righnow, activities at the repuican con e vengs hav been canceled for the day as florida governor rick scott and all those in the gulf states prepare for isaac, which is strength strengthening at this hour. the center more clear. after at least eight died in haiti, the storm ripped across key west was aing flooding. the storm is expecting to pick up steam. it could be a category 2 when it hits the coast. >> i urge mississippians to monitor their local media and heed all warnings and evacuations issued. >> reporter: just days before the anniversary of hurricane katrina, the city of new orleans is on edge. >> with katrina, we thought, it will be okay. it ended up being the worst. >> reporter: the city has declared state of emergency. officials are warning be ready for anything. >> we're encouraging all of our people the stay alert, monitor local waerlt conditions in their area, follow up with what local officials are telling them. >> reporter: in south florida, millions pummeled by wind and rain. >> we're going ride it out until afterwards an see how everything is going to go. >> reporte

for the democrats, the policy defense would be that we defer to state rights, and for repuicans, we ignore states' rights, it tells you the level of four partners the ad campaign. -- level of hypocrisy in the campaign. >> with the nbc poll, governor romney and president obama, what does it tell us? >> 4-point lead for president obama. romney has real problems. four months after he has won the a moreion, butpeople at negative feeling toward him than a positive one. >> he is dangerously behind in ohio and florida. >> but people still disapprove of the way obama has held the presidency by a huge margin. >> i have an official statement to read. political satirist mark russell announced his coming out of retirement. "you may recall a val i made two years ago that i would come out of retirement the day that congressman a skinny dip in the sea of galilee." [laughter] we are still heading for a cliff in january. >> it is not too late to reignite the american dream. we can do this. >> of course, paul ryan and mitt romney are focused on november. obama andsident, an vice president biden, who, by the

president obama in new hampshire and repuican vice presidential candidate paul ryan in florida. the president is criticizing the gop ticket saying the republican challengers would make older americans pay more so wealthy tax payers get a tax break. bp hope successful countering that medicare will be protected for seniors and people close to retirement. drew levinson begins our coverage tonight. >> reporter: paul ryan went to a retirement community in florida and got a little help from his 78-year-old mother. >> i want to introduce you to my mom. >> reporter: the republican vice presidential candidate promised seniors they would not lose their medicare under a mitt romney administration. ryan accused the president of cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from medicare to pay for his health care reform. >> we will restore the promise of this program and we will make sure that this board of bureaucrats will not mess with my mom's health care or your mom's health care. >> reporter: ryan came up with the gop budget plan that would shift medicare to a voucher- like system. democrats

states to get themselves out of that was utah and nevada, two repuican governorings.s can and do implement welfare programs. coming to social security and medicare. you are going to leave that up to a 50 states or vouchher program that leaves people sick and no place to g. >> you know when walter mondale made's mistake. i will raise taxes. this president wants that and answer is government. this is a fundmental divide. >> on a small percentage of people just like bill clinton . we raised it on rich people . you knows something the tax thing benefits over whelminglyy rich people. >> class warfare. >> we'll have war fare. >> you don't mean warfare. you want the country united. >> i want it unite fair and rich people don't pay their fair share. >> average new yorker pays 55 percent. >> you do. you do. >> i only keep 45 cents on a dollar. >> i don't think so. >>it yes, state, local and federal and county and property taxings >> i have an idea go to the caymen islands and. broadcast from there. >> i got to go. >> congressman paul ryan put wisconsin in the spotlight . can h

he's been in the middle of these fights for years as the ranking member when the repuicans are in therity, as the budget chairman now. he's had these debates face-to-face with president obama. he's proven to be a good debater and pretty tough. as you know, a lot of politicians who have a good reputation get on the national stage and we learn new things. it is testing time for paul ryan without a doubt. to the point you made about his youth and lack of foreign policy experience, i went to a diner in the suburbs here today and put that question to loyal republicans. they got quite combative about this. what about president obama? he was only a couple years older. he had no foreign policy experience. to be factual, paul ryan has much more experience in washington than senator barack obama did when he ran for president. when you asked the experience question or the age question, you get a lot of pushback from republicans who take us back in time and say if you're going to be critical of paul ryan, remember, remember, he has more experience than then senator obama did. [ male announcer ] i

poll we did about this issue, and it really does split 50/50, about whether or not democrats and repuicansether or not each candidate and each campaign is really being fair to the other. so i think what it tells us is that people just kind of throw up their hands and say, it's politics. to answer your question to david, yes, these things do work unfortunately. >> that's why they're done. dana bash, appreciate it. wolf blitzer. david gergen. thanks. >>> up next, mitt romney's religion. the candidate invited members to attend church with him this weekend. his mormon faith, a religious some americans don't know much about. we'll separate fact from fiction ahead. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. you see us, at the start of the day. o

. >>> hurricanes seem to like to rain on the repuican parade.e one disrupted a republic national convention was the last one in 2008. can mother nature be a democrat? first, the elephant in the room often comes with dollar bills. republicans coming to the tampa convention and may need a big and bountiful strip club. dancers say they could make more than a thousand bucks a day. talk about a grand ole party. >> but we hired my trainer. i'm actually working with three different trainers right now to get myself right back in shape in the next week and a half or so like as quickly as possible. so i definitely pushing myself a lot harden and i know a lot of the girls here have as well. >> she is training. this is like the strip olympics. joining us now is political comedian dino and ana navarro. a study found republicans spend a hundred bucks more than in adt clubs. why do you think? >> this is a republican stimulus package to get the economy working again. it trickled down and cause some to trickle up. let them have fun. you know what? buddy was here

jamesville is a democratic leaning district but itreates mocratic areasnd repuican areas and it's becomet more republican over time. paul ryan is one of the top conservatives in the house who has had to run in a district that is fairly purple. i think that speaks to his political skills. >> brown: it's often been remarked he's had this great success in bringing his ideas to the, particularly given his youth and lack of seniority in the house. you've watched him do it. how has he done that? >> well, i think he was... he's talked about being advised early on ahe enred his congressional career to mast era subject, to carve out a niche for himself, develop an expertise, which he obviously did in economic and fiscal policy. so the really remarkable thing about his rise is here's just a single member of the house of representatives who, you know, through the budget committee and not typically a platform of great power and influence, you know, becomes the architect of domestic policy for the republican party, setting the doctrine for house republicans and w to somedegree ultite for a nationa ti

. >> one thing t gave the democrats a chance t put e repuicans in its house in play. in other words, in other words, you could make this a issue that goes from the president all the way through to every house race, who do you trust that's going protect, preserve and strengthen medicare. the guys who want to turn it into a voucher. and i just think that was a winner and i think they moved away from that. i think they had a great opportunity to define paul ryan and they won't have that chance again in the same way that they would. >> so speaking of comments that come up, the president today jumped all over, david, the governor romney's comment about the president, birth place, you know, nobody will ever doubt where ann and i were born, in michigan the press jumped on that. i hear the two of you saying that kind of thing with all the, whatever it stirs up s just doesn't make any difference in the end. >> it certainly doesn't. i think if jay leno would make the joke none of us think it nonetheless i think romney shouldn't have said it, it is demeaning, he is running for o

will not get out before the september 25, deadline even if it appears you're going to lose and cost repuicansy control of the senate? >> well, george, i am never going to say everything that can possibly happen. i don't know the future. jon: so he leaves a little bit of wiggle room there, nick. >> he does. but, he has been pretty steadfast in what he's doing. it appears that he has been on twitter. he has been on all these programs. he is sort of asking people to give money to him. he is saying that he had some good responses from small donors and that that's where he will try to pick up the lost money that he is not getting from the national donors. so we'll see how i can really move on. one thing to keep in mind about missouri is, it has been trending republican throughout the last 10 years or so. the bellwether status of the state has faded somewhat. and that growing conservative element, particularly in the southwest part of the state, might be what he is going to try to target as he tries to stay in this race. as some of these groups, particularly some right to life groups coalesce and c

will the storm impact the repuican national convention? >>> deadly confrontation. wly released surveillance video captures the moment when police gunned down the man who shot a co-worker to death outside the empire state building, as new information emerges about the shooter and the feud that led to murder. >>> and overexposed? if you think you've seen enough of prince harry in the buff already, hang on, there may be more photos, even video on the way today, saturday, august 25th, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a saturday morning. i'm lester holt. >> and good morning. i'm tamron hall. certainly, all eyes, lester, are on isaac this morning as it rolls across haiti and heads towards cuba. >> and right now, that storm's packing top winds of about 70 miles per hour, just below hurricane strength. regardless, it could be devastating for the thousands who still live with virtually no shelter two years after that earthquake that flattened so many structures in haiti, and now parts of florida, as you kn

mark, repuican. caller: good morning.hink paul ryan would be a poor choice for mitt romney because he is too close to what used to be called the third rail of american politics, which is social security and medicare. paul ryan has already proposed doing away with or phasing out medicare. i think he is going to alienate a lot of senior citizens. i am a conservative republican. he has already alienated me. i think paul ryan does come too far from the right. mitt romney has been successful so far because he has been a moderate republican, something we have not seen in a few decades. host: cell, where does this leave you? it looks like a done deal. we see official tweets and around the campaign had a press release. if you're not happy, where does it leave you? caller: i wish it could leave me with a candidate like buddy roemer from louisiana, but it does not. it makes me want to go ahead and vote for reelecting barack obama. if i were an aide to mitt romney i would run out on stage and say please do not pick paul ryan. pick s

conventions in the past and we thank everyone there for their very, very stron support for l of our repuicanr local ones to our candidate for president, mitt romney. [cheers and applause] >> well, with the combination of humor in that video and i have to say a little it ha h to bring a tear to the eye to hear george bush 41, george h. w. bush and was president for four years before bill clinton and his son became predent it was a effecting and funny video. when laura bush talked about the dog bit the reporter because he was from "the new york times". did you take it personal? >> it wasn't me. if they told me the name of the reporter i might agree. but you know, 41, the youngest flyer in ww2, really decent man. i think a vastly underrated president for the budget deal and the iraq war. vastly, vastly underrated and bush w a great guy to be around. >> i have to say that even though that is the single most charming moment of the convention watching the father and son sit side-by-side with obvious affection. but it's been striking. it's been like george w. bush is the invisible man. there's so l

. >>> well, president obama is being criticized by the repuicans for a series of interviews that he'se next. and here's a hint. he's not talking about politics in this one. >>> and how a professional clown ended up using an ipad stolen from the home of apple founder steve jobs. you cannot make this stuff up. stay with us. you're in the "situation room." there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. brave knights! as you can clearly see from this attractive graph that our sales have increased by... sorry, my liege. honestly. our sales have increased by 20%. what is this mystical device i see before me? it's an ultrabook. he signed the purchase order. with an ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned. introducing the ultra sleek, ultr