la long, long, long such a lonely boy ♪ ♪ la la la la la la la la la la la la long, long,l be right back with kristen bell, everybody! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ why should golfers take 5-hour energy? playing golf all day can make you tired. i've been taking the product for about a year. and, after taking 5-hour energy, i feel more energized. i have more energy. you know, i'm not tired anymore after taking it. i was skeptical but i decided one day i'd try it. 5-hour energy works fast. i have the energy to get through a meeting, to get through a workout. it keeps me alert for a long period of time, and keeps me going. on or off the course, play with energy, 5-hour energy. activating protection, bear! the more you move, the more it works! [ roars ] [ screaming ] new long lasting degree with motionsense help me! keep running! so the production of twix was divided between two separate factories. left twix factory cascades caramel and chocolate onto cookie, while right twix factory flows caramel and chocolate onto cookie. today they share nothing, but a wrapper and a driveway. t

favorite things ♪ something within us ♪ makes each voice unique when it sings ♪ ♪ la la la la laa sing with us! ♪ la la la lam was made possible by: [ female announcer ] fun for everyone makes a family strong. chuck e. cheese's proudly supports pbs kids. for over 90 years, stride rite's been there, from the first wobbly walk to the first day of school, helping you choose the right shoes. stride rite is a proud sponsor of curious george. can fuel a lifetime of learning. abcmouse.com early learning academy, proud sponsor of pbs kids and curious george. funding for curious george is provided by contributions to your pbs station... ooh. ...and from: ) ♪ you never do know what's around the bend ♪ ♪ big adventure or a brand-new friend ♪ ♪ when you're curious like curious george ♪ ♪ swing! ♪ ♪ well, every day ♪ every day ♪ ♪ is so glorious ♪ glorious ♪ george! ♪ and everything ♪ everything ♪ ♪ is so wondrous ♪ wondrous ♪ ♪ there's more to explore when you open the door ♪ ♪ and meet friends like this, you just can't miss ♪ ♪ i know you're curious ♪ ♪ curious ♪ ♪ and that's marvelous ♪ ♪ marvelous ♪ ♪ and that's your

la-la-la." he sings la, la, la. la, la, la, and la, la, la, and oh, yeah at the end. snoop is the best.r when he used to kill people.

la-la-la." he sings la, la, la. la, la, la, and la, la, la, and oh, yeah at the end. snoop is the best.used to kill people. kate goeslin, formerly of jon and kate plus eight, pitching a reality show. this time, a dating show. she is the date. it's like "the bachelorette" meets "the deadliest catch." it's interesting. if you are interested -- thank you. [ applause ] if you have any interest in dating kate goeslin, she enjoys long walks on the beach, not the beach you picked out, that beach sucks you are an idiot for choosing it. she likes quiet evenings by the place where the fire would be if you weren't so incompetent in case you couldn't get the duraflame lit. don't know if a dating show is a good idea, how would you know if a guy really likes you, or if he is just using you as a steppingstone to the octomom. you don't. i made a lot of fun of kate goeslin, over the years, i hope she finds true love or a new hair stylist. say what you will about the new show. the promo looks like a lot of fun. kate goeslin is back and ready to find the man of her dreams. whether he likes it or not. 12 m

la-la-la." he singsgs la, la, la. la, la, la, and la, la, la, and oh, yeah at the end. snsnoop is the best.e used to kill people. kate goeslin, formerly of jon and kate plus eight, pitching a reality show. this time, a dating show. she is the date. it's like "the bachelorette" meets "the deadliest catch." it's interesting. if you are interested -- thank you. [ applause ] if you have any interestst in dating kate goeslin, she enjoys long walks on the beach, not the beach you picked out, that beach sucks you are anan idiot for choosing it. she likes quiet evenings by the place where the fire would be if you weren't so incompetent in case you couldn't get the duraflame lit. don't know if a dating show is a good idea, how would you know if a guy really likes you, or if he is just using you as a steppingstone to the octomom. you don't. i made a lot of fun of kate goeslin, over the years, i hope she finds true love o or a new hair stylist. say what you will about the new show. the promo looks like a lot of fun. katete goeslin iback and reaead to find ththe man of h dreams. whether he likes it or

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lacer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element can solve anything. ♪ 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's go. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money and financial information. he

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lanouncer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, did the gop make a case for mitt romney? tuesday night was the night voters were to fall in love with mitt romney. new jersey governor chris christie, and ann romney, tried. >> this is important. i want to you hear what i'm going to say. mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege. not a political talking point. >> ann romney was electric, strong, and stunning. and she got a standing ovation. matt dredge called her mrs. america. yet although it was clear ann romney loves her husband, some say she missed an opportunity to tell us something about mitt romney we didn't already know. peggy noonan, who wrote speeches

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lao make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question this morning what do the political conventions mean to you? they're here, the political conventions, that is, but will anyone watch them? are they really history in the making or just political commercials? they say the conventions have become cheering sessions for partisans. the public is turned off and maybe will tune out. >> look, even though they're infomercials, they do present the basic platform. you get a sense of the candidates. you get a sense of what they're like, what their values are. you know what the party stands for. so they are important educational moments. >> educational, yes, but where's the drama. we know who the vice presidential candidate is, we know what the gop platform is. still, this is romney's chance to present

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la las help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. the lines, the cost, the hassle. ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor, with coffee-mate, from nestle. >>> stories we are watching now in the newsroom -- >> if you are feeling left out or passed by, you have not failed. your leaders have failed you. >> paul ryan making his case at the republican national convention. now the man at the top of the ticket gets ready for his big night. >>> tropical storm isaac keeps hammering louisiana with more flooding, more rescues and evacuations are under way. and nearly 1 million people across five states without power. >>> and replacement referees. a new group of men and women in striped shirts will be on the field for week one of

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la launcer ] dow solutions help millions of people helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. the lines, the cost, the hassle. ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor, with coffee-mate, from nestle. to dabble with the idea of hybrid technology, it's already engrained in our dna. during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection. ooo no. the hotel lost our reservation. nonsense! you book at travelocity, your reservation's guaranteed. well, i did not book with travelocity, okay?!? [ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee any way you book, including our new app. you'll never roam alone. >>> these numbers just in to cnn. wanted to share them with you this morning. an

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lanouncer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. 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.

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> tropical storm isaac has brushed past the florida keys into the earn part of the gulf of mexico. it's expected to strengthen to possible category 2 storm with sustained winds of more than 100 miles per hour before making landfall on wednesday somewhere between mississippi and louisiana. hurricane watches are in effect from new orleans to the florida panhandle. potential exposure to property damage along the gulf coast estimated up $36 billion. oil and gas producers shutting down gulf operations. isaac with temporarily shut 85% of u.s. offshore oil production. 68% of natural gas out put and 40% of refining capacity. nymex natural gas trading higher. crude up higher. natural gas is trading up by 1.6%. >> fires in venezuela, firefighters are trying to put out a blaze after an explosion on saturday. 41 people killed. dozens more hurt. more than 200 homes were damaged. the refinery in western venezuela handles 645,000 barrels a day. it had already been partially shut down twice this year because of a small fire of a cooling unit. >>> the iaea may tap into emergency oil reserves by september according to industry general petroleum citing unnamed source. the move is a u turn to the iaea's chief of dismissal of any action a week earlier. it's thought any potential move could be at least as last year's 60 billion barrel injection. >> 72% fall in profit in the second quarter on increased costs on aluminum. it cut its global outlook for consumption and expect chinese demand for the metal to slip. >> qatar holding is ready to increase its stake in uk mining to 25% if the greeks plan to merge with glencore falls through. sources close to the bid told the paper it said the chief executive would have the backing. the stake increase would mean qatar holding could veto any future merger. >>> samsung not the only tech company getting punished today for friday's u.s. court rulings on patent. analysts say apple's victory is a big negative for other android phone makers. taiwan's htc shares dropped on 2% on concerns it may need to settle its own patent lawsuits. for more on the short fallout on this big apple/samsung ruling we're joined by florian mueller. florian, is this deal fair? is it likely that samsung will be able to overturn the decision? >> i think that the most samsung can realistically hope for is some adjustment. i believe that the judge is going to be differential to the jury and the appeals court as well. however, the jury has to answer more than 700 questions, and i would also be surprised if the appeals court and now the judge agreed with the jury on 100% of those findings. some changes, yes, but a dramatic reversal of fortune probably not. >> is this bad for the consumer then? it does seem to just back up apple's dominance in this sector, giving them free rein to continue that dominance for some time to come nine agree there's a need for competition and nobody wants to have a monopolized market here. the good news for consumers is that a, this particular ruling, even though it's a huge break through for. all is not immediately devastating to samsung. they will be able to keep selling products in the united states and b, more mid-term to long term, companies like samsung and h pc and lg are multiplatform companies and even though google's android mobile operating system faces a number of intellectual property issues and actually including friday's verdict androids based devices have been found to infringe already 15 different apple and microsoft patents and counting. but the bottom line is there other platforms, windows phones and other initiatives and opportunities for companies like samsung in that regard. >> florian, are we coming to a stage where the, just the nuts and bolts of intellectual property law will have to be reformed to keep up with the kind of intellectual property that the law is called upon to adjudicate. in terms of what kind of items can be patented and how these things are carried out. it seems like big companies are just bogged down in these kinds of issues at the moment. >> i understand widespread concern. at the same time we have to one it's a very unique situation in which these current patent disputes are being fought. there's a whole new kind of -- a whole reshuffling of market share. you have companies with different background. apple a computer company, mobile players like nokia, or electronics companies like samsung trying to capture a piece of this huge market and it causes a huge friction. there's room for improvement in many ways. i personally campaigned against softer patents in europe years ago which is why i can certainly relate to a lot of criticism. in my opinion the most pressing issue right now is not even what apple is doing. as spectacular it may be, my primary concern for consumers and for innovation is what some companies do with so-called standard, essential patent, meaning patents without a phone is not a phone without which a phone cannot dial into a network, that i think is the first issue to address worldwide and even regulators like the european commission are top this. >> just looking to some of the viewer feedback that we've had on this story on twitter, analysts watching, florian, joe one of our viewers says he can see about protecting patent technology but said the courts played a role in this verdict. is there an argument that the u.s. court is a bit too cozy with apple and samsung and have an unfair brunt? >> i definitely want to defend the judge who is by coincident a korean judge. i think she did the best job she possibly good to give samsung a fair trial. samsung was out of luck in the sense that the jury foreman personally holds a software patent and electronically believes in the protection and enforment of intellectual property. i think this philosophical inclination played a bigger role. samsung struck its biggest victory in korea. if i compared this to rulings in various european countries, they are are in the middle. >> thanks for that. also thanks to joe who wrote in from ohio on twitter with that question as well. >>> so still to come on the show, fresh from talks with greece's leadership, french president francois hollande heads to madrid to meet with the spanish prime minister. we'll preview that summit. that's coming up. >>> welcome back. germany's key business sentiment index falls more than expected to reach its lowest level since march of 2010 despite some signs of hope for manufacturing. >>> samsung electronic sharesing rocked by friday's u.s. court ruling shedding $12 billion off its market cap after the tech giant is found guilty of infringing six of seven apple patents. >>> nokia tops the stoxx 600. the phone maker and microsoft set to benefit from the samsung case. >>> the u.s. gulf coast is bracing for tropical storm isaac which can be a major hurricane when it makes landfall by mid-week. energy prices moving higher as oil and gas prices move to shut down production. >>> so let's look around the european markets. the uk markets closed today for this holiday. very small gains for the german market. also switzerland declines for the cac and the iran bex. cac down marginally, ibex by 0.4%. bond markets, a lot of speculation around the ebc and what they will do to get a bit of respite for the spanish and italian bond markets. 6.4% is the yield on the 10 year in spain. 5.7% roughly on the ten year in italy compared to very low yields we're looking at the ten year in germany which is 1.35% right now. in the forex markets, reaction to those ifo numbers. 1.2525. hanging on to the gains. euro sterling is at .7925. aussie/dollar is dipping between 1.1 and 1.1%. just 1.0394. further details on the ecb's plan to cap peripheral bond yields have been sketched out. the latest rumors suggest officials from the central bank want to set a target range on bond yields. angela merkel has asked for everyone to weigh their words carefully. after potentially inflammatory comments from germany's top policymakers over the weekend. in an interview, ecb bond buying covey late rules. today german finance minister meets his french counterparts in berlin. let's get out to patricia in tranquilize further. it looks like this war of words, even within germany just continuing over the weekend. >> reporter: especially within germany and, becky, to be honest with you it may heat up going forward which can be dangerous for the eurozone because remember in a about a year's time we do have elections coming through here in germany so the making greece and to the possibility of greece leaving the eurozone an issue for an election next year is definitely very dangerous indeed. interesting to see, of course, that meeting between them today ahead of jackson hole on friday. one thing to come out, we know where both are standing because france has been adamant about saying we need greece to stay in the why are you something that was expressed by germany that they would like greece still to stay in the eurozone. germans are adamant about greece sticking to what they said about reforms and timing over reforms. just this weekend, he was against giving greece more time to put reforms into place. he equates more time to more money and once more money is on the table perhaps the actual set up conditions for the bailout money may be changed as well. that was echoed by our economists who also said he would definitely not like to see, it is not desirable to see greece exiting the eurozone, however, again, he puts a lot of emphasis on fulfilling for what they said for the bailout money within the time frame given. angela merkel said she's trying to calm the waters right now because you know how it is, especially within the markets, policy is something that drive the markets, the humans behind the numbers is what the market is part of psychology, very much reacting to the sentiment that is basically given by the politicians discussing backwards and forward. by the way also, becky, angela merkel getting a little bit more support when it comes to the ecb bond buying next steps going forward. >> thanks for updating us. french president, francois hollande says greece must remain in the eurozone. the country's leaders need to prove they are willing to go through with reforms. today his focus will turn on other troubled hot spots. spain is due to meet with his counter part. stephane pedrazzi is watching these developments. >> reporter: spain is speaking with the same voice on angela merkel. trying to ease speculation on greece. francois hollande says greece must remain part of the eurozone, however he's asking the greek leaders to show more commitment basically. he would like greece to demonstrate that the recovery program is credible and asking the leaders to have the political will to go through with plan which means basically deep restructuring and austerity, so that's important the greek statement from francois hollande which is similar to angela merkel but very much different than what eve heard from some german conservative leaders in the last couple of days who suggested as patricia was explaining greek leaving was manageable. francois hollande will be heading to spain to meet spain's leader. they will talk about fwrooek leaving the eurozone even though it's not on the table. spain was in talks with other eurozone members over the terms of a potential sovereign aid. no decision would be taken until at least the 12th of depth. that would be just before the next meeting. so be interesting what francois hollande will say after the meeting because this discussion about the spanish potential or spanish sovereign end is not on the agenda. let's wait and see for the press conference. back to you. >> stephane, thank you very much for that. let's see how the spanish debt yields held up. looking at what's going on particularly just in the past few weeks, this is a three month chart. so, saw a massive spike in the yields on the two year, just a few weeks ago towards the end of july when we saw the two year above 7%. this was really, obviously, some extreme sense in the eurozone. very much coming back since then but still at 3.72%. very sharply lower from those levels over 7% that we saw just a few weeks ago. let's start by getting your thoughts on the situation then with the various peripheral countries that are in trouble. greece is, particularly what we're hearing from stephane and patricia what happens next for greece. does greece have to go whether or not they get a bit more time? >> yeah. i think it's just a very challenging situation for the country. if you look at the fundamentals, it's not managed to turn the case around. still have very bad with tax payments. we saw a study only 40% it would be paid. the whole problem could be solved to show how much underlying structure we have in that country. when you compare greece to ireland they did not manage to cut their labor cost. so investment case important the country becomes very difficult in particular if you compare it to countries like turkey or poland where you see much more manufacturing business go, when companies make a decision to build up their plants, the investment case for the country is still bad. going to be very hard to bring back the economy from this recesssive cycle and that's where i have serious doubts, despite all these political talks and measures greece will have a very difficult time to make it. and i can understand angela merkel's point that they don't want to go down as politicians that have a big euro but if you look at the fundamentals i find it very hard they can work this out. >> so, there has to be some kind of catalyst in either direction that makes this eventually happen to the teetering on this. >> the fundamental problem we have in greece and spain is that the ability to devalue the currency is not just there any more. and that's been the obvious thing that kept these countries going before they joined turo. so having the ability to devalue, having the ability to become competitive is from my perspective the only cure they have to bring the economy back up to speed. now, understand it's a very complex process to get these countries out of the eurozone but ate process that has to be addressed and i think that should be more seriously considered instead of like kicking the can down the road. i think that we'll see quite a dramatic shift after elections have gone through in germany next year and angela merkel might have made it to her next term. i think she might then be willing to take some more serious steps to watch this crisis because the acceptance level within germany for these rescue and bailout packages is very low. >> how are you trading around these issues then? >> well, you mean like where would i put my money? >> yes. where your put urge money, hopefully? maybe, where did you put my money, i guess is a better question. >> spend it. exactly. just enjoy the summer and spend it. we know that the european central bank is probably more restrictive than the u.s. would be in terms of printing money but inflation concern is there and what you can say in particular about germany, a lot of people are putting money with real assets now. a lot of people are trying to buy homes, buy apartments. we almost have a little bit like a real estate boom in germany, and there's a lot of funds that pop up around this area about real assets, about real estate. that's certainly one way to go. in term of our business, to be quite honest, these new slows make it very difficult to trade the stock market or the equity markets on a systematic basis. without any fundamental change it's very difficult environment for us at the moment. that's all i can say. bonds are a little bit easier, commodities are a little bit easier to trade but current service a just a bit. >> spend it. i like that advice. i'll try to heed your advice. >> enjoy it. >> thank you very much. unusual strategic advice but have to take it nonetheless. >>> if you want to get in touch with the show e-mail us. the address is across your screen there, worldwide@cnbc.com. twitter, follow me @beckymeehan. investment advice, spend your cash. >>> big job cuts heads japan's financial sector buzzing today. we have the story live from tokyo. >> reporter: nomura holding shares finished 1.4% lower following media reports that the firm plans to cut several hundred jobs out of its equities and investment banking divisions. some investors worry the restructuring may cause further restructuring in the company after insider trading scandal forced resignation. according to media reports, nomura's over haul will help restore its overseas division. details of the plan will be revealed next month. it will account for the largest portion of the cuts. the region posted $970 million in loss in the past year amid ongoing debt crisis. nomura asian and american operations are not spared. the company will shift its resource nor promising areas such as fixed income in order to build market share and deliver more consistent results. back to you. >>> okay, thanks very much for that. so unicreditbanca is facing sanctions over iran. it said in a statement that hvb has been cooperating with investigations with regulators regarding sanctions of persons and company. the knit was conducting an internal review. >>> meanwhile deutsche bank is said to be considering bonus rules that could strip bonus payrolls. the "financial times" says the rule has been described as unusual if not unique. >>> a suspect has been arrested following the theft of private data relating to the clients of swiss banking firm. the swiss newspaper says the stolen data was received by tax inspectors in germany. investigating people who may have used swiss bank laws to dodge taxes. carolinain has more. >> reporter: good morning to you, becky. this is just one of many disks that have been stolen by the swiss bank employees and so many others disks have been sold to german tax authority in this case. this put the swiss german tax deal at risk especially with the harsh language coming from the german side in the past couple of days. the ceo of julius baer confirmed data theft. ju lie us a baer settled with german tax authorities to end investigation last year at the cost of 50 million euros. this renewed data theft doesn't help. separately, julius baer ceo talked about the purchase of merrill lynch international growth management unit. that will involve massive cost-cutting including some job cuts. in switzerland and also possibly singapore and there was no appetite for another big acquisition at least for a year or so. on that note, back to you. >> thanks very much for that. break being news four then. mexico has launched a wto, word trade organization dispute against argentina. this news is breaking in the past few minutes. the complaints surround argentina's import licensing rules at which some say are blanket restriction of import, and protectionist policy. this is the complaint that mexico had launched against argentina at wto. >>> time to take a quick break. still to come the global economy may be false terrifying. are policymakers willing to splash cash on travel. we'll hear from the president of one of the leading travel websites. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] whether it's kevin's smartphone... mom's smartphone... dad's tablet... or lauren's smartphone... at&t has a plan built to help make families' lives easier. introducing at&t mobile share. one plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. add a tablet for only $10 per month. the more data you share, the more you save. at&t. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ laale announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> time for our weekly trade links special this week we're looking at travel industry. has the slow down in summer economy impacted consumer appetite for getaways. we caught up with the president of hotels.com and asked how demand has been holding up. >> travel has had a good first half the year in 2012, moderate growth for the most part. but it differs by region. that's a lot to do with the macro economic conditions going on in the different regions. in north america business travel has come back. prices for hotels have risen a little bit. you're seeing better occupancy there. the dollar has gotten stronger so you're not seeing as many travellers coming from europe or brazil in particular. so it's moderate growth, cautiously optistic but not fully back to wh

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. mpblt here is a number for you. 113. at least 113 people were killed across syria today. that's on top of a staggering weekend total of 684. syrian rebels claim to have shot down a government helicopter. we have to preface it by saying c thrks n cannot c cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of this video. activists say 245 bodies were found in daraya over the weekend. just today cnn obta

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lanouncer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element can solve anything. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. >>> let me be clear, our problem with president obama isn't that he's a bad person. okay? by all accounts, he, too, is a good husband and a good father and thanks to lots of practice a good golfer. our problem is not that he's a bad person. our problem is that he's a bad president. [ applause ] >> senato

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. they're whole grain good... and yummy good. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola bars. treat yourself good. quaker yogurt granola bars. ♪ forz(power!) andiamo! andiamo! (let's go! let's go!) avanti! avanti! (keep going! keep going!) hahaha...hahahaha! you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? happier than christopher columbus with speedboats. that's happy! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. 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. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. questions. when you're caring for a loved one with alzheimer's, not a day goes by that you don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. >>> welcome back. you are looking at live pictures inside. you can see live pictures insidinside the cnn grill. we're the nucleus of tampa and the republican national convention is right now all week long. it's officially been called to order. let's continue on. part of this story here are more pictures inside. called to order athe top of the hour by rnc chairman. on the minds of so many people here in florida and the gulf region is isaac. here is the latest we have. isaac is still technically a toe tropical storm. remember you heard earlier that isaac could turn into a strong category 1 hurricane as it intensifies across the water there and the gulf. where ever isaac may land you could feel its impact when you fill up your gas tank the next time. the storm is very much so threatening oil refineries in the gulf. i want to talk about that. when we're talking prices at the pump and everyone is sort of, we don't like to hear that. how high could prices go? >> reporter: one analyst says if refineries start shutting down we could see gas prices jump 10 cents in the coming weeks. about a quarter of gulf oil is suspended. 39 platforms have been evacuated in eight rigs. four refineries are in the process of closing down. the gulf coast is key to oil production in this country. to put that all in perspective, 40% of the nation's petroleum refinery is located along the gulf coast. any disruption to supply could send oil prices higher. gas prices have already been rising. the national average is $3.75. it's gone up five days in a row. we'll see this as it continues. >> we'll watch for it. thank you so much in new york today. >>> now to a story that seems half a world away. something we're committed to covering for you at cnn. syria, the civil war there. new violence. this is the suburb of the capitol city of damascus where more than 240 bodies have been found. >>> at least 113 people were killed across syria today adding to an already staggering weekend total of 684. let me say that again. 684 over the weekend. syrian rebels claim to have shot down a government helicopter. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of this video. the most chilling developments that come from outside the capitol city of damascus, 245 bodies were found in daraya over the weekend. an activist say shelling continued. this is a town, this is one of the first cities that revolted against the president's regime and activists say they discovered the bodies. some were found near a mosque. it's not clear when those people were killed. an afghan soldier killed to american troops today. the latest in a spat of attacks by afghan troops against coalition soldiers. 27 american troops have been killed by afghan forces this year. this is the green on blue violence we've been reporting on. the military using guardian angels standing watch while our troops eat and sleep. >>> it is the republican party's big party but a storm called isaac taking some attention away from tampa. how the gop plans to stay in the spotlight and my favorite political tag team. to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! like the elephant on my chest... he thought he was having a heart attack. she said, "take an aspirin, we need to go to the hospital." i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm very grateful to be alive. aspirin really made a difference. 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. at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. 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. >>> let's talk politics now with my favorite power couple. margar margaret hoover is a cnn political contributor. john, my first question to you. we have to talk storm and politics and optics. we don't know yet we're anticipating the effects and aftermath of this particular storm in the gulf. how do you continue on with what should be a big party with the republicans? >> mitt romney needs to own this week. the fact that isaac has looked like it was heading here for tampa and now seems like it's heading for new orleans, it is a distraction. >> it is a distraction. >> it is a distraction. part of the key is to show a degree of compassion for the folks in louisiana or where ever the storm might hit. >> like the prayer at the top of the hour. >> show folks in the path of the storm are in their plan but also go ahead with their plan. they have to execute their plan and entintroduce mitt romney. >> nobody is more ware or sensitive to a hurricane headed to new orleans than the republican party. i worked in the white house during katrina. there are things that are different now in new orleans and louisia louisiana. we have a rising star in the republican party, bobby jindal who will not be here because he's in new orleans. there's a lot of sensitive. a lot of eyes on new orleans. also with hope. >> we'll keep talking storm. i want to talk women with you because we look at these polls and you see the president, i see you shaking your head but it's quite a healthy lead that the president has. it's a 29-point advantage in the most recent poll when cnn asked who is in touch with problems facing women. that's quite a divide. how can romney and ryan overcome the gap? >> the war on women has been an off to discuss topic amongst republicans. i'm a woman. i i'm a republican. i get there's a gender divide. >> you get it but how do they close it? >> ann romney. nicki haley the governor. they will be around during the convention. it's important for mitt romney and the party to highlight the women republican leaders. >> you're a speech writer. >> yes. >> you're mitt romney and he's practicing at his high school giving this speech, practicing this speech. what are you writing? what should he say? >> i think the real key for mitt romney is to not reintroduce himself to the american people pu tell people what his character narrative is. tell people what really shaped his character. things that can help the american people relate to him. >> make him likable. >> make him likable. it's about revealing an aspect of yourself. taking the risk of revealing an aspect of yourself so people can connect with you. so they see real emotional honesty. one question will be what obvious contender is a car crash he was in as a young man. >> he was declared dead. >> they said he was dead. he was on a mormon mission. it raises the question how much of his own faith story risk of reveal is he going to get. >> would you highlight it? >> i think he needs to take that risk and tell people who he is. his faith has shaped his character. take that risk. >> 20 seconds. what would you say? >> we've seen a mitt romney on the camign trail alone in isolation and we see him with paul ryan and his wife. you get a sense of him as a person when you see him around a person. hopefully they'll highlight that. >> ann romney speaking tomorrow night. will you hang out with me at the grill the rest of the week. >> we'd love to come back. >> thank you. see you tomorrow. >>> still to come, he was the first man on the moon, an icon to so many of us. his face is everywhere here. we're talk with one of the men who knew neil armstrong best. talk to him a couple of months ago. you know why i sell tools? tools are uncomplicated. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. >>> as the world watched neil armstrong stepped onto the moon and into our history books. >> that's one small step for man. one giant leap for mankind. >> gives me goose bumps. the apollo 11 crew returned as heroes. the first humans on the moon. armstrong died over the weekend, saturday, at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery. for the man who defined space flight being this iconic american wasn't so easy for him. joining me on the phone is armstrong's fellow astronaut and good friend. thank you for taking the time to call in. i'm sorry about the passing after your friend. i understand you spoke with mr. armstrong two months ago. what did he say to you then? >> well our conversation two ma months ago was some other things we were doing. he was just like he had always been. he was a very quiet individual but when he did talk people listened to him. >> i want to ask you about that point about him being quiet. we know that infamous line he uttered there on the moon. he was a hero to all of us. he was so private. why so quiet? why his desire to really stay out of the spotlight? >> before he ahead the landing-like the rest of us. >> hard to believe. >> he'd be pursued by many, many people with the thousands of different things and decided to hold his activities back to things he thought were important. >> did he walk every day as knowing he was such a pioneer? did it weigh on him? >> he thought about himself as a team member. a member of thousands of people that worked together and he was fortunate to be the end point of the first landing on the moon. there were many landings after that or several. he just pioneered the way for the actual landing. >> i know for that apollo 11 mission, jim, you were armstrong's back up commander. do you remember the final thing he said to you before launch? >> i said don't you feel sick. maybe you shouldn't make this one. he was too healthy. he was very positive about it. as history showed he did an outstanding job and supporting the program, supporting the american people. >> you know you talk about how he was a regular guy before this flight. what inspired his passion for astronomy for space? >> well, i think that his background always led himself to this type of work. you have remember that he was a naval aviator that flew about seven or eight missions in korea at the time. he was selected by nasa to following spoo the space program. this was his career. this is what he wanted to do. he was very good at it. >> final question to you, jim. the moon was huge many moons ago in terms of that space and that step in the space frontier and now we're all following every increment of the mars curiosity rover. what did he make of us getting to mars? did you ever talk about that with him? >> can you hear me? >> i'm listening. i can hear you. talk to me about mars. >> we talked about mars when we got together the last time. he want to have a definite mission program. so that we had a program to have the mission that we could then develop the technology. sometimes we thought together that the opposite was being threw with developing technology and didn't have a mission for it. >> it's pretty spectacular these pictures that are coming from mars and hopefully there will be blueprints in my lifetime. thank you. >> my pleasure. >>> mandatory evacuations. they are happening right now all along the gulf coast. i'm about to speak live with a hurricane hunter who just landed from flying through isaac. don't miss this. yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ female announcer ] live the regular life. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ law solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. they're whole grain good... and yummy good. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola bars. treat yourself good. >>> i want to take you live to the president speaking at iowa state university now. we're going to put up live pictures. there's going to be pictures from new orleans. he just said thoughts and prayers with the folks on the gulf. take a listen. >> i didn't hear as many cheers. come on. cyclone football kicks offer at home this saturday. i won't pretend i can give a speech like coach can, but i'm going to try because just over two months from now for the first time in most of your lives you will get a chance to pick a president. the truth is you got more at stake in this election than just about anybody. when you step into that voting booth the choice you make in that one instant will shape your country and your world for decades to come. i know that's a pretty heavy cd to lay on you on a tuesday, but it's true. the decisions we make as a country on big issues like economy and taxes and war and climate change, all these decisions will directly affect your life in very personal ways. i got say i'm acutely aware of when i make the decisions because they will affect malia and sasha, my daughters, as well. it's the way it's always been. the one generation makes decisions on behalf of the next but here is the thing, cyclones, your generation chooses which path we take as a country. your vote decides where we go from here. [ cheers and applause ] we make sure more jobs take root. not in china or germany but right here in america so you don't have to leave home to get those good paying jobs. are we going to reward an honest days work with the chance to buy a home of your own? with health care that's there for you when you get sick, with the ability to put a little away for your retirement. are we going to make it easier for you to afford your degree and pay off your student loan debt. are we going to build more good schools and hire more good teachers so our kids are prepared to attend colleges like iowa state and repa prepared fo 21st century work force. will this be a country that keeps moving away from foreign oil and toward renewable sources of energy like wind and solar and biofuels. >> no coincidence that the president is speaking flanked by youngsters in our country. he is at iowa state university and speaks to colorado state and the university of virginia. here we goes trying to reinvigorate the youth vote. can he do it? we'll talk to an obama aids and talk about how mitt romney is trying to capitalize on the higher tuition cost and lower unemployment rate when it comes to young people. more on those later here. as the president campaigns in iowa, here in tampa the republican national convention under y. some ron paul delegates. this is what we're watching for this hour. they are making sure their candidate is not forgotten here in tampa. we're going to show you what just happened moments ago after paul showed up. 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 the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. >>> we're live here at the cnn grill just on the outside of the republican national convention center here in tampa. just moments ago got into full swing. national political correspondent jim acosta is standing by on the floor there. talk to me about what's happening. i hear congressman ron paul showed up with an orchid lei and i know a number of his delegates fired up about this. >> reporter: they are. i was just down on the floor with ron paul. ron paul walked out on to the floor and the crowd of ron paul supporters starting chanting his name. obviously they were very fired up. a lot of this has to do with the new delegate rules. the romney forces would like to put in place here at the convention. this would bind delegates in future primaries and caucuses to the winner of those primaries and caucuses. there's been some rangling to try to get a delegate here and there to strengthen their candidates presence here. you can tell he didn't want to get into this but he thought his supporters were expressing themselves rather well. ron paul having some fun down here. mitt romney and his supporters have so much support here. they are going to win this debate. they are going to win this fight. nevertheless, that does not deter the ron paul forces out there. they were making their voices heard. >> with regard to the delegates, a lot of them say what the rnc did with rewriting the rules was a slap in the face. where does it stand? is there still sort of that possibility that there could be some disruption later on? >> reporter: well, i got to tell you, i think the energy level is pretty good here right now. you can look across this floor. i can see haley barbour standing by the guam delegation. party insiders are starting to make their way down here. there's guys in the west virginia delegation wearing coal miner hats. you can sense the excitement that is starting to build with this convention really getting started in earnest. my since of it is when i was over there by the main delegation the ron paul folks were fired up. they are upset about what's happening here. they don't have the votes. they don't have the support. mitt romney does. at the end of the day they're not going to win this battle. that doesn't stop ron paul. it hasn't stopped him before. >> jim thank you so much. we'll be dipping in and out as this convention is under way. this full full day there at the convention center. >>> another man getting plenty of attention at the rnc is chris christie. keynote spoker tonight. he's going to be sharing the spotlight with the hopeful first lady, ann romney. we're watching isaac. now officially a category 1 hurricane. rain, high winds. take a look at the radar. they are reaching the coastlines of louisiana and mississippi. live from the cnn grill. back in a moment. we're here at walmart with gabriel and sylvia whose sons are going back to college. they need a new phone and you guys need a better plan. you want to see what walmart's got? [ family ] sure. let's go. walmart has the latest smart phones with the perfect plans to save you a lot of money. will you show them? with the family mobile plan, a family of four can save over $1,500 a year. [ family ] wow. with the way he texts? it's unlimited text, talk and data. [ earl ] sign up for family mobile's unlimited talk, text and web plan only at walmart and get the concord android powered smart phone for only $99. now they can stay connected in college. dad, send money. no. no. 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. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> live pictures inside the cnn grill. this place used to be parking garage but in six weeks it took to build it's now officially a cnn grill. guess how long it will take to tear this down. four days. as at 10:00 eastern tonight the nation will be hearing from the person who knows mitt romney best, his wife and governor romney will address the republican national convention in tampa. ann romney is expected to talk about her husband. speaking about how he's a gracious husband, father and grandfather. the two were high school sweethearts. they have been married for more than 40 years. she took questions from reporters about her speech tonight. take a listen. >> do you have a line to tweet? >> there's not a line i need to tweet but we are refining it up there. [ inaudible question ] >> i think you will see my speech is heartfelt and i've never gone off a written text. this is a unique experience to me to have something written. >> ann romney playing a key role in here husband's presidential campaign. she has faced some pretty tough health challenges. she's a breast cancer survivor and she has multiple sclerosis. they are a hoping her speech will appeal to women voters. also taking the stage primetime in tampa tonight. the republican national convention's keynote speaker is new jersey governor chris christie. you know the man known for his big personality and his straight talk. he'll aim to rally the base, emphasis party unity and grab some of those undecided voters. it's a tall order for the most important speech of his political career. >> reporter: even a late summer walk onquickly becomes an event. >> how are you? >> how are you? >> reporter: christy has become a republican rock star who is about to play the concert of his life. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. best thing happened to new jersey. >> thank you. >> reporter: a week before he was supposed to deliver his keynote speech he talked of building a middle america economy that looked a little more jersey shore. >> i've said that the new jersey comeback has begun. not that the new jersey comeback has peaked. >> reporter: better, bolder, brasher, it's a dish republican keynoters like to serve hot. >> americans know that bill clinton's promises have the life span of a big mac on air force one. >> reporter: and the democrats like to dish back. >> there is not a black america and a white america and latino america, asian america, there's the united states of america. >> reporter: while the democrats never miss a keynote speech, the republicans had none in two of the last three conventions. >> they have to try to avoid the risk of someone saying something their not supposed to say or risky to say. >> reporter: chris christie is different. he's popular because he's combative. he controls his story line. >> did i stay on topic or are you stupid? on topic. next yes. >> reporter: he's happy as new jersey's governor at his jersey story didn't make for a good keynote speech after the state unemployment rate rose. >> the unemployment rate is a poll of 1200 people in the state. it's not like they are counting heads and jobs. >> reporter: by the end of last week his jersey comeback scene has gone away. >> there are three words that are not in my speech or tuesday night. the jersey comeback. >> reporter: he's saving his new story line for the party faithful. >> here is some fun trivia. 16 keynote speakers went onto run for president. two won the party's nomination. president obama, 2008. warren g. harding in 1920. >>> all eyes on hurricane isaac. look at these pictures. you can see the white caps. it's officially closing in. we're going to take you there live, next. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ [ male announcer ] if you think even the best bed can only lie there... ask me what it's like when my tempur-pedic moves. [ male announcer ] ...talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america. ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. ask me about having all the right moves. [ male announcer ] these are real tempur advanced ergo owners. find one for yourself. try your friends on facebook. see what they have to say unedited. ask me what it's like to get a massage anytime you want. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. [ woman ] ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait till i'm too old to enjoy this. [ male announcer ] treat yourself to the ultimate sleep experience and save up to $400 during the tempur ergo savings event. plus visit tempurpedic.com for full details on our 0% apr financing with four years to pay. don't wait. the tempur ergo savings event ends october 14th. visit tempurpedic.com now. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. >>> in just a couple of hours hurricane isaac will make landfall along the gulf coast. the effects of isaac are very much so there. take a look at live pictures we have. you can see the waves really crashing. we have mayor mitthe mayor aski to remain calm. the first part of louisiana to feel be brunt of isaac is grand isle. jennifer, let me bring you in. when should this gulf region, when should new orleans start to feel just the outer bands before it makes landfall? >> we are going to expect to see hurricane conditions arriving into the southern part of louisiana as we go later into the evening. we are already feeling as tropical storm conditions. as i take you back over the our graphic here, notice what is heading into there. some of those bands working in very heavy rainfall and that southeastern part of louisiana. weather will continue to go downhill. we're seeing wind gusts up to about 60. right now nthey are sustained a 75. the big problem is it's going to be moving slowly. we talk about more the potential for flooding because of excessive rainfall. some of the areas could see anywhere about 14 inches of rainfall. as we go through tuesday at 8:00, the winds 80 miles per hour. very close to the mouth of mississippi. looks like it's going to get close to areas including new orleans as we go into the overnight hours and notice wednesday 8:00 a.m. 75 miles per hour and with it moving slow all that rainfall will be going up towards the north affecting parts of the midwest. it will bring beneficial rainfall to that region. that's another part of the story. i also want topoint out about the storm surge. look at the surge, 7 to 11 feet. that's why they close that flood gate because they want to protect the region especially with the storm surge. look at gulf post mississippi. the area right here it's a bit more shallow. that provides a even stronger storm surge. that's why we're staying there anywhere between 8 and 12 feet. again, we show you on the radar. we are dealing with a tornado watch. notice some of those bands moving through. a lot of lightning tracking with the storms. we're seeing the storm get stronger so we could see more strengthening out of hurricane isaac. >> thank you. we're greater for our "i-report"ers. if you are in a safe place, let me say that again, if you're in a safe place and you have a camera, we would love for you to share your photo, video, your experiences here. >>> coming up next, moments ago on the convention floor, dana bash spoke with a delegate from maine who is angry about the rnc rules regarding ron paul. ♪ i ca ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. they're whole grain good... and yummy good. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola bars. treat yourself good. the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. what a bargain! [ female announcer ] sometimes a good deal turns out to be not such a good deal. but bounty gives you value you can see. in this lab demo, one sheet of bounty leaves this surface cleaner than two sheets of the leading ordinary brand. so you can clean this mess with half as many sheets. bounty has trap and lock technology to soak up big spills and lock them in. why use more when you can use less? bounty. the clean picker up

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ [ "the odd couple" theme playing ] humans. even when we cross our "t"s and dot our "i"s, we still run into problems -- mainly other humans. at liberty mutual insurance, we understand. that's why our auto policies come with accident forgiveness if you qualify, where your rates won't go up due to your first accident, and new car replacement, where if you total your new car, we give you the money for a new one. call... to talk to an insurance expert about everything else that comes standard with our base auto policy. [ tires squeal ] and if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, your repairs are guaranteed for life. call... to switch, and you could save hundreds. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? >>> i want to get a quick update for you at the bottom of the hour as hurricane isaac is sitting there barely moving. ten inches of rain has fallen in new orleans. talk to me about where the center of the storm is. isn't baton rouge getting slammed next? >> absolutely. everybody is focusing on new orleans, new orleans but baton rouge is going toet slammed. there's giant trees that will ese winds. even though you think the eye of the center is on land, there's not that much land. this is going to get right into baton rouge. this is as clos as it's going to get from new orleans. as the storm moves to the north, re goi to get less and less wind. od news. is a big, big outerbd.here. these cells are spinning. we talk about the potential for tornadoes in hurricanes. that's what the potential is today. you'll hear tornado sirens in that area for sure. could be a dozen or more tornadoes in mississippi today because of these cells as they come on shore. kind of like water spouts. they're not kansas, texas size tornadoes but they can still do damage. brooke. >> still not something you want to deal with when dealing with all this water. just heads up for all of you watching. we will be talking to a reporter there on the ground next hour. stay tuned for that. we have the whole gulf coast covered for you. now this. >>> talking politics here in tampa is a huge, huge night. i don't thk i can underscore that anymore for congressman paul ryan. the biggest night of his political career thus far. he takes center stage at the forum not to far from me here to accept the nomination as mitt romney's running mate and no pressure. the congressman from wisconsin needs to make this speech his rock star moment. john ablon and his wife. let's talk about this. daily beast article. paul ryan introduces himself to america. tonight's speech is the equivalent of his major label debut after a series of independent albums. >> i'm glad you lik this. this is the big thing. this really isan introduction. paul ryan is ved an conservative circles. he's never run outside his wisconsin congressional district. he's a great communicator. he knows,0 how to take a conservative message and make it echo at home. one other secret weapon. he's writing the speech himself and he's a former speech writer. former speech writer for jack kemp. >> i hear he's pretty hands on. can you tell me a bit about the two people who will are helping him. one of whom very instrumental, sarah palin. >> matt was the writer of the palin speech. >> there's a couple of people i know who is helping him. he's a speech writer himself. what i love about paul ryan and one of the things you should look for is he has an ability to anticipate what the criticisms will be and address them in the speech. he knowsu he's goin accused of tactics of ds security akingndac away at programs. >> he's got some tough questions nswerp. >> as he makes his case, he save theroem the people who need government the most are going to be hurt the worst. he has awaof making case and really channels what conservatisay ranking conservasm. chng articulating it and ng the still being connectible. >> as you point out, this is really the first time we've seen a president hopeful out source his plans to a vice president. is that really a good thing for mitt romney? >> it's a fascinating dynamic. you pick paul ryan. you own the ryan plan. he's opinion rewarding his. it is the first time. this was a policy free presidential campaign until paul ryan came around. >> i'm shaking my head because i do disagree. the romney plan is not the ryan plan. paul ryan said i did any budget. now i'm running on the romney plan. this is not about the romney-ryan plan. >> it just lacks numbers. that's the only number. >> i fully appreciate that but paul ryan has gone on campaign they have changed the context and tone of the debate on medicare. the polling numbers on medicare come out and they are very different. you don't have seniors scared they would take away their medicare like a year ago. >> i know there are a lot of big questions. we'll pose game tomorrow. >> absolutely. >>> waiting in the wings is the man who officially nominated paul ryan. his friend of more than 20 years. we'll take you live to the convention floor. we'll meet this man and see what he has to say with our dana bash, next. [ owner ] i need to expand to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for nine years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. >>> congressman's paul ryan steve king put ryan's name in for nomination. ryan has known king for more than 20 years. in fact, ryan was an envepe stuffer on king's senate campaign in wisconsin. this was back in 1988. dana bash joins me live here in tampa with republican delegate steve king. introduce us to mr. king, the man who paul ryan, i'm quoting, first leader of his generation. can you have him explain that for us. >> they decided this is a good time to test the drums at the convention. thank you very much for joining us. the fact you have said that you believe he is one of the greatest leaders of his generation. why is that? >> well, by virtue of the fact that mitt romney chose him to be so. he is 42 years old. he's a lot younger than the incumbent president. heist of another generation. he's running for vice president. he's become the political leader of his generation. >> you have a special knowledge or insight. you knew him way, way before mitt romney chose him. tell us something about paul ryan that we might not know in all the information we've gotten in this few weeks since he's been on the national trail. >> when i first began to talk to paul in 1997, he was 27 years old about running for the united states congress for the first time. it struck me what a man of big ideas he was even at that young age. in talking about those ideas it was also clear to me he had the courage of his convictions. he's a man that's mature well beyond his years. he gets it. i think he's prepared to not only, the biggest thing that happened to me in this whole thing is that mitt romney chose him. i did not think he would choose him. >> why not? >> because i thought he maybe thought he was too young and he had been out front with his bold ideas. here is man not afraid to tell the truth even when others choose to ignore it. >> one last question before i let you go. can you give us a little preview of what we expect to hear from paul ryan in his big speech? >> it will be a bit of personal background but not a lot. he'll talk about what he seeings as the issue of this campaign. >> thank you so much. thanks for joining us. a little bit of insight into the man we're going to be hearing from tonight. that was good homework that you did knowing about the stepping. good stuff. >> well, you know. we do what we can. i really commend both of you for doing that through the drum beat. thank you. an extra thank you. make sure you tune in tonight for cnn primetime coverage hopefully sans drumming. wolf blitzer will be setting the stage and during the 10:00 p.m. hour paul ryan will address the delegates there on the floor and all around inside the forum. at midnight piers morgan will wrap up the night's events. we hope you join us. >>> four feet deep and still rising. this is the scene from gulf port, mississippi as hurricane isaac stalls. we're now getting word highway 90, this huge coastal road has washed out. we will take you there, next. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. britta olsen is my patient. i spend long hours with her checking her heart rate, administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. "not tonight, britta. not tonight." [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. perform, compete and grow. and people are driving this change. that's the power of human resources. the society... for human resource management and its members know... how to harness that power, because we help develop it. from the next economy, to the next generation, we help get... the most out of business, by getting the best out of people. shrm. leading people, leading organizations. >>> satellites have been tracking isaac. this video captures when isaac made landfall around plaquemines parish last night. more than 650,000 people are without power in a couple of states. you have out of power in louisiana, arkansas, mississippi and alabama. we are just getting word this major coastal highway for this region is washed out. john is there. he joins me by phone from gulf port, mississippi with the latest on highway 90. what part of it is closed? >> it's hard to tell how much is closed. you can just drive a short distance about a mile from the hotel where we were at. it was completely under water. the westbound lane is a bit elevated and at the water. it's an incredible sight to watch. the entire gulf of mexico rose up with the high tide and with the on shore flow. it's consumed all of the beach. it's right up to the seawall and flashing over on the highway 90. there were timbers that looked like railroads timbers on the roadway. the sand was covering the entire roadway. the water coming up and at one point as we stepped up on the higher ground which is the westbound lanes of 90, the water was covering that as well and continuing to rise on both sides of the highway. we had to go around back inland to get over to the hotel area which is a bit of higher ground. the wave action just coming over the top of the seawall and inendating portions of the road. we know westbound furt west we've been told it's even worse there when you get into past wave land, bay st. louis and more of highway 90 enindated there. i'm looking now at an oak tree that has snapped off. we had winds in all directions. chad was mentioning about the t t tornadic activity. we were getting hit in every direction. brooke. >> he was mentioning several pop up tornadoes. please, stay safe. we can tell the water was up to your calves and much higher. we showed a bunch of pictures. they are sent to us from you. if you are feeli ining the effe of isaac please share and do so in a safe location. your photo, video experiences from this storm. you are our eyes and ears. . ♪ you know, ronny... folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy? i'd say happier than a bodybuilder directing traffic. he does look happy. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. >>> what it must be like when running up stair s a form of rescue. >> it's horrible. everybody house is gone. nobody got a house. nobody. >> how high is the water? >> the water is almost over my head. >> look at this. our affiliate wwl reports that the people you just heard either got help or able to let rescue teams know of their location. much more of our coverage after this. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ lalions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. in communities across the country. whether it's supporting a delaware nonprofit that's providing training and employment opportunities, investing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego bakery expand, what's important to communities across the country is important to us. and we're proud to work with all of those who are creating a stronger future for everyone. yep...doh. [ boy ] slurpably fun and a good source of calcium. dads who get it, get go-gurt. begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye.

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. would you mind if to be i go ahead of you?omer. instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. >>> before the break we played some of vice presidential nominee paul ryan's convention speech. as cheryl of the house budget committee, the congressman from wisconsin is known for his conservative fiscal policies. in his home state, he is a familiar face and name. his prime time speech tonight was his national debut. here are more highlights. >> president obama was asked not long ago to reflect on any mistakes he might have made. he said, well, i haven't communicated enough. he said his job is to, quote, tell a story to the american people. as if that's the whole problem here? he needs to talk more and we need to be better listeners? ladies and gentlemen, these past four years, we have suffered no shortage of words in the white house. what is missing the leader isship in the white house. thank you. and the story. and the story that barack obama does tell forever shifting blame to the last administration is getting old. the man assumed office almost four years ago. isn't it about time he assumed responsibility? we have a plan for a stronger middle class with a goal of generating 12 million new jobs over the next four years. in a clean break from the obama years, and frankly, from the years before this president. we will keep federal spending at 20% of gdp or less. that is enough. the choice is whether to put hard limits on economic growth or hard limits on the size of government. and we clues to limit government. [ applause ] president obama is the kind of politician who puts promises on the record and then calls that the record. but we are four years into the presidency. the issue is not the economy that barack obama inherited. not the economy that he he said visions. but this economy that we are living. college graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms staring up at fading obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. everyone who feels stuck in the obama economy is right to focus on the here and now. and i hope you understand this, too. if you're feeling left out or passed by, you have not failed. your leaders have failed you. we will not duck the tough issues. we will lead. we will not spend the next four years blaming others. we will take responsibility. we will not try to replace our founding principles. we will reapply our founding principles. the work ahead will be hard. these times demand the best of all of us. all of us. but we can do this. we can do this. together, we can do this. we can get this country working again. we can get this economy growing again. we can make the safety net safe again. we can do this. whatever your political party, let's come together for the sake of our country. join mitt romney and me. let's give this effort everything we have. let's see this thing all the way through. let's get this done! thank you and god bless you all. thank you. >>> we'll have highlights of some of the other speeches ahead. but first, we'll get the latest from the gulf coast. tonight, new orleans is under a dusk to dawn curfew. there is dangerous flooding across coastal louisiana in the wake of isaac. now a tropical storm. dozens of families who ignored mandatory evacuation orders had to be rescued. a full update is just ahead. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. perform, compete and grow. and people are driving this change. that's the power of human resources. the society... for human resource management and its members know... how to harness that power, because we help develop it. from the next economy, to the next generation, we help get... the most out of business, by getting the best out of people. shrm. leading people, leading organizations. >>> i'm in cyy's hurricane headquarters. one of the more pesky storms you'll ever come across. the category does not tell the tale of what this storm is capable of. in the past few hours, it has sat in place. the pastly the or so hours has only moved 60 miles. the right side of the storm. that's where the moisture is. on the back side it is bone dry. you can go in a few places. about 70 miles to the west, they have picked up any rainfall. on the right, we have picked up 18 inches. right now winds at about 60 mirds. gusting upwards of 70 miles an hour. there's the center of circulation. west of baton rouge. the wind gusts up to about 40 to 50 miles an hour. we're going to see conditions improve here. the heaviest of the rain showers going to exit the picture. the biggest area of concern as we have tornado watches in effect. a couple lines of severe weather within the embedded thunderstorms and an isolated shot of tornadoes. we'll keep you out of the storms as it progresses. why not take a day to explore your own backyard? with two times the points on travel, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. >>> former secretary of state condoleezza rice left the white house nearly four years ago and has been leading a fairly low profile post government life back in academia. tonight her prime time speech put her back in the political spotlight. her main job was to make the case for mitt romney as a world leader. here are some highlights. >> i can remember as if it were yesterday when my young assistant came into my office at the white house to say that a plane had hit the world trade center. and then a second plane and then a third plane. the pentagon. and later we would learn that a plane had crashed into a field in pennsylvania, driven into the ground by brave souls who died so that others might live. from that day on, from that day on, our sense of vulnerability and our concepts of security were never the same again. then in 2008, the global financial and economic crisis would stun us. and it still reverberates as we deal with unemployment and economic uncertainty and bad policies that cast a pall over an american economy and a recovery that is desperately needed at home and abroad. and we have seen, we have seen that the desire for liberty and freedom is indeed universal as men and women in the middle east rise up to seize it. yet, the promise of the arab spring is engulfed in uncertainty, internal strife and hostile neighbors. our challenging the young fragile democracy of iraq. dictators in iran and syria butcher their people and threaten regional security, russia and china prevent a response and everyone asks, where does america stand? indeed, indeed, that is the question of the hour. where does america stand? you see, when friends or foes alike don't know the answer to that question, unambiguously and clearly, the world is likely to be a more dangerous and chaotic place. since world war ii, the united states has had an answer to that question. we stand for free peoples and free markets. we will defend and support them. mitt romney and paul ryan understand this reality. our well-being at home and our leadership abroad are inextrickbly linked. they know what to do. they know our friends and allies must again be able to trust us from israel to columbia. from pole an to the philippines. our allies and friends have to know we will be reliable and consistent and determined. and our foes, our foes can have no reason to doubt our resolve because peace really does come through strength. our military capability and our technological advantage will be safe in mitt romney's hands. we must continue to welcome the world's most ambitious people to be a part of us. in that way, we stay young and optimistic and determined. we need immigration laws that protect our borders, meet our economic needs, and yet, show that we are a compassionate nation of immigrants. mitt romney and paul ryan will rebuild us at home. and they will help us lead abroad. they will provide an answer to the question, where does america stand. the challenge is real. but america has met and overcome hard challenges before. whenever you find yourself doubting us, just think about all those times that america made the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect. and on a personal note. a little girl rose up in birmingham. the segregated city of the south where her parents can't take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant. but they have her absolutely convinced that even if she can't have a hamburger at the woolworth's lunch counter, she could be president of the united states if she wanted to be and she becomes the secretary of state. [ cheers and applause ] yes, yes, yes. yes. yes, america, america has a way of making the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect. but we know it was never inevitable. it took leadership and it took courage. and it took belief in our values. mitt romney and paul rbi have the integrity and the experience and the vision to lead us. they know who we are. they know who we want to be. they know who we are in the world and what we offer. that is why, that is why this is a moment and an election of consequence. because it just has to be that the freest and most compassionate country on the face of the earth will continue to be the most powerful, and a beacon for prosperity and liberty across the world. god bless you and god bless this extraordinary country. this exceptional country, the united states of america. >> former secretary of state condoleezza rice speaking earlier tonight. senator john mccain was also a speaker four years ago he beat mitt romney in the republican primary. tonight, he sang his former opponent's praises. those highlights ahead. that'll be $973.42. ya know, your rates and fees aren't exactly competitive. who do you think i am, quicken loans? [ spokesman ] when you refinance your mortgage with quicken loans, you'll find that our rates and fees are extremely competitive. because the last thing you want is to spend too much on your mortgage. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! 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 p. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ for real. ...that make a real difference. you expect something $40in return. billionaire oil tycoons charles and david koch and their special- interest friends are spending $400 million to buy this year's elections and advance their agenda. what's their payback? politicians who will pass laws that benefit special interests, but hurt the middle class; more tax cuts for the rich, eliminate the minimum wage, big cuts to our schools, but big subsidies for oil companies, learn what you can do at... hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. wells fargo. together we'll go far. >>> four years ago arizona senator john mccain was acceptinhis party's nomination in st. paul, minnesota. tonight one of the men he beat in the 2008 primary is preparing to do the same. four years ago, mitt romney was an opponent. tonight senator mccain took the convention stage as a speaker. >> it is an honor as always, my fellow republicans, to join you at our national convention and add my voice to yours. as we nominate the next president of the united states, my friend, governor mitt romney. you know, i had hopes once of addressing you under different circumstances. but our fellow americans had another plan four years ago and i accept their decision. i've been blessed for so long to play a role in our nation's affairs that i'm conscious only of the debt that i owe america and i thank you for the honor. when we nominate mitt romney, we do so with a greater purpose than winning an advantage for our party. we charge him with a care of a higher cause. his election represents the best homes for our country and the world. it is that that this election will turn on domestic and economic issues. but what mitt romney knows, and what we know is the success at home also depends on our leadership in the world. it is our willingness to shape world events for the better that has kept us safe, increased our prosperity, preserved our liberty and transform human history. at our best, america has led. we have led by our example as a shining city on a hill. we have led at the direction of patriots from both parties. we have led shoulder to shoulder with steadfast friends and allies. we have led by giving voice to the voiceless, insisting that every human life has dignity and aiding those brave souls who risk everything to secure the inalienable rights that are endowed to all by our creator. [ applause ] we have led with generous hearts moved by an abiding love of justice to help others eradicate disease. lift ourselves from poverty. live under laws of their own and determine their own destinies. we have led when necessary with the armed might of freedom's defenders and always we have led from the front. never from behind. this is what makes america an exceptional nation. it is not just a matter of who we are. it is the record of what we have done. it is the responsibility, the generation after generations of americans has affirm and carried forward. it is the cause that many americans have sacrificed everything, absolutely everything to defend and when they've gone into battle as they do today, they have done so with the conviction that the country that send them there is worth their sacrifice, that it stands for something more than the sum of our individual interests. may god bless all who have served. all who serve today as he has blessed us with their service. [ applause ] we are now being tested by an array of threats that are more complex, more numerous, and just as deeply and deadly as i can recall in my lifetime. we face a consequential choice and make no mistake, it is a choice. we can choose to follow a declining path toward a future that is dimmer and more dangerous than our past. or we can choose to reform our failing government, revitalize our ailing economy, and renew the foundations of our power and leadership in the world. that is what's at stake in this election. unfortunately, for four years, for four years, we've drifted away from our proudest traditions. of global leadership. tradition that's are truly bipartisan. we've let the challenges we face both at home and abroad become much harder to solve of we can't afford to stay on that course any longer. friends across the world, people are seizing control of their own destinies. they're liberating themselves from oppressive rulers. and they want manager's support. they want america's assistance as they struggle to live in peace and security, to expand opportunity for themselves and their children, to replace the injustices of despots with the institutions of democracy and freedom. america must be on the right side of history. the demand for our leadership in the world has never been greater. people don't want less of america. they want more. everywhere i go in the world. people tell me that they still have faith in america. what they want to know is whether we still have faith in ourselves. i trust that mitt romney has that faith and i trust him to lead us. i trust him to affirm our nation's exceptional character and responsibilities. i trust him to know that our security and economic interests are in and trickbly tied to the progress of our values. i trust him to know that if america doesn't lead, our adversaries will. and the world will go darker, poorer, and much more dangerous. i trust him to know that an american president always, always, always stands up for the rights and freedoms and justice of all people. [ cheers and applause ] i trust mitt romney to know that good can triumph over evil, that justice can vanquish tyranny, that love can conquer hate. that the desire for freedom is eternal and universal and that america is still the best hope of mankind. and now, my fellow americans, let's elect our next commander-in-chief and the next leader of the free world, my friend, governor mitt romney. >> senator john mccain speaking earlier tonight in tampa. meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people are without power in the gulf tonight. severe flooding from isaac has put many lives in danger. the national guard helped move dozens of nursing home residents to higher ground in louisiana. we'll have an update just ahead. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural ga it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ laannouncer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. trouble with a car insurance claim. [ voice of dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ normal voice ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. are you in good hands? >>> as an update on the latest number on hurricane isaac and the rainfall totals of what's left in the storm system. impressive to say the least. the observation site wet of new orleans picking up nearly 20 inch of rainfall. the new orleans airport site picking up rainfall that broke the hurricane katrina record for the daily rainfall going back seven years ago, wednesday, at nearly nine inches. the concern remains the flooding. some training going on here across the southern coast. across the gulf coast and mississippi. kind of like box cars in effect. some report

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> and welcome back to our special coverage of hurricane isaac. first of all, we have live pictures there as the slow moving hurricane batters the gulf there on th right. that's the superdome and on the left and very much abandoned bourbon street, as you can imagine. relentless bands of torrential rains beating down on louisiana as coastal mississippi and alabama. we're told that winds are reaching speeds up to 85 miles per hour in some parts and that more than 200,000 people are without power, mostly in louisiana as they bear the brunt of this weather. and we're with you through the night bringing you all of the information on isaac as we get it. so stay with us. right now we have with us the president of jefferson parish. john young joins us on the line. john, thank you so much for talking with us. looking at a map, it looks like jefferson parish was right near the area where this storm came ashore. what have you been experiencing? >> we've been getting pounded pretty good but we're up to the challenge. i mean, grand isle is in jefferson parish and we have crown point there which is outside of the levee protection system. the main concern is the tidal surge and there's a severe amount of rainfall that is going to fall on us. every inch of water that falls every drop of water that falls needs to be pumped out and can only pump one inch per hour and half an inch thereafter. these bands are coming in quickly but fortunately we're getting breaks in the bands so we're keeping up with it and thus far we've been able to keep water off the streets and we don't have any issues with flooding at this point in time. but we're not out of the woods yet. >> absolutely. what about damage otherwise? what are you hearing? >> well, i just got back with 15 minutes ago from doing a riding survey of the parish. we're separated by the mississippi river. so we have an east bank and a west bank and not a lot of damage at this point. we've had some power outages. most of our parish has power but they have pockets of neighborhoods and commercial corridors without power. there is not a lot of debris on the streets at this point other than certainly not on the major arteries on side streets, residential areas with trees. a lot of tree limbs are out and down. but, again, we've been unlike other parts of the country, we've been inundated with rain in the past month, month and a half almost on a daily basis so our conditions are very saturated and that -- with the wind, it leaves a lot of trees being uprooted and that sort of thing. so those are the three major concerns that we've had. those areas outside of the levee protective system, coastal flooding within the severe amount of rainfall, the tremendous amount of rainfall as well and we're going to be in this battle for another 48 hours and then the third concern that is parish-wide would be loss of power and our company cannot come in until the winds go below 35 to restore that power. >> certainly the folks that live off the levee system have probably taken off and evacuated? >> well, we issued a mandatory evacuation but these people have been through a lot and a lot of them decided to stay. now, in grand isle, about 1500 residents, we had 30 or 50 that decided to stay so a lot of people left. but in crown point most of them decided to stay. they are going to fight it out. >> we have a fighting spirit. we are very resilient down here and we are prepared for the worst and we're hoping and praying for the best. >> well, we certainly will take that with you, hoping for the best for you and it sounds like so far you are weathering the storm all right and we appreciate you bringing in the latest. maybe we can talk with you a little bit later. john young, thank you so much. don't forget for isaac's forecast track grk to cnn.com/hurricane. we continue to cover it from all basis online with our guests that we continue to speak with and our correspondents scattered throughout the southeast coast. we'll take a quick break. we're right back. it doesn't get any better than endless shrimp at red lobster. with a wide variety, you can mix and match all day. scampi, grilled, the fried -- there's nothing better. [ male announcer ] at last, red lobster's endless shrimp is back, but only for a limited time, for just $14.99. try as much as you like, any way you like, like new parmesan crusted shrimp or new teriyaki grilled shrimp, all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits, for just $14.99. [ ryan ] they can try everything. they love it. i'm ryan isabell. i'm a server for red lobster, and i sea food differently. dad, we want pizza. you guys said tacos. [ female announcer ] it doesn't always work out that way. you know what? we're spending too much money on eating out anyway. honey, come look at this. [ female announcer ] my money map from wells fargo is a free online tool that helps you track your spending. so instead of having to deal with a tight budget, you could have a tighter family. ♪ wells fargo. together we'll go far. ooo no. the hotel lost our reservation. nonsense! you book at travelocity, your reservation's guaranteed. well, i did not book with travelocity, okay?!? [ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee any way you book, including our new app. you'll never roam alone. >>> i'm natalie allen. welcome back to cnn's special coverage of hurricane isaac. we're here with you through the night. right now you're watching live pictures as this slow moving hurricane -- and that's the key, the slow moving part -- batters new orleans on the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina. this is the area of bourbon street getting hit by rain and wind right now relentless bands beating down on southeast louisiana as well as coastal mississippi and alabama. more than 200,000 people are without power as they bear the brunt of this storm. plaquemines parish nilly nungesser says they are keeping a close eye on the levees. of course, the storm came right on shore at plaquemines parish. mr. noungesser is already seein damage there. here's what he had to say. >> we have a two-foot hole in the roof. the water is flowing into the house. the back wall of the house actually buckled and the water is coming through the light sockets like you were standing there with a hose. that's the same kind of damage we received on katrina. and i'm just blown away that that kind of damage from this supposedly category 1 storm, i was just shocked when i stopped there to change clothes. >> let's get right to brian todd who is live for us in new orleans. you know, listening to mr. nungesser talk about the damage he is seeing, it's quite remarkable when this is a category 1 storm, certainly with gusts of category 2, but it's illustrative of the damage that some people can see with all of the water that they are going to get, brian. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, natalie. and one of the things people outside of louisiana should know about plaquemines parish where billy nungesser is situated is that is a very low lying area. we were down there a couple of years ago to cover the oil spill. spent a lot of time with billy none guesser at nungesser. it's a large parish. they are really in the eye of this thing. of course, the eye came ashore a couple of hours ago. they are always kind of susceptible to not only hurricanes but tropical storms and even just regular storms during the summertime. that particular area of louisiana, very, very susceptible. we're going to show you a little bit here. jackson square in new orleans. the rain -- i mean, it's amazing. just a couple of minutes ago it was very intense and changes directions constantly. that's what you've got to really worry about when you're out in a hurricane like this. the rain is going to change direction constantly. the wind will change direction. therefore, the debris will change direction. you've always got to keep a heads up while you're out and about like this. a lot of debris falling in this part of new orleans from the trees. you can see the trees whipping behind me here. the rain not as intense as it was a couple of minutes ago. two things that experts will tell you are the main killers at this point in a hurricane. flying debris, standing water. our journalist is going to tilt down here just below me and you can see a lot of standing water in this part of the street here. that's a real danger for people walking and driving, natalie, be and that's what officials tell us always. flying debris, standing water, be very, very careful of those two things. >> absolutely. we appreciate your efforts there for us, brian todd, there in new orleans. we want to head up to gulfport, mississippi, to cnn's john zarrella. john? >> reporter: quite a bit again, natalie. and this has been coming on now for well over an hour. pretty much steady like this. and you can see, let's take a look at these lights out here which we couldn't show you before because they were not on but look at the wind being driven through the lights there. you can see the rain being driven by that wind. the horizontal rain that is just being from east to west. we've had this kind of a flow all day today but now we're really getting steady tropical storm-force winds. and the interesting thing here is, don't forget, we are about 100 miles from where brian todd is in new orleans. so we are well away from the center of the circulation of the storm which just shows how massive a hurricane this is that even this far out from the center you're getting this kind of weather. look in the distance there. that's the gulf of mexico. that's highway 90. that is the main beach road that runs all through mississippi. and one of the big concerns is that as the wind shifts and changes directions, as the storm moves further inland, that the water, the storm surge that dome of water will get pushed up over the roadway there probably later today. still a good possibility that that might happen. expect it up to 6 to 9 feet of potential storm surge here in the gulfport kbrar. i'm to walk out early and you can get a sense away from the building and you may not be able to see me very well but you get a sense as you step away from the building of just how strong the wind is and you can see that rain just pounding and as you move further out, you see bits of debris, branches from the trees, tree limbs that have snapped off. nothing significant and nothing major. again, one of the things that we have to point out, a good barometer of how good a storm is whether you have electricity. that is a good sign that the winds have not been strong enough, at least not yet to knockout the power. natalie? >> gulfport decimated by hurricane katrina seven years ago and you were there. as you talk to people today realizing that another storm is bearing down on the anniversary, what were their feelings? what were the types of things that they were saying to you realizing that a storm was coming certainly not as dangerous but certainly one that could do some damage? >> reporter: well, you know, everybody understood that this was a hurricane coming, that it was a category 1, that it was not a katrina. they knew that. but they also knew that they had to prepare. in fact, we stopped at one area where hundreds of people were pouring in to fill sandbag. in fact, mississippi emergency management gave out 80,000 sandbags to people. and people were saying to us, look, we're going to be prepared for this. and if they lived in low-lying areas, these people were -- 110,000 did evacuate. but many of them did understand that they felt as if they could weather this storm, as long as they were not no low-lying flood-prone areas, they were going to be okay to stay home. >> it's got to be a tough call. anyone who went through katrina who never want to see anything like it again. i can't imagine what people have to go through. we appreciate your reporting, of course, john zarrella there in gulfport, thanks a lot to you and your crew. of course, you can share your photos, video, and experience of isaac. we would love to see the pictures that you have gotten throughout the day. as we see damage and see the wrath of isaac coming in, we will show them on air. cnn.com is where you send your videos a pictures. a quick break and right back with you after this. in communits the country. whether it's supporting a delaware nonprofit that's providing training and employment opportunities, investing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego bakery expand, what's important to communities across the country is important to us. and we're proud to work with all of those who are creating a stronger future for everyone. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment. we're america's natural gas. >>> well, before pounding louisiana, isaac, of course, played havoc with the republican national convention in tampa. well, today they finally got things well under way and tonight new jersey governor chris christie gave the keynote address. he is, of course, a rising political star. some republicans last year your honored christie to seek the nomination. that's how uninspired many were by mitt romney. well, today it was christie's job to inspire the base of romney, to sell the nominee and his vision and here are some highlights. >> i believe we have become paralyzed. paralyzed for a desire to be loved. our founding fathers had the wisdom to know that social acceptance and popularity were fleeting and this country's principles need to be rooted in grains than the passion of the times but our leaders of the today have decided that it's more important to be popular to say what is easy and rather than say no when no is what is required. [ applause ] in recent years, we as a country have too often chosen the same path. it's been easy for our leaders to say, not us, not now in taking on the really tough issues. and, unfortunately, we have stood silently by and let them get away with it. but tonight i say enough. tonight, tonight i say together, let's make it much different choice. tonight, we are speaking up for ourselves and stepping up. tonight we're beginning to do what is right and what is necessary to make america great again. let me be clear with the american people tonight. here's what we believe as republicans and what they believe as democrats. we believe in telling hardworking families the truth about our country's fis sdal fiscal realities, the math of federal spending does not add up. they believe that the american people don't want to hear the truth about the extent of our fiscal difficulties. they believe the american people need to be coddled by big government. they believe the american people are content to live the lie with them. they are wroung. we believe in telling our seniors the truth about our overburdened entitlement. they believe seniors will always put themselves ahead of their grandchildren. they prey on their vulnerabilities with the single purpose of winning the next election. here's their plan. whistle a happy tune while driving us off the fiscal cliff, as long as they are behind the wheel of power when we fall. now, we believe that the majority of teachers in america know our system must be reformed to put students first so that america can can compete. they believe the educational establishments will put themselves ahead of children, that self-interest will always trump commonsense. they believe in pitting unions against teachers, educators against lobbyists and they believe in teacher union. we believe in teachers. we have a nominee who will tell us the truth and will lead with conviction and now he has a running mate that will do the same. we have governor mitt romney and congressman paul ryan and we need to make him next president and president of the united states. see, you see, because i know mitt romney. i know mitt romney and mitt romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to put us back on a path to growth and create good paying private sector jobs in america. mitt romney will tell us the hard truths that we need to hear to end the for rent of death that is compromising our future and mitt romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to end the be baulk kell of putting the greatest health care system in the hands of federal bureaucrats and putting the bureaucrats between an american citizen and her doctor. i believe in america history and there's only one thing missing now. leadership. it takes leadership that you don't get from taking a poll. you see, mr. president, real ears don't follow polls. real leaders change polls. it's now time to stand up. everybody, stand up. because there's no time left to waste. if you're willing to stand up with me for america's future, i will stand up with you if you're willing to fight with me for mitt romney, i will fight with you. if you're to hear the hard truth of america, that truth will bear, i'm here to begin with you this new era of truth telling tonight. we choose the path that is always defined our nation's history. tonight, we finally and firmly answer the call that so many gener generations have had the courage to answer before us. tonight we stand up for mitt romney as the next president of the united states and together -- and together everybody, together we will stand up once again for american greatness for our children and grandchildren. god bless you and god bless america. [ applause ] >> new jersey governor chris christie there rallying the troops, giving the conventions keynote address a short while ago. cnn's primetime coverage of the republican national convention continues wednesday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. vice presidential nominee paul ryan is getting ready for his big closeup. well, stay right there with us for our special coverage of hurricane isaac. it continues right after this break. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ lacer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> hello, i'm natalie allen welcome to special coverage of hurricane isaac. we want to bring you the latest right now. much of the central gulf coast is feeling this hurricane. the slow-moving storm is over louisiana where it has been for some time. this on the seventh anniversary -- it's

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lar ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element ari'm fine.y, babe?. ♪ ♪ ♪ with a subaru you can always find a way. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >>> just moments ago mitt romney spoke at an american legion convention in indianapolis. the speech was shown live right here at the republican national convention in tampa. let's listen to what it was he told the crowd. >> i know that you know that the world continues to be a dangerous place, major powers are rapidly adding to their military capability. the regime in tehran led's chants of death to america and drawing close to nuclear capabilities. the threat of radical islamic terrorism exists despite the welcome removal of bin laden and other al qaeda leaders and with north korea having shared nuclear technology, the threat cont

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lacer ] dow solutions help mlions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. >>> the opening ceremonies for the 2002 olympics were more than a month away, but mitt romney had other plans. beth meyers remembers getting a call from romney in january. >> i'm thinking about running for governor. would you have any interest in helping me run my campaign? >> massachusetts had a republican governor, jane swift. they saw her as weak and came to romney in a panic. >> jane smith gets wind and bows out. she's out and mitt romney is in. goes back to the gymnasticses and get a press conference. >> as you know, democratic state. the legislature is 85% democrat and few republicans make it and we had a fight on our hands. >> he ran as a mode

. ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ maleow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. [ thunk ] sweet! [ male announcer ] the solid thunk of the door on the volkswagen jetta. thanks, mister! [ meow ] it's quality you can hear and feel. that's the power of german engineering. right now during the autobahn for all event get great deals on a 2012 jetta. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. good afternoon. chase sapphire. (push button tone) this is stacy from springfield.

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. [ male announcer ] if you think all batteries are the same... consider this: when the unexpected happens, there's one brand of battery more emergency workers trust in their maglites: duracell. one reason: duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed. so, whether it's 10 years' of life's sunny days... or... the occasional stormy one... trust goes a long way. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. >>> welcome back to "early start." this is a look at live pictures from louisiana. i have breaking news that i wanted to share with you. emergency management officials in plaquemines parish reported overtopping of a levee on the east bank from braithwaite to white ditch. this will result in significant deep flooding in that area. we mad spokhad spoken earlier t president of plaquemines parish. and karen mcbegaginnis has some wonderful graphics. he said it's an area that affects about 2,000 people. there was an evacuation ordered there, but some people stayed behind. so if you could walk us through where that area is and what exactly has happened. >> apparently it's about an 8-foot high levee. and it affects about 18 miles along this river area. this is the region from braithwaite to white ditch. here is that levee. along that levee, they're estimating 1900, maybe 2,000 people. we also have seen those reports that some people did not leave. they were effectively going to try to go door to door to make sure people were either safe or out. that's very dangerous to try to make a rescue operation or to search and rescue people who have not evacuated an area that probably needed to. take a look at this. we have what looks to be residential areas, kind of spaced out fairly nicely. but as you can see, there's a lot of empty land across this region. this is the area that they are saying will see significant deep flooding. they have also reported maybe 9 feet, that's how much these homes perhaps up to 9 feet covering the bottom floor. not this hour in particular, but just saying in general. so that water rushes in and we're looking at between 15 and maybe 20, maybe more than 20 inches of rainfall. and let's back out on the google earth and i want to mention one other thing. we'll take a look a little bit further up on the river in a place called chumette. earlier in the evening, we had the report of a barge in 60 plus miles per hour winds that broke loose, slammed into three boats. one was a 47-foot boat. and sunk it. there were no people reported on those boats. no injuries. but it shows you the constant pool does damage. the trees are weakened. the buildings, the higher up you go, the stronger those winds are. still at a category 1 hurricane. we had a period of time about two, three hours where this was not moving at all, it was stationery. but i want to also -- >> just dumping rain. >> continuously. the western edge almost looks ke falling apart. i hesitate to say that because i don't want people on this side of the storm to think that it's okay to walk about and think nothing's going to happen. we have intense bands wrapping around this and as a result, it's going to make it over on this other side. but as this progresses further towards the north and northwest over the next several days, affecting arkansas, northern sections of louisiana, baton rouge, i need to mention you're the next in line. but we've seen in excess of 350,000 people without power over the past few hours. >> all right, karen maginnis live for us in the muhurricane center. i don't want to lose sight of the fact that we're talking about the over topping of a levee in the east bank from braithwaite to white ditch. there are some people essentially trapped in that area now because they did not heed the evacuation orders. and that is according to plaquemines parish president. we are going to go back and check in with soledad o'brien, she's spent a lot of time in this area, see if we can pinpoint exactly where those people are trapped. we believe honor is nott u exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. it's hard to see oortunity in today's challenging environment. unless you have the righ pepeiv ny mellon wealthanagement s the sion and experiebeyond thvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk, and make success a reality. bny mellon wealth management >>> breaking news. emergency management officials reported overtopping of a levee on the east bank from braithwaite to white ditch. this will result in significant deep flooding in the area. really important here that the word i'm using is overtopping and not a breach of the levee. so the water is so high that it has actually gone over the levee. let's check this with rob marciano, he's live there. rob. >> a huge difference. overtopping, they're designed to overtop, but not for an extended period of time. and that's the concern. they have about an 8-foot levee and 10 or 12-foot storm surge, you do the math. you'll get overwashing. so it's frustrating in that parish when you have mandato evacuation, when you know the fost andou know the capabilities of that levee system and people dn' evacuate. so that's the situation right now we have a handful of people, maybe more, who have not evacuated that part of plaquemines parish and now are at risks as the water continues to pour in from the gulf mexico and overtop that levy system. the northern part of plaquemines parish has protection. and that's where the shelters are and that's where people who live obviously didn't have to evacuate. we by the way are along the port of new orleans which of course is closed as you would imagine. a much worse scenario today than it was last night. wind's blowing more consistently, near hurricane strength. this hurricane will the center of it is 60 to 70 miles to our south. hurricane force winds stepped 50 to 60. so we're right on the cusp of getting sustained hurricane force winds. we're getting murk force gusts, but not sustained for sure. and the rain continues to come down. our gear is protected under this overhang here and at times you can see just how much water is pouring down off this overhang. so that's the other issue i'm sure karen talked about. we'll's 10, 15, in some cases maybe over 20 inches of rainfall. fresh water flooding within this new protection of levee systems. that will be issue number one. so you've got levees in some cases being overtopped, here inside the city where the levees are higher, stronger, likely not to be overtopped. but we'll definitely see fresh water flooding because of all the torrential rain and how slow this storm is moving. i mean, it is crawling. so we're into likely for much of the day. >> which seems to be what's causing all of the problem, how slow it is and how much rain it's dumping in the area. >> absolutely. and that was the concern as isaac approached. we kept making comparisonses to other storms and the closer it got and the track it started taking which was to the west of new orleans, which is different from katrina's path to the east, and obviously a much weaker storm. but the size of the circulation that increased the storm surge and the speed as which we knew it was going to move, that had everybody concerned. that's really what this storm will be known for. and quite frankly, in the last 12 hour, it's moved even slower than we thought. so that's why the rainfall forecast totals have been inching up. and because of the slow movement or at times no movement at all, you're talking about a lot of flooding that will happen right up through south central louisiana. >> and we see it ebb and flow as we're watching you. rob marciano, thank you very much. and i'd like to bring back in the president of plaquemines parish. sir, are you there? >> yes, i am. >> if we can talk about that area. we're very concerned about the people who could be left behind and because of this overtopping of the levee there what the situation is now. earlier you said it was difficult to access the area. is that still the case? >> yes, we have about 30 vehicles that got to the ferry landing. they're sitting in their vehicles there riding it out. we were able to get some people out into st. bernard and parish president there has taken them into one of their parish buildings. but we have reports of 10 to 12 foot of water in homes and we're working with the coast guard, we've got word of acle. we're working at trying to get those people rescued as soon as the winds die down or get first light. >> when i talked to you earlier, you were urging people if they are in areas like that to go to second floors. you can talk to me about the homes and how they're built? >> right at this point, there's no way to get to them. so if the water is coming up and they got a second floor, they need to get to it. we don't advise people to go into the tick unless they got a way to break out of the attic if the water continues to come up. we have an area in the parish woodlawn we call it that had absolutely no water for katrina. they have five feet of water there. and we flood water in that area for katrina. so this storm is driving in more water to the east bank. >> and you mentioned that somebody is stranded on a levee you said in a car. you can tell me more about that? >> we don't have a lot of it information. we lost radio contact with them. and the coast guard is working on a plan to try to get to those people no >> do we know it's more than within? >> is two guys working for the pari. they're parish employees. and they were pump operators that were leaving the pmp station when the wat started coming over the levee, they were evacting that mp station because ere wanoeed to pump anymore. and they got good halfway done the levee an couldn't into >> wow. and you said you have lost radio communication with them at this stage of the game, so y have no idea what condition they're in right now. >> no. last we talked, ty weree ande're woinwith the coast guard to try to come up with a y these people. >> and how long agou talk them, sir? >> about ten minutes ago. >> and i just wanted to talk more about the numbe of people who actually live in that area that you had a mandatory evacuation. thought you saidher abt people in that ar where there was a mdatory evuation. yeah, there's 2,000 people on thst bank that we asked to evacuate. half of them a behind a al levee on theuth end of the east bay. we have no reports that that vee's be ed o topped. the north en the east bank, braithwaite to white ditch, that area is completely inundated in water. >> and do you have any incation aut ho peonye e left behind? >> no, we don't. we had a mandatory evacuation. sheriff's deputies were going door to door to see who was left behind and they did get sevelop. several people drove themselves to the ferry landing which is above the mississippi river levee. so they're sitting up there in their vehicles because the roads became impassable very quickly. within a matter of minutes, we went from getting people out to the roads being too flood to the move vehicles. >> so earlier when you said when five to seven people, what you meant were those were the ones that were able to get out? >> they were moving up before the water came up. it came up that a quickly. >> so you have no idea who is left behind. >> no, we don't. >> and the last thing i wanted to talk to you about is this $14.5 billion that was spent to rebuild the area including the levees after katrina. i found and article here saying there was $1.5 billion in levee upgrades in plaquemines parish. was this particular levee not included in that? >> was not. the $1.5 billion we signed about six weeks and he go with the corps of engineerses, that's the west bank levees that we're worried about. that work has not started yet. that work will start here before the end of the year and will take two to three years to complete. >> so as this storm continues and we hear that it just kind of sits and it's dumping an incredible amount of rain, are you concerned about any other levees? >> we're concerned about the levees that that money is funded to build on the west bank. when this storm swings around, we'll get the same kind of beating on the west levees. the mississippi river runs in the middle of this parish. we have four levees. back and the mississippi. right now we're dealing with the east bank back levee. when it kicks away, we'll see the same storm surge on the west bank levees that will be in the federal system built with that $1.5 billion. >> so are you ordering any deshl evacuations? >> no. the belle chasse area is behind the new orleans billions that was spent. so we have 100 year protection in the area that we are right how and that's where we evacuated our people to. usually we bring them five hours away, but because of those federal levying otherwise in belle chasse, we were able to safely bring the people that needed shelter right here and keep them close to home. >> all right, billy nungesser, if you could stand by. i want to bring soledad o'brien in, as well. >> what he's describing i think what the fear was from people there. the parish is very long and thip and the thip a thin and low lying and if you you keep taking the main road out of town, you basically hit the water. we spent a lot of time on one of these floodwalls and went down to check it out, and one of the gates would not close and they were doing last minute emergency preparations by trying to go back and put mesh back and they fill it with sand and they lock them all together and that creates a big wall if you you stack them up. what they were trying to do is create a road over those basket so is they could block any floodwaters and allow emergency vehicles in and out. they were doing this yesterday afternoon as the rains were coming in and the wind was picking up a bit. but they said this was one of those gateses in the part of the levee system that had not been fixed and that was problematic. so there were concerns early yesterday that something like this could happen. and when you hear about the overtopping of the levee, they're talking about the east part, that's a levee that's about 8 to 9 feet high. we can show you the pictures where we are, you can see the driving wind, what he's talking about. sending water over that levee. and it wears down the top of the levee, so that will be very problematic. as president nungesser described trying to recent due people from their homes, it is so dark out and very scary, terrifying actually to have people who are up in homes and water is pouring in and impossible to get to them. you cannot get emergency vehicles to them at this time. it's really treacherous. you're looking at this map of plaquemines parish. it's a very narrow -- that's the parish. 's surrounded by water. and that's why the concern is that more than 90% of that parish was under water in katrina and he's describing that the overtopping -- >> we have some graphics that we're showing as you go along. if you could just stand by. we'll take a quick break and then we'll bring you back along with president nungesser to talk more about plaquemines parish and the peril they're facing. copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. the wheels of progress haven't been very active lately. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling. and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together. they're whole grain good... and yummy good. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola bars. treat yourself good. q8% every 10 years.age 40,. we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! chase scene netflix coming soon extra butter tickets swoon penguin journey junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious. >>> welcome back. you're taking a look at a live picture from new orleans, louisiana where hurricane isaac is reeking its havoc. and breaking news to tell you about. emergency management officials in plaquemines parish reported overtopping of the levee on the east bank from braithwaite to white ditch. this will they say result in significant deep flooding in that area. we talked to the parish president, billy nungesser, and he told us that there is apparel husband situation going on right now because they did order a mandatory evacuation in this area and of course not everybody heeded that warning. so they are in effect now trying to figure out what to do with the folks who stayed behind. they sent people into go door to door, but at this stage of the game, they can no longer do that because the waters he said in some cases are swefl fe12 feet people's homes. about 2,000 people live in that area. he thinks half definitely got out. uncertain as to how many stayed behind. he did say that the first level when they went acseven people, ft behind.ss as to hony are l continue to check in with them. we do know they're working with the cot guard to try resolve that stion. and there are some folks stranded right near the levee, two workers that area. and we talked minutes ago and h last time that he had spoken to them was teninutes befe throughadio communication, but they no longer had that radio communication. they do know the ect location of those two men and they are also working at trying to get this to them to safety. but the area is covered in water. so we are going to continue to monitor the situation for you and bring you the very latest develops there. this is in plaquemines parish where the situation is happening. in the meantime, we'll head over to our other top story of the morning and that is in tampa, florida. john berman standing by there anchoring the republican national convention coverage. >> good morning. and tonight paul ryan will accept the vice presidential nomination fothrepublican party just a few short steps from where i am right now in the cnn grill. a few hours ago, it was chris christie delivering the keynote address. but the speech that may have given the most excitement to the crowd came from ann romney, mitt romney's wife, who is trying to present the sort of softer side to the former massachusetts governor. did it work? i'm joined by margaret hoover, a republican strategist, former employee of the bush administration. sh@e's here right now. i want to get a general sense. how do you think they did? >> i think they both did good. the first thing you have to keep in mind for these sort of speeches as you're getting to know the candidate, you're building up to mitt romney, the first cardinal rule is do no harm. and not only did they do in harm, they also began to -- look, ann romney talked about her husband and you began to get a sense of his character from the unique character witness and perspective and position that she's had in his life as his partner and the journey they're had for over 40 years. i think she hit a double. she didn't need to hit a home run. but i think she hit a strong double. >> just a double. that's interesting. let me play a little of the sound because one of the things we've been talking about is the target audience have been the women vote. of course mitt romney trails president obama. but i want to play one short wooit in whi bite in which she talks about women in a not too subtle way. >> 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! >> so so there's not much nuance in that. i love you women. >> so we knew that ann romney was going to talk to women, try connect with women. of course mitt romney has been behind women by double digits from president obama. so there is no question about whether she was going to try to reach out to women, whether she was going to try to bridge the divide. she's been part of the debate ever since a democratic commentator said that ann romney hasn't had a job the day of her life. that's when the numbers started to change in terms of women softening for mitt romney. the question for conservatives who really pride ourselves as not pandering to special interest groups is was ann romney able to strike the right balance, was she able to invoke the amount o sympathy or did she hue too close it the line of simply saying remember, i'm a woman, women, women, women. in a way that rubs conservatives sometimes the wrong way. >> you say she hit a double, not a home run. thank you very much for being here. we'll talk to you throughout the morning. there is a lot of news going on right now in new orleans, in louisiana with hurricane hitting and i want to go back to zoraida. >>> the latest on a developing story, breaking news. the overtopping of a levee on the east bankfrom braithwaite to white ditch. it will result in significant flooding. when we come back, we'll talk to the president of black minuplaq parish. and also soledad o'brien. i'm so glad you called. thank you. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have canceld your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money and financial information. here's your temporary card. welcome back. how was london? [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far. [ female announcer ] wells fargo. ♪ atmix of energieieve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electrici... 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's go. >>> good orning, welcome to "early start." i'm john berm ks an live in tampa. but we have breaking new this morning. it is about hurricane isaac, which is pounding louisiana right now. for that i want to go to zoraida. >> and the breaking news is emergency management officials in plaquemines parish reported overtopping of a levee on the east bank from a breakwith to white ditch. this will result in significant flooding in the area. hurricane isaac has en pouring rain down into that area which is creating quite a problem there. it is an overtoppi of a levee and we're going to get more details here. we've been talking with the president of plaquemines parish, billy nungesser and we have soledad o'brien in louisiana. i want to bring you both on. mr. nungesser, earlier we were concerned about two workers stranded on the levee. you were telling us and you had lost communication with them. is there an update on that? >> yeah, we did regain communication by radio. and we have someone that is going to make an attempt to reach them by boat. one of the residents has a bt not far from there, very familiar with the area. going to attempt to try to get to them shortly. the problem is you can't see very well, the rain and wi blowing so hard and our fire department made attempts to rescue people in that ea. reportshere was one lady o rooftop. and so we're fighting these elements and enlisting the national guard and coast guard >> so it's not the coastguard but actual resident who will attempt to rescue them? >> yes, we just got word he was going to take a boat and he had a boat that was in the area and he was going to make an attempt to go get them off the levee. >> i want to recap for anyone joining us. is area under mndator evacuation, about 2,000 people you said earlier live in the area. some people did stay behind, chose not to evacuate. you can update on that and soledad, feel free pin. i know the two of you have been chatting since yesterday. soledad, you're very familiar with this area we want to update aso how many people still affected. originally it was 2,000. do you have a grasp, president nungesser aow man may be behind in theirhomes. >> zoraida -- >> go ahead. >> hold on, soledad, mr. nungesser will answer the question then we'll go to you. >> 2,000 residents live over there. most of them got out. less than a dozen -- that's all we kno at this time. >> soledad, are you there? mr. nungesser when we can continue talking -- here's soledad. yes, can you hear me? >> reporter: obviously we're having serious audio problems as the winds have picked up dramatically here and the rain is kind of painful when it runs into your face. you're listening to billy nungesser talk about some of the overtopping and the wind really pushing that water overtopping. we're experiencing that wind. what he's describing is something we saw a lot of in hurricane katrina. people where i am and i'm in the more touristy section of jackson square, they feel protected because of the levee work done, $1.1 billion wall that they closed the gates on yesterday afternoon to try to protect against any kind of storm surge. those are some serious upgrades but obviousl anything outside the levee system and anything that hasn't been upgratded is still a weakness. >> that's exactly what president nungesser was saying. i'm getting a report, the national weather service is receiving reports of 5 feet of water from wood lawn fire department in the area and says plaquemines emergency management say the overtopping was a parish back levee from saint bernard parish to white ditch. they are saying 5 feet of water in that area. where is it in relation to -- >> the wood lawn area is an area that actually did not flood for katrina. we had no water at wood lawn from katrina. and there's 5 feet in an area that had no water from katrina. that tells you water that's being pumped in by the storm. we have reports of 10 to 12 feet of water in holmes. if there's someone in their roof, they are up there because their home is inundated with water. >> clearly it's difficult for anybody to see anything and to see if there are more people stranded on rooftops because it's simply t dark? >> it's dark but also this driving rain is -- you're starting to see it there in the french quarter but we've been seeing it all night. and you can't drive in it, can't see. it stings. you can't see your hand in front of your face. it's wind and driven rain and it's -- it makes it very difficult to do anything out in it. >> soledad was saying that earlier you were actually trying to secure this levee, i believe that was yesterday when she was in the area. did the residents see that you were attempting to secure the levee that perhaps there could be a problem and still made the decision to stay behind? >> well, we always try to storm proof before an event. knowing that the storm surge that was projected in those areas, we did everything that was physically possible to beef them up, cover them with plastic the best weould for this event. but now that we see water at wood lawn, and area that had no water for katrina, that tells you the amount of volume of water that is being pushed over the levees into this community, nonstop for all of this time and it's going to continue for several more hours. >> that's 5 feet of water from the wood lawn fire department. how far is that from the levee? >> that's not far from the levee. but that's the highe area of east bank of plaquemines parish, it's never flooded before. and the fire depament reported 5 feet there and 12 and 14 feet in other areas. that show you there's more water being pumped in there than some of those areas saw for trina. >> and i want to reiterate, this is an overtopping of a levee in plaquemines parish, this was a levee not covered by the $14.5 billion spent on the state after hurricane katrina. there is an article here and it's from the army corps of engineers that said that 1.5 billion in levee upgrades were spent in plaquemines parish. and you're telling us it was not a levee included in the $5 billion. >> this was left out of the levee system because they didn't seek the justificn r the amount of people that live there is the only thing we can figure. the 1.5 billion that's being spent, that work will start in about a month. that's the west bank, the levees th we were worried about after the storm kicks around and i'm sure we'll be talking about those levees tomorrow. so the people that are living in that area, will they be evacuated or has that been ordered snd. >> they were evacuated the day before yesterday or yesterday, i'm losing track of the days now. >> i can't imagine, you're working very hard there. >> if we can update before i let you go. the condition of the two stranded workers. at were they doing in the area? do you expect to be able to take them out soon? >> we're going to do everything possible, absolutely. what we do is our pump operators stay in the pump stations as long as they feel safe. the minute they feel safety is a problem, they are authorized to leaveimmediately and come to the government complex. these workers saw the water coming over the levee, got in their vehicle and headed out. it came up within minutes to where they didn't feel safe driving their vehicle any further. so they stopped on the levee and we began to try to get to them to get them out of there. >> and you did menti earlier that there is a resident in the area with a boat who is going to attempt to rescue? >> absolutely, he called in. >> we wish them well. it sounds awfully dangerous. >> it is. he's very brave and we didn't encourage him to do it but he insisted to try to bring these men back to the main levee. >> that's what you do for your neighbors. president nungesser we apprecia your time. please stand by because we'll check in again. we want to know how many people are left behind and if in fact you're able to rescue them. we appreciate your time this morning and good luck to you. in another part of the gulf coast getting smacked by isaac, mississippi. cnn national correspondent david mattingly is live in gulfport which has been getting pounded with wind and you've got rain right now as well. >> we've got some rain but the wind has been very, very consistent all night long. and at times we've had absolutely torrential rain where you can't see very hard ahead of you but onefthose bands is not with us right now. we have been getting reports in the last hour of flooding in the low lyingreas along the coastal areas of mississippi. this is -- these areas are hundreds of square miles along the coast here. and in some places they are seeing a couple of feet of floodwaters. and we haven't really seen significant storm surge just yet because high tide isn't until about mid morning. so that's the point we're expecting to see in somereas possibly up to out 10eet of storm surge along the coast here in mississippias this storm has just parked itself right here on the coast. so far we're hearing from emergency officials to say they are very pleased with the way people heeded evacuation warnings and people who lived in the low-lying areas. we see a couple of thousand people in shelters tonight. we also at this point have several thousand homes that are in the dark without electricity. and as this storm continues, this relentless tropical storm force conditions here, we're going to see the ground continuing to be saturated and trees blowing over and power lines going down and more and more homes in the dark. so, at this point, the significant thing here is the low-lying areas of coastal mississippi, we have confirmed that there is flooding. a couple of feet in some areas. some roads are flooded and some roads are closed and we're really not even close to being out of this storm yet, zoraida. >> >> no, this one will stick around for a while. david mattingly, thank you very much. stay with us here, we have coverage along the entire gulf coast of hurricane isaac. we'll talk about the overtopping of a levee in plaquemines parish. two workers stranded there and there is a resident who is attempting to rescue him at this hours. more details when we come back. questions. when you're caring for a loved one with alzheimer's, not a day goes by that you don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs g of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback at gas stations through september. it pays to discover. ooo no. the hotel lost our reservation. nonsense! you book at travelocity, your reservation's guaranteed. well, i did not book with travelocity, okay?!? [ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee any way you book, including our new app. you'll never roam alone. >>> welcome back to "early star start". we're live in new orleans, louisiana, where hurricane isaac has some whipping winds, a lot of flooding in that area. we have breaking news to report as well. a levee that has been overtopped in plaquemines parish, louisiana, it extends roughly from braithwithe to white dish. soledad, you were talking to the president of the parish and he was setting up a system to maybe stop this breach of a levee from happening. did the people in the area see that happening? why didn't they heed that warning? >> reporter: zoraida, let me tell you where we are. some of the issues in plaquemines are similar to here, which is this driving rain. when billy nungesser talks about the wind blowing water over the levee, which is 8 to 9 foot high. this is some of that driving rain and wind as well. the problems in plaquemines parish, some of the levee system is outside of the federal levee protection which means it hasn't been upgraded. that's not the levee system that has had all of money poured into it. they had serious concerns about that yesterday when we spoke to the parish president. some of those big concerns obviously are being realized today. the big problem of course, zoraida as you try to rescue people. that's what he says now, they are trying to pull people out of what seems to be 10 feet of water, 12 feet of water in the parish because the levee has been overtopped in the area. that is obviously very problematic. look how dark it is and in this weather it will be almost impossible for rescue crews to get in there until the sun rises a little bit. yesterday when we were working in plaquemines what we saw was a flood gate outside the system, which means it wasn't even really working. they were trying to create massive sandbags, about my height, probably 3 feet wide, to block off what was a road that was right in the storm's path essentially. then after that they paved a road over it or put gravel over it to bring emergency vehicles in and out of that road. that was a real last minute attempt to try to see if they could hold off the floodwaters should they come and that seems to be a big problem in that parish right now. we know there are around 300 people who are in shelters in plaquemines parish. yesterday afternoon they also put a curfew in from dusk to dawn. and those folks are people who thought they were in such low lying areas it would be better for them to get out of their homes and try to ride out the storm in one of those shelters which included a church and auditorium, clearly that was a smart decision as they see the problems they are having in that parish right now. we're going to have an opportunity when the sun comes up a bit to check in with folks and see how they are doing today. for folks in new orleans, they are hoping to avoid the problems in plaquemines parish because they created this wall, $1.1 billion levee system. we took pictures of this yesterday. runs two miles, big problem, of course, in the past, certainly in katrina, was there was a surge of water that ran up the oast highy and that's wh flooded the lower ninth ward and city of new orleans. bernarpa as ll.problem for saint what they are hoping to do is block off that storm they close the gates yestday afternoon and they are hoping thathe walls which ar 26 feet in some areas, 200 feet from the water n. but we're watching that closely. this is tourist central. we're jaquare in new orleans. here's the big problem, not just the driving wind and rain but standing water we're seeing. when we left here last night, probably 2 inches, much higher than that now. combination of debris and standing water is what's worrying everybody here because the pumping system, even at the best times can't pump that much water out of the city. it's a real worry for people. we're watching that as well. >> soledad, earlier when we were talking to the president, he mentioned a couple of other levees he was concerned about. do you know anything about that? >> reporter: yeah, this is a problem for plaquemines parish, you've been showing a great map which shows plaquemines parish is long and thin, surrounded by these bayous. you have this complicated levee system dotted all around the area. they are worried about a lot of those levees, they are outside the upgrade region. they are watching them closely and they are right to be concerned. they haven't been fixed and it's something they've been before the storm frankly they were worried about the strength of those levees. we've got jennifer delgado joining us. can you hear me? >> i'll take it away. we're going to take a bit more about the overtopping of the breach. of this levee. as we show on the graphic here and we're talking about an 18-mile stretch area that extends from braithwithe and located 70 filmw orleans. show y rght here. this is actually the levee. we do know it was built about 8 feet. parently trying t wk on the second phase of this levee. well the problemof cours we're talking about the overtopping and the rainfall has been incredible. so when you're talking about persistent heavy rainfall, of course this is going to put strain on the levee system. we are hearing reports of roughly 1200 residents that live in the region. as you can see for yourself, it's not really widely populated. but this gives an idea. this is the levee and this is the street view. you can see when it starts to come over, yes, it threatens land, of course. roads are impassable and you're looking at a home right here. the other problem too is when you're dealing with the heavy rainfall, then you combine in the strong winds and i know they mentioned that a resident was trying to go rescue a resident in need. the problem is whether conditions are so bad right now this is certainly not a smart thing to do. now as i minimize this for you a bit more. we want to talk about the bad weather also has happening. as we go to the radar, we do have actually a tornado warnings in place. now they are in place. it looks like roughly to about 5:45, that central time for anywhere you're seeing in mississippi. you can see just to the east of biloxi and then up towards the north. you can see just northwest of wiggins, this means make sure you are in steady shelter and get to the lowest place in your home. we do have a tornado warning and this will be a great threat as we go throughout the morning. as i minimize this for you an we take you over and show you on the wider view, we do have a tornado watch in place. we're expecting this hurricane to weaken as we go later into the day wind wise but the problem is the rainfall is not going to lessen at all. we're talking about an incredible amount. some of these areas 10 to 20 inches. certainly this is going to be a strain on really any of those levee systems and it's going to be really something to see how they all hold up against this. soledad? >> reporter: all right, jennifer, thanks for that update. we're standing in the middle of it. we're covering hurricane isaac now live for you. you're watching our special coverage as we tell you what's happening in the various parishes here. i'm in the middle of the french quarter, jackson square where the driving wind and rain is actually quite painful and hard to stand up at some points. big concern here is the flooding. of course we're monitoring what's happening around the city and other parishes as well. let's get right to rob marciano. where are you and what are you seeing? >> reporter: we are at the port of new orleans and we're seeing the structures around us actually begin to peel apart just north of where the carnival cruiselines or west where the where the carnival cruise lines load and unload is this industrial area where probably the largest mardi gras warehouse is of mardi gras stuff. to my left is an area that has probably hosts a lot of mardi gras balls. when we get sun up, we'll be able to show you a structure there that's no doubt used to entertain people is being slowly ripped apart. as you mention, the winds have certainly gotten a lot worse as has the rain. i come underneath the protected structure where we're trying to keep our equipment dry, exceedingly difficult because the rain, as you can see is coming down side ways and coming down very, very steadily. weather now versus what it was 7 or 8 hours ago is much more consistently bad in the way of winds that are sustained at 40 and in some cases 45 miles per hour. higher gusts than that. we had report of a wind gust on lake upon chapontchartrain, 83 r hour. we're on the right side of it, the bad side, the dirty side. katrina we were on the left side. this has a whole other handful of ramifications and one is the overtopping of levees in plaquemines parish. because that water is being pushed on the right side, new orleans and much of the southeast louisiana is getting the brunt of this storm. and we have a tornado watch going on and the winds are going to be near hurricane force probably for the next six to eight hours. we're in this for a good chunk of today soledad -- or zoraida. >> >> reporter: it isn't feeling good. feeling like it's gotten stronger. 6 to 8 hours of this will be a long way. thanks, rob. we have to take a short break and we'll come back and update you on what's happening here in new orleans as we monitor hurricane isaac and the progress it's making as it hits the gulf coast. stay with us. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. noolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. why not take a day to explore your own backyard? with two times the points on travel, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. >>> good morning, everybody, you're watching our special coverage of hurricane isaac as it hits the gulf coast. we're coming to you live from new orleans this morning, brian todd and i have been bearing out the storm overnight. a couple of things we're watching, the standing water could be a big problem. >> absolutely. we've been here since midnight and you felt it just as i have, these are the strongest bursts we have seen since midnight of wind and rain. standing water. we can bring you over here. our photo journalist is going to come with me. this standing water here has increased in volume in the last few hours. we're getting just a lot of rainfall. i'm not sure how many inches an hour. i believe our meteorologist have said this thing could bring up to 3 inches of rain per hour. i don't know if it's doing that right now but it's getting close. standing water is a huge danger. city officials say do not go near the stuff and don't step in it, it is deceivingly deep. you can see the debris field, limbs have been flying around us. i don't know if you can get a shot of the trees. this one is a pretty solid tree but it's whipping around and losing a lot of limbs. they are flying around here. we're told that at least 12 intersections of new orleans have water like this, are experiencing flash flooding and at least 25 intersections, streets are down -- exse me, trees are down in the streets and brought down power lines with them. and at least two of those locations we were told that people had to be rescued from their homes, evacuated from their homes because trees fell on their homes. soledad, at least two rescue situations in the city of new orleans. >> let's talk about outside the city of new orleans, plaquemines, you and i have spent time there. bill nungesser talking about the problems they are having there. it looks like one of the levees has been overtopped. he says the strong winds have pushed some of the water right into the parish. they are very concerned about that. also people who did not evacuate, they are trying to see if they can locate them. unsure how many folks they cannot track down. >> they are having a tough time getting to them because of these conditions. they do expect severe flooding and that's a very low lying area. they were under a mandatory evacuation and he was a little frustrated this morning when he was on our air that some people didn't get out. he thinks maybe 6 or 8 didn't get out. he doesn't know how much are stranded. >> they are watching that as well. here in new orleans, one of the issues they arie they are worris the surge. the storm surge is something, that wall they have now built, at the cost of $1.1 billion, they are hoping is going to protect against any kind of storm surge. it's 26-foot high wall. that should be able to protect the city certainly in what we're seeing so far but clearly in plaquemines parish where much of that parish is outside of the levee system and outside the federal system and rebuild. that's a huge problem for them there. we're going to continue to monitor hurricane isaac for you, not only here in new orleans but from all of our locations. we'll check back in with billy nungesser. we're back in just a moment. you're watching special coverage of hurricane isaac. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. who dreamed she could fly. like others who braved the sky before her, it took a mighty machine, and plain old ingenuity to go where no fifth grader had gone before. ♪ and she flew and she flew, into the sky and beyond. my name is annie and i'm the girl who dreamed she could fly. powered by intel core processors. ♪ ♪ [ chirping ] [ chirping ] ♪ [ chirping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] audi a4 drivers have spoken. [ engine revs ] and they ranked the a4 highest in total quality index in its class. [ chirps ] experience the summer of audi event before september 4th and get exceptional values on the audi you've always wanted. for their "destination wedding." double miles you can "actually" use. but with those single mile travel cards... [ bridesmaid ] blacked out... but i'm a bridesmaid. oh! "x" marks the spot she'll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast... ...to the capital one venture card. fly any airline, any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use. what a coincidence? what's in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies. >>> welcome back, it is 37 minutes past the hour. you're taking a live look at new orleans, louisiana, where hurricane isaac is creating quite of bit of havoc. there is a lot of rain falling in the area. when we first talked about this storm and hurricane, we talked about a big rain event and that is exactly what has been happening. there has been a problem with a levee in louisiana. soledad o'brien is live on the phone with us right now. it's plaquemines parish where they had a problem with the levee. i know we have coverage along the entire gulf coast. what's the latest where you are? >> where we are, which is in jackson square, new orleans, for anybody who has come as a tourist to the city has spent time in jackson square, right now completely desert the as the rain is now a driving rain. the big concern and you're looking at the live picture of our location. you can see the standing water and that's been a big concern. we were talking about this yesterday with the pumping system. we were very concerned whether the pumps would be able to get the standing water out of the city. but you're seeing there, symbolic of what's happening at 12 intersections and had to close them down, can't get the water out. plaquemines parish, as you talked about a minute ago, they are in some trouble, been hearing from the parish president, billy nungesser about the issues there. very, very low lying area. absolutely hammered in the wake of hurricane katrina. more than 90% was under water. one of those levees has been overtopped. the levee that was not rebuilt. it's outside of the federal protection area and that means that they are expecting some severe flooding, maybe 8 to 10 feet is what the president was saying, parish president was saying, coming into people's homes, big problem because it's so dark out. very hard to be able to get a rescue operation going. it's unclear how many folks did not heed evacuation warnings and did not get out of their homes in the low-lying parish. i want to go to joe riding out the storm in broadmoore which is uptown in new orleans. >> how are you? >> how are you is really the question. i know you're with your family. tell any about what you've been experiencing. >> well, since i was on an hour and a half ago, two broken windows in the house i had to board up. we had water on the first floor but we live on the second floor. i went down and there's water standing water in one part of the house downstairs. >> how much water are you talking about on the first floor? >> there's about 6 inches but it's only in one room. it's kind of starting to creep up so i had had to move a few things. that's our floor where we keep our washer and dryer and stuff like that. we don't actually live down there. >> give me comparison to what the neighborhood was like in the wake of hurricane katrina? how much water did you get uptown? i know a lot of homes in uptown were spared. >> the closer you were to the river, the better you were. we're probably about maybe 3/4 of a mile from where the water stopped. so we were in the water. we had 6 feet of water in the house. if you go 3/4 towards the river, that's where the water kind of stopped. >> reporter: how are you feeling? the winds are high and we're not far obviously, probably a 20-minute drive or so from where you are. the rain has been a driving rain. we've been watching -- just want to make sure we don't get clocked by anything flying off a tree or coming off a sign. >> right. >> how are you feeling about your decision to stay? >> i still feel fairly good about it but wish i was somewhere with air conditioning. right now i'm standing on my porch by the front door. it's a nice breeze out here right now obviously. but we got wind driving through some of our windows, even though they are closed because it is hitting the windows so hard, the rain is coming underneath the window. so we're getting a little bit of water in the upstairs but nothing we can't manage. >> when you look out, i assume you have lost power and every one of your neighbors has lost power as well. when you look out your front porch where you're standing, tell me what you're seeing. >> now i'm seeing big branches now from that have fallen from trees and some debris but mostly lots of leaves and now there's big branches that have fallen off the oak trees in my neighborhood. and every once in a while you hear transformers going off. there's still power in the area somewhere because the transformers are popping and you hearhat every now and then. >> i know you've sort of hunkered down with your daughter and your wife and some other folks as well. how are they doing? >> they are all sleeping. my wife was up with me doing most of the work with the water actually cleaning up the windows but now boarding the windows that have broken. but now i think she went back and took -- she's actually sleeping right now. >> great. >> i'm up by myself. >> what everybody has been calling the wall, that 2-mile really giant wall that is to protect the intercoastal highway from pouring into the city as it did in hurricane katrina. many people felt very confident at that wall which is brand-new at one point $1 billion cost, is going to do revery well in the storm. how do you feel about it? >> i hope it does because if is it doesn't, then we'l have the same -- similar problem we had in katrina since then the water will get through the industrial canal and could top the levees there. there's still other levees that the water would have to go over. >> right. we're watching that as well. thanks for talking with us. go back to bed. >> you be safe. >> at this point high winds the driving rain, watching where we are as well. he lives in the broadmoore neighborhood of new orleans. we got to check in with our other reporters. we have david mattingly standing by in gulfport, mississippi. david, last i talked to you, the winds are starting to come in. i have to imagine it's much worse in gulfport? >> reporter: it's been pretty sustained tropical storm conditions since midnight. some hours it gets a little worse than others. but we're seeing continuous bands of rain and wind. we're getting an update because the storm is moving so slowly, they are upgrading the predictions for rainfall along the mississippi coast. before we were looking at maybe about a foot of rain here. now it's been revised upward. 14 to 18 inches possible on some parts of the mississippi coast now. we're also now getting reports that there is flooding some low lying areas along the coast. when we talk about low-lying areas, we're talking about hundreds of square miles. some of those areas are seeing flooding. some of those areas a couple of feet right now. authorities are also reporting that there is water flooding roadways, some roads are closed. and right now water is really the enemy from this storm on the mississippi coast. we haven't even started to talk about storm surge yet. we really haven't seen anything significant with this storm in that regard. but high tide comes at mid morning here. and that's when we could see problems in some places the surf, high tide coming in perhaps 10 feet of a storm surge at that time. so everyone is still bracing for the worst of this storm and because it is just moving so slowly, it is being absolutely relentless. the longer this goes, the more the problems that they are seeing now will continue to compound and spread. so, we're just going to keep an eye on this and hopefully people will have enough time to get out of harm's way if they find they are not in the place they need to be right now. but authorities were saying they were very encouraged that people were listening to the evacuation orders. they saw a couple of thousand people in shelters right now and right now we're seeing several thousand people with the electricity out and that number is expected to continue as this storm continues its relentless march across the gulf coast here, soledad. >> david mattingly, reporting live from gulfport, mississippi. thanks, david, appreciate the update. we should mention the overall number we're hearing from -- at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military, and commitme is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or mage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. >>> we're live in new orleans where we're covering hurricane isaac. we're having lots of problems standing as the winds have really picked up and the rain is a driving rain and actually hurts when it slams into your face. we're monitoring the storm's progress. we want to check in with craig fugate. he's in tallahassee, florida. thank you for talking with us, we always appreciate it. here's my question for you. a lot of conversations we've had over the last couple of days, is fema prepared as you see the storm hitting. how are you feeling about the response of fema and how people have prepared for this storm, sir? >> well, we're in jackson, mississippi right now heading to baton rouge later today. what was really important was the governors of both states that were impacted ordering those evacuations as we've seeing. that storm surge is relentless and people did evacuate. but for a lot of folks, they need to stay inside while the storm comes through. we have resources ready to go but until the winds come down, we're really asking people if you're not somewhere that's dangerous, stay where you're at unless you're told to evacuate. >> mr. fugate, this is zoraida sambolin. we're having difficulty, as you can imagine with the communication there in new orleans. if we can talk more about particularly plaquemines parish. have you been following the situation there and the situation with the levee and the $14.5 billion, i think that was spent in the area and the president there told us, mr. nungesser, president nungesser, that there was no money set aside for that particular levee and they were just trying to kind of piece it together in order to protect the people in the area. can you tell us anything about that? >> well, again, the area you're talking about, the $14 billion was actually the greater city of new orleans metropolitan area. that was the system that was the reason why the mayor and governor looked at new orleans and didn't order an evacuation there. knowing what they had in plaquemine parish, that's why they did order the evacuations, that nerp not desned for the storms and that's why they were the evacuations. >> i know they are trying to get assistance into that area right now. do you know anything about that, whether or not we know there was one person who was on the roof of a house that is trapped. do you know anything about that and the situation there? >> no, i don't. a lot of this response is going to be moment by moment. i know that the governor of louisiana governor jindal had his teams ready to go. we had asked people to evacuate. one of the concerns was during the height of the storm it's dangerous to try to reach people. that will affect and slow down the response in the storm moves through but there are teams ready to go. but again, we're in jackson, mississippi, now heading to baton rouge. this is a developing situation, just because the storm has started to make the slow move ashore, doesn't mean the danger is over. it will be increasing as you move inland from additional flash flooding. >> are you in constant communication getting updated? >> yes, as updates come in and again, there's a lot of impacts occurring that are across a large area. and that's why those local officials are doing what they can but i thithink people need understand, during the height of the hurricane it is dangerous to send teams into areas. they will where they can but the storm will slow down the response until it allows conditions that rescuers can get out in. soledad is joining us by phone. >> mr. fugate, i've been listen to your interview with zoraida -- resources that you sort of -- >> we're having a difficult time with the communication there. i believe i heard the word resources. and so probably what soledad is alluding to, do you have the resources to handle this sustained storm now? unlike hurricane katrina, that went through, this actually is going to last several days. it's causing a major amount of flooding in areas. the storm surges that we've heard about, sometimes as high as 10 to 12 feet. is there a measure for all of that as well in place? >> right. we looked at the populations talking with the states, how many people would be at risk. we had resources coming in. we more stuff available. the challenge will be, you cannot get into these areas when the storm is still blowing, but resources are ready to move as soon as conditions permit. that's why it was so critical and why in the future people need to understand. when local officials and governors are talking evacuation, it's for this very reason. dangerous conditions and long periods of not being able to get back in. >> mr. fugate, we appreciate you spending time with us. good luck to you, sir. thank you very much. that's it for us on "early start." i believe john berman at the republican national convention. >> i am here, zoraida, him here in the cnn grill and we'll be here all day. thanks for joining us quts "starting point" with soledad o'brien from new orleans is coming up right now. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system from beautyrest... it's you, fully charged. receive up to a $300 beautyrest visa prepaid card when you buy select beautyrest mattress sets. ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ las help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element i was in an accident. i lost my hands, my feet. shriners did a lot more than just heal me. they helped me put my whole life back together. (vo) send your love to the rescue. (vo) donate to shriners hospitals today. >>> good morning, welcome. you're watching a special edition of "starting point," coming right to you from the heart of hurricane isaac. lots to tell you about here, there are more than 400,000 people without power. we also know that the brunt of the storm is hitting with 12 feet of storm surges in some parts. we'll update you on what's happening there. lots to talk you about in plaque mins parish specifically. that is a low lying area. you might remember yesterday they were talking about mandatory evacuations there. today they have an

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element can solve anything. ♪ 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's go. >>> just a couple steps from where i'm sitting here in the cnn grill, is the forum, the nucleus of the rnc. dana bash, i hear you have one of the "american idol" stars standing next to you, taylor hicks, who i think, was sort of caught up in the obama enthusiasm a couple of years ago. has he changed his mind? >> we will ask him that. you never know who you're going to run into. we were literally walking by him on the floor here and ran into taylor hicks. obviously, krr not just hanging out here. off very important role tonight. what are you going to do? >> i'll be performing, "taking it to the streets." i think it's important, that song, covering it on "american idol," and it being such a big hit. it's just important that we carry the momentum from the election and how the momentum of voting, i think it's important to carry it into this election too. >> reporter: are you a romney supporter? >> i'm an american supporter. i got the call a couple of weeks ago, and you know, i was just thrilled to be a part of the political history. i do think the romney/ryan the ticket is a great ticket and i'm excited to perform. >> reporter: who did you vote for in the last election. >> i'm not going to tell you that. >> reporter: no? >> no. i'll play some more monica for you. >> reporter: i have another question. i think about this all the time. as the winner of "american idol," that gets -- the viewership, particularly when you won back in 2006, was so astronomic astronomical. the number of american who is voted on "american idol," i mean, how many voted for you, do you know? >> 64 million. >> reporter: i mean, if they could get americans to put that kind of energy into voting for president or any elected office, it would be fabulous. >> and that's the reason why i really stand on the voting process. because being a part of a voting process, from an entertainment standpoint, also -- this political process is super important. and i believe that we should get out the vote and we should be a part of that, as much as we can. because that's what makes democracy tick. >> reporter: okay. thank you very much. >> see you tonight. >> reporter: okay. thanks, taylor. there you go. he's not telling us where he's standing, but he is telling us what he's singing, "taking it to the streets." we've heard him do that before. >> you tried. you try with them all. we appreciate it for us there on the floor of the rnc. and you know, the man who was the republican party's nominee for president four years ago actually sat down, just this morning, right where i'm sitting here in the grill, sat down with piers morgan. i'm talking about senator john mccain. so piers talked with mccain and his wife cindy mccain about really everything, from the republican party's platform to whether mitt romney should address his mormon faith head-on when he excepts the nomination tonight. here's just part of their interview. >> it's about strong values, strong american values, which we all share. it's about two men and their wives, of course, that could possibly be the top tier of this government, being not only strong in with they believe and strong in their faith, but believing in what's best for the country and moving forward. not putting their personal interests first. >> i think, also, that, there is questions about the mormon faith, as you know. and i think that ann talking about it and i am convinced that mitt will talk about it, and to tell people that his faith is part of his life, and that's what's made him the person he is today. because, you know, the mormon faith has come under significant scrutiny and attack from time to time. >> our favorite couple is here to chew on all of this. john avalon, a cnn contributor, and senior political columnist for "newsweek" at daily beast, and his other half and perhaps his better half, the political contributor here at cnn, welcome. you guys seem so far away today. >> we'll bridge that distance. >> you always have good intel on what we can expect in terms of the upcoming speech. so mitt romney, what should we expect? and do you agree with senator mccain, that he should address mormonism? >> not only should he address, but i think he's going to. and we know they're framing the entire evening, because they have a married couple who were bishops lead the invocation of the evening. so they're going to address it and answer the questions. and i think mitt romney will also address his life of service and how the mormon church helped frame the context of this has inspired him towards a life of service, even if he's uncomfortable talking about part of it. and i think he'll acknowledge that, so people can see that vulnerability. that's why we haven't learned more about it. >> so yes to addressing it. you're writing a column about this. >> i have a column about it today on the daily beast called mitt's missing character narrative. one of the things he really needs to do in the speech is set out a character native. this is something we expect from presidential candidates, john f. kennedy, suffering through those years, or even george w. bush, overcoming the temptations of alcohol and finding faith. these are character narratives that help people feel that this person has made a hero's journey, that makes them more empathetic, and that wisdom they will bring to their decisions in the oval office. >> what does he have? he can't say being a mission naary in france was -- >> no, but i think that car accident he experienced as a young man, where he was given up for dead, initially, while on a mormon mission in france is a logical candidate for that. it's about the risk of intimacy. he needs to talk about a moment in life where she was challenged and he overcame that challenge and it's coincided with his faith. here's a person with personal exemplary character and his character has been shaped by his faith. i think he needs to take that risk of sbim andintimacy and pel reward that. >> hearing paul ryan, talking about people growing up and staring up at their fade ed oba poster, there's a possibility with these speeches that ryan outshines romney. do you think that's possible, and is that necessarily a bad thing? >> look, i think it's apples and oranges, right? mitt romney is the nominee, paul ryan is sort of accentuating, highlighting. he was very clear. even in their musical tastes, mitt romney listens to me that sound like elevator music and i. they complement each other, not compete with each other. >> it was a very generational speech. >> he mentioned generation eight times. >> so this is not subtle. >> not subtle. >> the words he's choosing carefully. look, he is the first member of generation "x" to be on a presidential ticket. a lot of generational cues throughout his speech, talking about music. but that faded poster line which was so resonated in the hall, it was a way of updating the celebrity ad that the mccain ad put forward last year. that was the emotional chord and the visual cue -- and it worked. it worked. >> just hearing in my ear, my executive producer telling me that, in fact, we have now confirmed, thank you, john king, that clint eastwood is, in fact, the mystery speaker. >> how about it! >> good choice. >> live we're hearing now, dirty harry himself will be taking to the podium and speaking, i believe it will go then, clint eastwood, marco rubio, and mitt romney. quick reaction? >> that is dream for the romney campaign. you don't get any better, especially for independent voters, than dirty harry, than mr. unforgiving clint eastwood. this is a great visual. it adds a quintessentially american voice, celebrity star power. that just kicked it up another notch today. >> and clint eastwood did an ad during the super bowl, on the chrysler ad. he appeals to independents and appeals to mainstream american republicans. always have trouble with celebrity. now we've got it this time. >> all right. margaret hoover, john avalon, guys, thank you. how about that? clint eastwood. make sure you watch cnn tonight for all the speakers. >>> coming up, health officials, they are already saying this could be the worst year ever for the west nile virus. will the flooding in louisiana and mississippi make it all worse? dr. sanjay gupta, he's going to join us next with what you need to know to stay safe. 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. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ laons help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. my name is adam frucci and i'm the i love new technology,om. so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots! >>> west nile virus infections, they are very much skyrocketing. the center for disease control says human infections from this virus rose 40% since last week. that is almost 500 new cases. more than 70% of the west nile cases are found in these six states. you have louisiana and mississippi in particular here. isaac, as you know, has caused some s

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. and the human element can solve anything. with two times the points on dining in restaurants,? you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> there's one person who cannot be ignored, karl rove. with me is the author of the new book "boss rove." also, one of my favorite guests, welcome. we'll come to you in a moment. let's start with you, craig, because big night for the republicans

la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. in communities across the country. whether it's supporting a delaware nonprofit that's providing training and employment opportunities, investing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego bakery expand, what's important to communities across the country is important to us. and we're proud to work with all of those who are creating a stronger future for everyone. >>> welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." while much of the country is watching tropical storm isaac, there's another big story going on. the roll call vote to formally submit mitt romney to be the candidate for president of the united states is taking place. later tonight, ann romney will speak and governor chris christie will give the keynote address. i want to bring in a columnist here. how is it that you get to do all the cushy parties at the rnc, joel? >> you clearly need to renegotiate your contract. i don't know who is giving you that outfit, but you need a whole different agent, i'm sure. >> i'm not going to be insulted by that. so the party hasn't started where you are. earlier, john was telling me that it feels like today is the start. 2:00 p.m. eastern, it will really officially get kicked off. that hall that we've seen empty pictures of will be filled. what are you doing? you're not a delegate. >> no, not at all. it's been going on full steam for more than 24 hours. i went to the liquor lobby party last night, which was awesome, by the way. people talk about there being too much money in politics. those people were not at the liquor lobby party last night. there was oysters. eating shrimp and oysters and shrimp in an aquestionnaiarium. that's as republican as i can hope to be. i went to four or five parties yesterday. so, yeah, get down here. >> wow. that's impressive. i'm not very far from bourbon street, but there's nowhere close to four or five parties, which is what you're doing. let me ask you a question. last time you were on with us, we were talking about your book and manly things that you were trying to do to be manly. are you still on the quest, and have you found any opportunities at the rnc? >> it is a manly place. i went to the women up pavillion. hopefully you'll come here and enjoy it. sheldon edellson's wife opened it. so it's a place for women to come and, you know, get their hair done, and have some pink drinks. and take a break from the war on women that's going on here. but i also went to the huffington post spa, which wasn't very manly either come to think of it. but i got arianna huffington to give me a massage, with oil. and she's pretty good at it. so that was kind of manly in some way. >> that's making me uncomfortable. i'm uncomfortable now. >> i took off my shirt too. i have video of it. i suggest not watching the video, if just the words make you uncomfortable. >> yes, no, i think that's a really bad idea. so you're going to do the same thing for the dems i assume, because i know you are completely bipartisan. do you have advice for the dems in the middle of the rnc? what is your take away from what you've seen so far in tampa? >> yeah. keep your convention short. apparently, no one on tv is interested. they will be distracted by rain or wind. so i suggest maybe a day or half a day is all you really need for this thing. you can still have your parties, but don't bother the tv people with your convention. >> fairly confident they are not taking that advice. and neither are the republicans taking your advice. joel stein, thank you for the advice on my outfit and the egypt thing. >> no. you look sporty. you look great. you really do. >> thank you, joel. appreciate that. >>> still ahead this morning on "starting point," our continuing coverage of tropical storm isaac. right now that storm is gaining strength. it's on the verge of becoming a hurricane. we're live on the gulf coast all morning for you from new orleans, which is why i am, to mississippi, where the folks are bracing for the very worst. also an in depth look at the growing storm. a live update from the national hurricane center will happen right at the top the hour. [ female announcer ] quaker yogurt granola bars. they're whole grain good... and yummy good. real fruit pieces. 12 grams of whole grains and a creamy yogurt flavored coating. quaker yogurt granola bars. treat yourself good. ntgomery and urt granola bars. abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. >>> welcome to a special edition of "starting point." i'm soledad o'brien. and we're coming to you live from the french quarter in new orleans. our "starting point" this morning is isaac. it's on the verge of becoming a full-blown hurricane right now. and it's taking aim at louisiana. the biggest threat, storm surge, rainfall, cnn's forecasters are predicting floodwaters up to 12 feet, and with an eye on isaac, the republican press ahead with the national convention in tampa. we've got a packed show for you this morning. the new orleans mayor mitch landrieu will join us. mary landrieu will be our guest. aaron schock will talk to us. and mayor antonio villa ri goesa will be with us. and it, y pennington awell. it's tuesday, august 28. "starting point" begins right now. >>> hey, everybody. we're coming to you live from jackson square in the french quarter in new orleans. and our "starting point" is tropical storm isaac, which is gaining strength. it happened overnight, getting closer to becoming a hurricane as it closes in on the louisiana coast. the winds right now are hovering around 70 miles an hour. the storm expected to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow morning as a category 1 hurricane. storm surge and rainfall are the biggest concern. could create storm surges up to 12 feet, we're told. people are evacuating. but we found many folks right here in new orleans who have decided to hunker down and say they'll ride out the storms. the big question today, will the levees hold against isaac? we have to get right to tropical storm coverage. let's get right to rob marciano reporting for us this morning from the port of new orleans. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. as it is where you are, it's getting a bit more breezy. we've had periodic light rain bands coming in. but nothing substantial. you can see the sunshine behind me trying to break through. the 8:00 advisory is in. let's go over those numbers. it is not hurricane status officially yet. but it is a big storm with a large circulation. winds that are really right there at 70 miles an hour. but here is the main change. we did drop a millibar in pressure. but inconsequential. it's getting a little bit better organized. but the main change is northwesterly movement at 7 miles per hour. it has slowed down, and that doesn't bode well for new orleans, for baton rouge, for venice, louisiana. for morgan city. because that means heavier rain and a rain event that's of longer duration. we do expect it to continue on that northwesterly track at about 7 miles an hour, making landfall tonight and early into tomorrow morning. the question is how much storm surge and how much rainfall do we get with this. and the rainfall right now is mostly to the southern part of the storm system. but when you see white on this ma it indicates rainfall that is expected to be over 10 inches, and that's important when you talk about new orleans. we discussed the levees. that they beefed those up to withstand the storm surge, but you also have to pump out the rain water that will accumulate. and even the modern pumps that they have installed are only designed to pump out an inch for the first hour, and then a half an inch for every hour after that. and you know during a hurricane or tropical storm the rainfall rates can be two, three, and at times four inches per hour. so there's going to be significant flooding in new orleans and then points northward as well. so that's the latest from here. we are live along the mississippi river water front. we are also watching what's going on in lake pontchartrain, where we were yesterday that will be put some pressure on the northern levees there and the channel closures. right now, we are just waiting it out as you are, soledad, and most of the people in new orleans. most haven't evacuated, and they are told now you really shouldn't. so just wait it out as it arrives later on tonight. soledad? >> if you're here, it's time to just hunker down. we're getting intermittent rain storms as well and the rain is picking up a bit. thank you, rob. appreciate it. >>> the massive storm is triggering hurricane warnings along a large stretch of the gulf coast including all of the mississippi coast. some areas very familiar with disaster. waveland and gulf port and long beach. you might remember those names from katrina, and they killed more than 200 people in the state. seven years later, the same places are in the same dangerous position. many folks evacuating there. david mattingly is live for us there this morning. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. you're talking about those evacuations. those are mandatory evacuations that have been ordered for some targeted positions in two of the three coastal counties in mississippi. these are low-lying areas, problems that they would expect to see would be from the storm surge and the flooding from the rain that is coming with this storm. we're looking at a high tide right now in gulfport, mississippi. the water is expected to come in just a little bit more. just a taste of what the storm surge might be later on late tonight as the storm comes in. but right now, everyone just watching the storm, thinking about katrina, knowing that this storm is not another katrina. but at the same time, they are looking to see if they can test some of those lessons that they did learn from katrina when they rebuilt after all of the destruction here. they rebuilt higher. they rebuilt stronger. a lot of the houses that were blown down and rebuilt have been rebuilt not in wood but in steel and cement. so people looking at this storm with some confidence. but, again, no one takes anything for granted with these hurricanes as they come ashore along this gulf coast. too many lessons learned in the past. and this one is no different. they are going to be looking for a lot of rain, and they're going be to watching the surf to see where this storm surge actually comes up and how high it will be here. soledad? >> david mattingly for us this morning in gulfport. appreciate it. >>> let's get the latest on isaac's path and the intensity as well. we are back with richard knapp, the director of the national hurricane center. a moment ago we heard from rob marciano that the change from last hour's update to this hour's update is the speed. it seems slow. what's the implication of that? >> yeah. glad you asked that question. the slowdown in the forward speed, now down to 7 miles an hour, is not good news when it comes to the rainfall totals that could really, really add up as the system moves onshore and inland. not just going to be a coastal concern, but well inland. a slow-moving and relatively large tropical storm, isaac could dump up to 20 inches of rain in some spots. not everybody will get that. but in southeastern louisiana, southern mississippi, alabama, the florida panhandle, that's just for starters over the next few days. it could penetrate well inland. and after rain falls, then the rivers can fill up and river flooding can cause a lot of probms, you know, days after landfall and after the rains end. so that is slow motion. and of course the big size is the storm producing part of isaac. >> so then what are you thinking about in terms of when it makes landfall? at what time? we've been saying late tonight, early tomorrow morning. what are you thinking about specifically? >> well, it depends on exactly where it comes ashore. but because louisiana sticks out and has a complicated coastline there, it's hard to pinpoint the time where the center of storm crosses land. but sometime tonight. but because it's so large and sprawling where it comes ashore isn't going to change the outcome for a lot of people, especially if you're on the right side, the onshore flow side, that's where the storm surge will be maximized. and that's why southeast louisiana and the mississippi coastline could see storm surge flooding of six to 12 feet above ground level in some spots. but the other thing is that the center of circulation is just such a small part of the entire thing. the large size is really what we need to focus on. and it doesn't matter if you get the dead center or not. effects can extend well away from the center. and the one good thing about it right now is that the north side of it is not as wet as the south side of it and the east side of it right now. so that's sparing the coast from heavy rains at least for now, but it's coming. >> all right. thank you. we appreciate it. we're going to keep getting our hourly updates from you. richa rick knabb. >>> senator mary landrieu is joining us this morning, democrat from louisiana. that seems to be the $64,000 question, that this is really a test to the improvements to the levee system. how comfortable do you feel about that? >> well, fairly comfortable, soledad. and i want to thank the people for the united states for the tremendous investments they have made along with us for one of the finest levee systems in the world. we invested $14.5 billion to protect us from a category 2 or 3. we believe this will be a 1. but it's not just the storm surge that i want people to really understand. it's the internal drainage that's so important from this area. >> we were just talking about that, the pumps. >> we have 78 pumps in a four parish area. th they have all been improved and substantially upgraded since katrina. the pumps system near the surge barrier can pump an olympic sized swimming pool in four seconds. that's how strong some of the pumping systems are here. so we've made significant investments. fema has really stepped up. the corps of engineers has really stepped it up. >> everybody is talking about the storm slowing down, which can be a problem. >> people think of hurricanes as only a storm surge situation. but you can have a hurricane like this, which is not very powerful, but it is large, dump a tremendous amount of water, whether it's on louisiana or carolina or parts of florida. and do tremendous devastation, because you've got to have that internal drainage system. that's why we've been fighting for full funding for selo, the southeastern louisiana flood control protection. it's not just levees. it's not jump storm surge. it's pumping capacity which is important. >> you had a chance to talk to janet napolitano. what kind of conversations are you having? >> well, first of all, it's a completely new fema. completely new homeland security department that exists now. the fema that we have now is smarter, stronger, and more cooperative. so they have been contacting local elected officials literally for days. they had -- the president himself had a conversation with the governor. the mayor of new orleans and the local officials just yesterday. so everyone is leaning forward and prepared for what we hope will not be serious, but you never know with these kinds of storms. >> certainly the anniversary is a terrible one. >> yes, it's a terrible one to remember. and people are really frightened. in fact, the children in our family have known no other hurricane but katrina. some of the younger ones. and so they are so afraid. and we keep telling them we can survive hurricanes. they don't really believe it. you know, they think why aren't we evacuating. >> i think a lot of people think that. who don't know anything about hurricanes. why are you not evacuating? is it category 3? >> if it's category 3, we'll evacuate. but it's better and safer to shelter in place. that's why the federal government has invested over $55 billion in making this region more resilient. we have raised 5,000 homes. we have gotten about $15 billion in community development block grant for housing. our buildings are stronger. the camps are stronger. so that's a smart investment. and, again, it's a much smarter fema. much more cooperative. and i think people are going to see that. and we hope that the flood control system works as well as we've designed it and funded it. >> thank you, senator. thank you for talking with us. >> thank you. >>> still ahead this morning as we continue our special coverage of isaac, we are also keeping an eye at what's happening at the replubican national convention happening in tampa. we're back in just a moment. ofit that's providing training and employment opportunities, investing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego bakery expand, what's important to communities across the country is important to us. and we're proud to work with all of those who are creating a stronger future for everyone. ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ lations help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the hun element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> hey, everybody. you're looking at a picture of jackson square in new orleans. turning out to be a beautiful morning, but the wind is picking up for us. and we've had intermiten rain already this morning. you're watching "starting point" live this morning from new orleans, because we are tracking isaac. the other big story of course is in tampa, florida. mitt romney is flying there this morning for the delayed start of the replubican national convention. he's going to be formally nominated for president after a roll call vote. let's get right to john berman, live at the cnn grill in tampa. hey, john. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. you know, we just got word that mitt romney has taken off from boston. he is literally in the plane on the way here right now. here to greet him,

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la launcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. for a golf getaway. double miles you can actually use... but mr. single miles can't join his friends because he's getting hit with blackouts. shame on you. now he's stuck in a miniature nightmare. oh, thank you. but, with the capital one venture card... you can fly any airline, any flight, any time. double miles you can actually use. what's in your wallet? alec jr? it was a gift. we create easy to use, powerful trading tools for all. look at these streaming charts! they're totally customizable and they let you visualize what might happen next. that's genius! strategies, chains, positions. we put 'em all on one screen! could we make placing a trade any easier? mmmm...could we? open an account today and get a free 13-month e ibd™ subscription when you call 1-888-280-015

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la lanouncer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> we're going to check on treasuries. the stock market may be treading water but anything but in the bond market. treasury yields moved to lows we haven't seen in about two weeks based on the news ec brb draghi will not be going to jackson hole and pushed the yield to 10.62% on the 10 year and the 30 year earlier this week bumping up close to 3%, wave now moved down to 2 3/4%, a pretty dramatic yield to the yield curve and also by the fact the consumer confidence report came out and levels we haven't seen to the downside in about a year and half. that's what's moving treasuries today even though we have low volume and a not a lot in stocks. >> home prices moved for the fifth month in a row. what is that saying about the overall state of the housing market? who bet

can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la ladow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, e elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. >>> we all know that prescription pill abuse is a huge problem across the country, but the worst state of all might just be kentucky, according to the newspaper. addiction killed about 1,000 people there a year. what is worse, the tiniest victims of all of this are the newborn babies. you're not going to believe the report. the newspaper is saying more than half of the babies in one hospital mfs neo natal hospital unit one day this month, half were suffering from drug withdrawal. unbelievable. state-wide, kentucky has seen hospitalizations for newborns climb. 29 in 2000, but 730 last year. laura is a medical writer for the courier journal newspaper doing a two-year series on prescription drug abuse. i could not believe the headline. what is going on in the state of kentucky? an