>> president obama with all due respt, don't tl me that my parents didn't build their business. >> mr. president, i'm here to tell you the american people are awake and we're not buying what you're selling in 2012. >> and on center stage tonight, paul ryan giving his acceptance speech. and his wife, janna, made her campaign debut this morning. >> i just want to say thank you to the romneys for welcoming me, my husband, paul, our three children on this journey. our families, our children, our future, that's what this race is all about. >> plus, my reporter's notebook from the floor. >> i'm with of course rick santorum. you gave the speech today. you focused heavily on welfare and really went at the president. >> what do you say to the ron

paul supporters who are very disappointed tonight? but the real storm of course is out west. hurricane isaac hitting louisiana with heavy rain and destructive winds. just south of new orleans today, new evacuations under way right now after flood waters topped one levee in plaquemines parish. >> the national guard and emergency responders are going on the other side of that flood wall and they're trying to rescue people that may have been trapped in their homes. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live at the scene of the republican national convention here in tampa. hurricane isaac keeps pounding the gulf coast with 75 mile per hour winds and powerful storm surges, threats that will last throughout tomorrow. there are new evacuations in plaquemines parish and governor bobby jindal is headed there at this hour. we will get an update on those conditions in just a few minutes. but first, the romney campaign has given the top honor of introducing mitt romney tomorrow night to a rising republican star, florida senator marco

rubio. senator rubio joins me now. senator, welcome. >> thank you. welcome to florida. >> thank you, i think. it's been challenging in terms of the weather. obviously we are faring much better than our poor neighbors in new orleans. let's talk about the speech, your big speech. you've been given this prime time opportunity to introduce mitt romney. what do you want to convey? >> two things i hope people take away from this convention. the first is irrespective of how folks may feel about an issue, whether they agree or disagree with governor romney, i hope there's new recognition of how success ful he's been as a person, as a husband, a father, member of his church, member of his community. it's important to know that. i hope that will come through through this convention and into my speech tomorrow night. the second of course is the choice, because this election is a choice. that's the one thing both candidates agree on. both the president is saying that and governor romney is saying that. they have very different views of what government's role should be in america's economy and i think we will have a good debate about that, i hope, beginning at

the end of this convention and moving forward. those are the two things i want to leave on the table tomorrow right before mitt romney comes up and speaks. >> the party has organized this to show as much diversity as possible. we saw some of the new faces, a lot of women yesterday, just the placement out there of where the delegations are, puerto rico and the district of columbia, up front, given prime real estate really to show off diverse faces. your speech, ted cruz, the speakers yesterday, but at the same time, jeb bush, one of your mentors here in florida, was talking to david gregory on "meet the press" about what the party really needs to do to show a bigger tent. let's watch. >> our demographics are changing and we have to change not necessarily our core beliefs but hoe we -- the tone of our message and the message and intensity of it for sure but long term conservative principles, if they're to be successful and implemented, there has to be a concerted

effort to reach out to a much broader audience than we do today. >> jeb bush is going to be speaking tonight. mitt romney needs to do much, much better among hispanic americans and in fact, reach 38% of hispanic americans which would be far better than prior republican candidates, and his record on that, especially going back to the primaries, his record on immigration is very restrictive. >> first, the diversity is not manufactured. there is a governor in new mexico, there is a governor sandoval, i won my election, ted cruz will be the next senator from texas. these are real elections, real people that got elected that happen to be of minority and hispanic descent. these things thhappen. the party needs to do a better job of being the pro-legal immigration party, that we understand legal immigration is good for our country. a million people a year immigrate to the united states

legally and permanently every single year. no other country even comes close to that. so that's something we should be proud of. we also have to recognize we have a broken legal immigration system that contributes to illegal immigration and we have to recognize that we have 10, 12 million human beings in this country who do not have documents and are undocumented for various different reasons, and there's got to be a solution to that. it's not going to be amnesty, not going to be rounding up people and deporting them. but it's going to be some sort of approach that's balanced and responsible and that honors our legacy both as a nation of immigrants but also as a nation of laws. >> during the primary season, rick perry immediately got blowback from fellow debaters early in the season when he even talked about the texas plan to give tuition breaks to young people who had come from illegal immigrant families. this is what mitt romney said just last january in an nbc debate. >> the answer is self-deportation which is people decide that they could do better

by going home because they can't find work here, because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here. >> in our latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, 63% of hispanic voters prefer president obama over mitt romney. 63% to 28%. so the party clearly has to do better. >> part of that is an historic thing. hispanics are moving into states and communities that are predominantly democrat so that's how they register. it's curious but cuban americans moved to miami, register republicans. the ones that go to new jersey like bob menendez register democrat. that's real. apart from that, we do need to do a better job. every time we talk about immigration, it can't be in the context of illegal immigration. how about recognizing that immigration is good for america, that a legal immigration system that works is a good thing for our future. here's the other thing to remember and i have consistently been talking to my colleagues about. immigration is not a statistical issue for hispanics. even if you're illegally here, even if you have all your documents in order, you know

someone, you love someone, you work with someone who is being impacted personally by the immigration issue, and that impacts the way you view it. like any other issue that's personalized. >> what did you think of chris christie's speech? >> i thought it was good. i think there's a theme here. the theme that we began with, mrs. romney, was very clear. that is that mitt romney is a very special person, here's what our life is like and here's how he's been as a person. he doesn't like to brag about it but here's who he is as a person. chris christie talked about the need for real leadership. leadership means you don't take a poll and decide what you're going to do or what you're going to be for. you lead. that segues to tonight, where you have someone who is going to come on the stage, paul ryan, who really does lead in a city, washington, d.c., full of people that are there to be somebody. here's somebody who is there to do something. that's called leadership. you certainly don't take on the medicare issue to win -- score points in a poll. you do it because you understand that that needs to be addressed. i think by 11:00 p.m. eastern tonight, the nation will know how unique paul ryan is as a policy visionary and as a

spokesperson for our party. >> what about mitt romney's chances in florida, because president obama in the latest battleground polls has pulled ahead in florida. the medicare issue could be toxic in florida, among the seniors. >> it's an issue that needs to be addressed. we have three million people in the state on medicare. one of them is my mom. the good news is that the republicans have a plan, an idea, couple of ideas, actually, about how we can save medicare without having to change it whatsoever for people currently in the system. it will require, however, people in my generation and paul ryan's generation, for our medicare to look different. but look, if someone has a better idea, the president has a better idea on how to save medicare, he should present it because if you're anyone who is in favor of leaving medicare the way it is right now forever, is in favor of bankrupting it. i think seniors in florida understand that. it was an issue that came up in my campaign just two years ago and it's an issue that needs to come up because we're running out of time to address it. >> what about the vice presidency? any regrets this wasn't the year

for you? >> two things. one, he made the right choice. picking paul ryan will prove to be a great selection, already has, and i think tonight that will be affirmed. second thing is i really did want to be in the senate when i ran for the senate. i didn't run for the senate as a stepping stone to something else. what i'm excited about i hope is the opportunity and the possibility of serving in a republican majority senate with a republican president and republican house, and voters giving us a second chance to finally do what we say we're going to do as republicans. they gave us that chance before. we didn't quite do a good job of it. i wasn't there at the time, obviously. but if they give us a second chance to run government, we will get a chance to do it right. >> charlie crist endorsing obama? >> he has a right to do that. my only observation is he's running out of parties. but he has a right to do that. obviously everyone will be curious to see what he says at the convention. >> good luck to you tomorrow night. we're looking forward to it. i know you have driven here with your wife and kids from miami, your four kids. >> if i can do that, i can give a speech. >> through a storm, no less. thank you very much, senator. thanks for being with us. speaking of storms, of

course hurricane isaac is still pounding the gulf coast at a snail's pace, carrying a triple threat, heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge flooding. isaac made its second landfall along the southeast coast of louisiana and continues to hit the northern gulf coast. isaac also slammed the power grid in southern louisiana. more than 500,000 outages have been reported. msnbc's tamron hall is in new orleans and nbc's gabe gutierrez is in plaquemines parish, where there are new evacuations at this hour. tamron, let's get an overview of what's going on in new orleans. the national guard i think is now involved? >> reporter: yeah. the national guard is involved. right now, it's incredible to see what's happening not very far from where we are. they have this emergency operations center set up. that is where new orleans mayor mitch landrieu is set up. you have the army corps of engineers, the national guard, all of these emergency personnel huddled together in a location that's not what we saw seven years ago when hurricane katrina

came into this area and took out 1800 lives with it. the priority for new orleans at this point in time is the pump system. we have been getting about three to four inches of rain a minute. the pump system which was fortified after katrina with the help of the army corps of engineers, $15 billion project, it wasn't just the levees they focused on, they focused on the pump system. the pump system cannot keep up with this amount of rain that isaac is dumping on this city. that is the focus right now. part two of the focus are those people in this region without power. in new orleans alone we're talking about around 480,000 or so people without power. you drive through this area, downed power lines, downed trees everywhere. the famous st. charles where that beautiful trolley goes through the city, as i understand it, a number of trees down in that area as well. beautiful tree lined streets. these are the things to be expected. right now the priority is the pump system. we're waiting on this storm to eventually roll out. it is creeping along.

in addition to that, then getting the power back on and workers cannot come back in to do that job until these winds die down to about 30 miles per hour. >> thanks so much, tamron hall doing the duty there in new orleans. what about the levees, they've so far held. let's also talk to gabe gutierrez in plaquemines. gabe, right now, where is the water going over the levee? i understand that an entire neighborhood is now under water. >> reporter: that's right. we're here in plaquemines parish, in the east bank of plaquemines parish right now the mississippi river. as you can see, there's a heavy national guard presence here because the water overtopped these levees overnight and as you mentioned, an entire neighborhood is under water. dozens of people have been rescued and the priority right now is to save lives. the national guard and local officials are going out on boats just over that hill and over that flood wall and they're going out on boats and trying to rescue people. we have spoken with several of them, many of them have come up

here just in shock and they're talking about stories, stories of survival, stories where they managed to claw their way on to the roof and these boats were able to pull them out to safety. one woman was able to get out but left her husband behind to take care of some pets, hoping that a boat would come back and be able to find her husband. when we talked to her, they had not found him yet but she was hopeful that they would be able to get to him in time. right now, as you can see, again, a very heavy national guard presence here. the water overtopped at least some of these levees overnight. local officials knew it would be this bad, but they are surprised that it was -- they did not know -- they knew it would be bad but they did not know it was going to be this bad. the parish president here says that it is worse than katrina here in plaquemines parish. >> that's pretty alarming. thanks, gabe. be safe there in plaquemines, all the people there. up next, back here in tampa, house majority leader eric

cantor talking about his fellow young gun, paul ryan. how will ryan compare with this debut four years ago? >> they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? lipstick. t dog.

every bite goes above and beyond the call of deliciousness. that's a big 10-4 kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum.

it's all about absorption.

[ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ it has been almost three decades since a sitting house member was nominated by a major party for the vice presidency.

tonight it's paul ryan's night. joining me is his fellow young gun, house majority leader, eric cantor. mr. leader, thank you very much for being with us. >> a pleasure. >> tell us about the paul ryan that we don't know, the man behind the scenes, because you and he and a few others in the house leadership have really reshaped the house of representatives. >> well, i first really got to know paul ryan when we served together on the ways and means committee. as you know, that's the tax writing committee, the committee charged with overseeing programs like social security. a lot of medicare and others. and we had hours and hours of discussion and ability to really delve into some of the issues when i served with paul, got to know him, became a good friend, and ever since then, i've known that he is someone really dedicated to the details of the federal budget and how we can actually apply some businesslike solutions to the problems that we're facing, and that's what

you see now. you see a ticket with mitt romney and paul ryan that is going to approach the problems once and for all in this country and provide a solution and real leadership. >> with all due respect, there are some people who say that the problem with the ticket is that congress is at historic lows in popularity, both political parties, and now you've attached that to the ticket. to a certain extent, is paul ryan a drag on the ticket because 82% of americans disapprove of congress. >> there's no question, congress has always been the whipping boy, right? >> never more so than now. >> i think that people are frustrated because number one, their own lives right now aren't necessarily working out that well. optimism is low, jobs for the future, the future of kids right now, and planning for their education and their careers is very, very difficult for so many people. and i think that that has a lot to do with voters sort of

sentiment towards what's going on in washgton, especially when all they hear is the rancor and inability to get anything done. and the difference is with paul ryan on the ticket with mitt romney, we've got a team that actually understands how to get things done in washington. i think that's in marked contrast to what you've seen in the obama presidency with an individual who has been unable to actually coalesce individuals, talk with folks on both sides of the aisle to forge consensus to get something done. >> one of the reasons that perhaps house members and senators are few and far between on the prime time schedule here, you've got governors like nikki haley, rising stars in the party, but the real spotlight is not being put on house members or senators, perhaps because of the unpopularity of congress? it's unusual for a national convention. >> i think what you're seeing is that the state level, when we

have governors like the ones you mentioned, actually given the ability to get something done, it is the conservative principles, those that reflect our free enterprise backbone in this country, that have actually produced results. and you know, when we assume the house majority almost two years ago, we knew it was going to be tough because we didn't necessarily have a president who was willing to work with us. we didn't necessarily have a president who had the experience of saying hey, i'm going to resolve a problem that you know what, the math doesn't lie here and that we've got to be about solutions. >> there are two other factors, your own caucus, you had 87 freshmen, many tea party supported, who blocked some of the things that the leadership wanted to do. the speaker himself had trouble controlling the party and you also have been opposing some of the president's initiatives so there is gridlock. >> listen, reasonable people can disagree.

i mean, come on. there's nobody, and i know you know my wife, she and i have been married almost 23 years, we don't agree on everything. and the process that we go through in terms of legislation and getting along with others is not too unlike the process in managing a family business. you find where you can agree and you set aside your differences, right? well, this president really has been unwilling to go and say hey, you disagree with us on this and we with you on that, but let's find out where we can work together. that's what's been missing in washington, a real desire to come together in a bipartisan way and finding areas of cooperation, finding areas where we can come together and agree without insisting that one abandon their principles. that's what i think you've got, especially with mitt romney, who has proven as a republican governor and probably the most democratic state in the country, the ability to work with the other side to get results done without abandoning his

principles. >> is there concern among congress members that the ticket is hurt by todd akin, by some of the other congressmen behaving badly, whether it's skinnydipping in the sea of galilee which was perhaps overwritten but todd akin creating problems for you when you didn't need more problems with the gender gap? >> everyone from mitt romney on down has spoken out on that issue. it's an issue for the missouri senate race. it does not affect the races in my state of virginia or anywhere else. as you saw last night, we had some terrific women that are at the forefront of our party and the movement in this country. ann romney hit it out of the ballpark. she was exactly what the country i believe needed to see, is that mitt romney has a woman by his side who is his best friend, his best supporter, but she's tough

and she also knows good times and bad and how to navigate that and knows that mitt romney has never failed her. and i think the country heard that loudly and clearly last night. we also had candidates like mia love who can speak to working women in this country, women who are looking for an alternative to the failed policies of the obama administration, that can have a home in our party. >> in arizona of course, we should point out, ben quayle lost his primary yesterday. you had two republicans fighting it out. any surprises in that race, any political future for ben quayle, son of dan quayle? >> listen, any time you have member against member, primaries, intraparty primaries, it's never a nice outcome for one. ben quayle is a terrific guy. he'll have a great future in this party. he's young, has a great wife and family. he'll definitely go places. >> thank you very much, majority leader eric cantor. thanks for being with us.

what does paul ryan need to get done tonight? our daily fix coming up next. chris matthews, chris cillizza and maggie haberman. don't miss msnbc's prime-time coverage of the republican national convention tonight. it kicks off at 7:00 eastern with chris matthews and rachel maddow. on every one of our cards there's a date. a reminder... that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in. o

mancelar aarmeanla u obo oume tu. sueaine p psof d and -o mio wiy psof d i whi and [ ]wihe ou'lesir r . pa.o us n wiy psof d verai alsollst and [ ]wihe ou'lesir r .

thdeon dd aame t t us n anl soe. w trleon po lrnrinemrarsrp izg eo anl soe. w heov d hoa oft qu yode

we as women have figured it out, because guess what, we do know how to do the math, and this is why so many of the women in this nation have got to figure out am i going to go in that voting booth and vote for my children's future. >> ann romney this morning, the morning after, trying to build on the momentum from a convention night that was full of rising gop stars, but also raised a few questions. joining me now, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor, managing

editor of post politics.com, chris matthews, host of "hard ball" here on msnbc and co-anchor of our convention coverage, and politico senior writer, maggie haberman. welcome, all. first of all, winners, losers. chris cillizza, your daily fix for us, the winners last night. >> look, i do think you can criticize it, she was a little bit nervous but i think for someone who is not a politician, i think we have to remember this is not someone who has chosen as her life to do this sort of thing, i thought ann romney was very good and i thought even her nervousness was kind of appealing in a way. we talked about it yesterday. this is someone who can tell a story about mitt romney that no one else can do. i thought she did it well. i thought she was serious when she needed to be serious, she was fun when she needed to be fun. the thing is that we often forget, it looked like she was enjoying herself up there. don't underestimate that. so much of it, most people aren't going to remember every word that she said or every word

that anybody on this stage says. they're going to remember kind of the feeling that they got when the person spoke and i think it was hard, even a lot of liberal democrats on twitter who usually are not very kind to ann romney, i saw the chatter being like look, i don't agree with her or her husband, but i thought she did a good job. >> chris matthews, when we talk about the fact that she seemed to be enjoying herself, the person who really had a stern expression on his face was chris christie, and how does that play? because it was a tough speech but could he have added a little humor? we all know how he can be a funny guy. >> well, couple things. i think she looks like a very happy person and i think most guys, regular guys who see a woman about middle age, obviously attractive, they like to see them happy. that means there's a good home life and the relationships between the husband and wife are good. that's always a healthy thing to see. it's obviously there. i think she also speaks from her experience of being a wealthy woman who didn't work outside

the home and she said in her speech that a lot of women would like to spend less time at work and more at home and would like to have more kids if they had more money. that again speaks to a family that's had a lot of children, five children, and clearly she spoke from her own experience which is a very happy one. i think she was talking to republican women last night who may be pro-choice but she's trying to convince them to basically vote their family income bracket, their tax bracket, rather than their women's concerns. she never mentioned women's issues. she never mentioned this horrific republican platform which basically gives 14th amendment rights to property and to liberty to a fertilized egg. it's really, really far over. i'm sure you've noticed the language is just really serious. it almost makes abortion murder, basically, in effect. so i think when you talk about life, liberty and property rights to an unborn child. i have to tell you, i thought the other audience, besides republican women, you and i have called for years reagan

democrats, maybe catholic, irish, italian, whatever, very much like mr. christie's background, governor cristie's background. he had a lot of jackie gleason in him last night. i was waiting for him to say alice, you're going to the moon. it was almost like that attitude. i can't say that, of course, today. but the other part, kasich was very good in that regard. in a very pro-life catholic way, i thought santorum was. they spoke to all the ethnic groups, the italians, lebanese, whatever, in the republican party who vote in and out depending on whether they like the candidate or not. it was a smart talk to the reagan democrats by kasich and by especially christie. i thought he talked to the regular guy out there. >> also spoke to those who really want to see more fiscal sobriety and to the tea party contingent. maggie haberman, what was your take-away from watching nikki

haley and ted cruz and all the newer faces as well in the party? >> i think it was sort of an interesting showcase. nikki haley was in prime time, she was the main focus. there was an emphasis on, as you said, this is not about women's issues specifically, the way you are seeing democrats approaching them. this is instead sort of pocketbook issues. i think that's generally the message, that was christie's message, too, sort of conservative governance. he was not talking about the social agenda. i think you're going to see that over tonight with paul ryan and tomorrow with mitt romney. >> here's a little bit more of janna ryan, who is not used to the public spotlight but went gamely to a breakfast today with ann romney and here was her debut. >> ann's story is an inspiration for millions of women across this country. her friendship is an unexpected blessing in this campaign. it is a privilege to join you

and mitt on this campaign. it is a tremendous honor to be on america's comeback team with you all. >> this is the new couple and their family, we will see them tonight, paul ryan's debut. we'll do a quick round the table here. >> she's nervous. she hasn't done this stuff before. we forget that. the first time i was on television, i don't think i was able to put two words together. paul ryan, on the other hand, some people say i still can't. >> janna ryan is a lawyer. >> she's an accomplished person. >> they met on the hill. she's an interesting biography. went to wellesley but paul ryan has a very big stage tonight. >> to his credit, i actually think given the leap he had to make from being a house member, albert a prominent one, to vice presidential nominee over the past couple weeks, he's done relatively well in terms of not making high profile gaffes. my guess is you will see what we expect from him, serious policy, hard choices. i doubt he will get too into the

weeds in a speech about what they would cut and what they would save. but my guess is that if you haven't seen paul ryan before, you will likely come away relatively impressed with the depth of his kind of knowledge base. >> a new young face, a fresh young face to the rest of the country, chris matthews. >> yeah. i was trying to think, i'm a movie nut, and i was trying to think who plays different parts. jackie gleason could have played christie last night but ed norton or the young guy in "500 days of summer" would play paul ryan. i think the best message i heard last night, my wife and i were talking about this morning, the best message was for our colleague, chris hayes. he talked about something the republicans missed completely last night, the generational issue. which is parents like we are know that young people today are not facing a better world than we came up in, and certainly the reference chris hayes made to all these guys and women talking about their grandparents and great grandparents and how these immigrants came to america and

did so well, starting with nothing, these are old stories for people in their 50s or 60s talking about their grandparents. what are the kids today 20 years old, that has no relationship to them. they're facing a world where they're trying to catch up to where their parents have gotten. i think that's something that would really sell with the republicans, this sense that america is not the opportunity society it was in their generation, and they can play that, it wouldn't be fair, but it would be powerful. i never heard them talk like that last night. maybe chris agrees with me and maggie. they're younger. this message of generational challenge is really there for all the generations. the parents root for their kids, kids wish they could catch up to their parents and they don't think they will. this is really new america that we don't like. >> both parties are facing that challenge. the president out on his two-day college tour today. we have to leave it there. to be continued. coming up next, the democratic national committee on the rnc. first, 1988, making a first impression.

>> many this week have asked who is dan quayle. the people of indiana know me. ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. 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. ♪

ok, how's this gonna play? try manly [ screams ] [ male announcer ] eew, ok, just do your thing. hey! hey! [ male announcer ] definitely a little bit epic. stride.

republicans escalated their attacks on president obama last night here at the convention, ending with an exclamation point from governor chris christie. >> i believe in america and in her history. there's only one thing missing now. leadership. it takes leadership that you don't get from reading a poll. you see, mr. president, real leaders don't follow polls. real leaders change polls. >> he's not subtle. joining me now, patrick gaspar, executive director for the democratic national committee. well, you watched it as a trained political observer. take off your obama hat. what did you think? >> i thought it was quite

interesting last night and yes, i did watch every single minute of that speech and i thought that was rather good advice from governor christie. about not following polls and actually following your convictions instead. i think we clearly have a president who has been -- somebody who stands up for what he believes in, who fights for the middle class every day, fights for the economy, health care and building an infrastructure that makes sure we have a dominant american century. >> one of the other speakers was the speaker of the house, john boehner. let's watch. >> president obama doesn't get this. he can't fix the economy because he doesn't know how it was built. so in 70 days when the american people walk into the voting booth, what should we do? throw him out! because we can do better, we can do a lot better and it starts

with throwing out the politician who doesn't get it and electing a new president who does. >> they built the whole team of yesterday, aside from ann romney's warm introduction to her husband, trying to create the human side of their marriage, their 43-year marriage, their family life, but aside from that, all the other speakers were focused on we did build it and what the president said, it was in virginia a couple of fridays ago. what about that quote? >> i don't think there's any vulnerability to falsehoods. every single reliable fact checker has said that's absolutely not what the president expressed, not what he intended. that's not the only faults they're building this convention on. of course they continue to promulgate this myth that somehow the president rolled back welfare reform and we all know that of course it was republican governors who asked

for flexibility in welfare reform and we also know that they continue to say that somehow the president has robbed medicare when it's actually the romney/ryan budget that's scaling back medicare benefits significantly for seniors. so between we did build it and welfare and medicare, there's one lie after another that they're pushing forth from that stage which has really been filled with anger, ideology and very few specific ideas about how to get americans back to work, how to rebuild our economy. >> are you impressed that the republicans do have some young female governors, nikki haley, susanna martinez, they have a more diverse cast of characters, if you will. if this were a show, they've got good actors and the democratic party when we look at your convention next week, i think we will see a lot of frankly white guys up on stage or members of congress who are not all that popular. >> of course, we are going to have a convention that looks

like america. we've got an amazing keynote speaker in julian castro and dynamic leaders from all walks of life. but i want to say about last night and the governors they had, it was actually exciting for us to see young republican governors take that stage last night and talk about the ways in which the economy is rebounding in their state. it was great to hear from nikki haley, walker and kasich who are touting a recovery this president helped to drive, particularly in ohio, a state that is recovering faster than anywhere else in america because of the very same policies like the auto bailout that governor kasich and mitt romney opposed, this president pushed forward on. >> patrick, thank you very much for joining us. good to see you. up next, we go to the floor correspondents looking ahead to tonight's lineup. first, flashback 2000. dick cheney on al gore. >> -- goes home to new york. mr. gore will try to separate

himself from his leader's shadow. but somehow, we will never see one without thinking of the other. but that doesn't mean we should be penalized for it. that's why liberty mutual insurance policies come standard with accident forgiveness, if you qualify. learn more at libertymutual.com.

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. republicans are clearly looking ahead to what they hope will be a big day three at the rnc here in tampa. and let's go right to our team of nbc correspondents on the convention floor. nbc's ron mott, kelly o'donnell and luke russert. ron, first to you. you've been covering paul ryan. what is his main theme going to be? is it going to be all budget, is it going to be more personal, a combination? >> well, hey, andrea. we expect a heavy dose of his area of expertise, the budget. when he was named as mitt romney's number two, electrified the party, the base of the party. this place is going to be electric tonight. we sfeexpect the biggest buzz te in the wisconsin delegation. they're very proud of their congressman. i can tell you, in addition to talking about this budget and where he thinks the country needs to go to turn its financial fortunes around, we expect him to talk a little about his positions on foreign policy. in a lot of ways, paul ryan is

trying to sell himself as capable of being on the world stage so this is a big night for him and it starts on that stage tonight. >> kelly, you are right next to the romney seats, you were watching last night. what were their reactions to the speeches, especially chris christie. there has been some criticism that he didn't talk enough about mitt romney and as you know, senior romney campaign officials pushed back on that when we talked to them about an hour ago, saying that they were completely happy and of course, had approved the script although i'm not sure whether he would have changed the script if they had asked him to. >> well, you really got a sense, if these speeches were supposed to in some ways humanize the candidate, you got a sense of that not so much from the words on the stage but the reactions here in this box. this is where the family sit during these key moments and what you could really sense i think during ann romney's remarks in particular were her sons welling up, clearly proud of their mother, and then when mrs. christie and their son were seated right here, very

different reaction. it was almost sort of the cultural difference of the two families. they brought a little new jersey here because they had big reactions, big smiles, big reactions, and certainly mrs. romney and mrs. christie talked to each other. you didn't get a sense that there was an ongoing critique of the speech, a real soaking up the moment for these families which the moment for these families. if you're looking for the humanizing side, it happens here maybe even more than it could happen in the speeches themselves. >> sitting in that box also last night was condoleezza rice. and tonight, marco rubio and his family will be sitting with the romneys tonight. and let's talk to luke russert because luke, contrary to sort of past performance by sands, mitt romney is in indianapolis today, and he's going to be speaking to the american legion. so he's got a whole other counter programming moment today. they say it's because they're trying to break out of the convention walls and reach the rest of the country.

>> that's right, andrea. it was interesting for me who it is observed many conventions mitt romney was in a box last night watching the speech. usually is for the tradition to come on a thursday. i'm down here in the pit of the convention floor where the delegates are front and center of the tv cameras right next to the michigan delegation ordinarily where you see clapping and cheering. there's beencrittism last night the crowd wasn't necessarily into it, that chris christie had to force them to stand up. we spoke to the romnif officials asking whether there was enough crowd enthusiasm. they said can absolutely. these scripted speeches don't necessarily work as well in the actual forum but on tv we're getting across the message they want to get. we're going to see tonight they want to get the paul ryan electric and loud. the gop not forgetting about hurricane isaac, red cross heart on their screen right now and

should there be a long part of the day. >> thanks to luke, kelly, ron mott, see you all later. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next. what makes a sleep number store different? 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. has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy.

make headlines in the next 24 hours? i think it's going to be here. chris cillizza, the place to be, except of course, for the storm zone where real things are happening. but paul ryan? >> look, this is -- paul ryan is not a very well-known commodity. half the country doesn't note enough about him to say whether they feel favorably or unfavorably about him. he will be in primetime. my guess is because people don't know him, the bar is set pretty low. i think he has proven over the first couple weeks he is someone up to the task. not everyone is. we've seen this in the past. sarah palin is a good example of someone who doesn't deal well with the crush of media and attention. he has done well with it. i expect he'll do well tonight. >> we're going to have to leave it there. >> fine with me.

we'll be back. >> that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell report. tomorrow, former minnesota governor and republican presidential contender tim pawlenty, iowa senator charles grassley joining us. tamron hall will be with us live in new orleans next on "news nation." i take insulin,

so i test... a lot. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab

targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? so testing is one less thing i have to worry about today. great. call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy. i'm tamron hall. we're following breaking news in the gulf coast as hurricane isaac has forced people to run for safety. and in the end, plucked to safety. >> back levee, it's been overtopped so much, that there's 12 foot of water against the mississippi river. but inside the levee system, areas that never had water for katrina are inundated with water. >> plaque mince parish. these are images coming in from new orleans. alabama,