Transcripts For CNN The Situation Room 20120827

rhee pete of the heart wrenching scenes from seven years ago. and extraordinary inside look at the controversial technology being used to protect the more than 50,000 people who have already gathered here in tampa for the republican national convention. you're going to find out how it can alert authorities to a crime sometimes before it even happens. i'm wolf blitzer in tampa. you're in "the situation room." we begin with chilling memories of hurricane katrina's deadly wrath almost seven years to the day that it permanently changed the face of the gulf coast as we know it. now tropical storm isaac is zeroing in on the region, traveling on a very similar path. let's go straight to our meteorologist chad myers. he's standing by at the cnn severe weather center for the latest on isaac's track. where is it heading? what's going on now, chad? >> well, the latest in the past couple of hours that really no one's really even seen yet. this is all brand-new. is that isaac is almost outside of its cone. i'm going to zoom in here. storm still 65 miles per hour. but the storm has shifted to the left. the cone is here. the center of the storm is actually to the left of the cone. if this wobble or if this left turn continues, that could take it farther off toward the north and toward the west. certainly to the west of new orleans. giving a sigh of relief to the people there. even if it gets big, it won't be a direct hit if it stays off the coast. but there are obviously other people on the other side. remember the cone goes all the way from beaumont, port arthur all the way to mobile. they do and always wobble all the time. significant flooding across the east coast of florida. at times we had feet of water in people's homes. in broward county, water still going up. it's going to be a mess of a night here. maybe even where you are, wolf, maybe hear the tornado siren once in a while tonight. these storms are slowly lly rotating. they could put down small waterspout sized tornadoes. don't be surprised if you see that anywhere across the florida peninsula tonight. >> i can tell you, chad, as i was driving here to the convention center from my hotel, i did hear those tornado warning sirens go off. it's a little startling when you hear it and you see some of the reaction from other folks out on the street or cars. it was raining already. but i did hear those tornado warning sirens go off. here's the question, though. it would be worse for new orleans if this -- if it eventually becomes a hurricane if it hits a little bit to the west of new orleans than if it hits a little bit to the east of new orleans? >> that's correct. that is absolutely correct. in fact, katrina was east of new orleans. katrina was not a direct hit on new orleans. katrina was a direct hit on bay st. louis, mississippi. wall of water 25 feet tall went into bay st. louis. yes, if the storm continues to track off to the left, right here on new orleans like it is, that would be bad because all of that water would pile into lake pontchartrain and probably fill up and go up the mississippi river. if it's farther off to the left, in fact, this wobble continues, it would be over here toward new iberia or lake charles. that would take a lot of the bad part away. maybe 60 or 50 miles to the west of new orleans. that would be enough. right now the forecast is right through the center of the city. >> we'll have you back as soon as we get a new forecast. thanks very much. more than 5,600 national guard members are being called up for active duty in preparation for isaac. states of emergency are in effect for mississippi, alabama and louisiana. perhaps nowhere are they monitoring storm developments as closely as they are in new orleans given the history of what happened there seven years ago. brian todd is joining us now with a closer look at what the city is doing to prepare. what are you seeing, brian? >> reporter: wolf, take a look at this structure behind me. this is a massive pumping station here. the 17th street canal levee and pumping station. this was not here seven years ago when katrina hit. but this is part of the $11 billion being spent to upgrade the facilities in this area. these levees and pumping stations to keep the water out of new orleans. just look at how big these pumps are. when a hurricane hits, there's a certain level of water that will trigger this. lake pontchartrain is about one foot above sea level normally. when it gets to about five feet these massive pumps are going to pump water from that canal out toward lake pontchartrain. this storm is expected to bring water levels between maybe five and eight feet above sea level. so these things may be operational in the coming days. so that's one of the components here. but they've reinforced levees, other pumping stations, barriers around this city. the army corps of engineers and local officials are confident they can handle anything this storm gives them, wolf. >> from what you're seeing, they are really taking this very, very seriously. but as far as evacuations are concerned, brian, where does that stand? >> reporter: well, no mandatory evacuation for the city of new orleans right now. but mayor landrieu is obviously keeping that option open if he needs to do that. what they're doing is ordering residents of certain parishes that are near the coast -- st. charles, parts of plaquemans parish. not a full-scale mandatory evacuation. calling for voluntary evacuations for most of this area. no mandatory evacuation for the city of new orleans yet. but officials are keeping track of what happens here. of course, that may have to come into play, wolf. >> it may, indeed. bri brian, we'll check back with you. meanwhile here in tampa isaac is also on the minds of many of the convention delegates who live along the gulf coast. some of them are now even considering leaving early to go home and be with their families. cnn's dana bash is here. she's watching what's going on. i know you've been speaking with a lot of these delegates from louisiana, mississippi, alabama. what are they saying? >> we went over to where the louisiana delegation is hunkered down in their hotel in their meeting this morning. we talked to a lot of delegates. some were on their way out. some decided they were going to leave. others decided to stick with it. regardless, to a person, they are spooked. >> reporter: the louisiana delegate lynn skidmore the pain from katrina is still raw. >> it's terrifying. i think the fact -- especially coming on the same date as katrina, the anniversary. >> reporter: so emotional she asked to stop the interview for a minute. obviously this is very emotional for you. >> yes, it is. >> reporter: understandable. >> it's just that it brings back such bad memories. and we don't need that. we don't need that. new orleans doesn't need it. >> reporter: most louisiana delegates say they don't have much of a choice but to stay in tampa. she has four small children back home in isaac's path. any thought of going back home? >> getting back home would probably be an issue right now. i think we're here to do something that's important as part of our political process. we definitely have our eyes on what's going on there. think for louisiana people we know the political part of it's important, that what we're here for. but it is hard to celebrate in some ways when you have your heart in a different place. >> reporter: your stomach must be in knots right now. >> absolutely. >> reporter: five time convention goer chris gudry is thinking about leaving. >> i'm thinking about renting a car, drive back to louisiana, looking into flights. yes. plus talking to my family members at home to see how they're doing and trying to assess what the storm is going to do. >> i had 11 feet of water hit when i was -- during hurricane katrina, 2005. >> reporter: mike bayhem is a gop delegate from bernard's parish in new orleans. he says the timing and location of this convention is a mistake. >> they need to go back in july. having the convention in tampa was probably not a good idea in the peak of hurricane season. but there's no need for the conventions to be this late. >> reporter: what are you going to be doing as you're watching from here? >> keeping an eye on the hurricane track. getting in touch with all my family and friends that are evacuating. praying. a lot of prayer. >> that particular delegate, michael bayham, he was at the convention in minneapolis four years ago, of course, that convention was delayed one day because of another hurricane. that was hurricane gustav heading towards the gulf region in general. so all of these delegates we talked to, they say, here we go again. it is very, very tough as you just heard. pretty raw. one interesting note, some of them decided they were just going to go to try to take their minds off things, since obviously nothing is going on here at the convention. there was an organization to go see the new anti-obama movie, "obama 2016." >> the politics not too far away even though there can be some real heart wrenching scenes going on. the political fallout from this happening exactly at the time of this republican convention is what? >> you know, i talked to several of the delegates. obviously these are all republicans, staunch republicans, about any concern about the fact that this is going to conjure up those images from seven years ago and conjure up the kind of anti-bush, george w. bush sentiment that really was pretty strong at the time. several i talked to said they were thinking about that. it's possible. but they also feel that they're confident that mitt romney is a different kind of person and that the perception of him is different. they also think the history has been kinder to bush and that it seems that a lot of the problems were on a local level, not necessarily on a federal level. >> hard to believe seven years ago. >> it really is. >> dana, thanks very, very much. mitt romney is hoping to reintroduce himself to voters here on the national stage in tampa. and when it comes to women, he seems to have some work to do. just ahead, my interview with a woman critical to helping him doing exactly that. the florida attorney general pam bondi. she's here. she'll join us live. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? 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[car alarm blaring] call now and also ask about our 24/7 support and service. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? we have a special guest here in the situation room. florida's attorney general pam bondi. clearly a major rising star in the republican party. attorney general, thanks very much for coming in. >> oh, thanks for having me. >> let's talk a litling bit about women voters. you've been very important to mitt romney in florida trying to get women to support the republican candidate. in our latest cnn/orc poll we asked women across the country, who would you be more likely to vote for for president of the united states? obama, 54%. romney, 42%. a ten point gap. why does romney have such a problem across the country getting as much support among women as the president has? >> the poll i saw showed that was unmarried women. >> this is all women. >> if you factor in married women -- >> married women it's even bigger. >> i thought it was a percentage point apart if you factored in all women. >> this is likely women voters. a lot of folks believe it's because of the abortion rights issue for women. the republican party platform, i'll put it up on the screen. we assert the sanktity of human life and affirm the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. we endorse legislation to make sure the 14th amendment's protections apply to unborn children. is that the problem that he has, that romney and republicans for that matter have with women? >> you know, i can tell you, wolf, i've been traveling all over the state of florida with governor romney. i have been traveling to new hampshire for him. i've been in virginia for him. and what i have seen, i've really -- that issue really has not come up. what women care about are jobs, the economy, the unemployment rate. 401,000 women have lost jobs under president obama's reign sf. >> so why does he have a problem with women? >> i think he's coming around. i think in the last two months he started the women for mitt coalition. i'm chair of florida. i'm one of the co-chairs nationally. nikki hayley, kelly ahot and i have been traveling all over the country for governor romney. >> i know you're going to be speaking here. >> i'm speaking wednesday evening, yes. >> should the platform have put in the exceptions -- because romney tdoes support exceptions for women who have been raped, life of the mother -- >> i do, too. >> you would have preferred those exceptions be included in the platform? >> i can tell you i have an 8-year-old down's syndrome niece and i am extremely pro-life. but i was also a prosecutor for 20 years. personally i believe in the case of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in jeopardy, that that should be an exception. >> what advice -- when you speak privately with mitt romney or paul ryan for that matter, what do you tell them they need to do here in florida to get women onboard? >> you know, i think women need to get to know the real mitt romney. he has always supported women. his lieutenant governor, who i was just talking to today, was a woman. his chief of staff was a woman. he's always put women in high positions. and, you know, i've spent so much time with him. he totally, absolutely respects women. and i think, again, wolf, when i'm around the country, women care about the same issues as men. that's getting jobs. you know, keeping jobs. we have 5.9 million people unemployed right now. >> did you see our new cnn poll for florida? just came out this afternoon. likely voters choice for president in florida, obama 50%, romney 46%. that's likely voters in florida. so he's got a problem. he needs to really carry florida if he's going to be elected president of the united states. >> he does and actually those aren't bad numbers. because barack obama's been in office almost four years now. and really his numbers as an incumbent should be much higher. and i think after the convention and i think they're going to hear a lot of great speeches this week, and i think people are going to support mitt romney. and i certainly want florida to endorse and support mitt romney. and i want him to be our candidate and take florida. >> what do you think of your former governor, charlie crist? used to be a republican, now having endorsed president obama? will speak, in fact, at the democratic convention. >> you know, i've known charlie a long time. >> you worked with him, right? >> no. i was a prosecutor. i knew him when i was a prosecutor. he's from st. pete. i'm from tampa. i've known him for a very long time. i know he calls himself a reagan republican. i know he says he's pro-life. i know he says he's proguns. he says he's pro family. he was one of the strongest advocates against obama care. and he says he's pro business. so this makes no sense to me. frankly, i think it's a distraction. i don't think we should waste time talking about him at the republican national convention. and in the fact of the severe storm about to hit louisiana. >> he's not going to be happy with what you're saying about him. >> no. i've known charlie a long time. that's his platform that i've always heard him say. >> but he is supporting the president of the united states for re-election right now. >> then they have nothing in common according to everything he's said in the past. >> we'll continue this conversation. you've got a big speech planned. when are you speaking? >> wednesday evening sometime after 8:30 or 9:00. >> have you finished your remarks? >> oh, i wouldn't be sitting here. i'd be nervous if they weren't fini finished. >> you're rehearsing. >> we're rehearsing, it's written. >> you've got the tell prompter. >> that's what i'm working with now. it's going to be interesting. do you want to know what it's like to experience the republican national convention from the inside? listen to this. tomorrow you can join the cnn election round table with me and the cnn political team. submit your questions, get answers in realtime in this live virtual chat. don't miss the cnn election round table tomorrow noon eastern. you can log in to cnn.com/roundtable to get all the information you need to know. i'll look forward to speaking with you tomorrow. after winning a high stakes patent case last week, apple is calling for a ban on the sale of some samsung products. we're about to give you details. charlie crist as we just reported switches sides. the former republican governor of florida will, in fact, speak at the democratic national convention in charlotte next week. we're going to talk about that and more. a special panel over at the cnn grill will offer some unsolicited advice. 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. 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. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. oh, yeah! wow. once you experience it, there's no going back. at our biggest sale of the year, every bed is on sale. queen mattresses now start at just $599. and save an incredible 50% on our silver limited edition bed. only through labor day, only at one of our 400 sleep number stores. a controversial russian punk band says two of its members have fled the country over fears for their safety. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on, lisa? >> hi there, wolf. three members of a russian punk band were sentenced to two years in prison this month for performing a protest song about president vladimir putin in a mos cue church. now the band says two of its members have fled the country. russian police have been searching for the two other band members who took part in that church protest. but the group would not say if those were the two who left the country. authorities say a swarm of several hundred earthquakes in southern california on sunday caused only minor damage. but they brought some tense moments like these caught on tape by one family near san diego. experts say the strongest was a 5.5 magnitude. but no injuries, fortunately, were reported. thousands of these quakes may hit over the coming days. an american taliban fighter john walker lynn testified today the u.s. government is forcing him to sin by preventing him from praying with other muslims. walker lynn is serving 20 years in federal prison for azing the taliban. the warden of the prison says group prayer is restricted because of security concerns. but lynn is suing to get that rule overturned. apple is seeking a ban on u.s. sales of eight different samsung products after winning a high stakes patent case on friday. a california jury ruled that samsung should pay apple more than a billion dollars for infringing on patents like double tap zooming and scrolling. this drama continues to play out in the stock market today. apple jumped nearly 2% to a record high while samsung fell more than 7% in korean trading. look at that number. $675.68. apple stock, certainly a good investment for some out there, wolf. >> don't you wish you would have bought that stock a long time ago? >> i certainly do. i'm thinking of all those people who said, this company called apple, i think i want to invest in it. $675. unbelievable, wolf. >> a lot of rich people as a result of that stock. thanks very much, lisa, for that. florida's former republican governor, charlie crist, has become a rather high profile defector from his party and is now slated to speak at the democratic national convention in charlotte next week. we're going to talk about that. a special panel over at the cnn grill here in tampa offers some unsolicited advice. stand by. kand stays up.s up [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here. that's why i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. 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[ female announcer ] for more information or to find a retailer near you, visit tempurpedic.com. all right. let's get straight to cnn contributor sirius x m radio host pete dominique at the cnn grill in tampa over at the convention. he's getting some unsolicited advice from our panel. pete, take it away. >> thank you very much, wolf blitzer. i'm very excited to be here with this brilliant panel of people to discuss some very important issues. let me quickly introduce everybody. this is van jones, former obama adviser. now heading the rebuild a dream organization. everybody knows the ceo and former senate candidate from california, carly fiorina. you may not recognize his face but you know his brilliant words. new york columnist ross dalca. mayor of los angeles, antonio villaraigosa. >> the only one not brilliant in this group. >> exactly. you're also running the dnc. you're in charge next week. >> i'm in charge. >> let's get right to it. we found out that charlie crist today, the former governor of the state we're in, florida, has defected if you will. he is now endorsing president obama. of course, he was a republican and he's going to speak next week. and the former democratic congressman arthur davis has now also defected, if you will, to become a republican. let's quickly show a snapshot of the history of this -- what will you call it? behavior, switching parties. then we'll come back and talk about it. >> jim, we must have made a wrong turn. >> i told you this is the democrat convention. >> george w. bush wants you to grab terrorists by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip. for i don't knjohn kerry they g no, maybe bull of mush. >> in troubled times it was understood country comes before party. >> senator barack obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who i think can do great things for our country in the years ahead, but my friends, eloquence is no substitute for a record. not in these tough times for americans. >> great to have that reminder. now, is it political -- is it defection? is it courage? or is it opportunism? >> it depends on the person. first of all since when in america could you not switch parties? give these folks credit for standing up and saying what they believe. however, in some cases, i think it's pure opportunism. i must say i think that is the case with governor kris. i think it's pure opportunism. i think he cut a deal. think he wants to run for governor again. he wants to run for governor as a democrat. he thunink this is his ticket. >> i mean, in both of these cases -- >> lieberman didn't lose. >> lieberman lost a primary. >> yeah. but he won. but he won. >> he won. but he won and developed a lot of -- look, frankly understandable bitterness towards his own party. that's often the pattern with these things. i think both crist and arthur davis who lost a race for governor in the primary -- >> crist is upgrading. i appreciate that. he upgraded. the other guy is getting demoted. i understand that. i will say this. for archer davis, i don't want to call the guy a traitor. that would be terrible. i don't want to call him a benedict arnold. that would be awful. >> you're just throwing those words out there. >> i do hear the o.j. song the back stabbers. that's the song keeps playing in the back of my mind. >> one guy who had the courage to tell the truth about joe biden's remarks which were shameful. >> let me say this. mr. crist believes with bob dole and jeb bush. the republican party has gone too much to the right. in the past week you heard both mr. bush and mr. dole talk about how this party's gone too far to the right on immigration, on women's issues. and i think he is trying to -- he's going to speak at this convention because he understands that our party is a party of a big tent, a party that's focused on the middle class. >> there's a truth -- i think there's a nugget of truth with everything everybody's saying. i'm back with carly. i think this is opportunism. this is trying to recreate and rebrand yourself as a new -- this is my brand. i am the former this. now i'm this. everybody pay attention to me for a couple of days. >> there's no one in america who thinks that charlie crist would be slipping in to your big tent if he hadn't lost a primary campaign to marco rubio. you think he's just out of -- you know, he's had coming to jesus moment. >> i can tell you what he said. he said that the republican party has gone too far to the right. bob dole has said that. jeb bush has said that the party has to move to the center and speak to a broader cross-section of americans. i think he's speaking to the fact that florida is evenly divided. it's going to be a very close election. and there's an independent vote out there that it isn't real democrat or republican. >> mayor, first of all -- >> unfortunately we're getting some technical problems over there at the cnn grill. we're going to fix all of those problems, get some more unsolicited advice. we'll take a quick break. much more with our panel right after this. ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ 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. it's me? 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[ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. a bloody weekend in syria continued into monday with more than 100 people killed across the country yet again. lisa sylvester is monitoring that. some of the other top stories in "the situation room." lisa, this is happening almost every single day. >> yeah. we certainly continue to get these reports. opposition activists say 157 people were killed across syria today, including 88 in the capital damascus. activists also say they shot down a syrian attack helicopter in a damascus suh bush supposedly seen in this video. but cnn cannot independently confirm its authenticity. the violence comes after a particularly brutal weekend. 100 people were killed in the city of daraya which rebels say was one of the first cities to revolt against the assad regime. police say one teenager is in critical condition and another in custody after a shooting at a high school near baltimore today. according to cnn affiliate wjz the shooting took place on the first day of classes at carrie hall high school. 15-year-old male student was quickly arrested. president obama has ordered all the american flags in the u.s. and abroad to be flown at half staff on friday in honor of astronaut neil armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. armstrong died saturday at the age of 82 and on friday he will be buried in cincinnati. wolf? >> heard some people comparing him to christopher columbus when all the history books eventually will be read. fascinating. neil armstrong did amazing, amazing work. >> certainly a sad loss for this country. a lot of people were very sad on saturday to hear that news, wolf. >> yep. i was very sad. i was surprised, i didn't know how ill he was. heart surgery complications. a very, very sad time for all of us, especially those of us who remember living through that summer of 1969 when he was the first person to walk on the surface of the moon. thanks very much. a new technology that uses artificial intelligence to predict threats is now being used by security officials in tampa during this republican convention. we're about to give you details. ♪ 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. 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. fortunately we've re-established contact with pete d d d dominick and the cnn grill. unfortunately i spoke too quickly. we lost that shot. the cnn grill is here at the republican national convention. we've invite a lot of folks to come over, have some fun. talk to folks. we're going to try to re-establish with pete shortly. in the meantime let's check in with lisa sylvester watching some of the other important stories we're monitoring right now. what else is going on, lisa? >> wolf, we have, of course, bearing down on the gulf coast, and we will be telling you more about what is coming up with tropical storm isaac. all eyes are keeping an eye right now as that tropical storm continues to barrel towards new orleans. of course, it is expected to hit on what could be the anniversary of hurricane katrina, the seventh anniversary. wolf? >> all right. lisa, i know we're going to be staying on top of this. we're just getting more information. we're getting a statement from the white house also on the preparations that the president and the obama administration are taking right now to deal with this tropical storm isaac. the president's been on the phone with the governors of louisiana, alabama and mississippi. we're going to have much more on this part of the story right after this quick commercial break. this happy couple used capital one venture miles for their "destination wedding." double miles you can "actually" use. but with those single mile travel cards... 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he's getting unsolicited advice. we've had technical problems. hopefully we've fixed it. >> i got you, wolf. this hurricane is not going to stop us from giving you our unsolicited advice. we demand to tell you what we think here at the cnn grill. i'm here with the mayor of los angeles, antonio villaraigosa. and van. >> they heard there was going to be severe weather. they got a prediction. severe weather warning. they responded. they said, oh, my god. people could be hurt. they took appropriate, prudent measures. please do that. my advice, do that for the whole country. not just your convention when it comes to climate change. four years ago you had a leader on climate change, john mccain. he wasn't afraid to say the word and talk about the solutions. right now the red states are being destroyed by this drought. you've got wacky weather across the country. 40,000 record days of heat across the country and not a word from the republican party. my advice, be as concerned about weather for the country as you are weather for the convention. that's my advice. >> i love that. >> i think the difference, van, is that you don't have to negotiate a probably unenforceable treaty with the chinese government in order to cancel the first day of the republican convention. >> wu ybut you can talk about i >> let's look at all the science. the drought we're experiencing which is terrible is the worst since the 1950s. it's happened before. let's also look at the science that says what it takes to solve this which is a global treaty enforced over 30 years. tremendous expense. >> it's got to start here. >> let's start with what van is saying and acknowledge it's happening. we can disagree on the solutions. >> a political party afraid to talk about one of the most important issues. red states deserve better. >> stick to the subject. >> go ahead, carly. >> completely off the convention my solicited advice is to lance armstrong. hold your head up high. an american hero. a champion. who are these people at the usada that after you pass 500 drug tests, you've been cleared of wrong doing, who is usada. hold your head high. i think these nameless, faceless bureaucrats at the usada are everyone's terror of a bureaucracy run amok. we don't know who these people are. somehow they've decided they have the right to hound a hero and a champion and to strip him unilaterally of his achievements. >> you, of course, are a cancer survivor. is that what you hear from other cancer survivors? is everybody behind lance armstrong on this? >> i certainly hope so. it's what i hear from everyone i talk to. you're absolutely right. it's not just that he's a champion on the bicycle. he's a champion for cancer survivors like me and millions and others around the world. i'd like to have these usada people stand up and be counted. >> where's their bike? >> i want to know how you feel about melky cabrera. >> we all agree. >> here's mine. i'm going to talk right to the mayor. i can give this advice. my advice is to the obama campaign, specifically the dnc. if it's really bad weather in the gulf coast and there's devastation, loss of life and property, i think that kills the rnc. let's be honest. that hurts their momentum. i think you guys, the dnc, should give them one of your days to make up for it. but if you're not going to do that, here's some even more serious advice. if there is loss of life and massive damage on the gulf coast as seen seven years ago, how about mitt romney and president obama get together and head down there, arm in arm. if they don't want to do that, i'll let you do it on a disease. get together on something you don't disagree and show americans don't have to disagree about everything you're making us disagree on tv and politics. >> we're already going to be three days, not for. let me just say this. earlier today i said, i can tell you i know this. that both republicans and democrats agree right now that it's country before party. and that the people of the gulf coast -- >> doesn't look like that. i hope they make it look like that. >> there's no question about that. i also agree that it would be great to see the two of them there in support of the people. i know that bobby jindal, mayor landrieu and the president and fema are all working together on a bipartisan basis to put the people first. >> it would be nice for romney and obama to get together on something before the election. go ahead, ross. >> sort of heavy. i'll take it back to ordinary convention politics. my unsolicited advice is for ann romney who is speaking tomorrow night, i believe. she's probably already written her speech. but i think that she should consider talking a bit about her husband's mormonism. more specifically, her experience with mormonism. there's been a lot of argument about how should the romney campaign deal with the faith issue. a lot of people think mormonism is exotic and unfamiliar and so on. ann romney actually has the interesting experience of being a convert who converted to the lds church when she married mitt romney. i think if there's any kind of opening, any sort of in where the romney campaign can sort of explain mormonism a little bit to the american people and make mitt romney more relatable. it's ann who might be the right person to do it. >> we should talk about this a lot more. >> my unsolicited advice is to democrats and republicans. it's bipartisan. that is start listening to the mayors. the cities are 89% of the gdp of the nation. the mayors are much less married to orthodoxy, much more focused on getting results. getting things done. what's broken in politics right now is broken in washington much more than it's broken in our cities. that's true. you know, at our u.s. conference of mayors this year, we unanimously supported comprehensive immigration reform. unanimously got behind simpson/bowles as a template to deal with the deficit and debt. last year not unanimously, but overwhelming majority got behind nation building here. we said we can't build bridges and hospitals in baghdad and kandahar and not baltimore and kansas city. >> you don't remember the republican party tried nominating a former major for vice president last year. >> listen to the mayors. because they actually get along and have something in common. >> better than they do in the beltway. >> the other thing i would say about mayors is, to your point, you're about results. you actually have been about results. you've taken on special interests in the democratic party like the teachers union. you've stood with parents to reform education in los angeles. he's done tremendous things. >> we've got to go, throw it back to wolf. thanks, guys. back to you, wolf. >> pete, thanks very much. thanks for all of that unsolicited advice. we'll do it again tomorrow. meanwhile, authorities in tampa are taking a high-tech approach to security over at the republican national convention this week. they're using new software that claims to be able to recognize a potential threat before any crime is committed. cnn's joe johns has been looking into this story for us. joe, tell us what you're discovering about this new technology. >> reporter: well, wolf, tampa installed new security cameras all over the city in anticipation of the convention. then they hooked dozens of those cameras up to this cutting edge and some would say controversial technology. it was developed in texas, which is where we went to figure out how it works. here at the headquarters of a brainy technology company in houston, a brave new world of video surveillance is playing out on big screen tvs. >> there's a car behind the train? >> absolutely. >> what's he doing out there? >> that's a good question for the security team to find out. >> reporter: a group of scientists, computer geeks and law enforcement guys at brs labs have invented new software for security cameras designed to alert authorities to crimes sometimes before it even happens. that's right. computers determine what behavior is suspicious. take, for example, this unlucky character who was skulking around a car. >> our software was able to analyze the video surveillance information coming from this particular camera. it was able to learn what was taking place over the course of time and was able to identify this specific activity as abnormal. >> reporter: that's company president john frazini, a former secret service agent. what's most important, he says, is that the program uses artificial intelligence. it functions like a human brain. creating memories of what's normal by watching a camera for several days. then sending out alerts instantly when it sees something out of the ordinary. >> our customer reported to us that they were absolutely -- they were able to dispatch their security team to intercept this particular criminal activity. in this case of a human breaking into a car. >> reporter: they caught this guy in realtime? >> they did. >> reporter: that rapid response time is one reason tampa chose the company to analyze the cameras surrounding the republican national convention. right now thousands upon thousands of video cameras around the country are almost always used to document a person's activities after something bad happens. but this moves up the time line, getting one step closer to what's been called precrime. the idea that video can paint a clear enough picture for the authorities to intervene before someone breaks the law. >> our software is designed to identify activity that lends itself to potential criminal or terroristic activity. we're taking that first step forward. >> reporter: precrime might make you think of science fiction. like "minority report" with top cruise. >> what he's doing now we call scrubbing the image. looking for clues as to where the murder is going to happen. >> reporter: of course, this technology can't see into the future or read minds. still it's already going too far for privacy advocates like jay stanley of the american civil liberties union. >> the problem is, is that, you know, having a computer watching a video feed of a complicated scene like a subway platform, you know, is the computer really going to be able to detect something that's out of the ordinary and that is a true threat? or is it just going to kick up a lot of false positives, get a lot of people hassled by the cops who are perfectly innocent and not really doing anything to make us safer. >> reporter: the company's chief science officer who claims to be a proud member of the aclu says there's no privacy issue here. that they focus on behavior, not identity. >> we're very serious about privacy protection. that's why we don't do facial recognition. that's why we don't look at people's license plates. that's why we don't try to recognize that, oh, my gosh, there's joe johns walking out of the cnn building. we don't do that. >> reporter: now, this technology is certainly not hooked up to every single camera in tampa. and we're told it is not hooked up to cameras where protesters are demonstrating. presumably, wolf, those people are being watched very closely by human beings. >> so far, joe, the fears of anarchists or violent demonstrations emerging, taking place here in tampa, i haven't seen any evidence of any of that. have you? >> reporter: absolutely not, wolf. i was out with one big demonstration that was supposed to have 5,000 people or so. at least that's the way it was billed. a few hundred protesters. it was very peaceful. i was able even to talk to some of the self-proclaimed anarchists. and they say the scariness that surrounds them, that's been built up by the police, has been overbilled. >> joe johns on the scene for us here in tampa, thank you. you're in "the situation room." happening now, we have the new forecast for tropical storm isaac. exactly seven years after katrina, isaac is on a strikingly similar and ominous path. memories of the killer storm are spurring urgent preparations along the gulf coast as residents board up and pack up. we'll take you to new orleans and mississippi. and a rare look inside iran. tehran hosts a meeting of 120 nations and is taking full advantage of the chance to promote its agenda and to protest u.s.-led sanctions. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in tampa. i'm wolf blitzer in tampa. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com first, this just coming into "the situation room." we're here at the republican national convention. it has formally opened, immediately recessed the proceedings delayed a day by earlier uncertainties about tropical storm isaac. tampa may have dodged a direct hit but others won't be so lucky. and this is just coming in. the latest forecast for isaac, a storm which eerily and ominously is following a track very close to that of katrina that took place in 2005. seven years ago this week katrina devastated new orleans, much of the gulf coast and urgent preparations are now under way for isaac including evacuations in three states. let's go straight to our meteorologist, our severe weather expert, chad myers. he's at the cnn weather center. the latest forecast just came in, chad. what does it tell us? >> -- >> chad, hold on a minute, chad. unfortunately we aren't getting your audio. we're going to fix that. we're also getting another story in from the white house. the white house press secretary has just issued a statement saying the president was briefed much of this day by the fema administrator, craig fugate and dr. richard nab and others on this potential of a category 1 hurricane emerging along the gulf coast. potentially even moving into new orleans. following the briefing with the president the president convened a call with alabama governor robert bentley, louisiana governor bobby jindal and mississippi governor phil bryant and new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. he promised them that the federal government would be directly involved in making sure they did whatever was necessary to avoid a disaster. on the call the president also informed governor jindal of louisiana that he had approved the governor's request for an emergency declaration for louisiana for this tropical storm isaac. mississippi also is potentially in trouble. david mattingly is on the scene for us. david, what are you seeing where you are? >> reporter: wolf, everyone has a very close eye on this isaac as it's coming ashore slowly but surely toward this part of the gulf. everyone still remembering what happened seven years ago, still rebuilding in some ways from the devastation of hurricane katrina. but as that rebuilding has been going on, everything has been done with plans for a storm much bigger than isaac. mississippi's bay st. louis was a town decimated by the winds and waves of hurricane katrina. ground zero for the powerful storm's eye. little was left standing. corky hadden is among those who chose to rebuild. this time much higher. 24 feet? >> it's 24 feet above sea level. >> reporter: katrina's storm surge took hadden's old house, leaving only a foundation and columns. his new house is built to withstand not just a hurricane isaac, but, if necessary, another katrina. >> you look at what's happened the past 200 years. this house should be high enough to sustain anything we've seen in the last 200 years. >> reporter: an eye on the future, but painfully mindful of the devastation of just seven years ago. bridges, roads, sewers, all had to be rebuilt. but nowhere are the changes to bay st. louis more obvious than right here on the waterfront. when katrina hit, the city's old seawall stood at about eight feet high. that wasn't nearly enough to stop the storm surge. so when they rebuilt, this is what they put in its place. in some places, a pile of cement and steel more than double what it used to be. bigger, stronger, smarter. but also more expensive. this is the aftermath of katrina in gulf port where the beach front was torn to pieces. today many lots are still vacant and for sale. could this house stand up to katrina? >> not with me in it. >> reporter: he can laugh now. but katrina destroyed ben stone's house. the new one looks almost the same only higher. with windows that can withstand 200 mile per hour winds and cement walls six inches thick. the allure of life on the ocean was worth the risk. >> it gets angry from time to time. but it's the most beautiful sight i can see. >> reporter: and everyone we've talked to here, wolf, will say this. that beyond the similarities of the path and the timing of isaac, they are saying it is no katrina. but at the same time, they've learned to treat each and every one of these storms with respect. wolf? >> as they should. david mattingly in mississippi for us. we'll stay in very close touch with you. let's go back to chad myers over at the cnn severe weather center. chad, you were telling us about the latest forecast only moments ago it just came in. update our viewers. >> 70 miles per hour now. four miles per hour shy of a hurricane. it is forming an eyewall. hurricane hunters have flown through it. they've seen the eyewall. it's open to the north. it's not a complete circle. it's kind of an open sea with the north part being the open part. that means the storm is intensifying rapidly now. and it will be moving on up toward the north and toward the northwest. here's the forecast track. it wobbled a little bit today. made a little bit of an s-curve right there. the forecast is still back on track for it to be very close to new orleans. this is 2:00 a.m. wednesday night. so we're talking 30 or so hours from now here, 35 hours from now right here south of new orleans in the bayou. there's not much here. there's not much there. maybe a little toward grand islands here. the mississippi river itself there's a bank. there's some buildings there. would we have to wait until, i don't know, maybe 8:00 in the morning before it would make it closest approach to new orleans. remember, it can be over here. it still could be over here. that's the white part. all the way from that's about gulf port, biloxi, back over to new iberia. the center of the line. closer to new orleans than we have been for most of the day now and back to 100 mile per hour storm as that minimal, but still a category 2 hurricane, the big threat with this storm this time is going to be storm surge. this could surge 8 to 12 feet even as a cat 2 because it's been in the water so long that bubble has been building for days. wolf? >> just a reminder, viewers, seven years ago katrina, once it eventually hit the gulf coast around new orleans and alabama and mississippi, it was a category 3, right? >> that is correct. what happened with katrina that's not happening with this storm is katrina actually took a trip over here into the water here. this was the very warmest water in the gulf of mexico called the loop current. that made it explode to a category 5 at least briefly. as it came up into the new orleans area it turned a little bit to the right and made a direct hit on right where david mattingly was. bay st. louis, that town was literally taken apart by a 25-foot storm surge there. now this storm is farther to the west of new orleans which means the storm surge will be making a run into new orleans rather than east of new orleans. this is a big deal for new orleans. even at 100 mile per hour storm there's a lot to worry about. plus new orleans getting almost 17 inches of rain that they have to pump out. all these walls are great. that keeps the sea water out. but if you put 17 inches of rain in that bowl, you have to pump it out of that bowl. that's what they're worried about. >> as they should be. chad, thanks very, very much. there are no plans yet to order evacuations of new orleans. but city officials say they are far better prepared than they were for katrina seven years ago. that includes building massive storm barriers. our meteorologist rob marciano is in new orleans right now. he has a closer look at the city's defenses. >> reporter: still a beautiful day here in new orleans. probably not going to be that way come tomorrow, certainly tomorrow night. we are along the 17th street canal where seven years ago when hurricane katrina came through, this structure wasn't there. all of the water from lake pontchartrain went down the canal, breached the levee, filled the northern part of the city with water. now we've got 11 floodgates there each weighing 20 tons that can be dropped down to protect the city. then these massive pipes that are hooked up to pumps that can pump out water on the other side of that floodwall to lake pontchartrain at an amazing rate of over 8,000 gallons per second. several of these stations along the waterfront here. there's a couple more south and east of town. not to mention a surge wall protector on the eastern most flank of town meant to withstand a surge there. so the city itself, pretty well protected. the army corps telling me that they're confident with this system, especially since it's only forecast to be a category 1 storm. but if it gets higher intensity than that, then everybody here is going to start to worry and residents may be on the move. right now a voluntary evacuation in place for the city limits of new orleans. outside of that barrier in surrounding parishes, lower levels, people are evacuating mandatorily. and they are on the move right now. not only here but across southeast mississippi. isaac scheduled to arrive here sometime tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night. potentially into wednesday morning. all eyes are on the gulf here in new orleans. rob marciano, cnn, new orleans. while isaac was still brewing in the gulf of mexico, gop organizers decided to delay their convention. but now controversy may be brewing here. i'll speak with the former republican presidential candidate, herman cain. we'll talk about that and more. oil drilling rigs and platforms, they're being evacuated in the gulf as isaac moves in. we're drilling deeper into both candidates' claims on energy. and will you soon be able to use your electronic devices more freely on planes? the faa is considering it. and we have new information. 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. 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. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. 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[ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee any way you book, including our new app. you'll never roam alone. jack cafferty is here. he's got the cafferty file. hi, jack. >> wolf, with isaac drawing a bead on the city of new orleans the republican convention is no longer at the center of this week's media storm. nevertheless, the gop must, must shine during its aprooefuated three-day convention if they have any hopes of recapturing the white house. while national conventions these days are highly scripted affairs, there is still room for a politician to surprise. either on the upside or the other side. politico takes a look at past conventions and how they've been the breeding ground for both rising stars and unintended screw-ups. barack obama's keynote address 2004 democrat you can convention propelled him into the national spotlight and set his stage for a run for the white house, which he was successful at. the other end of the spectrum, bill clinton's 1988 convention speech. it went on and on for twice the allotted time. delegates not paying any attention except when they started cheering when clinton finally said the words, and in closing. the place erupted. as for the republicans' tampa convention there are already high hopes for the keynote speaker in new jersey governor chris christie, florida senator marco rubio and ann romney. this could be the last best chance to introduce mitt romney to the country on their terms. new cnn/orc poll numbers show while the race is a dead heat between romney and president obama likely voters think the president cares more about people and better understands their needs while romney is better able to -- perceived to be better able to handle the economy which in the end is always the most important issue in any presidential election. while the temptation might be to try to make mitt romney seem warmer and fuzzier he's resisting saying, quote, i am who i am. at the end of the day it's likely easier to be true to yourself than to try to be someone you're not. dan rather said it well, the camera never blinks. here's the question. what's the greatest risk republicans face at their convention? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. post a comment on my blog. or go to our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf, i can't wait for chris christie. >> chris christie will be a good speaker. i'm sure marco rubio will as well. i'm actually looking forward to ann romney's speech a lot. >> i am, too. >> i think paul ryan. we'll see what mitt romney, the star of the show, has to say thursday night. the downside is there could be a hurricane that hits new orleans right at that time tomorrow night, wednesday night. who knows what's going to happen. that notion of some sort of split screen. hurricane disaster, republican convention going on simultaneously is not what these republicans who have gathered here in tampa, jack, want to see. >> what do they do, though? they can't just cancel the convention. i guess they could. they could nominate romney another way. but they certainly don't want to do that if they don't have to. >> no. they don't want to do that. let's hope this tropical storm, soon to be hurricane, does not really cause a lot of damage. we'll watch it closely, though. to our viewers, you can experience what it's like to be at the republican national convention. tomorrow i'll be hosting the cnn election round table along with cnn's political team. you can submit your questions. you'll get answers in realtime. join our live virtual chat tomorrow noon eastern. logon to cnn.com/roundtable. you'll get a lot of information how to do it. dozens of oil rigs and platforms have been evacuated as isaac moves through the gulf and the storm could quickly have you paying more at the gas pumps. cnn's tom foreman is taking a closer look at that and the role energy is playing in this campaign. tom, what are you finding out? >> well, wolf, there is nothing out there right now that can more underscore the debate going on between the president and mr. romney about energy policy. >> reporter: americans burn more than 19 million barrels of oil a day. countless tons of coal and natural gas, too. raising persistent questions about supplies and the environmental impact. president obama has pushed alternatives, solar power, electric cars, wind and more. in fact, mitt romney says in a new policy paper, president obama has intentionally sought to shut down oil, gas and coal production in pursuit of his own alternative energy agenda. romney wants more oil exploration, faster drilling permits and state control of exploration on federal lands. an echo of the republican chorus, drill, baby, drill. >> i will set a national goal of america and north america, north american energy independence by 2020. >> reporter: but president obama says chill, baby, chill. >> under my administration, america is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. at any time. >> reporter: so who is telling the truth? in the mid 1980s u.s. crude oil production went into a decline. yet despite a moratorium on offshore drilling after the gulf spill domestic production has surged. last year reaching its highest level since 2003. in addition production from oil shale and natural gas is way up. however, much of this was set into motion years before president obama took office. technological advances by private firms have helped a lot, too. so while he has taken some steps to encourage production, he can't claim as much credit as he'd like to. the president has angered some oil and coal producers by pushing more toward alternative energy. but there's just no real evidence out there that he's trying to shut down traditional energy sources the way that mr. romney claims. beyond that, it's also not entirely clear that mr. romney's plans would substantially elevate the speed at which we move toward this elusive goal of energy independence or that we would ever get there without him talking a lot more about something the president likes to talk about, which is using more conservation in our fuel. cutting down on our use of it. on the bottom line, both of their arguments run out of gas. mr. romney's claim that president obama does not want to have anything except for all these alternative forms is simply false. that is not true. and for his part, the president goes a little bit too far in taking a little bit too much credit for everything that's happening right now. that's something that many, many politicians do all the time. take the work of everyone who went before and say, look what's happening in my administration. that's what makes it a little bit misleading. wolf? >> very interesting, thanks very much, tom foreman doing the fact checking for us. he's going to be doing a lot of that over the next two months. meanwhile, donald trump delivering some fighting words to his party. i'll talk about that and more. herman cain is standing by. he'll join us. he's here at the republican convention. a stuck accelerator sends an iowa woman on a gut wrenching half hour high speed ride with state troopers trying to keep up. we're going to tell you how it ended. 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[ all ] i'm with scottrade. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... playing sports is just my whole life. looking back if it wasn't for shriners hospital, things would just be really different. i lost my leg when i was a kid. shriners turned my whole life around. send your love to the rescue. donate today. another attack today by afghan security forces claims the lives of more u.s. troops. lisa sylvester is monitoring that, some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right new. what's the latest, lisa? >> wolf, no one has claimed responsibility for today's attack by an afghan soldier that left two u.s. troops dead in eastern afghanistan. coalition officials say nato troops killed the attacker. they say at least 42 nato troops have now been killed by afghan soldiers or insurgents in disguise. officials in southern helmand province say also today ten afghan soldiers were gunned down by members of their own unit. could that warning to airline passengers, you know, the ones that put away all your portable electronic devices, could that become a thing of the past? the faa announced today that it wants a panel to re-examine what can and cannot be used safe lly during flight. the agency says the move was prompted by the widespread use of dvd players, personal computers and other devices. it does say making or taking calls on your cell phone while in flight will still be off limits. the american academy of pediatrics says the health benefits of circumcision to infant boys outweigh the risks. not enough for it to recommend the procedure be routine. it issued a policy statement today saying the decision should be left up to the parents. circumcision is a juish and muslim religious right and it is a common medical practice. critics say it's not necessary and can cause pain and complications. you've got to take a look at this heart stopping video. a woman in ames, iowa, said she thought she was going to die when her accelerator got stuck, taking her to speeds well over 100 miles an hour. this thing lasted a half an hour on interstate 35, captured on the dash cam of state troopers trying to help her. nothing worked to stop the suv. the dispatcher stayed on the phone as she frantically, you can see these pictures there, frantically weaving in and out of traffic. she finally got her kia sorento to stop by lifting the accelerator with her foot while pressing down on the brake. could you imagine that, wolf? going 100 miles an hour with no way to stop your vehicle? absolutely terrifying. this thing lasted half an hour. this was not just a short little trip and suddenly she was okay. 30 minutes. >> she's a lucky woman. you know what? there's other drivers are lucky as well that she could avoid them. what a nightmare. that is -- half an hour. amazing. 100 miles an hour. thank god she's okay. thank god everyone else is okay. >> certainly lucky to be alive. >> lisa, thank you. very much so. more coming up here at the republican national convention. he was once a top contender for this year's republican presidential nomination. but now herman cain finds himself sort of on the sidelines at this convention in tampa. he's walking in here to the sky box. we're going to be talking with herman cain in a moment. mr. cain, thanks so much for joining us. good to be reunited with you. what do you got? restrained driver in a motor vehicle. sir, can you hear me? two, three. just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! 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[ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. with tropical storm isaac still brewing, republican organizers decided to delay the start of the republican national convention here in tampa. it was formally open for about ten minutes today, then recessed for a day. now there may be some more controversy brewing. let's discuss what's going on with the former republican presidential candidate, herman cain, who's here in "the situation room" in tampa. >> hello, blitz. how are you? >> nice to see you. you remember that debate we had. i moderated it in constitution hall in washington. you didn't call me wolf. >> no. >> you didn't call me mr. blitzer. >> it's just blitz. >> that's what it was. >> i think it stuck. you can call me cain. >> that's what i said. you call me blitz. i'll call you cain. i'm surprised. you're here in tampa. >> yes. >> right behind us is the podium. you're not going to be speaking? >> nope. >> what's going on? >> it's not about me. >> what do you mean? >> it's not about me. >> remind our viewers. there was a point you were the leading republican presidential candidate. all the polls showed you were atop. >> for about four straight weeks until the attack on my character came out. and it was coordinated. it had to be coordinated. >> by whom? >> we can't tell you by whom because we don't have proof exactly by whom. but we do know that it was coordinated. >> can you tell us if it was coordinated by a republican? >> nope. i can't tell you that either. because i don't want to say anything that might jeopardize what we might do in the future in terms of exposing what happened. i was on the top for about four straight weeks, you're right. this convention is about mitt romney defining his message, defining his solutions, and defining his leadership. and i happen to believe that the slate of speakers that they have is outstanding. and there are some speakers that need the exposure like mia love from utah. former democrat congressman davis from alabama. >> arthur. >> let them be on stage. i don't need this as an opportunity to expand my visibili visibility. >> do you talk to these romney people? have you spoken to mitt romney in recent months? >> i have spaoken to governor romney in the last two months at least three times one on one. >> what do you talk to him about? >> first of all, the last time i met with him was when they were in wisconsin when ryan went back for the first time after being selected. we had a one on one conversation. he says, what are you hearing out there? what do i need to do? the guy listens. that's what leaders do. so i made suggestions about sharpening the message. and he has done that. >> give me an example. >> here's an example. i said, governor, continue to talk about energy independence. the political consultants want you to talk about energy security. leroi and bessy, the average people, they don't understand energy security. he's talking energy independence. last week we rolled out his five-point energy independence plan that's simple to understand and it makes sense. and i believe that that's -- that's the type of sharpening of the message. he's got to do the same thing relative to the economic growth and jobs. >> because he hasn't picked up your 9-9-9. all of our viewers remember 9-9-9. >> 9-9-9 is still fine, fine, fine sfwl you still support it? >> absolutely. fine, fine, fine. the other thing i suggested, he has to do it when he's comfortable with it. the narrative needs to become replace the tax code. there are three very good options out there. fair tax, flat tax and the most recent entrant is the 9-9-9 plan. let the public debate which one is best. either one of them will be better than the current tax code. >> on medicare, he wants -- at least paul ryan has supported not for people over 55, but under 55, going to the option of having a voucher system. in other words, the government would give you some money. you'd then go buy your insurance from an insurance company. you'd have to deal with them on that kind of basis. why would anybody who's a senior want to do that if right now the medicare system, the seniors get their health insurance taken care of, they don't have any problem. why would anybody want the option of a voucher system? >> remember, the seniors are 55 and older. the voucher is for those that are under 55. >> but they would get it when they turn 65 or 67. once they're eligible for medicare they could make a decision. >> back up. let's back up. here's what young people are telling me. if we do not change the system for those under 55, it will self-destruct. so young people are saying, people under 55 years of age are saying, if i had a voucher to help me buy it, here's one thing about human nature that's being forgotten about this whole voucher system. when people spend their money, they spend it a whole lot differently than if they're spending the government's money. younger people under 55, they love this idea because it puts them in control. and it saves medicare. >> i don't know anybody who's over 65 or 67 who's going to say, you know what? i want to deal with insurance companies as opposed to the current medicare system which most seniors love because it takes care of all their -- >> you see, that system isn't going to change. that system isn't going to change. if you are 55 years of age or older, you stay on the current medicare system. >> so you have the option of the current system or a voucher system, you would take? >> i would go with the romney/ryan plan. the way they have it. if you're 55 years of age or older, okay, yours doesn't change. i'm 66. >> you like the current medicare system. >> no. i would have rather have gotten a voucher when i was 55 years of age. i would have rather have gotten a voucher when i was 55. >> i got to go. quickly, what you said earlier, intriguing. someone planted a conspiracy to derail your presidential run. give us a little bit of -- >> it was a well coordinated effort. all you have to do is look at publicly what happened. three consecutive weeks, three different stories attacking my character and attacking me to create doubt in the minds of many of my supporters. that's what forced me to drop out of the campaign, because of the pain that it caused my family by spinning these false accusations and lies over and over and over and over. >> but the headline, what i'm hearing you say, you're investigating this. and you want to get to the bottom. >> yes. >> you're looking who started to spread those stories about you? >> yes. >> and these women in the past, all of this? >> you got it. exactly. we're not done with the story yet. >> you've got investigators working on it? >> yes b i do. >> you're spending money out of your own personal pocket? >> yes b i am. my character and reputation is much more than dollars. we're going to get to the bottom of this. >> cain. >> blitz. >> good to see you. >> my man. >> been way too long. you let me know when that investigation wraps up. we'll continue this conversation. >> i will. you got it. >> thanks very much for coming in. >> yes. the former florida governor jeb bush says it's time for president obama to, quote, move on and stop blaming the bad economy on his predecessor. we're going to talk to president bush's former press secretary ari fleischer about that and a lot more in our strategy session. stay with us. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. 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. 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! let's get to our strategy session. right now joining us our cnn contributors, the democratic strategist donna brazile and former bush white house press secretary ari fleischer. thanks very much for coming in. let me play a little clip from "meet the press" yesterday. the former florida governor jeb bush speaking out about his brother, former president, the man you worked for, ari, president bush. >> i think it's time for him to move on. i mean, he -- look, the guy was dealt a difficult hand. no question about it. but he's had three years. his policies have failed. rather than blame others, which i know we were taught that that was kind of unbecoming, over time you just can't keep doing that. maybe offer some fresh new solutions to the problems that we face. that's not going to happen between now and election day. >> he said the president should not be always blaming the former president bush for all the economic problems. but he acknowledges himself, he was dealt a very difficult hand. so the bushes can't completely sever their responsibility for this economic mess that all of us have had to endure in recent years. >> the bigger point he's making, wolf, is good advice for any incumbent. no incumbent leads by blaming whoever was their predecessor for whatever came first. people are elected to clean up whatever's on their plate and deal with it and make new decisions and take the nation in a new different direction as promised in the case of president obama without good results. i think if i'm barack obama i would listen to that. that's pretty sound advice. >> it is almost four years later. a lot of people are saying how many more years can this president keep blaming former president bush for the economic problems, the high unemployment above 8%, for example, that still goes on. >> if you listen to president obama, he rarely mentions president george bush's name. what he talks about is the policies, reckless failed policies that almost brought us to an economic depression. look, i think it's important to understand that we cannot solve our problems if our leaders are not willing to tell the truth. tell the truth about where we are and where we need to take the country. this problem wasn't caused overnight. i'm talking about the lack of jobs, because we're not hemorrhaging 22,000 jobs a day or 795,000 jobs a month. instead we're growing the economy very slowly. and we need to talk about how do we prove this economy much faster so we can grow more jobs so that people can get back to work. >> it is the economy. you saw our new cnn "time" magazine/orc poll that came out today. north carolina. now, i assume -- the president won it the last time around. i assumed north carolina was going to be republican this time. it's still a battleground state. look at this. in this current poll, these are likely voters choice for president. in north carolina, ari, romney's at 48%. obama's 47%. sampling error 3.5%. that's a statistical tie in north carolina right now. >> wolf, i haven't worked on campaigns. my advice to everybody when it comes to polls is start to tune all of them out. the one thing that's constant you're going to know, this is a close race. battleground states are going to remain close. i think the break will come in late october after the debates when we see how that goes. chances are, undecided break against the incumbent. basically any poll that's going to be within a close margin, close race any given day they're going to fluctuate. >> i'm surprised -- >> north carolina is this close? >> look, wolf, president obama barely carried the state. there's been a lot of demographic changes in the state of north carolina. what i do know is that the obama team has really good ground fwam game. i think the president's message will resonate in north carolina. i think people want to talk about how we move the economy forward in the 21st century. they don't want to go back. next week we'll be in charlotte. that's an opportunity for the democrats to plant new seeds and to harvest a wonderful turnout this fall. >> i was also surprised in this new cnn/"time" magazine/orc poll in florida the president is slightly ahead of romney in florida. you saw those numbers. >> i saw that, too, wolf. again, you look at these polls. on the national poll cnn just had mitt romney is ahead by one point. how do you mesh being ahead by one point with these polls? you can't get hung up too much on one poll. that's my bigger point. these are all battlegrounds. wisconsin will be a battleground. iowa will be a battleground. the question of colorado, new mexico, could those become battlegrounds. we're just going to get used to that. i really don't see anything changing that dynamic. incumbent president, very weak. significantly under 50. that's his problem. >> we're here, donna, at this republican convention. a lot of us are thinking about what's happening along the gulf coast right now, especially louisiana. you got family members there. what are you hearing from your relatives, your family, what's going on? >> you know, yesterday the governor, i thought, gave some great instructions to people. >> governor bobby jindal? >> absolutely. he talked about the lower parishes, river parishes to plan for evacuation. people are really paying attention to what the governor, mayor and others are saying. members of my family, they're moving to higher ground. they're moving away way from, you know, the potential devastating rainfall. it's the rain, wolf. it's the levee. there's an old joke in louisiana every time it rains we get waterfront property. imagine when you get a hurricane of this magnitude. even with 80, 85 mile per hour winds. that can really drench the city of new orleans and surrounding areas. >> hold on a second. jim acosta is here as well. you're getting new information from the republican leadership about this convention? >> that's right. republican leadership here at the convention including rush sleefer, top adviser with the romney campaign as you know, they just held a conference call with reporters and basically said there will be no changes to the schedule here at the convention. as it stands now, they're still going to have the three nights. there was some speculation that they might try to shrink this convention down even more, perhaps extend it to friday. right now the plan is tuesday, wednesday, thursday, no change to that right now. wolf, i had a chance to catch up with the chairman of the rnc, reince priebus before coming out here. he said this to me, wolf. we are going to be nimble. if we have to do anything to incorporate some of the occurrences, i guess that's regarding the storm, into the schedule, that's what we will have to do. what that means, he said, i don't know. but he emphasized, we are going to be nimble. that may be the watch word over the next couple days. >> this tropical storm, ari, could turn into a hurricane, category 1, category 2. it could hit tomorrow night 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 at night. it would be pretty awkward to have a split screen with speak rs here at the republican convention and devastation along the gulf -- >> it's a terrible problem for the convention planners to have to wrestle through and figure out what to do. i also know president obama has announced he's continuing. he has a two-state political swing i believe to iowa and colorado he intends to continue to go on. republicans here have to make a big decision about what tone do you set. they're going to be as reince said, nimble. the most important thing is to see what the actual tropical storm or hurricane is. what damage might it do? what damage might it not do? maybe it'll turn off the coast as it's been indicating it might do. they're going to have to be flexible, be nimble. the worst thing in the world for republicans, though, would be that split screen of partisan speeches as people are being evacuated. >> we'll watch it. you guys are not going away. jim, don't go too far away. we've got more news to report later as well. meanwhile, other news we're following. iran's public relations push. how the iranian government is now trying to paint a new picture of its nuclear program. our correspondent, ressa sayah, he's in iran right now. 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. 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. more than 100 nations claiming to have no allegiance to a world power and trying to paint itself as a victim of terror rather than a rogue country. cnn's reza sayah is in tehran. reza? >> reporter: wolf, the iranian regime is well aware that much of this world is watching this summit, the representatives and leaders from more than 100 nations are here and it's crystal clear it wants to use this meeting to push forth its narrative to project itself as a regional power that plays a key role in regional and global issues, that it's not a rogue, an isolated nation that's a threat to the region, that it's actually a victim of terrorism and not an exporter of terrorism. all over the summit, displays shown to three iranian nuclear scientists assassinated during a 13-month span. while this could be viewed as a pr coup for iran, some may view it as a prr setback for western powers and the government of israel, those governments, of course, aggressively depicting iran as a rogue and isolated nation that's a threat to the region and is secretly building bombs. of course, with heavy hitters coming this week like u.n. general secretary ban ki-moon, egyptian president mohammed morsecy and indian president singhing that message could be undermined. the summit looking to tackle the conflict in syria, a key ally of iran, sirn supporting the assaded regime saying a military solution is not an answer and calling for peace talks. but don't look for that view to be aggressively pushed during this summit by the iranian regime because also in attendance during this regime, a lot of sunni dominated nations like saudi arabia, bahrain, who have condemned the regime. wolf? >> reza will be reporting for us from inside iran throughout this week. reza sayah in tehran. a new poll shows president obama with an edge right here in the crucial battleground state of florida and cnn's changing another state to tossup. we have details coming up. 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. a thing that helps you wbuy other things.hing. but plenty of companies do that. so we make something else. we help make life a little easier, more convenient, more rewarding, more entertaining. year after year. it's the reason why we don't have customers. we have members. american express. welcome in. cafferty file. jack? >> question this hour, what's the greatest risk the republicans face at their convention? jim in reno writes, discounting hurricane isaac and it's not a hurricane yet. all toe it's expected to become one. the greatest risk is that the speakers including ryan and romney will cement the present image of the gop as hopelessly trapped in right wring extremism and further feed the growing conviction among the poor and middle class vote ares in the country that they have nothing to gain and everything to lose from a republican victory. james in north carolina says the only fear is being too long overconfident. if this election is truly about the economy, then romney and ryan cannot lose. .talk economics and it's over. mark in topeka says the greatest risk being prevented from building a coalition with more moderate republicans and independents on social issues. fiscal conservatism and social moderation could be a winning combination but fiscal conservatism.combined with social concertivism results in an obama. >> the worst thing that could happen is have some speaker go off on some social issues rant making the party look way religious crazy. i honestly don't know why these twos have speaking roles for a cautious candidate like romney, it seems like that's a huge risk. tom in texas writes someone saying something that makes sense to reasonable people, not the draconian right wing. robert in florida, biggest risk? a liberally biased media. brian in chicago, accidentally revealing their true positions. you want to read more, go to the blog, cnn.com/cafferty file or through our post on the situation room's facebook page. wolf in. >> jack, thanks very, very much. and happening now, a troubling new forecast for isaac. it's gaining strength and expected to slam into the gulf coast seven years to the day after katrina. and while the storm bypassed tampa, its impact is certainly being felt as the abbreviated republican national convention gets down to the business of nominating mitt romney for president of the united states. plus, safeguarding the convention. software that identifies crime before it happens. of i'm wolf blitzer in tampa. you're in "the situation room." states of emergency have been declared more than 5,000 national guard troops activated. millions of americans are bracing for a cruel coincidence, a hurricane slamming into the gulf coast exactly seven years after katrina. tropical storm isaac is now just short of full hurricane strength. it is forecast to be a category 2 storm unleashing its fury on new orleans just about 30 hours or so from now. our severe weather expert chad meyers is tracking isaac on the -- in the cnn hurricane headquarters. what is the very latest? >> as it came off just to the west of key west and crossed the dry tortugas, it kind of went west and the forecast is for it to run into the bayou of louisiana. it still could get into inis miss and still all the way back over here toward the west, well west of new orleans. that's how big the cone is still. cone getting smaller and smaller as the storm gets closer. that right there a category 2. that's about 50 miles south of new orleans proper right there. running through the bayou. not losing strength at that point in time. there's no land down there to speak of. no there there. there's just warm water and that of course, continue to keep that storm strong all the way even toward baton rouge. it's been a brutal day for rainfall across parts of florida today. an awful lot of flooding. the rain is still coming down in some spots right now. most of the heavy rain has gone away. it is going to be a brutal day and brutal night tomorrow i'm afraid for everybody here across the gulf coast where a storm surge would be anywhere from florida back over toward the western louisiana and now wolf, the very latest, there is an eye forming in the storm. that's what we didn't want to see. that means now it is organized. it will become a heat engine and it will continue to grow from here. wolf? >> and warm weather, that warm water i should say in the gulf of mexico will only propel the storm even more if it lands at a category 2, remind viewers how fast are those winds? >> it will be 100 miles per hour. and then we also talked to dr. nba yesterday, and he said ta could be plus or minus about 30 miles per hour. it could be all the way down to a cat 1, but it could be a strong cat 2. how much the error is right now. the more this eye gets its act together, the stronger it will be, the more dry air that mixes in, the weaker it will be. the forecast is for 100 miles per hour. that's right through new orleans proper. and that will push water through the bayou. six to 12 feet of storm surge. if you're in grand isle or all the way through plaquemines parish, you would be completely underwater with a 1-foot surge. grand isle's highest spot is only seven feet. >> seven years almost exactly to the day. chad, thanks very, very much. certainly a lot has changed in new orleans since hurricane katrina, including the levee system ta failed with such deadly consequences. it looks like isaac will be the first real test that's about to take place. cnn's brian todd joins us to you from new orleans with more on this part of the story. what are you seeing? >> well, wolf, this is one of the structures that is giving officials a little bit more confidence, maybe a lot more confidence that this city will be able to withstand this hurricane much better than it did hurricane katrina seven years ago. this is the 17th street canal levee and pumping station. this structure essential will i was not here seven years ago. this was a key point where the levees were breached war water got into the new orleans. they're testing out the pumping right now coming through massive pipes here. this is a big upgrade from what was here seven years ago. still, many residents of this are watching the storm are some nervousness. >> louisiana residents prepare for a familiar menace, an aapproaching storm. lurking in the minds of many, the catastrophe of katrina in new orleans in 2005. levees overtopped, thousanded out. and a city that paralyzed for weeks that is still struggling to recover. could ta happen again? this reinsurance from the mayor of new orleans. >> i want to assure you all that there is nothing that this storm is going to bring us that we do not believe that we are prepared to handle. >> experts agree that since katrina, hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to levees, canals and pumping stations made new orleans far better prepared for flooding. but even with the sturdy defenses they say if a perfect storm were to hit new orleans, they couldn't rule out flooding. we sboek to tim dudy on a local oversight board for flood protection. he says the leb vees are better than they were before katrina. but he says the new construction should be bimt to an even higher standard for a storm that comes every 500 years or more. >> other developed countries are building to a much higher standard. surely it's going to be more expensive to do that, but a hundred-year standard is not what we would have them build to. we would like 500 year or a 1,000 year. >> officials say any storm is unpredictable and nothing is to be taken lightly. >> hope for the best. go to get a game plan. go online. today is the day. today is the day the final day you should be taking any precautions. >> now, for those who choose to stay, officials are hoping that new truck structures like this one, the 17th street canal leb vee and pushing station will protect them. it is designed to pump water back into lake pontchartrain once the water gets to five feet above sea level or more. isaac is expected to bring waters probably to that level or more. >> you're not seeing though evacuations where you are, brian? you're not seeing people being moved, elderly, anything along those lines, at least not yet, right? >> reporter: no mandatory evacuations for the city of new orleans, wolf. in this area, no mandatory evac yags. they're asking people to voluntarily evacuate. but in some areas, some parishes low lying and near the coastl e coastline, this he have ordered mandatory evacuations, st. charles parish, plaque mine they have ordered mandatory evacuations. the mayor says they don't anticipate having to order see vacations. >> in mississippi, all hancock county residents if low-lying areas are now under mandatory evacuation orders. that according to the bay st. louis mayor. the order is effective as of 5:00 p.m. central time in mississippi. the storm may have bypassed tampa, but a direct hit on new orleans especially on the katrina anniversary, could pose a whole new set of problems for the republicans who have gathered here, but for now, the convention is proceeding mostly, repeat mostly as planned with modifications. our national political correspondent jim acosta is here watching it all unfold. you were telling us they just had a conference call saying no changes, at least not yet. >> that's right. convention officials just wrapped up a briefing where they told reporters this convention will go on as currently scheduled three nights, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. but the chairman of the rnc just told me a few moments ago, people here in tampa should prepare to be nimble as they tell the story of mitt romney. >> it is my privilege to proclaim the 2012 republican national convention in session and called to order. >> republicans got down to business calling their 2012 convention to order. before quickly going to recess with isaac bearing down on the gulf coast, the sun came out in tampa. but top republicans were indoors anyway. there's house speaker john boehner testing out the podium and utah senator orrin hatch pitching it up with karl rove. >> i believe in america. >> it doesn't take a party insider to figure out the week's agenda, selling mitt romney. >> everything he has ever done, he's been successful. >> oth they will low mormon says th -- he's frankly a great believer in the bible. >> you wish that had been said sooner in this campaign cycle. >> i think people understand. the objective's person faith by how they live. >> i see so many familiar face. >> another part of the sales pitch came hundreds of miles away as paul ryan touted romney's business record in his hometown of janesville, wisconsin. >> when people are successful in business, that's a good thing. that is not something to resent. >> romney is also on the road, crafting his convention speech in new hampshire. >> i like my speech. i really like ann's speech. our sons are already in tampa, and they're saying it's terrific there, a lot of great friends. we're looking forward to a great convention. >> the shortened convention may already be working to romney's advantage, leaving less time for any rhetorical thunder while a small pro-ron paul protest did break out, other distractions may be averred. >> i hope they're tough as hell and mean as hell and they fight fire with fire. >> donald trump who accepted a statesman of the year award from a local republican party was slated to speak on monday. but with the day an wash, trump got bumped from the rest of the schedule. >> it's my understanding that it was mr. trump was in town yesterday. and couldn't make it today. or could have made it today but cancelled. >> the donald still worked in a tweet asking, why do the republicans keep apologizing on the so-called birther issue? no more apologies. take the offensive. speakers like storms can be hard to forecast. wisconsin senator ron johnson e redisks the party will weather the week. >> is it a good idea to have these conventions in hurricane country do you think? >> well, i'm not going to second-guess any of the planners. listen, four years ago, they had it in st. paul. we still had a hurricane. >> now for the coming days, getting down to the business here in tampa, paul ryan is still scheduled to come in here to tampa on tuesday, that is tomorrow. mitt romney will be campaigning in indiana on wednesday but reincence priebus, i just talked to him out in the hallway, he stressed to me on two different occasions during this interview i had with him that we will be nimble here in tampa. if they have to make changes to the program it reflect what's happening in new orleans, that's what they'll do. >> with hindsight, they probably should have started tonight through the roll call. today because it's relatively quiet, the storm still way out in the gulf of mexico. they could have gotten the business thing part of this over with. we're all smarter with hindsight. prins reince priebus doesn't have an easy job. you've been talking to a lot of republicans down there on the floor. what do they say they when she donned trump tweet today don't be so embarrassed by all the birther stuff. go on the offensive? what's been the reaction. >> i talked to someone from michigan, a top.republican official in michigan. he said yeah, this is a distraction. we would rather those things not be said. he said it's sort of you guys in the media who seize on these things. we're not planning on making those kinds of comments here at the convention. i think the republicans perhaps doned a bullet by not having donald trump here. if he had come to the convention and made those kinds of comments, could have been a problem for mitt romney. >> thanks very much for that jim acosta. meanwhile, democrats are recan the anning to this republican convention. the maryland governor martin o'malley is here in tampa. also, at 25 past the hour, new polls that a potential game-changer on the electoral college map. we're now calling one state -- one critical state a tossup right now in the race for the white house. at 37 past the hour, we'll take you back live to new orleans now facing the prospect of a category 2 hurricane on the seventh anniversary of katrina. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. they'll certainly get their turn in the spotlight next week in charlotte, north carolina. but some democrats are keeping a very, very close eye personally on the going on right here in tampa at this week's republican national convention. let's talk about that with the democratic governor of maryland, martin o'malley who is here looking at what's going on. some people think you may be running for president in four years. >> that's very nice. >> do you get excited thinking maybe i would be at a presidential convention being nominated for president of the united states? >> no, what i think when i see a convention like this is what an important choice we have coming up. i'm hear on behalf of the democratic governors can association and to offer the counterpart. >> i'm the chair of the democratic governor's association. what we're going to be seeing over the next few days will be an attempt to reinvent mitt romney. we're here in the company of other other elected leaders to offer that counter point. >> there will be republicans who will show up in charlotte i'm sure to give a little opposition statements, as well. >> that's america. >> it was a little unusual almost, the vice president was going to come here this week but he got derailed because of the bad weather. that was extraordinary for a sitting vice president to come to an opposition presidential convention. that would have been extraordinary. >> well, it's a big state. with a lot of electoral votes. i think the vice president made the right decision though given the proximity of the weather and all of the emergency management stresses that florida is going through. >> i don't know if you heard jeb bush yesterday, he suggested you know, it's about time for this president, president obama to stop just blaming his brother for the economic problems. he's had 3 1/2 plus years to deal with it, still 8.3% unemployment. millions of americans are looking for work. when does that supposed to end? when does the president stop blaming his predecessor? >> i think he would have long ago were it not for the fact that jeb bush's brother george left our country with the biggest job laws, the biggest deficits and biggest mess any president was left since franklin roosevelt. it's hard to overlook that. we've now under president obama's leadership had 29 months in a row of private sector job growth. that stretch of positive private sector job growth hasn't happened since 2005. we still have a long way to go, but we are moving in the right direction. but we should not lose sight of how far we are coming and what a big hole we were left by george w. bush. >> at some point though, the president has to say, you know what, i've done my best. i'm tried. we've improved certain areas but there's still a long way to go. >> the most important.job we create is the next one which is why the president's offered several jobs bills, each one of which has been rejected by the republicans in the house. so look, in order to move our country forward, we have to do the things our parents and grandparents did. they believed enough in our country to invest in our country, to make modern investments. those are the things we need to get back to with a balanced approach. >> these conventions are important. this convention is important. next week's democratic convention is important. i suspect those three presidential debates in october as far as the undecided or the switchable voters are concerned are going to be much more important. rob portman from ohio is going to play president obama in the debate preparation for mitt romney. do you know who is going to play mitt romney in the debate preparation for president obama? >> i don't know. i'm not privy to that. >> nobody's asked you. >> nobody's asked me yet, no. no one's asked me. >> would you be ready to do something like that? >> i'll be glad to be of any service i can be to the president's re-election. >> you've done debates. >> debates can be nerve-racking and sometimes the person that plays your opponent, you end up not talking to for several months afterwards. i think you're right. these debates will be very important because our country's at a crossroads here. these two individuals offer two entirely different views. mitt romney is someone who believes in doubling down on same failed policies that george w. bush brought us, more big tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%, cuts to education, phasing out medicare as we know it. i don't believe that's the sort of thing people are going to embrace. that's what this election is going to be about, whether we're still a country able to move forward or whether we're going to slip back. >> are you going to hang out in tampa for a few days. >> tonight and tomorrow. >> by the way, we just are being told ta john kerry, the senator from massachusetts is going to be playing mitt romney in the debate preparation. >> there you go. >> he's done it before. >> i'm sure he'll do a good job on that front, as well. enjoy tampa. >> thanks a lot. >> you'll be in charlotte next week. >> i will. >> one final thing, if you were a governor of a state now like louisiana or mississippi, they could be going through big problems. that could have an effect not only this week but potentially next week based on what happens if there's enormous devastation. >> right. i mean, i think that some of these governors will decide to stay home. that's where they need to be in order to -- when you have a hurricane bearing down on your state, that's where you feed to be. >> that's priority number one. we wish all those folks the best. >> we do. >> wolf, thank you. >> thank you. you can experience wa it's like to be at the republican national convention. here's how. tomorrow i'll be hosting the cnn election roundtable along with cnn's political team. submit your questions, and yao get answers in realtime. you can join our live virtual chat, tuesday noon eastern, logon to cnn.com/roundtable. you'll get all the information you want you'll need to know. just do it. i think you'll enjoy it, noon tomorrow. new poll results from two key battleground states. one of them is now anybody's game. we're going to go inside the numbers with our own john king, candy crowley, gloria borger. at 46 past the hour, the hi-tech software helping keep the republican convention safe. 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. 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. ♪ to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? 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[ 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. happening now, potential game-changer in the race for the white house. one critical battleground state is now seen as a tossup. also, new technology i've guarding the convention. we're going to show you how it can predict a crime before it happens. and we're live in new orleans. possibly just over 24 hours away from a category 2 hurricane on this, the anniversary of katrina. i'm wolf blitzer in tampa. you're in "the situation room." florida and north carolina, two critical states in the race for the white house and we have new poll numbers just out that show a potentially significant shift in one of them. our chief national correspondent john king is here to take us inside the numbers with the magic wall. john, what do you have. >> these new polls are in florida where we are for this convention and north carolina where we will be next week for the president's democratic convention and because of our new poll, we're going to do this to our map. we woke up this morning, 237 solid or leaning president obama's way, 206 leaning romney's way. north carolina as of this morning was one of them. wolf, we are now going to switch north carolina from lean republican to tossup state. that means romney's math comes down a little bit and the president has an easier path to 270. why are we making the switch? because of our new north carolina poll. let's go to the state and take a look. here are the new numbers notice horse race, 47, 48 governor romney with a statistically insignificant lead at the moment. if you look closer at the numbers, we're seeing this in almost every state on almost every issue, among men romney has a 14-point lead but look at this among women the president has a ten-point lead. a gender divide continues to divide the race. remember represident obama won north carolina this time. it hadn't gone democrat since back in the 1970s. look at this here, in the urban area, african-american and latino turnout, 60-38. a huge edge for the president. governor romney leading in the suburbs and rural parts of the state but not by a big enough margin to stretch out a lead. we'll call it a tossup in part because of the new poll and all the attention north carolina is about to get from the democrats including the convention next week. most people will still tell you you don't have the perfect storm in north carolina you had four years ago but at the moment -- governor romney is going to having to fight for it. where we are today in the state of florida, yet another dead heat. 50-46 in our new poll, the president with a slight advantage in the key state of florida. just like north carolina. hard to see romney winning the race unless he wins florida. what is driving that? again, i'm going to sound like a broken record. a slight reg for romney among men and a bigger lead for the president among women. the gender divide. the defining factor in the race. if you look at this you see some of the issues. to win in florida, you have to win the independent voters. we're in tampa. i-49 corridor across, that's where the independents live. here's one thing, as governor romney comes to this convention, many people think they'll stress conservative themes. you can't florida without winning the moderate vote. governor romney doesn't necessarily have to win among moderates. he's way down. as he focuses on a national message, he has to worry about the state he'll be in, that is florida. the romney campaign we have it at four points. the romney campaign says two points. any way you see it, it's a tossup. >> very, very close in north carolina and florida. john, i want to expand this conversation. gloria borger is here, candy crowley is here. are you surprised by how competitive these two are? >> no, i think we'll see the polls get closer and closer because that's where you see the national polls are heading. these are now likely voters we're talking about. these are people who are actually going to go to the polls. it's a more accurate count. another thing about north carolina which is i think the obama campaign has spent about $9 million, the romney campaign almost $8 million. almost parity there. north carolina is something the romney campaign needs to win. i bet they're going to start spending a little more money in north carolina. closing the gap in florida good for the romney campaign, but almost there is not good enough. >> gloria, might not be surprises. i was surprised obama has a slight lead in florida and it's neck and neck in north carolina. i assumed, candy, that north carolina was moving in the other direction for the president. >> yeah, i actually was not surprised either. florida, they don't call it a battleground for nothing. we understand that's going to be close. north carolina, president obama won it last time we've seen in the nationwide polls there is a hesitation about mitt romney. and i would not be surprised if we looked inside the north carolina polls if there isn't the same sort of hesitation about him in north carolina. that's why they made conventions and debates and the last couple of months of the campaign. >> i assume the president is doing better in florida because of medicare than whole battle, seniors vote in much bigger numbers than younger people in florida. >> governor romney continues to lead among seniors. where president obama is doing well, if you talk about the ryan budget, the pushback from republicans is it doesn't affect anybody over 5. if you look in the 35 to 55 age group, that's where the president is doing stronger. people who made attention, maybe that's it. among seniors at the moment nationally and in most of the key states, governor romney is leading, perhaps by the margin he feeds to win come november but leading at the moment. the north carolina numbers are proof of what the republicans will tell you is their greatest test, their greatest challenge when it comes to obama. he is vulnerable. but he also has a unique republicans coalition. african-americans, latinos and college educated women. even the democrats will privately concede if this election continues to go the way they think, they assume barack obama won by 14,000 votes, they assume mitt romney will win by a narrow margin in north carolina. it is so close because it is one of the places where the president's unique coalition is quite strong. it will be a battleground to the end. >> one thing, back in march, talked to a stop strategist for the obama campaign. and actually, there were two of us there from cnn. both of us said there's no way you guys will win north carolina this time around. they said guaranteed. they felt bullish about north carolina in march. >> he wants it. every candidate and every president has a state. bill clinton was determined to win north carolina twice. he failed. george bush was determined to win pennsylvaniatise twice, he failed. president obama wants to keep north carolina. he understands the first democrat to win it in so long. they will try to the end. >> that's why they put the democratic convention in charlotte. >> you think? yeah, and also, just watch the ad buys from the campaigns and super pacs. they're going to be in north carolina. you got the detention convention inning north carolina. so happy a real battleground state. one reason they're there and the republicans are here in florida. >> what do you do if you're a republican leader here in tampa and tomorrow night, when this convention really gets going, there's a hurricane category 2 that hits the gulf coast, maybe new orleans on the seventh anniversary of catrkatrina. >> it's very difficult. they're in a tough situation. i was talking to somebody earlier and said do you think they called snow day too early, they could have had a convention here today and that would have benefited them to a certain degree if they had to cut it short at the other end? you don't like to see the pictures. and they're going to have to make a game day decision here and have to decide what toneton set, which is very important in this kind of situation. i think it's about the schedule, yes, but it's about nuance and it's about tone and getting the important things wrapped up as early as you can. >> well, and it's my understanding that not that chris christie is speaking tomorrow night. if you're looking for nuance and tone, perhaps he might have to modify what he's prepared to say. >> ann romney is supposed to speak. >> both of them. >> so the last time i saw the schedule. but i think it's ann romney and chris christie. ann romney is probably perfect for it in terms of tone and what we expect her to be like chris christie is here to rouse the base and the conservatives and get everybody excite. there's that. look, things happen. you have to play it by ear. i think they're extremely sensitive to it as they were four years ago when they saw hurricane or tropical storm headed toward louisiana, which turned out to be nothing. this may turn out to be really something. they'll deal with it. will it step on their message, sure. if you cancel half a convention or you dial back what you were going to say, then you're not putting out what you wanted to put out, but stuff like this happens. >> people say, i've been hearing it, these conventions are way too long to begin with. >> it's very important for governor romney in the one place he's struggling most is the empathy factor, is likability, does he get what working class families have gone through the last few years. he feeds to improve on those numbers in this convention. he would love a bounce in the horse race polls. it's who is he as a person he feeds to work on. don't be surprised if he comes in early, because of that. number two, if they have a storm that's imperilling the gulf coast, it's a test of his leadership and tone. one other quick point. they wanted to do it today and nominate him today to get the official business out of the way. why? because the democrats have an advantage right now. the president did not have a primary opponent. he's still spending primary pone in a lot of states. governor romney till they bang down the gavel and says he's the nominee, he can't have election money. >> one other thing to keep in mind is what is the white house do during this storm and what are the optics of where the president is, where the vice president is? >> it's a problem for all of them. >> so they all have to sort of think about that. >> weigh got the press release from the is white house, a detailed press release showing us he's on top of what's going on, meeting with fema director, getting briefings on all of this, speaking to the governors of louisiana, mississippi, alabama, the mayor of new orleans. so the president obviously trying to show and i'm sure he is, he's directly involved in trying to deal with what could be a disaster. we'll watch it unfold and see what happens not only as important as the politics are, we want to see what happens on the ground. much more important. guys, we've got news coming up. a lot of news. gloria tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern, romney revealed. your excellent documentary gets an encore presentation. we're all excited about that, as well. all of us will be here. we're watching what's going on. today, they're tightly scripted and carefully controlled but not that long ago, the party conventions were wildly unpredictable. we're taking a closer look at the back room deals and intri e intrigue. and we'll go back live to new orleans as they bray for isaac on this, the seventh anniversary of katrina. this country was built by working people. 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. ♪ to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? 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[ 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. mom: ready t♪ go to work? ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. we're getting some dramatic pictures from southern florida as tropical storm isaac sweeps across the region. this video, by the way, was from key west where our i-reporter tells the most intense period of the storm lasted for about 45 minutes. take a look at these pictures coming in from cnn affiliate wplg in bal harbor, near miami. reports are that isaac is coming in distinct bands of hev rain and strong winds. these were pictures that were coming in from south florida. plywood is at a premium and people are gassing an up their cars. louisiana much of the gulf coast are getting ready for isaac 0 to hit land probably within 24 hours. the new orleans mayor says there's a high level of anxiety eight. anderson cooper is in new orleans for us now. he's joining us live. anderson, you spent some time in new orleans in the days after katrina. as all of our viewers remember. what are the differences you're seeing today as far as preparedness is concerned? >> you know, certainly there's a lot more organization certainly at the local and state level. and probably even at the federal level. you know, it's a different mayor, a different governor. and they've learned a lot of lessons in the wake in the seven years since katrina. a lot of things not to do and things to plan for. there seems to be more systems in place. people a lot more confident. may be the big first test for the levee system, the billions poured into the system now. i'm at the 17th street canal. the levees here failed seven years ago. legendarily water flooded from lake pontchartrain flooded into new orleans. they spent a lot of money to build flotd flood an gates here. we'll probably get the first real test of those systems since ca train na. the last hurricane didn't test the systems in place at the time. there's a lot more confidence. people are taking this seriously but there's not a mass exodus. it's a weaker storm than seven years ago, at least at this point, wolf. >> are people expressing anxiety though to you? you say they're confident. i know the authorities are pretty confident, but what about average folks out there on the street? >> you know, there's always anxiety. i think the big concern is twhn kind of slow-moving storm, they expect not only storm surge but the storm to actually kind of move slowly over land, bring in a lot of rain with it, a lot of storm surge and potential flooding. that's the really big concern. you see people stocking up on supplies, of course. folks around here are used to storm systems like this, and have been through them before. so there is a lot of preparation. people are taking it seriously. you know, shrimpers getting their boats out of the water. people are nailing things down as best they can. but you don't see -- they're not going to have the contraflow and not expecting a mass mandatory evacuation at this point except in some low-lying areas outside the levee protection zones. >> anderson is not going away. he's in new orleans for the duraon. now he's going to be with us, obviously, throughout this entire night as our live coverage continues. anderson, stand by. other news we're following as well including surveillance cameras that record crime. now new software can help them predict crime at the same time. privacy advocates are sounding an alarm. and the so-called earthquake swarm that rattled the ground and the nerves in california. >> the house is coming down! acs 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. 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[crash!] or add a car to your policy. don't forget to ask about saving up to 10% when you combine your auto and home insurance with liberty mutual. security, coverage, and savings. all the things humans need to make our beautifully imperfect world a little less imperfect. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? of spotting crime before it happens. that's the idea behind some remarkable new computer technology that's now being used here in tampa to help safeguard this republican convention. cnn's crime and justice correspondent joe johns got a first hands look. >> here at the headquarters of a brainiy technology company in houston, a brave new world of video surveillance is playing out on big screen tvs. >> there's a car behind the train? >> absolutely. >> what's he doing out there. >> that's a good question for security team to find out. >> a group of scientists, computer geeks and law enforcement guys at brs labs have invented new software for security cameras. designed to alert authorities to crime sometimes before it even happens. that's right. computers determine what behavior is suspicious. take, for example, this unlucky character who was ask you king around a car. >> our are software was able to analyze the surveillance information coming from this particular camera and able to learn what was taking place over the course of time and able to identify this specific activity as abnormal. >> that's company president john frizeene, a former secret service agent. what's most important he says is that the program uses artificial intelligence and functions like a human brain creating memories of what's normal by watching a camera for several days, then sending out alerts instantly when it sees something out of the ordinary. >> our customer reported to us that they were able to dispatch their security team to intercept this particular criminal activity. in this case, a human breaking into a car. >> so they caught this guy in realtime. >> they did. >> that rapid response time is one reason tampa chose the company to analyze the cameras surrounding the republican national convention. right now, thousands upon thousands of video cameras around the country are almost always used to document a person's activities after something bad happens. but this moves up the timeline. getting one step closer to what's been caused precrime. the idea that video can paint a clear enough picture for the authorities to intervene before someone breaks the law. >> our software is designed to identify activity that lends itself to potential criminal or terrorist of activity. we're taking that first step forward. >> precrime might make you think of science fiction like "minority report" with tom cruise. >> he's doing now we call scrubbing the image. >> reporter: of course, this technology can't see into the future or read minds. still it's already going too far for privacy advocates like jay stanley of the american civil liberties union. >> the problem is that having a computer watching a video feed of a complicated scene like a subway platform, is the computer really going to be able to detect something out of the ordinary and that's a true threat? or is it just going to kick up a lot of false positives and get people who are innocent hassled by the cops? >> reporter: the company's chief science officer who claims to be a proud member of the aclu says there's no issue here. >> we're serious about privacy protection. that's why we don't do facial recognition. that's why we don't look at people's license plates. that's why we don't try to recognize that, oh, my gosh, there's joe johns walking out of the cnn buildings. we don't do that. >> amazing report. that was cnn's joe johns reporting for us. new technology, people are watching. meanwhile, residents of one city in syria are burying more than 200 people today of another violent and bloody weekend of clashes with government forces. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on? >> the united nations is calling for an investigation after 245 people, including children, were killed in the syrian city of da daria over the weekend. the syrian army is targeting this city because it's close to the capital and it was one of the first cities to revolt against president bashar al assad. a third oil holding tank has gone up in flames in venezuela after an explosion saturday at one of the largest refineries in the world. that explosion killed at least 48 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. oil revenues are crucial for venezuela's economy, making up 94% of the country's exports. and the national transportation safety board says worn aircraft parts caused last year's deadly crash at the reno air races. it killed a pilot and ten people in the stands and injured dozens more. some of the screws on that plane had not been replaced in at least 26 years. experts say southern california should brace for thousands more earthquakes in the coming days. this after a swarm of several hundred small quakes hit the san diego area over the weekend. that's the most earthquake activity in that area since the 1970s. but so far, they have caused no injuries and only damage -- they're calling this term a swarm of these and they're saying possibly thousands more. >> swarm of the earthquakes. >> exactly. earthquakes. that's right. >> thanks, lisa, very much. our special coverage of the republican national convention beginning right at the top of the hour. straight ahead also, spectacle and intrigue. we're taking a closer look at how the party conventions have changed. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. 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[ chirp ] with access to the fastest push to talk, three times the coverage, and android productivity apps. now when you buy one motorola admiral rugged smartphone, for ninety nine ninety nine, you'll get one free. visit a sprint store, or call eight five five, eight seven eight, four biz. they may look the same, but the party conventions have changed dramatically over the last few decades. the presidential historian takes us behind the scenes to the days of sxwreeg aintrigue and back-r. >> i believe conventions still have an enduring ritual in our north american political system. it's the time for the party activists to come together and get mobilized. there's all the spectacle, the balloons, the sense of what was in the past may not be true today. but there's still a connection. it's the only time the party comes together as a whole. and there's something about these rituals that i think still attach to us emotionally even though the conventions have nowhere near the importance that they once did before. we still watch them as a spectacle. can you imagine how exciting it was in the days when the convention delegates had the full responsibility to decide who they were going to nominate for the president? so when you went into the convention, you often didn't know who was going to come out. 1920 with warren g. harding and the smoke-filled room is one of the bad examples of the political bosses choosing a nominee. they take warren harding aside and they say, is there anything we should know before we make you our nominee? they give him a few moments to decide and he comes back, absolutely not. there's nothing to worry about. they soon find out that he had been having a longtime affair with a woman named kerry phillips. if that were to be done in 1920, it would have been devastating. but the republican committee sent her and her husband on a trip to the orient and paid her $25,000 so that her story would never be told. that's an amazing story. just to show the split in the republican party that time in 1964, the liberal wing, the progressive wing of the republican party, was represented by george romney. and he was very much in favor of a civil rights plank and some other social issue planks. and when they weren't included, he actually left the floor and left with his son, mitt, by his side. so it just shows how the republican party has changed from that point to this. >> i'm honored by your nomination. and i accept it. >> you look at ford's victory in 1976 over reagan. reagan did represent that more conservative element of the republican party. but ford managed to pull off that victory. even with the wings, however, reagan remained the star figure. i can still remember the speech he made. that's are all eyes and emotions were as somebody who lost it, he handled it with generosity, as did ford handle him. >> he must go forth from here united, determined at what a great general said a few years ago is true -- there is no substitute for victory. >> it was said even back in the early days when the convention were choosing the nominees because they dragged on and on, he said, there's so dull that after a

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