through, there was quite a bit of flooding right along the railroad track which intersects the town. on the north side of the track and on the south side of the track which is very unusual. usually it floods just on the north side. the waters to the south have receded. the waters behind me, still plenty to see in this particular neighborhood. palm lake, this is actually one of the last places where we do have flood waters and you will notice the way people are really getting around, by bicycle as you see this one person. some are brave enough to walk through and then we have obviously a few that are going by boat and some by big cars. speaking of vehicles, as we pitch right over here very quickly, you will notice there's

a lot of cars lined up. got a lot of people in slidell out and about trying to see their community to see how things are shaping up. it's drying up but the cleanup remains. >> thanks so much, reynolds. at least some good news as things are improving despite all rating romney's speech. plus a sneak peek at charlotte with the democratic national committee's patrick gaspard. ♪ ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. love the air. join zyrtec® rewards. save up to $7 on zyrtec® products. join zyrtec® rewards.

hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too. throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+.

it was a speech six years in the making for mitt romney. did his acceptance speech meet the goals? joining me now is michael griffin, "washington post" columnist and former speech writer for president george w. bush, and john heilemann, msnbc political analyst and staff writer for "new york" magazine. welcome, both. john heilemann just back on the plane with me this morning and catching our breath. michael gerson had not even a

direct flight and a 6:00 a.m. flight so -- >> oh, man. you had a connection? what's wrong with you, man? >> such loyalty. let's talk about the speech and the goals of the speech. on the upside, what they accomplished was mitt romney coming out and conveying more about himself. >> well, i think the most important thing, the entry level achievement to some extent, when i worked with george bush on the 2000 convention speech, i was proud of the fact he was completely comfortable when he went out there. the words were his and he was fully in the moment. i thought romney was in there. in that zone. he found his voice, his voice was not soaring, it was not, you know, studied eloquence but it seemed to be solid. it seemed to be serious. so i thought it was reassuring. that was their main goal in this speech, not to be a great ideological leader, not to talk about massive change, but to be

reassuring for middle ground voters. >> i thought it was prose, not poetry and there were reagan elements of sunny optimism, of looking towards the future. no specifics. this was not a state of the union address in terms of how he would accomplish it, when you talk about creating 12 million jobs, that number of jobs will be created anyway in the normal cycle of the economy. when you talk about energy independence in north america, whatever the heck that means, energy is a global fungible resource and it is silliness to even presume to talk about that. but that's what we get in political rhetoric. >> the speech was remarkably non-ideological. it didn't pick fights on medicare, didn't talk about role of government. didn't even talk about america's role in the world. this was a problem-solving businessman. that's the image that he wanted to present last night. that had a good effect. it allowed him to distance himself from the rougher edges of his party. without having to take them on on any kind of specific issues.

i thought that was effective. >> but michael, what some critics are suggesting today, if his persona is mr. fix-it, i can make the trains run on time, what happened last night? how does he defend, explain just the disorganization of apparently according to some new reporting, the campaign did not know besides giving talking points to clint eastwood what he was going to say. it was not scripted. they didn't do their research because people in washington know that when he was here in 2000 doing a tribute to morgan freeman at the kennedy honors, he was also rambling and unscripted. this is an 82-year-old superb director and actor who was put in a different context. >> well, first, i think that all is true about the romney speech. you could also say that it was not ideological. also not very substantive. there was not a lot of arguments about policy in it. on eastwood, it is, you know, you have a convention, it's the

big moment. conventions and debates. conventions are the last scripted moment where the environment is under your control. the last night, the last hour is where you cannot have anything go wrong. there is no one who should be allowed to go onstage without a script in that situation. that is basic politics. politics 101. then you let someone up on stage who is his age, again, we all love clint eastwood but it introduces an element of unpredictability which was dangerous to begin with. what you ended up with was surrealist dinner theater. something that is it going to change anybody's mind in the end or affect the election? probably not. but what it's done is created a story that today and tomorrow and sunday is competing for air time around the country with the story of mitt romney's speech. that's the last thing in the world you want is to have local coverage. there are millions of people who saw that last night live but there's also many, many millions more who are seeing news stories about it today and what they're hearing is mitt romney gave a

speech but clint eastwood, a huge global hollywood star, like went crazy onstage or lost his mind or did something funny, let's go look at that. that is not what the romney campaign wanted. it speaks to a level of foolishness around what was a very important moment for them. >> and the fact that people did not see in prime time a really glorious video, the biography video -- >> absolutely. totally missed opportunity. >> -- which was supposed to be at that hour, to make way for clint eastwood going long and rambling, clearly they had to squeeze it in earlier in the evening. >> the only explanation i can possibly imagine is that it's hard to script a legend. it's like giving a script to john wayne, that's the equivalent in this circumstance. but that's an explanation, not an excuse. i completely agree this is the scripted hour. you have to know exactly what's going to be said and i don't think there are any good reasons here. >> michael, what is the next moment? the next moment i guess is the debate. >> i agree with that.

debates sometimes get judged more harshly than convention speeches. in a convention speech you say every word that you're supposed to say. if you go into a debate, if you make a gaffe, that's played over and over again. the nerves are greater in a debate to some extent because the stakes are very, very high. >> because people recognize they are unscripted, the reason they are judged more harshly, there's more scrutiny, because they are more revealing. when is the last time we had a convention where a nominee has given a speech and people said it was terrible? they had a lot of time to prepare, it is fully scripted, they get their best game on. no one ever really screws up their convention speech. some do better than others but nobody really screws it up. in a debate, it reveals a lot, not just in terms of minor gaffes but this is a moment where you really get to see these people on their feet and especially that first of the three debates. the kleig lights will be on those guys and for the moment, for people in this place, we

like barack obama but are not really happy with how he managed the economy, not sure we want to let him have another four years but we don't know or trust mitt romney and are not sure whether he's the acceptable alternative, this is when for that small slice of the electorate, they will make their decision, over the course of those three nights and particularly the first one from denver. >> you guys get some rest. nap time. thank you very much. >> right here on the table? i could go to sleep right now. take a nap right here. >> bring a chair. john heilemann, thank you so much. michael gerson. thank you. next week, we'll all be together at the democratic convention. they will rebut the charge that the president's time in charge is running out. >> america's been patient. americans have supported this president in good faith. but today, the time has come to turn the page. today the time has come for us to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us,

to put aside the divisiveness and the recriminations, to forget about what might have been and to look ahead to what can be. now is the time to restore the promise of america. >> patrick gaspard is executive director for the democratic national committee, just taking the chair. he joins me now. thank you very much for rushing over here. everybody is freshly off a plane. we were a little haphazard today. >> good to be with you in tampa as well. >> great to have you there. now your challenge is to counteract the arguments that were made in tampa. what do you say to the argument that people are not better off than they were four years ago? that was a very effective case made against jimmy carter as you know very well by ronald reagan. >> well, again, thank you for having me. let's talk about the claims and the arguments that were made last night. i'm not entirely certain how

effective they were. republicans have been saying the very same thing for each of the last three and a half years as they have worked diligently to obstruct progress in congress. mitt romney tried to make a case that barack obama inherited a mess but we've not made progress but by any metric that you use, there is progress that we can demonstrate from the 4.5 million jobs that have been grown in the private sector to the lowering of the unemployment rate to the improvement in manufacturing outcomes and of course, we have millions of young people today who are able to take advantage of higher education because of the pell grants and other things that the president has made available, and we have more security in medicare which of course romney and ryan threaten with their budget and their programming. >> well, to unpack some of that, a lot of those students who were able to get an education through pell grants can't get a job. we have such a high unemployment rate for these young people, many of them as was pointed out by some of the speakers are

staying in their parents' and what was it that chris christie said looking at those open change posters? >> what was it that he said other than talk about himself a lot? >> he did talk about himself a lot, didn't he. there was a speaker last night who perhaps didn't get as much attention as he deserves because of clint eastwood and that chair. that is marco rubio. >> our problem with president obama isn't that he's a bad person. by all accounts, he, too, is a good husband and a good father and thanks to lots of practice, a good golfer. our problem is not that he's a bad person. our problem is that he's a bad president. >> that is the argument that they are making because the president's popularity is so much higher than mitt romney's personal popularity but when it comes down to who can handle the economy, who can make these decisions, mitt romney has the edge. >> can i look to juxtapose what

marco rubio said last night versus what a number of republican governors said when they spoke at that convention? marco rubio, who has been in the senate for about two years now, serving as part of the leadership that's obstructing the jobs bill, not moving forward on that measure, put him against the republican governors of ohio and new mexico and wisconsin who took that stage and talked about the improving economy in their states. now, somehow, i would suspect that the president saving the iconic automobile industry, manufacturing -- >> john kasich, the governor of ohio, has claimed the improvement in their economy is not due to the auto bailout but to local forces and state policies and -- >> maybe when it's sunny out it's only sunny over john kasich. i don't think that's the case here. i'm sure you know that the unemployment rate in that state is a full point lower on average than it is across the rest of america. but in addition to those

republican governors making it clear that there's been progress in their states, we also have other republican governors like brownback from kansas who also made it abundantly clear that the claims that are being made by the romney/ryan ticket about welfare reform and medicare are just not true and there's no evidence of any of the wild claims they were making from that stage. so we're looking forward next week to charlotte where the president will of course make his case without having to reinvent himself for the american people. >> we will see you there. thank you very much. join us monday as we kick off a power-packed week in charlotte. among our guests, house minority leader nancy pelosi, the democratic leader joining us on monday. bo biden, north carolina governor purdue, melody barnes, california senator barbara boxer, and former new mexico governor bill richardson. all that and more next week. up next, trail mix. we check in with our reporters following the candidates on the campaign trail today. as attention turns to the

democratic convention, msnbc is airing an hour-long documentary on president obama monday night, the premiere of "barack obama making history" hosted by chris matthews, monday at 10:00 on msnbc. and tonight at 10:00, encore showing of "mitt romney the making of a candidate" hosted by our friend, chuck todd. we have big dreams. one is for a clean, domestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.

you know how hard if yit can be to breathedo, and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells,

you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help. i'm tamron hall. coming up on "news nation" over and out. republicans had their time to shine. now it's time for democrats and the president to make their case. president obama and governor romney are on the road today not campaigning. the president talking to troops in texas and romney is in louisiana with victims of the hurricane that rolled through that area. also, #eastwooding. reaction to what ann romney even calls that unique speech by clint eastwood. people on social media cannot stop commenting, including star jones, who tweeted, eastwood

turned into somebody's quote drunk uncle harry. which celebrity called it a terrific speech? we'll reveal that. mitt romney is touring the flood zone in new orleans today with louisiana governor bobby jindal. nbc's peter alexander is traveling with the romney campaign and joins me now on the phone. peter, this was an early start to the campaign. you had a campaign rally in florida, now he's touring the flood zone. what has he seen so far and what has he said? >> reporter: we had heard whispers earlier this might be happening and earlier today at the last minute we heard that the campaign called an audible and decided it would come here to the new orleans area to visit with the governor bobby jindal and tour some of the storm damaged areas. the governor, governor jindal, said he invited romney to come here to take this tour. just a short time ago we landed with the campaign at louis armstrong international airport and we can report to you that is among the areas affected by this damaging storm. still no power in the terminal where we landed today.

the governor, governor romney alongside his wife ann are traveling into this area to join the governor of louisiana. they will visit with the first responders, governor jindal said it was important to romney to be able to visit with those people here to show his support and thank them for their efforts. they will also get a chance to explore some damaged areas and talk to some of those people victimized by the storm as well. to be clear, president obama will also be here. that's happening on monday. as for the romney campaign, this is a short stop. they say it is not about politics, just about an effort to do what they can to show their support in this area. the romney campaign heads off to ohio later today, a campaign stop there tomorrow before finishing up tomorrow afternoon in florida. andrea? >> thanks, peter alexander, traveling with mitt romney. president obama, meanwhile, is on the road as well. he's marking the second anniversary of the end of combat operations in iraq, visiting fort bliss in el paso, texas.

in a few minutes, the president will meet privately with service members and their families. cristen welker is traveling with the president and as peter was just saying, the president is canceling an ohio campaign trip monday to go to louisiana. >> that's absolutely and white house press secretary jay carney just made that announcement. he also made it clear that president obama had planned his trip to louisiana before they learned about mitt romney's trip there today. so that was the news that we just got from white house press secretary jay carney aboard air force one. as for this trip, this is a hugely symbolic trip. president obama visiting fort bliss, the place he made that announcement two years ago today that he was ending major combat operations in iraq. the white house is dubbing this as an official trip. but there is obviously the potential for the president to gain some political traction as well. this comes on the heels of the rnc, a night when mitt romney

assailed some of president obama's foreign policy decisions. this trip allows president obama to highlight what he sees as one of his biggest foreign policy achievements, namely the end of the war in iraq, the drawdown of troops in afghanistan. he's also going to announce a new executive order aimed at improving -- >> i think what you're hearing behind you is the preparations for the president coming out. we'll let you go to that, kristen welker. thank you very much. and what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours. that's next. it's time to live wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the 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. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank.

no nonsense. just people sense.

ruth marcus, we're talking charlotte. >> we're repacking. >> repacking, unpacking, repacking. what is the president's mission? if mitt romney was trying to reintroduce himself, fill out the biography, what does barack obama need to do? >> two things. first he needs -- i think more than he has previously in the

campaign, to give people a broader, greater sense of where it is he wants to take the country in the next four years, what is his second-term agenda? and i think his second mission may be even more important, which is to answer the question that mitt romney posed last night, which is to the people who voted for him but who were disappointed, what's his explanation for that? but even more, why should they think the next four years are going to be any different? he needs to address some of that buyer's remorse people may be feeling. voter's reforce. >> ruth, thank you so much. see you in charlotte. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." join us next week. labor day may be a holiday but we will be there live in charlotte at 1:00 for the democratic convention with nancy pelosi among our guests. my colleague, tamron hall, has a look at what's next on "news nation." spectacular coverage down there. welcome home. >> thank you, andrea, so kind of you. i always appreciate that.

over and out. we're following developing news. republicans had their time to shine. now it's time for the president and the democrats to make their case. both the president and governor romney are on the road today. they have big stops, important stops. the president talking to troops in texas. governor romney in louisiana with victims of the flood. plus, hashtag, eastwooding. have you sent out your picture yet? reaction to what ann romney even calls a, quote, unique speech by clint eastwood. which celebrity called it a terrific speech? we'll have that answer. male an now you can swipe... scroll... tap... pinch... and zoom... in your car. introducing the all-new cadillac xts with cue. ♪ don't worry.

we haven't forgotten, you still like things to push. [ engine revs ] the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to the sleep number store's biggest sale of the year. not just ordinary beds on sale, but the bed that can change your life on sale. the sleep number bed. never tried this before. this is your body there. you can see a little more pressure in the hips. take it up one notch. oh gosh, yes. when you're playing around with that remote, you get that moment where you go, "oh yeah" oh, yeah!

... and it's perfect. right now, every sleep number bed is on sale. queen mattresses now start at just $599. and for one week only, save an incredible 50% on our silver limited edition bed-but only through labor day and only while supplies last. once you experience it, there's no going back. wow. don't miss the biggest sale of the year on the bed that can change your life. the sleep number bed. special offer ends labor day. only at one place: one of our 400 sleep number stores.

you know i've been out there trying to focus with a headache and i can't do my job. bayer headache relief takes care of my pain fast. it definitely works for me. helps me get back to doing my thing. [ male announcer ] try the dual action formula of bayer headache relief. hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. the "news nation" a following breaking news. the new gop nominee and president obama on thee