Split Screen Convention News Today

Romney camp today at a breakfast briefing, they are very confident with these numbers. they say its a very favorable way, a tied race, to go into their convention. >> its a tied race going into the convention and a few interesting things of note in that poll, when it comes to the issue of the economy, it seems that americans do believe mitt romney is the right guy to get the economy back on track. when you look at other issues, how the republicans would want to deal with medicare, womens rights,...

>> you could have vetoed it. who comes to the gulf coast in hurricane season? >> look, this is the chance you take, i guess, in life when you got to take those chances, particularly when you have a diamond place to come to. were excited to be here. we vetted this through. everybody knows what the risks were and what the upsides and downsides were and the upsides clearly, clearly outweighed the downsides. to all those folks out here who are whining and blaming and second-guessing, get over it. if...

Reproductive freedom and also to screenings for health care, for cancer screenings, planned parenthood. is that the right signal to be sending when youre trying to signal that theres a broad tent, a big tent? >> i disagree with something in your premise. first of all, the gap is about 6%, i think its 49-43, obama. >> ten points in our poll, eight points in other polls. >> but your point is, its been traditional that theres been some of that gap. i think starting with this convention, the more pe...

George bushs handling with michael brown and director of fema the at time. his handling of hurricane katrina in many ways led to the final slide of his approval ratings. it dredges up lots of things. putting aside the obvious concern for victims and everything there, just politically, the split screen imagery of the gulf coast and here and if there is parties and rallies. it is just a further challenge to handle that they would rather not. >> it is a matter of tone. they can do it in their speec...

For forum santorum aid alice stewart. . bill burton, david brodie, major garrett, susan page, mike kranish and jim vandehei also. we are following breaking news, tropical storm isaac. in the next hour we will get the latery advisory on the storms. also joined by new orleans mayor. also jefferson parish, many of you will recognize the names, devastated by hurricane katrina. how are they preparing this time around? also, breaking news, republican convention in tampa where the gavel is set to com...

Water being pushed up against the coast, flooding will be an extensive problem not just at the coast but also well inland. >> bryan norcross on top of it all at the weather channel. thank you. of course, the storm is having its impact here. the republicans are not having an easy time of it. first it was hurricane akin. now tropical storm isaac. joining me now, our team of nbc correspondents on the convention floor, kelly odonnell, luke russert and john yang. kelly, walk us through this abbrevi...

Out! your kind is not welcome here! nor your odd predilections! miracle whip is tangy and sweet, not odd. [ villager 1 ] its evil! if youd try it, youd know. she speaketh the truth! [ villagers gasping ] reverend? ♪ can i have some? ♪ somewhere on the floor of this convention, surrounded by confetti -- >> brian and i feel very, very privileged to have reserved seats for andrea "boom-boom" mitchell and the dance of the

Then they really want to direct everybodys attention away from the front and over here to the u.s. national debt clock. thats been running showing the current u.s. national debt. they are going to flip yet another switch and they are going to show us what is the debt from the start of the convention over the next few days. they want to be able to make that point. theyre calling it a compelling visual reinforcement of what they want this message to be, that it is an economic convention they want ...

Still have to take all these things into consideration. it doesnt matter where you hold the convention, you go with it, you look at whats going on around you, you respond when you need to. otherwise you have a good time. >> ed rendell, when we talk about how you have to change the tone or at least the schedule of the convention because of the storm, democrats are also changing their plans. joe biden was going to be here in florida. hes canceled that, obviously. he was going to do at least three ...

Maybe tone down some of the rhetoric. michael is exactly right. florida is essential. i dont see any electoral plan that will give mitt romney the presidency without carrying florida. i think this was a good choice. in terms of what the convention has to do and what the president and vice president have to do, it depends on how severe it really is. lets all pray that it still veers past or falls short of new orleans and doesnt hit new orleans square on, because lord knows that city deserves a br...