this is the senator from flori florida, part of the emerging generation of the g.o.p. he's 41 years old, a favorite of the tea party, and he will be introducing mitt romney tonight. let's listen to senator marco rubio. >> i think i just drank clint eastwood's water. thank you! thank you so much. thank you so much for having me here today and thank you so much for doing this convention here in florida. un, before i begin, this is-- thank you. before i begin, this is such an

flori florida is under a state of emergency and the republican national convention's opening day eventsw-lying tampa, well, they are not happening. we will go to cnn's jim spellman in key west, florida, this morning. jim, are you getting winds there this morning? i'm curious how bad it is getting already? >> the winds have picked up, and we haven't seen rain and it is nowhere near tropical storm force winds and it is increasing rain, but i am noticing how fast the clouds are moving. it does seem that things are building up here as the day goes on, but they anticipate this afternoon is when it will build up here in key west. >> are they most worried about the winds tor flooding maybe? >> well, yeah, not so much the winds. for a couple of reasons. one, minimal cat 1 hurricane is 75 to 80 mile an ho-mile-an-hou especially the resort places, the hotels are built to withstand that. the main thing is that a storm surge possibly and the inland flooding that they can get here after a normal thunderstorm, and that is one of the main reasons they wanted to clear out the visitors of the the town.

thank you so much in key west, flori florida. now to lester holt in new orleans. lester, i can only imagine these are tense times there. >> they are. clearly the memory of katrina is on everyone's minds, wednesday the anniversary of katrina. it's not expected to be as big. if it is a slow moving system it's a concern. new orleans officials say the levee system has been totally redone or strengthened since katrina. flood gates in place now, a huge pumping system. they believe if it's a category one they will be in good shape. nonetheless al mentioned folks living outside the protection of levees in those parishes to the south of new orleans. they are there right now under mandatory evacuation order. new orleans right now it's only a suggestion. if folks want to pack up and leave. there's no mandatory order here. that would not occur unless they knew they were watching a category three. what they are telling people, if there is an evacuation of new orleans, there will be no so-called shelters of last resorts, no superdome, airports, if ordered to leave, everyone wil

this is the senator from flori florida, part of the emerging generation of the g.o.p. he's 41 years old, a favorite of the tea party, and he will be introducing mitt romney tonight. let's listen to senator marco rubio. >> i think i just drank clint eastwood's water. thank you! thank you so much. thank you so much for having me here today and thank you so much for doing this convention here in florida. un, before i begin, this is-- thank you. before i begin, this is such an important night for our country. i want to take just-- with your permission-- just a few seconds to talk about another country, a country located just a few hundred miles away from the city, the country of my parents' birth. there's no freedom or liberty in cuba. and tonight, i ask for your prayers that soon freedom and liberty will be theirs as well. ( cheers and applause ) it-- this is a big honor for me. just not so long ago i was just a deep underdog candidate, the only people that thought i could win all lived in my house. ( laughter ) four of them were under the age of 10. but this is incredibl

coming up, florida, florida, flori florida, ground zero in the medicare fight and could mean big problems romney team. and racing on garbage cans. it must be time for your summer break. [ male announcer ] this is the land of giants. ♪ home of the brave. ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪ and certain men... find a way to rise above. this is the land of giants. ♪ guts. glory. ram. >>> we are back with a pause from the political battle of the day. a time to rest. relax and recharge. it is time for the "politics nation" summer break. we start on the streets of germany where taking out the trash has never been more fun. check this out. it is the annual garbage can world cup. look at this guy. the rabbit racer. nice costume. he is showing solid form as he nails the tough turn. not all of the daredevils. this guy needs to pick up the pace. and number seven is all business. careful around that bend. i hope the winner doesn't celebrate with too much trash talk. hey, forget the congressional softball game. i want to see them riding cans next year. we con seriously freaked-out elephants. they ar

live at the republican national convention here in tampa, flori florida.> i have greek yogurt. what do you have? >> the super food is not out there. >> joinings the set as you can see, political director and host of "the daily rundown" and very bad eater, chuck todd. >> not just danish, but with the the jellies, which is nothing but red sugar. >> i used to eat that way. >> yeah. >> yeah. i used to. it was an incredible time. >> jeans, no socks? >> it's florida, babe. >> msnbc political analyst and style icon. >> incredible. >> gene robinson. >> gene. >> last time in the five-year history on "morning joe" that republicans outnumbered the democrats. >> i saw. >> it was stunning. i actually felt comfortable for a minute or two. so let's start this hour with you. >> we'll fix that. >> you fix that right now. what are you thinking about the convention right now? obviously a series of polls have come out. it is a dead heat. >> yeah. >> what are you thinking? >> this is really close. we were just talking earlier. let's get on to the mitt romney speech. let's hear

flori in 2005 and georgia in 2007? or was it an issue that ended up coming up for no particular reason? >> i cannot speak to florida cases specifically. in georgia, there was a recognition that our statutes was vague with respect to what it meant to duty to retreat. there was a policy question. does one endanger themselves if they are aggressively challenge with a deadly or serious force? does it in danger -- giving someone out of the public view in this attempt to retreat. is that something we should ask the citizens of georgia to do has a duty? we as a state, we believe there is a compelling state interest to providing clarity to the law and make public policy statement that very clearly a person should not have a duty to retreat. we also believe from a public policy perspective that one's right toear arms should not be constrained just whin their homes. they're both public policy questions that were raised woman looked at the georgia law. -- that breeze, looked at the georgia law. [applause] >> thank you. professor, you have been printed out as the resident academic. i will start with you. we have a series of qu