chuck todd, are you with us? >> i am. >> hey, what do you know? chuck todd knows all. what can you tell us? >> msnbc has three sources all telling us that paul ryan is mitt romney's choice for the pick. but what we also can tell you is that the campaign itself will not confirm that it is definitely ryan but we have three sources and we want to be completely transparent here with knowledge intricate about the campaign that paul ryan is the pick, that he will be the one standing with mitt romney tomorrow in front of the "uss wisconsin" that, indeed, they have been planning this in front of our face. the "uss wisconsin" wasn't a joke as some had indicated that it could be as a backdrop. it was a planned backdrop for ryan on this when mitt romney was telling me in that interview 24 hours ago that he wanted somebody that was going to be a visionary, if you will, that was going to be able to articulate and add to the political debate that he wasn't just throwing something out there, that he was indeed indicating that he had already made his decision and that was paul ryan. >

he professed it chuck brown day. they made plans for a permanent chuck brown memorial in yangley park in the northeast. he found it important to keep the legacy alive. >> i find it hard to believe people don't know who chuck brown was. but the day will come when we have children who are unborn, we have children who are very young who will say, who is chuck brown? >> part of the park will be renamed chuck brown yangley park. it will also be renovated. >>> storm team 4, chief meteorologist doug kammerer. boy, say that a lot. i expect to lose weight by saying that. but, anyway -- >> have you? >> not yet, but i just started. are we done with these afternoon showers? >> i think we could see one or two tomorrow, not near as many of what we saw over the last couple of days. we did have this in the forecast during the day yesterday, so that's good news. we talked about keeping that umbrella handy and a lot of you did have those umbrellas handy during the storm today. but the storm is over where they've been the past few days

and she left me for chuck.r and she got me drunk. she gave me a lot of drinks, then got me to give her my friend's number. that's how she did it. that's how i figured it out at the end. >> were you brokenhearted? >> sort of. >> did you feel used and abused? >> no. because i found somebody else. >> and you got free drinks. >> right. >> she bought you drinks all night? >> don't go for the guy you don't want especially if he's hanging around a guy you like. >> that doesn't make sense. >> let's go back across to sara. >> alana from texas has a question about vacations. >> so we are on vacation. girls are on vacation. wives are on vacation. we've left you in charge. why do you feel the need to micromanage -- or have us micromanage, texting and calling and asking us the schedule when we're on vacation. it's your job. >> let them go on vacation. >> i didn't understand a word -- i didn't -- what the heck are you talking about? >> what is happening is they're on vacation and the hugsbands ae calling finding out how to d

mayor, vince gray, issues a proclamation to honor the late chuck brown. details when we come back. >>> well, today marks what would have been the late chuck brown's 76th birthday. and mayor gray is marking that memory by declaring today, august 22, chuck brown day. the mayor unveiled plans to transform part of the park into chuck brown memorial park. we have seen some artistic renderings and there are perhaps a statue or a bust in that park along with an amp theater. a memorial focused on a performance venue would be an appropriate reminder of chuck brown's legacy. >>> virginia tech is shelfing the controversial plan to cut down 115 trees to build a new football facility. university president, charles, has accepted a recommendation to find a new place to build that facility. this after a panel of faculty and students asked the school in june to rethink the plan and reserve the woods. the facility would have required 117 trees, half of which are white oak. more than 300 years old to be chopped down. >>> tomorrow marks one year since an earthquake rattled o

meteorologist chuck bell is tracking conditions in storm center 4. chuck? >> good evening, jim.deed. a severe thunderstorm warning between 5:30 and 6:00 for southern prince george's county. that expired. the strong thunderstorm remains now across parts of northern calbert and heading into anne arundel county. you see the strongest part of the cell not terrible far to the northeast of waldorf moving up to the northeast. east of brandywine and south side of annapolis, a lot of thunder and lightning. and more rain across lower southern maryland. complete check on your sunday forecast in a few minutes. jim. >>> thanks. our other big story. mitt romney selecting paul ryan as his running mate. the man joining romney on the republican ticket is a seven-term member of the house of representatives, serving his home state of wisconsin. ryan is chairman of the house budget committee and a member of the ways and means committee. he also wrote the gop's budget proposal. clashing with democrats over his plan to balance the budget by cutting taxes on the rich, revamping medicare and slashing e

david gregory and chuck todd joining me.at were passed over. david, you first with regard to rob portman. >> highly regarded, part of the bush administration, that could have been a liability as he was budget director in the bush administration at a time when deficits began to expand and a lot of conservatives were highly critical of the bush administration for that. but portman was seen as a safe pick. somebody who knows the ways of washington and ways of the senate and former congressman as well and all important ohio. there was a lot of talk he was the lead finalist as you move down the stretch because he could reinforce governor romney while still doing no harm. with the ryan pick, we can safely say mitt romney felt he neededed to go a bit bolder and bigger. >> i now you have tim pawlenty tomorrow. but to you, chuck, tim pawlenty was somebody who was running his own presidential campaign against mitt romney. what do you think the big reason is that he was not chosen? because many see him as having been the good soldier.

chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. you know, the biggest week in mitt romney's political career is obviously getting off to a late start and while confident they can make a shortened convention work, organizers fear that if the storm causes more damage, it could cause further delays to their best laid political plans. with the bang of the gavel and a nearly empty hall, republicans began and then quickly ended business. >> republican national convention stands in recess. >> reporter: as mitt romney prepared for his big night with one eye on isaac. >> our thoughts are with the people that are in the storm's path and hope that they're spared any major destruction. >> it's good to be home. >> reporter: in wisconsin, paul ryan held a raucous send-off rally at his hometown high school in janesville. >> the next president for a few years, we are picking the pathway for america for a generation. >> reporter: still, isaac, not romney nor ryan, was the focus today. the louisiana delegation's empty chairs a symbolic reminder. the

chuck was an athlete and a musician when he was in school and he is actually dr. chuck shelton. so in a way, caleb is living his dream. >> there couldn't be a more perfect recipient. >> it seems like it was a match made in heaven. to tell us a little bit more about this, we have caleb's mom, april, via skype right this minute. april, describe to us what it felt like to hear caleb's heart again for the first time. >> i don't know how to explain or put any words how it felt. >> you seem to be dealing with a lot of grief. has this helped you deal with it any better? >> ideal with it every day. no, it is hard as a mom but it's helped a lot. >> did you know about caleb's condition or was that unexpected for you guys? >> we had no clue. we didn't know until december 23rd when we took him to the hospital. >> did the doctor have any of the habits that caleb has? has he developed likes for like the same food or the same team for reasons he can't explain? >> he drives faster now. >> april, thank you so very much for jumping on skype and talking about this. we know it's very difficult. >>

i'm chuck todd. oklahoma governor mary fallon, senator ron johnson of wisconsin, congressman aaron shock of illinois, republican consultant mike murphy will be here. i got a lot in less than an hour so let's get right to my first reads of the morning. >>> mitt romney begins the most important week of his political career with one eye on his thursday acceptance speech and his other eye on tropical storm isaac which is already made today's plans a wash. >> concerned about the people that are going to be down there. >> are you concerned about your convention? >> be a great convention. >> the specter of new orleans and hurricane katrina which proved so political damaging to george bush. wednesday will be the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina's landfall. just the latest in a series of distractions that's jolted the romney campaign off of what was supposed to be a core economic message and really it's all been since the paul ryan selection two weeks ago. the convention will be called to order at 2:0

but i do know this, chuck. there's no question that this bright red line between these two campaigns is risky. i mean, you're not talking about putting medicare on the table in a way that can advantage the president and allow him to campaign, which by the way republicans already knew was coming, and now if you have in the picture the ryan and romney ticket, it would be a huge punching bag just on this issue alone. you think about a state like florida where that's going to matter so much. that's where the risk is. >> democrats are chomping on the bit. stan greenberg devoted a book about the middle class. a third of it is devoted to attacking the ryan budget. david, i want to jump to kelly o'donnell, kelly, off little bit more context to how rob portman was informed about the vp selection. >> well, chuck, i have been told that rob portman did receive a phone call from governor romney tonight letting him know that he would not be the choice. rob portman will go ahead with what he had planned to do on saturday, whi

chuck bell is keeping an eye on it in storm center 4. chuck? >> good evening. severe thunderstorm watch continues east of the blue ridge mountains. that includes the washington metro area until 9:00 this evening. all the magenta, the pink color of shading there, those are all the counties impacted by this watch area that goes again until 9:00 this evening. strongest thunderstorms, one moving into southern parts of arlington county. also out towards mt. ver nonarea, along i-95, woodbridge and quantico. this line is progressing off to the east. charles county, be on the lookout for gusty winds and heavy rain. more storms out in the mountains of west virginia may impact us late tonight. >> thanks. >>> tonight, we have cell phone video of a laurel police officer appearing to slap a man in handcuffs outside a restaurant. this happened earlier this morning during a disorderly conduct arrest. news 4's derrick ward has the exclusive video captured by a man who watched the arrest go down. >> the cell phone video was shot by a bystander which shows a man in handcuffs bei

chuck, i think we should start with some news. talking about the weather, talking about potential delays. what are you learning about whether even tuesday afternoon they'll hold the start. >> they seem to be pretty determined to do something on tuesday. they have to do some business of the convention. but i've already been talking to some officials who indicate there will certainly be a tone change, if you will. what does that mean specifically? does that mean romney's speech scheduled for tuesday get moved from monday to tuesday? that's unclear. they know that they are watching this storm and if it's in the middle of battery, essentially the gulf coast as it looks they will take some measures. as of right now they seem, i'd say 90% certain they're going on. >> mike murphy, the business of this convention, a lot of people like to knock these as an infomercial. the reality is this is a really big opportunity for a candidate and a party to connect their visions for a country to a much wider audience. romney is thinking a lot about h

chuck, we'll see you later, of course. the full nbc news/"wall street journal" poll later. >>> up next, the fallout from the todd akin controversy. stay with us. we expect to hear this hour from him. he's going on the radio. and the battle for the women's vote. we talk to senator barbara boxer. >>> still ahead, mitt romney opens up about his faith. [ mrs. hutchison ] friday night has always been all fun and games here at the hutchison household. but one dark stormy evening... she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her purina cat chow complete. it's the best because it has something for all of our cats! and after a couple of weeks she was part of the family. we're so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. and for a delicious way to help maintain a healthy weight, try new purina cat chow healthy weight. >>> with regard to my own view, i made it very clear i'm pro-life but i believe there should be exceptions in the case of rape and incest and when the life of the mother's at s

chuck todd button. >> see. see what i started. everybody wants a chuck todd button. everybody is getting one. there's one for you man. go nice with your ensemble. the hottest ticket in tam and i'm bringing some up on the set. get ready, chuck todd, "morning joe" starts right now. >> i want to talk not about what divides us, but what holds us together as an american family. i want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one great thing that brings us our greatest joy when times are good, and the deepest solace in our dark hours, tonight i want to talk to you about love. >> the greatest lesson my mom taught me, she told me there would be times in your life when you had to choose between being love and being respected. i believe we have become paralyzed by our desire to be loved. tonight, we are going to do what my mother taught me, tonight, we're going to choose respect over love. >> good morning. it's wednesday. a very early morning, august 29th. we're live in tampa, florida, at ho

that seems to be what chuck is talking about. it's not a hard election to make your decision as a voter. you'll be able to see two different guys here, two different teams. >> big campaign, big problems, big ideas, and a big debate about what it is government ought to do in this economy. with regard to the social safety net, with regard to trying to create economic growth. you know, this is the debate that americans should want to have. the reality is that it's still a very tough thing to bring to voters. voters certainly want to cut the deficit. they're worried about the debt. but they don't want you to mess with the programs that they really like. that's always the difficulty. and, you know, ryan has said that one of the strengths that he has, why he's been reelected in a more democratic district, is that, you know, folks he talks to like the fact that he tells it to them straight and he levels with them about what the choices are and some of the pain that they have to experience. well, we'll see how that plays on a national sc

chuck, i think we should start with some news. talking about the weather, talking about potential delays. what are you learning about whether even tuesday afternoon they'll hold the start. >> they seem to be pretty determined to do something on tuesday. they have to do some business of the convention. but i've already been talking to some officials who indicate there will certainly be a tone . insanity and beach infomercial. the reality is this is a really big opportunity for a candidate and a party to connect their visions for a country to a much wider audience. romney is thinking a lot about his mission this week. what does it need to be? >> if you're running for president, particularly as a challenger, there are really four hours that count. that are the highest level of your opportunity to persuade the country to vote for you. one is the acceptance speech at your convention. and then you've got the three debates. so yeah, this is prime-time, it is key romney reach outside the convention and persuade voters by reframing himself

meteorologist chuck bell is keeping an eye on the conditions from the storm 4 weather patio. chuck? >> reporter: hey there, jim. good afternoon to you. good afternoon, everybody. the sunshine is really faded out now behind some late afternoon, early evening cloud cover, and that trend is going to continue lowering and thickening of clouds here for the remainder of your friday evening and that will eventually lead to raindrops for most but not necessarily all. still 90 degrees down at national airport. winds out of the southwest at 14 miles per hour. you may be able to hear a rustle of the breeze across my microphone. we have a nice breeze in upper northwest. dew point temperatures are in the upper 50s to near 60 around town but much more moisture-laden air to our north and west where the rain showers are now. northern maryland, out to the panhandle of west virginia, even more showers, northern prince william county there right along interstate 66. so as you make your plans to enjoy your friday evening, backyard barbecues, it isn't going to rain a lot on your metro barbecues but i'd

i'm storm 4 meteorologist chuck bell. we're off to a cloudy start this morning. most of the rain chances this weekend will be right up here in the first half of your saturday. things improve tomorrow. right around 70 degrees. there's a look at storm 4 radar, heaviest rain showers down across portions of southern maryland. that's where the rain may linger the longest. you folks out towards the blue >>> that is the news from 30 rock. back to lester in london. >> all right, thanks. still to come, all for one and one for all. the women's team races its way to gold in world record time. they're here to reflect on the performance for the ages. this is "today" on nbc. hey, there's barely a line at space mountain. you there ! i am looking for someone, hair black as night, skin white as snow ! yeah, yeah, i got that ! she is at the castle. dad ! honey ! but she's on the move. disney mobile magic, on verizon. you wouldn't happen to have an apple ? find characters, access wait times for the park you're in, and enjoy premium features

it would have been chuck brown's 76 birthday. mayor vincent gray unveiled a proposal for chuck brown park. brown died in may. the proposed park would include part of the current langdon park, not far from the old gogo clubs of northeast. he also proclaimed today and all august 22 going forward to be chuck brown day. ll cool j found himself in a real-life crime drama. he was face to face with a burglar in his home in los angeles. the suspect set off an alarm. ll cool j subdued him until police arrived. no word yet on charges. [ obama ] i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [ male announcer ] you work hard. stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him... mitt romney made twenty million dollars in two thousand ten t paid only fourteen percent in taxes... probably less than you now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break... and raises taxes on middle class families by up to two thousand dollars a year. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he pays less. you pay more. >> a fina

chuck, first to you. let's dispense with the fact that we've been kind of tea leaf reading for days. would he dream of doing it during the olympic games. >> right. >> would we know when the jet flew into the town of the nominee? are you surprised first off at the timing? >> perhaps a little. it's actually, if you count back from the convention, this will be the second earliest running mate announcement in the modern era of presidential politics. the only one that was earlier was actually john kerry's pick of john edwards in 2004. but we're at a moment where the romney campaign, frankly, feels as if they need a relaunch. this campaign had become too much about him. they were unsuccessful in trying to turn this campaign into a referendum. that's probably the biggest shift that the ryan pick makes in this campaign, brian, which is now the romney campaign has decided, you know what? our strategy of simply running against obama on the economy, it was a loser strategy, it couldn't work, we couldn't win a refere

>> well, chuck, good morning. i want to bring you up to date on the situation first here in slidell. as you can see the sun is out and the rain has stopped so it is much better news for the residents here and also the floodwaters are receding rapidly and this is a day after police officers rescued about 150 people here from their homes. now, however, at last check, about 40% of the state is still without power. and overnight, we will also confirm that sheriff's deputies in nearby plaquemines parish found two people dead inside of a home underwater, and we were told that the two people were unidentified man and woman believed to be in their 40ed s believed to be in kitchen of that home. and the coroner says he fears that more bodies could be found. now, turning to a developing story across the state line in mississippi, there were concerns that the piercey quinn dam could break and flood communities downstream from louisiana, but mississippi officials said that there was no imminent threat and even if the dam were

chuck todd@dailyrundown.assigns coming up on "the daily rundown." >>> melody shay, founder of asa products led the company to more than $3 million revenue in three years. but some bad decisions caused sales to plummet to a tenth of that. instead of giving up, she got her mba and took what she learned to rebuild her company. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. >>> hurricane isaac and tropical storm isaac, not a hurricane yet, isn't just casting a shadow over the republican convention but adding uncertainty over the president's schedule right now. he is still scheduled to travel to ames, but with the storm bearing down on the gulf, that could change. his trip -- the vice president' scheduled trip to florida has already been called off. robert gibbs is here. i imagine you're not here to observe chris christie's speech tonight. the president is obviously giving a statement before he goes on the campaign trail. what is this balance? should he be out there campaigning when the republica

. >>> that brings us to our political director chief white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck, just to repeat here, why did this get so much bigger so quickly than just a senate race in missouri? >> well, two quick reasons. sense of urgency, 5:00 deadline tomorrow afternoon that if congressman akin gets out on his own republicans can replace the candidate but this has to do with that last poll question andrea put in her spot and that is this gender gap particularly in battleground states in virginia and colorado. brian, president obama has been running ads attacking romney on issues of access to contraception, the funding of planned parenthood. there is already a wide gender gap. they didn't want it to get worse. >> back to your day job covering that building behind you you were in the briefing room today. the president walked in. a surprise appearance. takes some questions. we heard a little bit earlier but in another portion he took on his opponent directly. let's listen. >> i'm not asking to, you know, disclose every detail of, you know, his medical records. i mean, t

. >> chuck? >>> the battle to define paul vine still center stage where the congressman calls the white house out on jobs, president obama takes every opportunity to paint ryan as the ideological leader of the unpopular house republicans. meanwhile, at a ryan event, hecklers race the stage. >>> plus, we are learning more about the roster of speakers at the republican convention and if nothing else, promises to be entertaining a plum role for governor chris christie and senator marco rubio also nabs a key slot. them matically you can the face of a party that romney now wants to sell. >>> and kay bailey hutchison sits down for her exit interview today, part of our week long series with the departing senators. good morning from washington it is tuesday, april 14, 2012 -- august 14, 2012. my apologize. this is the daily run down. i'm chuck todd it is august, april, it is the as. >>> go right to my first reads of the morning, battleground blitz. the race to define paul ryan turns to five swing states

david gregory and chuck todd.ur congressman is the top democrat in the budget committee whose chairman is paul ryan. you work right next to this guy on every committee, you have to duke it out every day, what are the pluses and minuses of this guy as a politician who could be next vice president of the united states? >> well, look chris, i get along very well with paul ryan personally. we work on the budget committee together, but i strongly disagree with his vision for the country. and i think this is sharpened the debate in a way that will help the president, because at the end of the day what mitt romney is demonstrating through this choice is that he wants to follow an economic agenda that's good for people like mitt romney. at the expense of the rest of the country. and if you look at the ryan/romney plan, that's what it does. and i don't think people want to go back to a souped up version of trickle-down bush economic policy. we tried that, it didn't work. the economy crashed. millions of people lost their j

you played with chuck. >> it's just like we're all in a tailspin just kind of lost.ven at rehearsal we're so used to his preparation and him giving us his fatherly advice all the time. >> what do you miss most? >> just hugging him and his words of wisdom, talking to him and hugging him and him calling me and saying hey baby. >> you're laughing. what do you miss? >> she is a big baby. i miss all of his stories, you know, like you might try to tell him something to impress him like, you know, oh, i remember coming to see phyllis harmon and he would top you by oh, yeah, jimmy carter had me over to the white house. i just miss all of those stories. he just was fascinating. >> the chuck brown tribute concert is tomorrow at meriweather post pavilion. the doors open at 3:00. >>> it was first chick-fil-a appreciation day and then this, gay right advocates head to the restaurant with their own message. >> joe paterno's family not happy with the punishments for penn state, what they plan to do about it at 11:00. [ male a] olympic tennis players bob and mike bryan are always on

>> it's a very slow-mover, chuck, and that is the problem. it's a category 1, but still wind gusts over 80 miles per hour and the rain is unrelent g unrelenting. 9 inches at the airport in new orleans out here, on the mobile gulf shores area, close to 5 inches of rain. this is orange beach, we're just off to the east of gulf shores. and high tide's a few hours away but the water is way past where it should be at high tide. this is a nice, long beach. we're losing beach to the erosion from the water. also the wind has blown a lot of sand and you can see all the seaweed now. buildings here are fine, power on. let me show the radar, it's a slow-moving isaac. still an 80-mile-an-hour hurricane. now that the center has made a second landfall and the entire center is over land, although it's kind of marshy down there, slowly will wind down in the wind perspective, but, boy, this rain unrelenting for the next cull he will days, until friday before it gets into southern arkansas. so rainfall rates of an inch an hour. numerous flash flooding. and how

just gets over the upright. >> cris: chuck pagano is saying, did that get over? >> dan: brown and josh chapman jumped over the top of the steelers' offensive line and got the block and they didn't block it enough. >> cris: a little leap frog over the top. >> dan: just a piece, 65 is what's coming in. actually, no, not there. part of a trio of colts. jason shirley. >> cris: you know, that's what you get the flip side of that. when you say, oh, this field goal is automatic. and there's no such thing. >> hines: but you like to see the effort out of those guys to try to go up and it's the fourth quarter. want to go up and make a play and they almost did it. >> cris: i've got to think that chuck pagano, regardless of how this comes out, will be pretty happy. his quarterback came in here, which little shaky early on. hey, all of us that came to pittsburgh the first time to play, a little shaky but he settled down and he was strong-minded. and he came back and made some nice plays. >> hines: that's something you can build on. in the preseason, you take all the positives

here's chuck todd. >> good morning, washington.ing up at 10:00 on "the chris matthews show", mitt romney picked paul ryan to shake up the race. but for two men known for discipline they keep getting knocked off message. first on medicare and then mitt romn romney's tax returns. it was a long day away from when they said it was only about the economy. and why mitt romney may get the biggest boost from the weather. they used to word tsunami when talking about the economy. how can president obama convince them the sun will come out tomorrow? join us for a great discussion. now, for a look at what's coming up on "meet the press," here's david gregory. >> thank you, chuck. good morning. coming up how about is mitt romney's decision to put paul ryan on the ticket changed the race? one thing is for sure, certainly catapulted the debate over the future of medicare in the campaign and painted a clear picture of what's at stake in november. i'll talk to martin o'malley and the governor of virginia, bob o'donnell. plus, perspective from rudy