>> jeff: tonight on the road to charlotte, president obama takes his march to the democratic national convention through key battleground states and nancy cordes is with him. the painfully slow recovery from isaac. thousands are still feeling its effects. manual bojorquez is in louisiana. pro football is about to begin without pro revs. tony guida with the tough calls ahead. >> let's see what the correct answer was. >> jeff: and techie toddlers. going digital. how young is too young. >> good job. >> yeah! captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> this is the "cbs evening news". >> and good evening, everyone, i'm jeff glor. if there was any doubt about the importance of battleground states, just look at the president's agenda. today was the 8th time

mr. obama has been to colorado just this year. he campaigns there in advance of the democratic national convention starting tuesday. nancy cordes is in boulder tonight. nancy? >> reporter: jeff, all weekend long and here again in boulder today the president argued that governor romney failed to lay out a clear agenda, a clear vision in his convention speech, when all eyes were on him. president obama's message was well received in this progressive town which is filled with one of his key constituencies, students. >> hello, colorado! >> reporter: the president's visit to the university of colorado was his 6th trip to a college campus in the past two weeks. he told this crowd of 13,000 that he could win colorado if they and their friends showed up at the polls. >> we've set up a rockie mountain rumble to see which school can register more voters, cu or colorado state. >> reporter: president obama

won 72% of the vote in this college town four years ago. he'll need a similar margin this year if he wants to keep colorado's nine electoral votes. a recent poll showed governor romney leading by five points in this battleground state. >> one thing that i worry about is that democrats aren't as active and engaged this time around. >> reporter: dow feel like students here are as energized about the president as they were four years ago. >> no, i don't. i think they still have that energy and believe it but he's staying-- saying alots of people have it in the bag t is already there. >> reporter: in cincinnati, ohio, yesterday, romney stuck way major theme from his convention speech saying mr. obama has letdown working americans. >> one of the promises he made was he was going to create more jobs. and today 23 million people are out of work or stopped looking for work or underemployed. let me tell you, if you have a coach that is 0-and-23 million, you say it's time to get a new coach. >> reporter: or foreign policy democrats are working to portray romney as naive

and recklessly hawkish this was vice president biden today in york, pennsylvania. >> he said it was a mistake to set an end date for our warriors in afghanistan and bring them home. he implied by the speech that he is ready to go to war in syria and iran. >> reporter: mr. biden was referring to this remark in romney's convention speech. >> every american is less secure today because he has failed to slow iran's nuclear threat. >> reporter: strip away all the rhetoric, though, and the two sides aren't that different when it comes to iran. they both believe the litary option should remain on the table. in truth, thoh, jeff, you don't hear a lot about foreign policy from either candidate. they know that the issue that is at the top of most voters' minds is the economy. >> jeff: nancy cordes, thank you. heemocratic convention prepares to gavel to order in two days conventioneers are beginning to arrive. already there are demonstrates for causes that took to charlotte's streets

today. while organizers had expected 10,000 people to show up, police estimated-- estimated only about 800 took part. >> turning now to our political director john dickerson who is in charlotte tonight. john, obama officials have had a tough time answering the question, are you better off than you were four years ago. how big a problem is that for them as they head into this convention? >> well, it's a central obstacle of this convention. they can't say things are better off because people don't feel like they're better off. so what the obama campaign has tried to do is change the question from do you feel like things are better to will things be better? well, that's a tough thing to do in a campaign in part because it makes voters think you might be trying to fool them. >> meanwhile the obama campaign will try to lean at least a little bit here on bill clinton at this convention. what are they expecting from that? >> well, they're hoping to get people excited. when the economy weighs down on a party the way it is on this one here in charlotte

they need someone to break through that. if anybody can break through and make excitement that's bill clinton. he's even been quoted by republicans including mitt romney as a kind of model, as the kind of president we should have. so clinton is here to energize the base, raise some moneynd also to prepare the way for president obama by making the case for why president obama's policies can connect with people and the anxiety that they feel. >> jeff: john dickerson, thank you. >> thousands tonight are still dealing with the aftermath of isaac. and frustrations are rising along the gulf coast. it first dropped heavy rains on florida, then spread to state as long the mississippi and ohio rivers. today secretary of homeland security janet napolitano visited the well hit spot, manual bojorquez has more. >> man, we're getting ready to get washed away here. >> reporter: this video shows isaac's wrath as a category 1 hurricane. water drowning neighborhoods in plaquemines parish. >> people don't realize how

fast water rises, how fast it can turn into rapids around you. i was terrified for the people that live in this area. i knew it was going to cause a lot of damage. >> reporter: pj hahn is a flood manager for plaquemines parish, he was behind the camera that day and spent the weekend assessing damage. >> just a horrific site. a lot of homes totally lost, a lot of people's lives totally lost over here. >> reporter: more than six feet of water remain in parts of plaquemines parish. new orleans new $14 billion levee system kept the city dry but at least 12 surrounding parishes experienced flooding. two of them severe. >> we faced hurricane katrina and even hurricane isaac t was the lord who stood by our side. >> reporter: at greater liberty baptist church in new orleans ninth ward pastor call win wood-- calvin woods led his parishes through a sunday service without electricity. >> reporter: how many people in your congregation are

affected by isaac right now. >> well, all of them, one way or the other. >> reporter: but none more than pastor woods. when hurricane katrina flooded his new orleans home, he laughed and started over 30 miles west in laplace. >> some time my street would flood a little bit but never like this. >> reporter: his new house took on five feet of water. those floodwaters are receding but he hasn't been back. he says he's needed here. >> the lord has taught me a long time ago you can cry but after you cry you still got to do what you got to do. >> reporter: have you had your cry. >> oh, yeah, i had my cry, i had my cry, i shook it off and we've got to go forward. that's it. >> reporter: now the water has retreated here in laplace from a height of 8 feet to about 3 feet in some places. many in this parish say they don't carry flood insurance. they say they were told it wasn't necessary. president obama comes to new orleans tomorrow afternoon to tour the damage. jeff.

>> jeff: manual, thank you. >> the country's most watched sport is back this week as regular season play begins in the national football league. players will be on the field, fans in the stands, but pro referees will almost surely be nowhere in site. with more on what that means, here's tony guida. >> the correction on the reporting of the foul, both teams-- both-- . >> reporter: a replacement referee bosching a call in an nfl preseason game between the giants and patriots last wednesday. >> we have illegal shift by the kicking team. after the kick-- . >> reporter: the other ref is yelling both on the kicking team. it may be no more than a blooper in a game that doesn't count but how amusing would it have been the last time these two teams met, in the super bowl. >> the games that do count begin wednesday and the nfl is determined to use these same fill-in referees. >> this thing could get

pretty ugly pretty quickly. >> reporter: former nfl quarterback and current cbs football analyst boomer asiason fears the speed of the professional game and stature of its star players might overwhelm officials borrowed from college football's lower ranks. >> and if an official is afraid to throw that flag or feels in anyway, shape or form intimidated by a player like calvin johnson or aaron rogers, is could be a major disaster on many fronts. >> reporter: the nfl locked out the revs after their contract expired in june. three months later, there has been minimal negotiation and no progress. >> it almost appears that it's a take it or leave it approach with the lockout strategy. >> reporter: referees association president scott green is a veteran of 21 years as an nfl officialment his men, he says, want only the same wage and benefit hikes they got in their last contract six years ago. >> enjoy the game! >> reporter: from a league whose profits are up 50%. >> are they telling us that

our value is not the same as it was in 2006. >> reporter: from the nfl, only a statement to cbs news saying no further talks are scheduled. we are proceeding with the replacement officials. the season opens wednesday night in the new jersey meadowlands. giants versus the cowboys. tony guida, cbs news, new york. >> jeff: in afghanistan the u.s. has stopped training some local forces. the trouble has been so-called insider killings by afghans which took the lives of 45 nato soldiers this year, 15 in the last month. the training of the local police recruits was suspended to improve background checks. in syria today a rebel group claimed responsibility for a double bomb attack in damascus. it targeted the military's joint chiefs. buildings and vehicles were damaged and four officers were wounded. meanwhile opposition activists say about 5,000 syrians were killed in august, making it the deadliest month since the uprising began nearly 18 months ago.

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>> jeff: by staging their convention in charlotte the democrats are hoping to win north carolina again in november. president obama won the traditionally republican state in 2008 by the slimmest of margins. 14,000 votes out of 4.3 million cast. among the voters who helped him, white men. but this year could be different. we sent chip reid to find out why. >> reporter: four years ago computer system installer larry philips bought into barack obama's message of hope and change. but now philips has buyers remorse. >> i guess what he promised, we never got those promises. >> reporter: philips is frustrated by washington gridlock and the growing federal debt. >> i think a leader to come

in it doesn't matter what party, you should be able to compromise with the other side and get something accomplished. >> rorter: so this year philips is switching his vote from mr. obama to mitt romney. >> we need somebody who has a business background, somebody that knows that if you've got a million dollars to work with, you can't spend 2 million. >> reporter: in 2004 democratic in thea theal-- presidential candidate john kerry won just one in four white male votes here in north carolina. four years later barack obama won one in three white male votes. that improvement was key to his victory in this important battleground state. now with the president struggling to hang on to though votes, he's counting on people like publisher john gales. >> he saved the banking community from a collapse and that saved many small businesses from having their lines of credit eliminated. then i said mr. president-- . >> reporter: a former president of the national small business association, gales has met presidents and sees reasons to stick with

this one. >> when he took office, he was facing a catastrophic economy, an economic downturn that was likely to become a depression. and he kept it from becoming a depression. he's worked very hard to soften the impact of that economic downturn. and i think he's actually turned the corner on it. >> reporter: bank analyst josh brown isn't so sure, as a first time voter in 2008 he went with mr. obama. >> i believed that he had the better economic plan at the time. and that government spending could help prop up the economy. and during the first two years of his presidency it somed that that was working. and now we have sort of stalled out and stagnated. >> what america needs is jobs, lots of jobs. >> reporter: but brown isn't yet persuaded by governor romney. he wants to hear more about his plan for the can. >> when it comes down to the election, what are you going to decide, do you want a c.e.o. or do you want someone who inspires you and

could inspire our nation to greatness. >> reporter: how north carolina he undecide the white male voters answer that question could make the difference in this state. chip reid, cbs news, charlotte. >> jeff: next on tonight's "cbs evening news", more political spending, less food for the hungry. 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,

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>> jeff: the usda estimates that one in ten households with children will have trouble putting food on the table this year. and it's not just the lingering effects of the recession making things difficult. this year it's also the presidential election. lee cowan explains why. >> this is what survival looks like for nicole johnnie and her 8-year-old daughter chy jane, it's not a grocery spor but a food bank. without her her family wouldn't it. >> do i get embarrassed to come, i do. but is it necessary, yeah. >> reporter: she like all others at the snow cap community charities have to line up and take a number. >> 87. >> reporter: they have to get here early. the food these days runs out fast. >> i wish i could say that

it tugs at my heart now, it makes me mad. >> reporter: judy allie is in charge here and she has seen it all before. every election cycle, she says, donations drop and her shelves get emier an emier. >> i have been doing there 22 years and in presidential election years, people donate to politics, to campaigns. donate to politics, to campaigns. and that takes away what little money they would be giving to charity. >> reporter: for the first time last year the oregon food bank gave out more than a million emergency food boxes. a third of those who needed the most were parents struggling with small kids. if donation don't pick up, next year will likely be even worse. >> they're going to open their cupboard and there is to the going to be anything there. and that mother and that father, they're going to say, kids, you can't eat today. there's no food today. and that is unconscionable. >> reporter: the aging are at risk too. marsha stenberg wants to work, but -- >> 65 people aren't beating

down-- at 65 people aren't beating down your door to give you a job. >> so the time ran out, today was her first trip to the food bank. >> i don't know what else to do. just like the rest of them, i'm sure they don't know what else to do. getting a hand out, i've never done that. i've never done that. >> reporter: there are countless worthy causes and most agree presidential campaigns are one of them. but sometimes the most basic human need gets lost in the shuffle. >> the safety net is shredded. people shouldn't have to line up for food. we have enough in this country. we need to learn to share. >> thank you for your help. >> reporter: people like marsha are counting on it. lee cowan, cbs news, los angeles. >> jeff: torrential rains have triggered flooding in southwestern china. thousands have been rescued or fled to higher ground. the rainfall has broken 50-year-old records and is expected to continue through tomorrow. >> the reverend sun myung moon who founded a global

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that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. >> jeff: how young is too young, that is a question many parents are asking with the increasing use of tech toys and mobile devices by children. priya clemens takes a look. >> reporter: for four-year-old michael garner h this isn't just play time. he's under surveillance. several cameras, a bank of monitors and a team of researchers plot his every move. >> i think the kids are hard wired to learn. they're little scientists. >> reporter: jody sherman

levos manages the team at leapfrog, a maker of high-tech, educational toys. do you think kids are learning faster and better than we were 30 years ago because of this technology? >> i think kids learn best when they're engaged and having fun. >> right there. >> it is not just the technology is getting more sophisticated, it's that kids younger and younger seem to be mastering it. >> it's amazing. i think we've all seen youtube videos of infants swiping on the iphone and changing pages. they adapt to the technology so quickly. >> reporter: too quickly says child psychologist david swanson. >> the more they play on those devices, the less time they are spending outside, socializing with other kids. socializing with their parents. that is so crucial for a child to fully develop. >> technology is part of a balanced diet. so you know, i still take the kids outside to the park every day. i make sure they interact with other kids in preschool or play dates. >> reporter: leapfrog, in fact, puts an age label on

its leap pad, 3 and up. c.e.o. john barbour cautions that parents shouldn't push. >> the last thing you want to do is discipline your child or because are you asking them to do something that at that age they are just not capable of doing properly. that's not really winningate andrew garner michael's dad works on computers all day long. he says it company coulds down to responsibility. >> technology is not going away so it's kind of like a learn it, don't abuse it, but take advantage of it because it's there. >> perhaps we should measure that again. >> reporter: so as adults debate what kids should and shouldn't be doing, michael is just having fun. >> do you know what that is, what is it. >> it's a soccer ball. >> priya clemens, cbs new, emeryville, california. >> jeff: that is the "cbs evening news" tonight. later on cbs, "60 minutes." i'm jeff glor, cbs news in new york. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs