cnn's jessica yellin is at the white house. jessica, what, specifically, is the obama camp saying? >> reporter: hi, fredricka. it's the obama campaign that is slamming this choice as a sign that mitt romney is doubling down if you will on the narrative that the obama campaign has built that mitt romney in their words wants to slash taxes for the wealthy on the backs of the middle class. in a statement from the obama campaign manager he says the ryan budget is a new budget but supports new budget busting tax cuts for the wealthy by putting greater burdens on the middle class and seniors and describes ryan as the architect of the radical house budget. i'll tell you that i spoke to an official there who laughs that candidate romney is trying to distance himself from ryan's budget as jim pointed out the same day that he's picking ryan as his vice presidential candidate. >> so, clearly, this is going to shape some of the campaign ads that we've been seeing from the campaign, from the obama campaign and perhaps even from some of those super pacs for president obama as well. >> well, abso

let's get to the chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. off guard but do you think the response, the reaction that we just saw in the campaign was a little surprising? >> i think it's clear to them and to everybody that representative ryan is charismatic as a speaker and is going to fire up a lot of crowds and is something to contend with. i don't think that would come as a surprise to the obama folks. but they know that they have a fierce contender in terms of somebody who will take it to the president and really bring the attacks aggressively. on the other hand, they do think they have a message to hit back with and that's what they did right out of the gate. campaign manager jim mussina released a statement attacking the ryan budget which you know he released and has been very public about saying it's a new budget but tax cuts for the wealthy are what it is filled with adding greater burdens on the middle class and seniors. they described ryan as the architect of the radical republican house budget. so you are going to hear from the obam

president obama is holding five fund-raising events in chicago today, and cnn chief correspondent jessica yellinlook at how the democrats plan to make paul ryan a key part of their strategy in the weeks ahead. >> well, you can expect to hear the word ryan used as part of a phrase an awful lot between now and november between the obama team, and hear it as the phrase romney/ryan budget tor extreme republican house budget, because their goal is to try to bind mitt romney to paul ryan's budget which they believe is an example or they will try to tie him to the narrative which they have already built, and that is that mitt romney wants to give tax breaks to the upper income americans at the expense of middle class americans, and they believe that the pick of paul ryan helps them to make the case that they are committed to doing that and as you know, he is an enormous enormously charismatic campaigner, but they can make the argument on entitlements and tax reform and deficit cutting that mitt romney would go about it in a way that would hurt the middle class whereas the president would not. and also,

and god bless the united states of america. >> cnn's chief white house correspondent jessica yellin hadn with president obama for a special documentary entitled "obama revealed, the man, the president." jessica is joining us now. you really did get a unique interview with the president. among other things you asked him about his cool, calm personality. what did he say about that? >> hi, wolf. well, the president said he believes essentially that his ability to be calm and cool is an asset. not surprising that he said that, but he acknowledged some people he thinks misinterpret it. here's some of that interview with the president. >> sometimes michelle and i not doing the circuit and going out to dinners with folks is perceived as us being cool. it actually really has more to do with us being parents. when we're in town here in washington, in the evenings, 6:30 we want to be at the dinner table with our kids. and i want to be helping with their homework. and i think that's sometimes interpreted as me not wanting to be out there slapping backs and wheeling and dealing. it really has more

jessica yellin, thank you for joining us. we will talk to you throughout the course of the day and the week at the convention. we're very excited. coming up, we will talk to tampa mayor bob buckhorn and talk about the rnc scheduling delay. of course, no activity today. we'll see what he thinks with the latest weather forecast here in tampa. and we're also talking about the eerie hurricane forecast for the gulf. isaac could make landfall near new orleans seven years to the day after hurricane katrina, and we want to talk about how this will impact the celebrations here in tampa, the gop rollout and mitt romney's big night, not to mention the people on the gulf coast. so, stay with us. we are live in tampa on "early start." ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. who dreamed she could fly. like others who brave

cnn's jessica yellin sat down with president obama for a brand new documentary.r with a preview. and harvard university draws some of the brightest kids in the country, but now it's investigating claims that dozens of students -- dozens, may have cheated on a final exam. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in charlotte. you're in "the situation room." >>> the political fireworks in tampa now are over. but spotlight shifting here to charlotte, north carolina, where it's president obama's turn to go on the attack and make his case for another four years in the white house. i'm here at the time warner cable arena, the site of the democratic national convention. they're getting ready for the convention to begin on tuesday. the podium has just been unveiled. and only days from now thousands of democrats will be gathering from across the country for all the excitement here. i'll be leading cnn's coverage of all the big events, the speakers among them, the first lady of the united states, michelle obama, the vice pr

jessica yellin. it's a pleasure to see you.now you and a crew have been working on this documentary. you have this amazing access to the president. you've been covering him since 2008. tell me something you learned that you didn't know. >> we interviewed secretary clinton. they described him as cool. when he's doing national security, taking on those kinds of issues it's a real advantage because he can be very steady. it's also become a challenge because some people say he's been aloof in washington when it comes to relationships with members of congress so we explore some of those issues. >> i want to go to a quick clip. let's take a look. >> reporter: reggie love knows the president as a strong mid range shooter. >> he'll attack the basket and knock down open shots. >> reporter: the kind of guy you want on your side and love has been on the president's team since the campaign days. >> what's he like when he's just hanging out? >> he's like a guy. he likes the bulls. he likes the bears. like most guys that i know which i think

jessica yellin, thanks so much at the white house. >>> romney and ryan are already hard at work. we hit the campaign trail with them next.iu steak. let's see what people think. it's a steak-over. it's juicy. it's tender. it seems like it just melts in my mouth. that's a nice steak. only one in five steaks is good enough to be called walmart choice premium beef. you are eating walmart steaks. really? this is fabulous. the steak is excellent. i'm gonna go to walmart and bring it here. [ laughter ] walmart choice premium steak. try it, tell us what you think on facebook. by the way, it's 100% money back guaranteed. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes se

jessica yellin is our chief white house correspondent. she is in tampa.id he was going to go on the campaign trail today. did he cancel that? >> no, carol, he's not canceling his planned trip to iowa, colorado and virginia. but the president is making clear here is that he's trying to convey is since first of all to americans who live in these areas that they should obviously heed the warnings and there should be no repeat of what happened obviously with katrina where people didn't do that. but also that the president himself is doing something very different and that there have been, there's a sense of confidence in the white house is what they're trying to convey and that he has been there not just having fema on the ground now, but for more than a week he made clear, preparing and getting ready. if there is a message it is that we are ready, organized, prepared and taking this seriously, so you will now see the the president heading to iowa and virginia and colorado as i said, speaking to college campuses and officials there have told me that if things

our chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin, is joining us now with more reaction. are they saying over there at the campaign and elsewhere, jessica? >> reporter: hi, wolf. well, you can expect to hear the word "ryan" used as part of a phrase an awful lot between now and november as the obama team. you'll hear it part of the phrase "romney/ryan budget" or "extreme house republican budget." that is because their goal is try to bind mitt romney to paul ryan's budget, which they believe is an example, or they'll try to tie him to the narrative they've already built, which is that mitt romney wants to give tax breaks to the upper income americans at the expense of middle class americans. and they think that the pick of paul ryan helps them make the case that he is committed to dointhat. that will be what they'll try to do, wolf. they do know, as you can see, he's an enormously charismatic campaigner. but on the other hand, they can make this argument on entitlements and tax reform and on deficit cutting that mitt romney would go about it in a way that will hurt the midd

chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is here. they are going to convene it and start the clock. >> gavel in and gavel out for one day. tomorrow the real events begin. >> tell me about the condensing. >> they turned four days into three and tomorrow you'll hear from ann romney, the governor's wife who will give a fuller picture of who he is as a man and gop favorite new jersey governor chris christie. on wednesday, mike huckabee is speaking and also bobby jindal, who is the governor of louisiana. he's scheduled to speak. as we know, his state is now under a state of emergency and so because of the hurricane we're waiting to see if he's going to come. the governor himself speaks on thursday introduced by marco b rubio and jeb bush. donald trump was going to speak on monday, no longer appearing at all. >> it's an interesting two-tier track. you've got to get the speeches done and pt business of the convention to get done. you have a pr issue in how you manage starting with just to some degree a big kickoff with the impending storm t

i'm joined by jessica yellin.t seems like a big deal. >> it is, it's usual for the candidate to come in himself a few days before the speech. it really seems to put a spotlight on ann romney's speech to high lie the fact this is a moment when we're going to see the personal side of mitt romney. if the whole point of this convention is to give voters a different picture of romney, the family man, the warm guy, it's also more opportunity for him to be on stage and seen in two more nights in that light. >> normally we see the candidate pumped in by satellite aimage waving to his wife waving now presumably they'll be on stage together. >> that al gore and tipper gore lip lock -- >> we did perhaps learn our lesson with that. >> we've been talking about the convention, should it be toned down. we haven't spoken as much about president obama, who is on a two-day campaign swing starting today. >> that is true and it's also unusual for the rival candidate to go out and campaign during the other's convention -- >> at all. >

i'm joined by jessica yellin and republican congressman randy forbes from virginia.here has been talk about what is the right thing to do or not do with this convention while isaac bears down on new orleans. >> obviously we're concerned about all of the individuals in new orleans, mississippi, wherever this cod hit. we want to make sure they are safe. in our country there's a lot of challenges and we're going to continue to deal with all of the challenges. it would be nice if we could deal with each individually, one we have is how to get the economy back on the road it needs to go on and create jobs. while at the same time making sure we're monitoring what happens with the hurricane. >> radio talk show host say rush limbaugh saying the media and democrats are making more out of the storm. >> the media is out there saying that hurricane katrina is now hanging like a paw over the republican convention in tampa. so this whole thing has been plitized as the democrats politicsize everything. it is the government, it's obama. >> is this are politicized. >> we hope it won'

our chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin, is joining us now with more reaction. saying over there at the campaign and elsewhere, jessica? >> reporter: hi, wolf. well, you can expect to hear the word "ryan" used as part of a phrase an awful lot between now and november as the obama team. you'll hear it part of the phrase "romney/ryan budget" or "extreme house republican budget." that is because their goal is try to bind mitt romney to paul ryan's budget, which they believe is an example, or they'll try to tie him to the narrative they've already built, which is that mitt romney wants to give tax breaks to the upper income americans at the expense of middle class americans. and they think that the pick of paul ryan helps them make the case that he is committed to doing that. that will be what they'll try to do, wolf. they do fwhoknow, as you can se he's an enormously charismatic campaigner. but on the other hand, they can make this argument on entitlements and tax reform and on deficit cutting that mitt romney would go about it in a way that will hurt the middle cla

i'm joined by jessica yellin. and as we said, we've been talking all week about the so-called likability gap. so ann romney talked a lot about their marriage, which some people have called a story book marriage. let's listen. >> i read somewhere that mitt and i have a story book marriage. well, let me tell you something. in the story books i read, there never were long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. and those story books never seem to have chapters called ms or breast cancer. a story book marriage? nope, not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage. >> who is the audience here? >> the audience is two fold. one, it's women voters which we can look back to, and it's also general voters i think who have been sold this idea that mitt romney's sort of a pudacrat who has lived this unbelievably privileged le and nothing they can ever touch and this is trying to break down the idea that they're just regular folk who suffer just like the rest of us and have had har

that's the documentary jessica yellin has been working on that you're going to want to see.d next monday, 8:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. the louisiana governor bobby jindal has decided to skip this republican convention and stay back home in louisiana to cope with the storm. coming up, we'll be joined by another one of the republican parties truly rising stars. u.s. senator marco rubio of florida. he's next. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let

chief white house correspondent jessica yellin asked the president about those labels.sive interview for a new cnn documentary. >> sometimes michelle and i not doing the circuit and going out to dinners with folks is perceived as us being cool. it actually has more to do with us being parents. when we're in town here in washington, in the evenings, 6:30, we want to be at the dinner table with our kids and i want to be helping with their homework. i think that's sometimes interpreted as me not wanting to be out there slapping backs and wheeling and dealing. it really has more to do with just the stage we are in in our lives. >> if you're re-elected, your girls will be older. they'll probably have their own weekend plans. >> it's already starting to happen. yeah. >> do you think you might do more outreach, what you call back slapping, with members of congress? >> my hope is that getting past this election, people will have an opportunity to maybe step back and say, you know what, the differences that divide us aren't as important as the common bonds we have as americans.

i'm here with jessica yellin. ica, with ann romney last night who delivered this speech with incredible grace and poise, there were moments where there was no subtlety at all. it was very clear who her audience was. let's listen. >> we're the mothers. we're the wives. we're the grandmothers. we're the big sisters. we're the little sisters and we are the daughters. you know it's true, don't you? i love you women! >> there it is. no subtlety there. >> no suggebtlety. the president has a distinct advantage among women voters. latest polling shows by 30 points he's seen as being more in touch with women than mitt romney is among likely voters. that is a huge gap. women were the voters who helped put the president over the top in 2008 and as you know, romney's trying to win their votes. and so this is his weapon to help try to move women. and the category they're really going for are married women. that's where they think they can make some gains. >> she talked a lot about their marriage, saying it's not a storybook mar

that's the documentary jessica yellin has been working on that you're going to want to see.:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. the louisiana governor bobby jindal has decided to skip this republican convention and stay back home in louisiana to cope with the storm. coming up, we'll be joined by another one of the republican parties truly rising stars. u.s. senator marco rubio of florida. he's next. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from