i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with a four-point lead. with less than a week to go to start those political conventions, our new nbc news/wall street journal poll shows president obama is holding on to his advantage in the run for the white house. 48% of registered voters said they'd vote for the president, while 44% would vote for romney. now, the president beats romney by a whopping 35 points when it comes to which candidate is more likable. a majority of voter, 51% view the former massachusetts governor approach to issues as being out of step with most americans' thinking. 54% think president obama's are in the mainstream. meanwhile, the poll finds the approval rating for congress has once again hit rock bottom. at 12%. the only other time it was that low was in october of 2008. >>> elsewhere, missouri congressman todd akin said he's pushing ahead with his senate bid. despite pressure from his fellow republicans to drop out. a defiant akin called the uproar over his comments about, quote, legitim

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with the republican nominee. in what may be the most important speech of his political career, mitt romney accepted the gop presidential nomination in tampa last night, arguing he is the hope and change candidate, not president obama. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: the warm-up act was clint eastwood, more swagger, a gravelier voice, but the romney message about barack obama. >> when somebody does not do the job, we've got to let them go. >> reporter: in the most important speech of his life, mitt romney first tried to first talk voters watching at home out of sticking with president obama. >> i wish president obama had succeeded because i want america to succeed. we deserve better. my children deserve better! my family deserves better! my country deserves better! to the majority of americans who now believe that the future will not be better than the past, i can guarantee you this. if barack obama is re-elected, you'll be right. president obama promise

to our thunderstorm icons just for lynn berry. she was upset. she thought it was going to rain all day through new york and d.c. it's just the late afternoon, mostly toward the evening hours. they'll be more plenty full down through the southeast any time today. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. so same goes for baltimore. a chance for thunderstorms will be late afternoon through the evening hours as the cold front tries to get a little closer. as far as areas in new mexico and arizona, watching for numerous thunderstorms and showers just like yesterday. so we're clear, it's not going to rain for you during the day today. >> you know, outdoor dinner reservations are very important to keep. so thank you for my personal weather forecast. it's supposed to be a secret that you did that. >>> coming up, building permit boom another stumble for facebook and what's the worst state when it comes to handling the iphone? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> but gray but s

i'm lynn berry, and in sports texas washington nationals placed a pitch. here is nbc's fred rogan. >> good morning, steven strasburg having a career year, his repaired elbow feeling a lot better. not good enough for the nationals, they will shut him down and announce he will have two or three more starts, and that is it. he is done. they will make him miss some games, go figure. they're confident they can make an october date without the race. if the offense plays like this, they don't need pitching, nates beat the cards, 8-1, chicago scores three in the ninth. soriano with a walk-off single. driving in seven, that didn't matter, the cubs won is 12-11. and pitcher kicks it to third. pablo sandoval guns out gonzales, flies over first, hit the bat accurately, and was down and out. the giants won it, 6-4, and andy roddick turning the big 3-0 yesterday, and called it a career. roddick won the open in 2003, how about college football, south carolina and vanderbilt, that is marcus latimore, hopefully with all the right moves. carolina started the season with a 1

i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. we're off to a quiet start on this friday. we don't expect any rain for the morning commute. 64 in taneytown. a mixture of sun and clouds. into the late afternoon hours, a chance for some thunderstorms. high temperature near 90. we will check the seven-day forecast going all the way into the weekend. >> 4:57. coming up, the latest developments of last night's major accident on 95. >> crews put out a tractor- trailer fire. >> we do have some delays we are tracking at this hour. we will check on the rest of the major roads, coming up. >> a new ruling in the case of the so-cal the car on the left was filled up with low detergent gasoline. the car on the right was filled up with bp gasoline with invigorate. which helps clean and protect its engine so it can get a few more miles per tank than the ca

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with getting down to business. after brutal blows from each side, by the end of the day wednesday, it seemed the candidates on the campaign trail were easing up on the personal attacks and zeroing in on one issue, medicare. nbc's claire leka joins us now from washington with more on this. claire, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, lynn. yes, that's right. it has been a war of words between president obama and gop rival mitt romney with words being tossed around like "unhinged" and "hate," and both candidates now going at it in blistering fashion on the latest hot campaign topic. both campaigns spent the day firing at each other over medicare. president obama was joined by the first lady on his third and last day of campaigning in iowa. he attacked gop claims that his health care plan reforms cut medicare by $700 billion. >> i propose reforms that will save medicare money by getting rid of wasteful spending in the health care system, reforms that will not t

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with disaster area. danielle lee has the latest on new orleans. good morning. >> reporter: between morning. after more than 24 hours of relentless rain, we're finally getting a small break in the storm. a downed street light, blown out windows and damaged signs here, but that's not the case for other parts of the city. rooftops are all that are seen in some parts of the city. hundreds are stauing in shelters. isaac i may not have had the strength of hurricane scene narks b scene nark ykatrina, but it's l thousands in can despair. the national guard had to rescue dozens stranded in top floors of their homes after a waufl water toppled over the 18 mile local levee. despite isaac's determination, the federal levees prepared following katrina have done their job, sparing much of new orleans significant flooding. >> we have for reason to believe that that system will be compromised. >> reporter: still, metro new orleans is littered by downed street lights, fallen trees a

i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we're going to begin this morning with mounting pressure. despite more prominent republicans criticizing him, congressman todd akin says he's not a quitter and will not drop off of his race. he is facing louder calls from gop officials for him to stop aside. nbc's steve handelsman has the story. >> reporter: posing possible damage to the ryan/romney presidential campaign. with women voters, they already disproportionately back president obama, who weighed in. >> the views expressed were offensive. rape is rape. >> reporter: it was republican congressman todd akin, running for a senate seat in missouri who set off a firestorm, questioning if all rapes are, in his words, legitimate. he was arguing against abortion rights for sexual assault victim. >> it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, it's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut the whole thing down. >> reporter: senator claire mccask

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with mounting pressure. despite more prominent republicans criticizing him congressman todd akin says he will not drop out of the u.s. senate race in missouri, but after his comments about what he called legitimate rape, akin is facing louder calls from gop officials for him to step aside. steve handelsman has the story. >> reporter: the issue of abortion rights for the victims of rape is posing possible damage to the ryan romney presidential campaign with women voters. they mostly back president obama, who weighed in. >> his comments were offensive. rape is rape. >> reporter: it was republican congressman todd akin running for a senate seat in missouri who set off the firestorm. he was arguing against abortion rights for sexual assault victims. >> it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> reporter: senate democrat claire mccaskill had

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with an energized race. from their respective battleground states, the president and his number two traded jabs with team romney/ryan yesterday. they are just 12 weeks to go until november, and all the biggest issues are fair game from energy and jobs to medicare and wall street. nbc's steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: they clashed over energy, barack obama in iowa, mitt romney in ohio with coal miners, slamming the president for toughening regulations. >> if you don't believe in coal, if you don't believe in energy independence for america, then say it. >> reporter: wind is one alternative the president pushed. >> the wind industry now supports 7,000 jobs here in iowa. that's worth fighting for. that's what's at stake right now. >> reporter: an election about big choices. that was the president's theme on his iowa tour. and the challengers, romney raised medicare in a new ad. >> now when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. >> reporter: that

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with the stalled storm. hurricane isaac slammed into louisiana last night. it knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people along the gulf coast. now conditions are only getting worse as the rainfall adds up from that slow-moving storm. nbc's danielle leigh joins us now. she's in new orleans. good morning, danielle. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. wind and rain has been ripping through the french quarter here. you may be able to see a palm ripped from one of the trees behind me. if you look to my right shoulder behind me on a building, there's a sign that's just dangling in the wind. we've seen many of those signs ripped from buildings here this morning. this is really just the beginning of the storm. isaac is coming ashore with a fury. vicious winds and heavy rain are barrelling down on coastal cities in four different states. the storm is knocking out trees and taking down power lines. in new orleans alone, more than 300,000 have lost power by the early mornin

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with on the campaign trail. with the race for the white house taking center stage in the battleground state of iowa yesterday, it appears mitt romney's vice-presidential pick may be growing on some americans. according to a new abc news/ washington post poll, 38% favor congressman paul ryan as mitt romney's running mate. that's up from 23% last week. 33% viewed ryan unfavorably. nbc's steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: his opponent got the weekend buzz by picking a running mate, but in drought-stricken iowa, president obama created his own buzz as only an incumbent can, ordering the federal government to buy $150 million worth of meat and fish from hard-hit farmers. >> we've got a lot of freezers. >> reporter: the president said the farm bill frozen on capitol hill would help more and singled out mitt romney's running mate for helping block it. >> so if you happen to see congressman ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to iowa and our rural communitie

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is first look on msnbc. >>> we are going to begin this morning with disaster area. a downgraded isaac continues to drench the gulf coast this morning moving inland at a meager 5 miles per hour. now president obama has declared disasters in mississippi and louisiana where as many as 70 people were rescued from the raging flood waters. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: it's been more than 24 hours of driving rain and violent winds. still, isaac shows no signs of ending its relentless attack on the gulf coast. >> we'll be dealing with this storm through early friday morning. >> reporter: in many communities including plaquemines parish where water topped the levee, survivors are dealing with more than they can handle. >> i'm exhausted and tired. it's really bad. >> reporter: in some areas more than a foot of rain has left standing water and more is likely on the way. downed trees and power lines have left more than 700,000 in louisiana alone

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with health and taxes. the battle over medicare continued on the campaign trail yesterday with teams obama and romney trying to convince voters young and old that their plan is the most financially fit. meanwhile a mitt romney bombshell about his personal tax rate has sparked fresh controversy. nbc's claire leka joins us from washington with more on all of this. claire, good morning. >> good morning to you, lynn. yes, mitt romney called the interest in his personal tax returns, quote, small-minded, but if the obama campaign has their way they will keep the focus on romney's millions front and center. you could call it taxgate. republican presidential hopeful mitt romney says he won't release more tax returns. but while explaining how his medicare plan would work using a whiteboard in south carolina yesterday, he did give his clearest explanation yet of what he's paid to uncle sam. >> i did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years, i never paid less t

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we are going to begin this morning with only a dozen weeks left. that is how much time remains before election day in the race for the white house. now, president obama is doing better in one new national poll and the unfavorable rating for mitt romney has edged higher with most americans seeing the challenger favoring the rich. a cnn/orc international poll indicates that if the election were held today, president obama would win with a seven-point margin over mitt romney. that's 52-45%. now, all of this as the president enjoyed some timely progress with the economy. and conservative republicans ramped up their lobbying for a vp choice for romney. steve handelsman from nbc has more from washington. >> reporter: campaigning in colorado, president obama got good news on jobs. fewer americans applying for unemployment last week. and more u.s. exports. he claimed he's been righting the ship. >> saving an aut

i'm lynn berry, those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we're going to begin this morning with a war of words. as the battle between president obama and republican challenger mitt romney intensifies, former president bill clinton is now jumping into the fray. clinton is criticizing romney over an ad that accuses obama of trying to undo welfare reform. nbc's claire leka is live for us in washington. she has more on this. claire, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, lynn. that's right. it's getting nasty on the campaign trail. now both candidates will continue their mission today to try to convince voters that they're up for the task of fixing the struggling u.s. economy, and high unemployment. mitt romney on a campaign stop at a manufacturing company in illinois took the gloves off, ripping president obama on a new issue, welfare. >> taking the work requirement out of welfare. that is wrong. if i'm president i'll put work back in welfare. >> reporter: team romney is trying to get a new angle on the

i'm lynn berry.f the top stories making news this morning. at least 30 earthquakes hit southern california between tuesday night and wednesday morning. but only three were strong enough to be felt by residents, and none caused any damage. still seismologists are studying the themmers to determine if what they call the earthquake sequence threatens anything more ominous than just normal area activity. >>> well, thousands took to the streets of libya's capital of tripoli to celebrate the handover of power to a newly elected assembly. lawmakers hold their first session today. >>> in louisiana, a charter school that kicked pregnant students out of the class and required them to be home schooled is now changing its policy after a threatened lawsuit by the american civil liberties union. school officials say they didn't know the policy was illegal. >>> well, the first man to walk on the moon, neil armstrong, is recovering from heart bypass surgery only days after his 82nd birthday. nasa said the 1969 "apol

i'm lynn berry.as a tough night for rangers newcomer ryan dempster, but remarkably, his team was able to make a comeback against the angels. here's nbc's mario solis. >> good morning. ryan dempster made his rangers debut, and it didn't exactly go as planned. to arlington, texas, the angels jump on dempster in the first. mark triumumbull with his team-leading 20th of the year. angels up 2-0. rangers come storming back, rocking c.j. wilson in the second. michael young capping off a five-run inning with an rbi single against his former mate. angels rally to tie it at eight, but they don't have enough left in the tank. rangers tack on seven more runs. dempster gives up eight in his debut, but it doesn't matter. texas wins 15-9. >>> what has gotten into the reds? overnight they've gone from a good team in the national league to the best team in baseball. todd frasier gets the route started with a home run. cinci goes on to score sixth in the second inning against the padres. they have now won 20 out of 23

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with on the campaign trail with the race to the white house taking center stage in the battleground state of iowa yesterday it appears mitt romney's pick may be growing on some americans. according to a new abc "washington post" poll it's up from 23% last week. 33% viewed ryan unfavorably. nbc's steve handelsman has more. >> reporter: his opponent got the weekend busby picking a running mate, but in drought-stricken iowa, president obama created his own buzz as only an incumbent condition. >> we've got a lot of freezers. >> reporter: the president said the farm bill frozen on chile and would help more and singled out mitt romney's running mate to help block it. >> so if you happen to see congressman ryan tell him how important this farm bill is to iowa and its farming communities. >> reporter: he, too, went to that swing state. a chaotic event. his speech repeatedly disrupted. >> we don't want a welfare state. we don't want a debt crisis. we don't want to prolong th

i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we are going to begin this morning with that stalled storm. hurricane isaac slammed into southeast louisiana last night, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people all along the gulf coast. and now forecasters are warning bad conditions may only get worse as the rainfall adds up from slow-moving storm. nbc's danielle leigh joins us now. she's in new orleans. danielle, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. wind and rain has just been ripping through the french quarter here. you may be able to see a palm that was ripped from one of the trees behind me. and then if you look over my right shoulder behind me on a building, there is a sign that is just dangling in the wind. we've seen many of those signs ripped from buildings here this morning. this is really just the beginning of the storm. isaac is coming ashore with a fury. vicious winds and heavy rain are barrelling down on coastal citi

i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc.starts right now.> antihate groups for the better part of the decade for his involvement in the skin head music scene. could this have been prevented? >>> after falling behind mitt romney in fundraising for the third month, president obama fights back on the campaign trail referring to his o opponent as romney hood. the question is is it more like the kevin costner version or romneyhood men in ghts? >>> and

i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with disaster area. a down graded isaac continues to drench the gulf coast. now, president obama has declared disasters in mississippi and louisiana where as many as 70 people were rescued from the raging floodwaters. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: it's been more than 24 hours of driving rain and violent winds. still, isaac shows no signs of ending its relentless attack on the gulf coast. >> we'll be dealing with the storm through early friday morning. >> reporter: but in many communities including blaparish survivors are already dealing with more than they can handle. >> i'm just exhausted and tired. >> reporter: more is on the way. downed trees and power lines have left more than 700,000 in louisiana alone without electricity and for many it may be a week or more before it's restored. in many areas, there are clear signs it will be difficult to get around. roadways, rivers, neighborhoods, swallowed by floodwaters, forcing rescue teams to pull survivors out by boat. >> it was almost halfwa

i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we're going to begin this morning with a 4-point lead. with less than a week to go to the start of the political conventions, our new nbc/wall street journal shows president obama holding on to his advantage. if the election were held today, 48% of voters say they would vote for the president while 44% say they would vote for mitt romney. the president beats mitt romney when it comes to who is more likable. by comparison 54% say president obama opinions are in the mainstream. the poll finds approval rating for congress has once again hit rock bottom at 12%. the on other time it was that low was in october of 2008. missouri congressman todd akin says he is pushing ahead with his senate bid, this despite pressure from his fellow republicans to drop out. a defiant akin called the uproar over his comments about "legitimate rape" out of context. >> todd akin bought tv time to apologize. >> the mistake i said was in the words i said, not in the heart i hol

i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. a maryland student is in custody for allegedly shooting and critically wounding a classmate on the opening day of high school. teachers grabbed the student who was wielding a shotgun and held him until police arrived. >>> prosecutors in georgia say four u.s. soldiers who were also members of a militia group wanted to assassinate president obama and may be charged in the killings of two other people. the group allegedly spent at least $87,000 on assault weapons and bomb components for anti-government attacks. >>> a study finds teenagers who smoke marijuana at least four times a week and use marijuana throughout their life saw an average i.q. drop of eight points. >>> and scientists report sea ice in the arctic ocean has already melted to its smallest point ever and the summer is not even over yet. they say this shows the worst case forecasts on climate change may be coming true. >>> well, now here's an early look at how wall street will

i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" on msnbc.ned, willie geist is next. >>> with president obama and national democrats hammering the message that paul ryan looks out for the rich while slashing into programs for the poor and the elderly, we get new numbers this morning. showing just how the country feels about mitt romney's veep choice. the question is do voters think ryan is a right wing radical or reasonable republican. >>> governor chris christie gets a major role at the republican national committee. the question is will governor christie deliver a palin-esque speech? >>> how did a dude on a jet ski climb a fence and

i'm lynn berry. those stores and more are ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we are going to begin this morning with that gathering storm. as tropical storm isaac takes aim at new orleans, the next 24 hours are going to determine just how destructive this storm is going to be. nbc's danielle lee joins us from new orleans. good morning. >> reporter: it is starting out as a relatively calm morning here in new orleans. people are not letting that receive them. many businesses have laid out sandbags and the precautions ahead of the storm. the sounds of drills and hammering could be heard throughout low-lying areas of the gulf. people are bracing themselves for the heavy winds and rains being brought by isaac. >> we are going to stick it out. now, we have the sandbags. that may help. >> some in new orleans sticking it out and putting their trust in the levees that failed following hurricane katrina seven years ago. isaac will be the first test following the $14 billion makeover. >> i want to assure you all that there is nothing th

i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc.starts right now.> antihate groups for the better part of the decade for his involvement in the skin head music scene. could this have been prevented? >>> after falling behind mitt romney in fundraising for the third month, president obama fights back on the campaign trail referring to his o opponent as romney hood. the question is is it more like the kevin costner version or romneyhood men in tights? >>> and a heart stopping finish to the soccer game against canada as the neighbors from the north refuse to back down forcing extra time. it's "way too early" for this. >>> hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. this is "way too early," the show that is much more fun when i'm watching from my sofa at home. glad you're watching us. let us know why you're awake. or tweet us. or you can do what alex morgan do and text the word "awake" followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. that was a go usa yell. before we get to the news, willie geist is in london

. >>> welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. some of the top stories making news this morning. syria's president bashar al assad made his first appearance on state tv in nearly three weeks. it came as the u.s. urged stepped-up international planning for the possible collapse of assad's regime. >>> egypt's military says attack helicopters fired missiles on suspected islamic militants in sinai after an attack sunday that killed 16 egyptian border guards. egyptian army officials say it's the first time they fired missile in sinai since the 1973 war with israel. >>> the american civil liberties union is threatening to sue a charter school if it doesn't change rules f s for requiring students suspected to be pregnant be home schooled. >>> nasa's newly arrived curiosity rover has sent back pretty amazing pictures. the first color photos of mars shows a fuzzy view of an ancient cratered landscape. also, a composite video shows the end of curiosity's dive to the martian surface. a belgian man took a pretty scary dive from one of the wor

i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. the u.s. military says three american special forces members have been shot dead by a man in an afghan army uniform. there's no word on whether the gunman was a rogue security force member or a taliban infiltra infiltrator. this comes after three u.s. soldiers and an american aide worker were killed thursday in a suicide bombing in eastern afghanistan. >>> the government says the drought is still getting worse in the plains states. key producers of corn and soybean crops because they did not get as much benefit from recent rain as elsewhere. >>> the u.n. says the drought pushed global food prices 6% higher last month. >>> a russian computer security firm has an agency is spying on transaction, social networking sites, e-mail and instant messaging in the middle east. the firm says the gauss virus was believed to have been made in the same lab to attack iran's nuclear program. >>> well, a small nasa lander known as morpheus cras