lester. >> ron mott in florida. a program note, our prime time coverage of the democratic national convention starts tuesday night at 10:00 eastern, 7:00 pacific here on nbc. >>> now to another big story we've been covering this week, what was once hurricane isaac and the damage it did on the coast. tonight as the cleanup continues, hundreds of thousands of people are still without power and patience is beginning to wear thin. nbc's gabe gutierrez joins us once again from new orleans. gabe, good evening. >> reporter: lester, there's late word tonight that st. tammany parish is evacuating 1200 homes because of concerns that a boat lock on a river could fail. all this as crews scramble to restore power to the gulf coast. in parts of louisiana, the waters are receding, but so is the patience. >> this is the first time i've seen trucks in this neighborhood. >> reporter: thousands of line crews are on the move as the gulf coast struggles to recover from isaac, the slow-moving hurricane knocked out power to more than a mi

where do we find my colleague ron mott? in greenville, north carolina with the republican vice presidential nominee. mr. ryan. so, ron, he's going to campaign there and overnight there's, and do a lot of media from there over the next 24 hours. is that right? >> reporter: that's right, chuck. and a lot of buzz, and the buzz just went off with the lights -- [ inaudible ] i'm -- >> we have a little bit of a technical issue there. we'll see if we can get it back up. no. it's live television. it's remotes everywhere. it's our first day. cut us some slack. >>> just getting started on our special two-hour edition of "the daily rundown." um canning up, stephanie cutter right here. back to ron mott and get that squared away. of course, you need the schedules. the president's schedule, mitt romney, of course, the president has an event in the ohio. also take time out to go to louisiana to tour the damage that isaac caused. >>> you're watching "the daily rundown" a two-hour special on msnbc. we'll be right back. capella university und

ron mott is traveling with paul ryan who was campaigning in florida today.ood evening. >> reporter: hey, kate. good evening. for weeks now a lot of republicans have been urging the romney campaign to take off the gloves and get aggressive against president obama including sarah palin today. that's the tone paul ryan brought to florida. today president obama rallied for support in wisconsin, home turf for mitt romney's running mate paul ryan. >> we succeed when the middle class gets bigger, when it feels greater security, when everybody's got a chance to climb into that middle class. >> reporter: the latest nbc news/le wall street journal poll has mr. obama at the coveted 50% threshold, five points ahead of governor romney in the badger state. there are concerns this week about the romney campaign prompting wisconsin governor scott walker to urge effective use of the ticket's number two. >> it's not necessarily a frustration over the way paul ryan has been used but in the larger context i haven't seen that kind of passion i know that paul has to transfer over

i'm not sure ron mott hears us. >> reporter: sorry. it's loud where you are, loud where i am.t east carolina university. can you hear me? >> yeah, i hear you fine. we're just wondering what message you're expecting from paul ryan today out there in east carolina university in greenville. >> reporter: well, pretty much the same thing that republicans are hitting on there in charlotte, andrea. he will talk about that question that ronald reagan famously asked 32 years ago, are you better off today than you were four years ago, and here in north carolina, that message is probably going to resonate with some folks. the unemployment rate here is hovering around 9% higher than the national average, and because barack obama won this state by a thin margin, the republicans, mitt romney and paul ryan think they've got a good shot at picking this state up, 15 electoral college votes. we do expect him here in the next few moments, then he will spend the night in north carolina doing a lot of local media. that's how important those 15 electoral college votes are to the romney/ryan campaig

nbc's ron mott is traveling wit the he buckeye nnsow state. good afternoon, ron.time we saw mitt and paul together was way back on september the 1st. can you give us the feel for what their reunion was like today because i have to say we saw pictures earlier and it 't mt thinve i have ever seen. >> reporter: well, back on september 1st they were in jacksonville together, and that crowd seemed a little more enthusiastic than this crowd. it was an outdoor event but it was really tightly packed ent aonse a strip mall, if you will. here we're on the airfield at the dayton international, all the cheering really went up into the air and didn't quite play as energetic ashe crowd did 3 1/2 weeks ago. but the reblicans are saying this is what t govnor and campgn together because the two of them together on the stage, there's more energy coming out of that microphone than we typically see when they're going at it solo. so we'll expect to see them get together between now and november 6th. right now the plan, of course, is to continue this bus tour flyi sol tro wbe governor

ron mott is traveling with congressman ryan. ron, good morning. >> reporter: good day to you. he's going to speak here later this afternoon. the ticket going aggressively after the young voter. in fact paul ryan has a line in his speech, we'll have to see if he elicits that today, where he says a lot of folks who voted for president obama four years ago can't find work, they're sleeping on a twin bed looking up at a fade obama poster on the ceiling. this morning he was grilled by matt lauer on a number of fronts including his speech last wednesday at the convention this tampa where he appeared to link president obama to a plant in his own hometown. >> the president should be held to account for his broken promises. after our plant was shut down, he said he would lead an effort to retool a plant. it's still idle. lots of pipeeople i grew up wit still don't have those jobs there. so my point is this is yet another example of the president's broken promises. >> reporter: for a lot of folks out there who are tired of watching political ads on television, get ready for about two re

. >> straight out on the trail and covering both cig nn w ron mott on the phone with congressman paul ryan's event in ohio. we have heard several messages over the last week of the republican campaign. what do we exct to hear today? >> reporter: thomas, good day to you. coressn ryusan hen wa to the event. we are at walker manufacturing making lawn mowers and we think the message is one governor romney brought here two days a is that the economy cannot stand another four years of the president's failed economic licies and there out here in the mounin wtheat plains and hear congressman ryan talk about the keystone pipeline and focusing on the country's national resources, bringing energy jobs online and pting people back to work and pecting the prent to h >> o thing, though, ron, the obama campaign said, though, if romney loses ohio it is likely game over. is there a sense that the republican campaign is feeling that pressure? >> reporter: yeah. i think they're acknowledging they'r behind. they don't believeit's game eroepca president ever has gotten to the white house without taking oh

ron mott travels with paul ryan. joining me on the phone now from columbus, ron, what does the romney/ryan campaign think that paul ryan can do for its message in ohio? >> hey there, craig. good saturday to you. i think he is doing exactly what this ticket believes he can do. we just made a pit stop here at the varsity club on the ohio state university campus. going in to just meet people. and you can see people coming out of surrounding buildings to come see what all the fuss is about. this is the kind of excitement paul ryan generates with his ticket. i think that's why mitt romney ultimately chose him, because he can connect with people on a very real level. he is from wisconsin. he is a midwestern guy. he is a hunter and a fisherman. all the values that people hold near and dear in the midwest, this is paul ryan. so after this event today, though, he will be speaking to the national u.s. sportsmen alliance annual banquet. one of the challenge that this campaign has is that the message they're selling, at least her

. >> nbc's ron mott is live in danville, virginia. ron, seems that the romney campaign has a couple of goals with this visit in virginia. they've got a new ad talking about coal, talking about the way of life for coal miners in that part of virginia. but also the last time a vice presidential candidate was in danville, virginia, they made a little news. what you got? >> reporter: hey there, chuck. good morning. i think getting back to this point about this video from this may fund-raiser, anyone expected a full-throated "i'm sorry" from mitt romney or paul ryan you're going to be disappointed. paul ryan just said, this campaign believes the larger point for americans to keep in mind are these run-away numbers behind me. this the u.s. debt clock. the governor said while he may have been able to describe his point more elegantly, paul ryan said he was inarticulate in making his point, the larger point is under this president they say more people are in poverty than have ever been in a generation. 1 out of every 7 families. more people ar

. >> ron mott is covering the ryan campaign. he is in florida on this saturday for us. hey, there, ron. >> reporter: how are you? he came town here it to the swing state today swinging a big old bat at president obama and really a continuation of his attack on president obama yesterday up at the value voters forum up in washington. today he hit mostly on domestic issues talking about the economy, the 23 million or so american wlos as who are out ofr underemployed. do you want four more years what have you've had or do you want someone with business experience and knows how to create an economy where jobs are thriving. it is hot here today, almost 90 frees. they had a huge crowd here, about 4,000 to 5,000 people braved the heat. we're just north of the tampa st. pete area. and for the republicans, they think this corridor over to daytona beach is key to them to have a chance at winning this state. >> what does the tenor and tone of his speech tell us about the direction of the campaign? >> traditionally vp candidates have been charged with carrying the bigger stick and th

and nbc's ron mott joins us from there. ron, mitt romney, paul ryan, they're going to pair back up tomorrow. plain to all of us how long it's been since we've seen them on the road together. because a lot of people do say that paul ryan brings out the best in mitt romney when they're on the trail. >> reporter: absolutely. that a lot of folks are starting to beat that drum. good morning. the last time they were together was in florida on september 1st. as you mentioned, tomorrow they will be on the second day of this bus tour down in and around the cincinnati area and in and around the dayton area. paul ryan kicks it off solo today here in lima. and then on wednesday, the last day of the tour, governor romney will go it alone, hit the rest of the towns across this state. they've got their work cut out for them, but the message is simple. it's emblazoned on the bus. more jobs, morte-home pay. that's the message that the governor wants to get around to folks here in ohio and elsewhere around the country. they've got their work

. >>> this is ron mott in new orleans, where paul ryan's speech to medicare recipients was met with resistance. the first step to a stronger medicare is to repeal obama care, because it represents the worst of both worlds i had a feeling there would be mixed reactions. >> reporter: many convention-goers walked out of the room when paul ryan took the stage to talk about medicare, which would transfer it to a voucher system under his budget plan. for paul ryan, it was a return to the spotlight since he has been quietly busy on the trail, working for votes. and yesterday in washington, behind closed doors, shoring up support among house republicans, in the middle of campaign fighting and missteps by governor romney's 47% hidden camera video, prompting criticism again today from conservative columnist, peggy nunan, who said the campaign was a rolling calamity >> what do you say to your fellow republicans who are -- >> stop it, this is hard, you want to try it. get in the ring. this is hard. >> reporter: some republican senate hopefuls are distancing themselves, like wisconsin's tommy thompson who

nbc's ron mott is live on the phone from boston with us. ron, what's the latest there? alex, good morning to you. we're in boston, just getting ready to board the buses and head up to derry, new hampshire, for that first rally that you mentioned. paul ryan is going to be speaking in new hampshire, and then we are off to ohio. a little bit later for a banquet in columbus later this afternoon. he's sharpening his attack against the president. the president seems to develop bigger and bigger leads in those big battlegrounds, ohio, virginia, florida, as the attacks from the romney campaign are getting just a little bit sharper and what paul ryan is going out and doing now, the past week or so, he's brought out the power point. the numbers guy, a budget guy, he's showing voters who come to these rallies exactly, and in raw numbers, the deficit problem the country has and he said that mitt romney is the better candidate to try to reverse the trend that the united nations government has been on in the past four years. so we'll have to see if he sharpens that attack even more t

nbc's ron mott covers the ryan campaign wherever he is. and he joinses now. thanks for taking a minute now that you're back in washington. paul ryan's back here, he went to the house republican meeting. you've got new reporting on the bus tour. they announced it last night, a bus tour, romney and ryan through ohio and other battleground states. tell us what your reporting shows you about what the format of the bus tour's going to look like. >> chris, we were talking last week with staffers about the fact that campaign probably needed to get on the buses and go around and meet these voters before the election in seven weeks. so they just announced it now that monday paul ryan will kick it off in lima and at some point we understand three days, governor romney and paul ryan will have a joint appearance somewhere along the trip. they'll hit all of the major markets in ohio. we saw the poll they're down seven points in that state. they need to win there. the winner in ohio is probably going to be president come january. i think the campaign understands that they'

they think they have a fight in ohio on their hands. >> ron mott reporting. now christin welker in bowling green. >> reporter: good afternoon to you. president obama just wrapped up his speech at bowling green state university. he spoke before a pretty excited crowd of more than 5,000 people. heard you talking about the importance of ohio. this is president obama's 13th trip to ohio just this year. so that gives you a sense of just how important it really is to his overall campaign strategy and it comes about a week before early voting begins here in the buckeye state. the president today focusing the message touting the auto bailout and resonates with voters here in ohio. one out of every eight ohioans has a tie to the auto industry and defended himself of criticism of the romney campaign enough on china open, romney took obama to task over the controversial 47% comments. analysts believe that part of this uptick that we're seeing in some of the swing state polling may be a result of those 47% comments and here if you look at the polls he is leading by as mu

>> nbc's ron mott joins us live from new orleans, where the aarp convention is taking place. ron, the president is appearing by video, and then after the president speaks, paul ryan is going to get his turn with this crowd. what should we expect from these two duelling addresses? >> reporter: well, i think you're just hearing the president there, thomas. first of you a, good day. you hear the president hitting hard at mitt romney and paul ryan over their plan to simply transform medicare into a voucher program. the president making the case that would result in more money spent out of pocket by senni in to -- seniors. he's trying to do with the care act. hitting back mitt romney with the 47% comments saying how dare he call seniors victims and because they're enrolled in medicare does not mean they're taking a government handout. the punching continues on that front. paul ryan when he speaks in about an hour is um canning here with his 78-year-old mother betty in medicare. paul likes to joke he won't tell the public how long she's been enrolphed in the program, wants to preser

nbc's ron mott there in roanoke. safe travels. >>> coming up, chuck todd, nbc's political director and host of msnbc's "the daily rundown." we're going to ask him about the latest swing state polls in the presidential race, including the shrinking number of undecided voters. that's coming up at the bottom of the hour. >>> two u.s. marines were killed, and several others injured during a militant attack on a base housing england's prince harry. the strike happened at camp bastion in soump afghanistan. insurgents breached a wall, firing off mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. a spokesperson says prince harry was never in any danger. earlier this week the taliban said they were planning to do everything in their power to either kill or kidnap the prince. >>> investigators are working to find the people who made false bomb threats at four different schools. first up at the university of texas austin. a man claiming to be with al qaeda said that he had placed bombs on the campus but nothing dangerous turned up during a

ron mott here in the studio. i'm going start with you, garrett.ck debate prep. what are we talking about here? are we talking lights and makeup, everything? >> this is the whole nine yards, craig. this is the romney campaign's attempt to simulate game speed, if you will. the hardest thing to do is to get it to really feel like the real deal. this is at an event space here. they'll be under the lights, in front of the cameras, try to make it feel as real as possible for governor romney. have the top strategy and policy aids in place. portman's place will be to try to get under romney's skin. >> garrett, how would you characterize the amount of debate prep that governor romney has had so far? >> craig, it's sort of hard to say. the campaign very quickly started to deny essentially that they were doing debate prep. they described these sessions as private meetings. he's had a handful of full mock-up sessions or full 90-minute sessions. this being the first dress rehears rehearsal, if you will. they consider some of these big interviews he does, like

let's go right now to nbc's ron mott. he's there in florida. hello to you. let's talk about the tenner he of the crowd and what he is saying here. >> reporter: pretty hot down here in florida. paul ryan picking up from the values summit in washington, d.c. he hammered president obama very hard on foreign policy, domestic policy, just about anything you could name. after honoring those four americans who were killed whose remains were returned to the united states yesterday he quickly got into the meat of his stump speech which is all about trying to get voters out to say that you want change. and this crowd obviously eating that up saying yes, in fact they do. but they've got some issues here, the romney ticket in florida. latest "wall street journal" news poll show the governor falling behind the 50%. romney at 43%. that's a 7-point gap with a little more than seven weeks to go in this race. they know they've got to do a lot of work here in florida, also in virginia, also in ohio. so we expect that those three states with figure prominently on the campaign

. >> nbc's ron mott is live in new orleans and, ron what are we speculating there today?ter: hey, chris. this may be the single most debated topic between now and election day. seems the president is more than holding his own in this debate. look at these latest numbers from "usa today" gallup kuk conducted in the top 12 battleground. hoop do you trust more on the issue of medicare? 50%, obama, and 44% mitt romney. when the president addresses this later today we expect them to hit mitt romney hard on the 47% comments calling the folks entitled and calling them victims. he'll make the case that the plan governor mitt romney and paul ryan favor will cost seniors more out of pocket if the plan weren't to go into effect. on the flip side, paul ryan is coming here in person to meet these folks head-on. the biggest threat to medicare is the president's own health care plan, referred to as obama care and the money the president takes away from medicare to pay for other smaects aspects of the health care law. we'll have to see what happens. a big hot issue. back to you. >> thank

ron mott. music background music there. >>> in today's strategy talk, president obama and mitt romney head into wednesday night's debate with the president leading in the latest polls in all nine battle ground states. at the same time, governor romney's favorability rate rgz in the low 40s which is almost 10 points lower than president obama's and three points lower than former president george w. bush at this point. voters in several swing states also say they believe president obama cares more about the needs and problems they are currently facing. this is a snapshot here of florida, ohio and pennsylvania. when you look at which candidate voters think will implement policies favoring the middle class, president obama comes out ahead of governor romney in those same three states. joining me now for strategy talk, msnbc political analyst and republican strategist and publisher of mullings.com. rich i'll begin with you here. how frustrating are these numbers for the romney camp and the gop? is t

ron motte travels with paul ryan. good afternoon to you. >> reporter: good afternoon. almost everyone agrees the romfy campaign has hit a pretty rough patch the past two weeks and in the pastime, we sense a page-turner and expect him to deliver a pretty fiery speech against the president in orlando. this gym, i don't see a lot of empty seats. paul ryan is a rock star in the republican party, and a lot of folks are starting to question he's been under-utilized in this campaign and this morning launched attacks against president obama and went after the hispanic vote and mitt romney trails the president in many policyls against the presit and the national debt clock behind me, $16 trillion and counting and president obama is responsible for almost a third of that number. a lot of spinning and out of control and the country needs a leader at this time to try to reverse the trend of those numbers and we expect paul ryan to try to reverse those numbers and paulpaul -- they were introducing a nasa astronaut and there have been changes and i think they need to reverse the cou

just listen as he explained his compassionate side to nbc's ron mott last night. >> don't forget, i gotrybody in my state insured, 100 % of te kids in our s h hh ra i dot think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record. >> wow, what a great argument for defending the president a's affordable care act. romney went straight up onto the podium and told us what he really thinks of helping to cover theuninred. o ce is really exhibit number one of the president's political philosophy, and that is that government knows better that be people how to run their lives. mitt romney, it's 4:, ju d to election. do you know where your playbook is? let's get right to our handle. with us from washington, msnbc political analyst karen finney, dana mill bank, a political columnist for "the washington post and mike, a white house coespoenr im zi karen, mr. romney proudly offered his own health care reform as evidence that he cares about people. 50 minutes later he says he'll repeal the president's health care reform. two of our producers have

that's where we find our paul ryan man, nbc's ron mott. ohio, ohio, ohio. they have to figure out how to get this state back in the toss-up column. >> yeah, good morning to you, chuck. the way they're going to get that is get down at the ground level. they want to get together across the state because they are trailing. paul ryan rose in here this afternoon for a town hall in lye ma. then tomorrow he and romney are going to appear together. on the third day romney is going to fly solo in cleveland, toledo, that area. they are behind here. the message, as is the case everywhere across the country is jobs. more specifically in ohio, manufacturing jobs. more specific than that, auto manufacturing jobs. one in eight jobs are connected to the industry. and the challenge for this campaign is to assure the voters that president romney would be a supporter of the industry and the workers. the president's campaign is reminding voters that general motors is still alive because of the bailout. now paul ryan today is expecting to see a little bit more friend ler faces

first, let's check in with msnbc's ron motte, who travels with paul ryan in the convention hall.ay to you, sir. >> reporter: they there, craig. good saturday to you as well. this campaign has realized they've been on their heels too long the last 10 to 14 days and want to reverse their fortunes. paul ryan did that in miami and in a big way for hispanic voters and want to get that voter support. he went to miami today and met that issue head on and said mitt romney wants to appeal to hispanic voters. and in central florida and orlando, they believe they have a chance here in florida along the i-4 corridor where a lot of conservatives live and they want to appeal to those voters. a lot of people said paul ryan has been under-utilized and time to unleash him. he pushed aside the podium and his notes and went from the heart and said mitt romney will be a better leader than president obama has been and you might see this debt clock at $16 trillion and counting and president obama responsible for a third of it and what they want vote others to focus on, not all the other issues the 47%

. >> what you saw there, chris, isthntewith my colleague ron mott right before an event in ohio. you have behind the scenes governor romney saying that this is an example of his empathy, that universal health care in massachusetts. he goes on the stage and says something complely different. we, i,s clearly a tortured candidate when it comes to his positions. when you look at his record when he was governor of massachusetts, he was a more moderate republan. he moved to a far right to win the nomination. 's bnaralyzed b tha neit appease the far right of the republican party. you have this now dilemma going into in the last 40 sore so days of the election. his message hast worked and he's come across because of this new video is cold and indifferent to the flight of hard-working people. so now he's trying to show an elm pathetic side that contradicts his earlier positionsnd statements. it's not a good place for any candidate at thi time of the eltion. 'sea broor the romney campaign. >> does it speak to the problem that you saw coming early in in that romney had to take a certain sta