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American Morning

Gustav Now Considered Rain Mass; President Bush and Senator Lieberman to Address Republican National Convention; 284 Arrests Made After Demonstrations at Xcel Center

Aired September 02, 2008 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: We have some breaking news now. Gustav, now a tropical depression, is moving over northwest parts of Louisiana. The storm could leave behind another 12 inches of rain and flooding still could be a problem. Gustav blamed on seven deaths along the Gulf Coast including four patients who died during evacuations.
Baton Rouge suffering serious damage from the storm. Dozens of homes hit by fallen trees. And despite fears in New Orleans, the levees withstood the storm surge. Still, though, Mayor Ray Nagin is urging people to stay away today as more damage is assessed. In fact, I spoke with the mayor just a few moments ago and I asked him considering Gustav did not hit the city head-on, would that make it tougher to convince people to evacuate next time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: I don't think so. It's still was a Category 3 storm that hit, which was similar to what Katrina was. It just came a different direction and our levee systems held. The next time we have a storm like this one that's approaching us, that's a Category 4 and potentially strengthening, once it gets into the gulf, I think our citizens are pretty smart and savvy and they will leave again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: He also said they're going to be doing -- assessing today and tomorrow. Businesses possibly returning Wednesday and bringing back citizens possibly starting on Thursday. He said it will be a matter of days, not weeks.

We're also watching two more giant storms. Hurricane Hanna lashing the Bahamas right now and could hit the U.S. anywhere from Florida to the Carolinas later this week as a Category 2 or 3. Then further out in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Ike is churning. It's the ninth storm of the Atlantic season. That is expected to strengthen into a hurricane as well.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We are covering Gustav and its aftermath from all of the angles. Our Chris Lawrence is in Plaquemine Parish. Rob Marciano on the roof of the Omni Hotel in downtown New Orleans, in the French Quarter there. Ali Velshi live in Grand Isle, Louisiana, which almost got washed away yesterday. And Reynolds Wolf in the CNN weather center in Atlanta, our hurricane headquarters. Let's start with Chris live in Plaquemine Parish this morning where a levee is in danger of collapsing.

And Chris, you know, there were all these concerns about these levees holding up, which really makes you wonder if this storm had taken a different track, it was a little stronger, would we be talking about another disaster in New Orleans?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, you're talking about it exactly right. A very close call. We set the scene for you here. You can tell -- this is a neighborhood. We're in a residential neighborhood, a lot of homes, hundreds of homes right here. And then just down the street, you've got this levee. And this is what they're keeping a close eye on right now.

Take a listen here. You can hear that the water is still seeping out through there. And that is water running out through the levee where they sandbagged. This was a last-ditch sandbagging effort that worked. Thousands and thousands of sandbags that they were putting out in this area, sometimes even as the back edge of the hurricane was still sweeping through.

Sign right there, "Times are Hard." It pretty much sums up what a lot of people here in this area feel right now. What happened with this levee is it is not part of the federal system. So what a lot of folks here feel is that it was damaged during Katrina. The homes here took on, you know, ten feet of water and they've been trying to shore it up on their own. Got it up to about eight feet before Gustav hit. But what they're concerned about is when that next big storm comes, will it hold? This is really now a financial battle, trying to get the federal government to step in and help them shore it up.

On the other hand, the government has to prioritize. It's got a lot of money to spend in the Gulf region and it has to determine where best to spend that money -- John.

ROBERTS: You know, Chris, from what we saw yesterday, it almost -- I'm no expert in this, but it almost looks as an observer, that if you get hit by a big storm, everything is going to fall apart again and that they're really not prepared.

LAWRENCE: That's true in a lot of cases. You know, I would say one caveat is -- you don't build levee systems that can withstand Category 3, Category 4 storms in a matter of months or even a year. It takes a long time to properly plan and build such a system.

On the other hand, we have seen a lot of projects here that were scheduled to open, you know, like in 2010 that have now been pushed back to 2011. So there have been cost overruns. Some of the projects have been delayed. So a lot of critics feel it has not been the most well-run program in the aftermath of Katrina.

ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence for us there in Plaquemine Parish.

Chris, thanks so much -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Thanks, John.

Mississippi also feeling Gustav's wrath this morning. Travel restrictions now in placed across Harrison County after traffic lights and trees were knocked down. And that storm also spawning several tornado warnings including this one which was caught by one of our i- Reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF EDIE FLORES, IREPORTER: All right. I cannot tell if that is the tornado siren. That's the tornado siren. We need to get inside right now. Come on, right now, go, go, go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: So there you heard it from one of our i-Reporters. However, no reports of any tornado actually touching down. Our Reynolds Wolf is live at the CNN weather center in Atlanta tracking two other storms on the way as we head right into the heart now of hurricane season.

Hey, Reynolds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, he came close to becoming vice president eight years ago as a Democrat. Now, Joe Lieberman is set to address delegates at the Republican Convention in primetime. The Connecticut senator joins us live.

You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's 11 minutes now after the hour. Democrat turned independent Senator Joseph Lieberman will be a primetime speaker tonight at the Republican convention. Eight years ago, he was a heartbeat away from becoming vice president on the Democratic ticket. The Connecticut senator, a very close friend of John McCain joins me now.

Senator, it's good to see you. If somebody had told you somewhere along your career that you would be a speaker at the Republican convention sandwiched between George Bush and Fred Thompson, you would have said --

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: I would have said, no. I would have probably said, only in America or more likely life is a journey. And you don't know where the raft is going to take you in the river.

ROBERTS: It's quite an amazing journey.

LIEBERMAN: It is. And I feel very good to be here. Obviously, crossing party lines to support John McCain because, to state it simply, country matters more than party, and I just feel so strongly that John McCain is the best candidate for president for our country.

ROBERTS: How is he so much better than Barack Obama?

LIEBERMAN: Well, with all respect for Barack Obama. And you know, obviously, I know him. We're colleagues in the Senate. He's a very gifted person. He's very eloquent. I think he will give great leadership to our country. But not as president beginning January 20th. These are tough times at home. The Congress and Washington are frozen by hyper partisanship and special interest influence. And there's dangers around the world.

And John McCain is a maverick, is a reformer, and of course, in terms of the rest of the world, he's ready to be commander-in-chief on day one.

ROBERTS: But on all the other policies you were such a staunch defender of the Democratic position. I remember back in 2000 because I covered that campaign, I followed you and Al Gore across the country. And your mantra was that politics is like driving a car. If you want to put it -- if you want to go backward, you put it in "R." If you want to go forward, you put it in "D." What happened?

LIEBERMAN: Yes. Yes. That's a great story. I haven't thought about that in a while.

ROBERTS: Well, believe me, I listened to it enough that it's indelibly emblazed into my brain.

(CROSSTALK)

LIEBERMAN: If we can go back on some of the other jokes I did, too. The "D" this year to really go forward is John McCain. In other words, the Bush era is ending. And I know a lot of my Democratic friends want to try to make John into George Bush, but obviously he's not.

ROBERTS: But there are so many Bush policies, though, that he's in lockstep on. So, are you not giving tacit approval of the Bush administration policies by supporting him?

LIEBERMAN: No, because this is an independent minded guy. Look, he took on the wealthy, powerful Republican lobbyists. He's gone after corporations that have been cheating the American people. Most of all, the guy is an independent restless reformer who has always worked across party lines to get things done. He and I --

ROBERTS: People say, though, that that's what he was, he's not that anymore.

LIEBERMAN: No. I'd say he is that and he will be that as president. And Senator Obama, I think, from his whole record, hasn't fought the special interest groups, hasn't shown that he can work across party lines to get things done. We got urgent problems now. And unless somebody comes in with John's intensity and says to everybody in Congress -- hey, cut it out, people are losing their homes, their jobs, we got to work together to get something done. That's what he'll do. He's as full of fire as I've ever seen him and that's why I'm so proud to be here to speak for John McCain.

I'm not going to spend any time tonight attacking Senator Obama. I'm going to talk really to people in the hall, but I hope to independents and Democrats out across America about why as an -- I, as an independent Democrat, am voting for John McCain and I hope they will, too.

ROBERTS: Senator, it's always great to see you. Thanks for dropping by.

LIEBERMAN: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: We look forward to hearing what you have to say tonight.

LIEBERMAN: OK.

ROBERTS: Appreciate it -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Governor Sarah Palin, a calculated shot at a powerful voting bloc. But will women who backed Hillary Clinton cross over to John McCain now that he has a woman for his running mate? We're going to ask a former Clinton supporter.

Gustav still drenching Louisiana. And we're tracking two more storms that are headed our way. We have all of it from the CNN hurricane center for you coming up on the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It turns out the women in America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: That's Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, trying to lure women voters after being picked as John McCain's running mate. And many view McCain's selection of Governor Palin as a clear play for unhappy Clinton fans, perhaps. But will picking a woman pull more women to his side?

I'm joined now by Dr. Jennifer Baxter, a former Hillary Clinton backer, who is saying she will now support John McCain.

Thanks for being with us this morning.

DR. JENNIFER BAXTER, FORMER HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: You know, you're exactly the -- I guess the ideal voter that John McCain is hoping to get, which is this number, which is more than a quarter of Hillary supporters who are saying they probably are going to go over to John McCain's camp. Can you explain why you're backing John McCain and the Sarah Palin ticket over Barack Obama-Joe Biden?

BAXTER: Well, in all honesty, the nomination of Governor Palin was sort of the last straw. When Senator Clinton suspended her campaign, I was -- I waited and kind of thought very seriously about where I would cast my vote. My opinion at this point is that Senator Obama made a very, very big mistake in not choosing Senator Clinton as his running mate. And, in fact, proceeded to not even vet her as a VP candidate.

I thought that was a horrific lack of judgment and even hubris on his part. So I was very concerned about the idea of voting for Senator Obama. And the honest thing is when Senator McCain had the insight or whatever word you want to use to nominate Governor Palin, I was thrilled. I was very happy to see a party that will actually take women's votes into consideration. And I'm thrilled to hear that. It seems the Republican Party is quite behind Governor Palin and the McCain-Palin ticket.

CHETRY: What's your response to the argument that it's presumptuous to think just because you're a woman you're going to vote for a woman?

BAXTER: I don't think that is the only answer. By no means is this the only vote, the only ticket, the only option. But I absolutely do think the women's votes need to be taken into account. I think the Democratic Party unfortunately this season has done a very poor job of paying attention to women voters. I think several members who are ardent Obama supporters have really indicated that women voters' votes are just not that important and really aren't needed for the Democratic ticket.

CHETRY: I want to ask you another question as it comes to what issues you decide, how you're going to vote on. Because when you look at Sarah Palin's record, she's staunchly pro-life, she's pro-gun. There are big differences between where she stands in terms of her platform and where Hillary Clinton stood. How do you reconcile that as you decide to now support McCain and Palin?

BAXTER: Well, the important part from my point of view is that I will be voting at this point against the sexism in the Democratic Party that does not imply a complete switch-over to all Republican ideology. But at this point, my vote needs to support the other candidate.

CHETRY: Very interesting. Dr. Jennifer Baxter, want to thank you for being with us this morning.

BAXTER: Thank you.

ROBERTS: 21 minutes after the hour. Gustav weaker but still dumping rain on Louisiana. We're also tracking two more massive storms headed straight for us. What will they do? We'll tell you.

You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: 24 minutes after the hour. Back live from the Excel Center in St. Paul, Minnesota -- home to the Republican National Convention, which gets under way tonight with a full program. President Bush will be speaking at about 9:30 Eastern followed by Senator Joe Lieberman, who we just spoke with a little while ago and Senator Fred Thompson, also on the roster tonight.

A number of new revelations this morning regarding John McCain's running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. And they could present an unwanted distraction for the senator as he prepares for his nomination.

I'm joined now by Tracey Schmitt. She's a former Republican National Committee spokeswoman and Democratic analyst Julian Epstein. Welcome, both of you.

So, you were saying off camera, Tracey, that you think that she needs to get out there in public on an interview program like on something like "LARRY KING LIVE" and explain all of this.

TRACEY SCHMITT, FMR. RNC PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I think that what's important is that we don't have the drip, drip, drip of the news cycle, and then it's you know 1,000 cuts. It would be better to have everything out at once so they can move on and talk about what their platform is for Americans. Start travelling around the country and meeting with voters. That's obviously the ideal.

ROBERTS: Do you worry that there's more out there?

SCHMITT: I don't. I know the McCain people were extremely savvy in their vetting process and they were aware of all of these things before they chose her. That speaks McCain's confidence in Sarah.

ROBERTS: All right. Julian, this has got to work in favor of the Democrats for the Republicans to be opening their convention tonight after a pause because of Hurricane Gustav yesterday, and rather than John McCain's life story and experience being front and center here, it's questions about his running mate.

JULIAN EPSTEIN, DEMOCRATIC ANALYST: No question. And I think that this has become now a major distraction for the McCain campaign. It's getting to be a very, very serious issue for them. Palin has the perfect storm of scandal swirling around her with Trooper Gate and some of the other issues that you've been reporting on.

And also, the fact that she has no national experience -- certainly, no experience in national security issues. And I think what you'll see is that this story will go on not just for today and tomorrow but for weeks, because reporters are going to compete with one another right now to find out what the next shoe that's going to drop will be.

ROBERTS: Let me ask you this question. About the experience issue, is two years as a governor less experience than four years as a senator? Is it really any less experience?

EPSTEIN: I think that the answer to that question is certainly on national security issues when it comes to national security --

ROBERTS: How so? Because she was a commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard. Senator Obama has been on the Armed Services Committee.

EPSTEIN: I think on the Armed Services Committee, I think he has certainly been tested in the debates on his knowledge of national security issues. He's certainly gotten legislation and reform --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: But she hasn't. We don't know anything about her yet. Maybe she's really --

EPSTEIN: That's the point. That's the point. We don't know anything about her. She has never -- she hadn't been out of the country until the last couple of years. I think that even Republicans are out there conceding the fact that she has no national security experience. This is a candidate who clearly wasn't vetted, who we will continue to hear disturbing news reports the way we have in the last couple of days --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: Go ahead, Tracey.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHMITT: What we do know is that Joe Biden has spent his lifetime since he was 29 in Washington and Obama has spent his time in the U.S. Senate running for president. And when you look at Palin's record, it's a record of reform and accomplishment. That's -- it's been clear that what people are upset about is Washington. It's not necessarily Republicans or Democrats. They want change. They want fresh blood.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSTEIN: The public doesn't believe that. The public doesn't believe that. According to the Gallup Poll 57 percent of the public thinks that Joe Biden was a good choice. Governor Palin has the lowest confidence rating of any vice presidential pick since Dan Quayle.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHMITT: And she's completely energized Republicans.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: We've got to run. But Tracey, we have to run. But let me ask you for a one-word answer. Is it fair to raise questions about her experience and her readiness to be vice president? SCHMITT: I think it's absolutely fair to raise any other issues that you would, if it were a woman or a man. I think Democrats do have to be careful when you're in a debate situation and a man goes after a woman potentially like a bully.

ROBERTS: Tracey Schmitt, Julian Epstein, good to see you. Thanks very much -- Kiran.

SCHMITT: Thank you.

CHETRY: Thanks, John.

Well, in just about 30 minutes after the hour now. Some of the top stories breaking this morning. CNN confirms President Bush will speak tonight at the Republican National Convention. Gustav forced him to scrap plans to speak last night. The president will deliver a speech at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time via satellite from Washington. Fred Thompson, and as we talked about earlier, Joe Lieberman will also speak afterwards.

Gustav still drenching Louisiana this morning with rain. New Orleans was spared the brunt of Gustav's force but still suffered heavy damage. Earlier this morning, Mayor Ray Nagin said the city still has fallen trees, damaged homes and a damaged sewer system, as well as downed power lines. And of course, then, the risk of possible electrocution. Warning citizens should just wait before returning.

This morning, officials are keeping an eye on one private levee. They're worried about the pressure on that wall there near the Mississippi River. Volunteers filled hundreds of sandbags yesterday to back any water seeping through.

Triple digit wind gusts not only forced water to overtop levees in the Gulf Region but snapped power lines as well. And power crews are working to get electricity back on this morning for 80,000 customers in New Orleans. 750,000 people across the Gulf Coast are without power.

So how did downtown New Orleans fare during the storm? For that, let's go now to AMERICAN MORNING's Rob Marciano.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran.

Not too bad actually. We had some wind damage across parts of downtown and certainly the French Quarter. When we were doing our live shots yesterday, we had this constant east and southeast wind that was just punishing some of the levees. And we looked off to the eastern horizon.

We could actually see a coast guard helicopter and thinking -- oh, my goodness, they're doing coast guard air-to-water rescues. It was not the case. They were doing some surveillance. Actually, there's a NASA facility on the east side of town where they have some chemical storage tanks. And there was some concern when they noticed some steams and some seeping. So they went to check that out. It turns out everything was OK there. As far as the French Quarter is concern after the storm passed, it went down, cruised around town. Certainly damage from the wind. No real flood or water damage. But they will be picking up the pieces for days, maybe even weeks to come. But there were people out walking their dogs, just getting out and trying to get amongst their daily lives. Those that stayed when they should have left as per the mandatory evacuation order.

There were a couple of businesses that did stay open thankfully for the folks that did hang around, including the police officers, the Army Reserve and, also, the media. We spoke with one yesterday. He was pretty proud of his business. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will take more than Gustav to move my son and me out of here. And we're tough, we come from a tough family. We're not afraid of anything. Our main purpose here is to take care of the people in New Orleans, which we didn't do last time and we're doing right now, taking care of our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: That would be Papa Chubby. All right. So folks here in the quarter starting to get back to normal. The mayor says, guys, that it may very well be until the end of the week until they allow all residents to come back, and they'll assess today, they'll bring in businesses then. Schools are closed for the rest of this week. But all in all, it could have been a heck of a lot worse. That's for sure.

Back to you, guys.

CHETRY: Yes, you're right. Mayor Nagin saying hold tight until Thursday. The good news, it will only be a matter of days, not weeks, until people can come back.

Rob, thanks.

And for the latest on Gustav's position and the next storms that are headed our way, because there's two at least right behind this one, we go to Reynolds Wolf. He's live at the CNN Weather Center for us in Atlanta.

Hey, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey there, Kiran.

Right now the storm is covering several states. It's no longer a hurricane, no longer a tropical storm. It's really just a mass of rain moving through Arkansas, back through parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, even into Texas. And we want to put in Oklahoma, you can do that, too. The rain continues to fall. We still have a threat right now of flooding in many spots.

Right now, we have flash flood watches and warnings that will remain in effect for a good part of the area. Could see anywhere from 6 to 12 inches of rainfall, some places maybe as much as 15 inches of rain before all is said and done. But that's not the only thing we're watching. We got more activity forming in the Atlantic, beginning with this system you see just north of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

This is Hanna, now a tropical storm. It's actually been downgraded a little bit, but fluctuations in power with these storms certainly not out of the norm and will not be out of the norm with this one. At least according to the National Hurricane Center. This storm expected to strengthen and then move its way right up the eastern seaboard moving closer to Florida as we get into Friday. By Saturday, possibly making landfall between Charleston and Savannah.

But if you look at that cone, that cone of uncertainty, the storm could veer deeper into the Atlantic, perhaps affecting the outer banks of North Carolina, or make landfall somewhere along the Florida coast. There's a lot that can happen with the storm and certainly it's something we're going to monitor for you very carefully.

Next storm up, take a look at this one. This one is Ike. Ike has winds of 50 gusting to 65, moving very slowly. This is a snail's pace. But now beginning to pick up. Was moving at three miles an hour, now going at 15. And very Quickly, notice this one gaining strength to a Category 1 and then a Category 2 storm as we get into the weekend north of the Dominican Republic. And last but certainly not the least as we wrap things up, tropical depression ten, winds of 35 going to 45, expected to be a hurricane as we get to Sunday with winds of 80 miles an hour. That is the latest on your forecast.

Let's send it back to you.

CHETRY: Reynolds, thank you.

ROBERTS: Thirty-three minutes after the hour. This is as close to the center of the storm as you're going to get. CNN's Ali Velshi was reporting from Grand Isle, Louisiana, southwest of New Orleans, right along the Gulf of Mexico as the eye wall slammed into the tiny little barrier island. The whole area was literally underwater by late morning. Ali joins us from Grand Isle.

Is it still underwater, Ali, or is it finally going down?

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's going down, but it's still -- it's not enough -- it's not down far enough for us to drive or walk anywhere. That didn't prevent the owner of this house where we're staying from walking out himself yesterday. But he had waterway above his hips when he was walking around and checking out the damage. And he has told us -- and as soon as we get a chance to get out, we'll see this with our own eyes and our cameras -- he says there's a lot of damage. He said 80 to 90 percent of the electrical poles were down.

Most houses have damage. Roofs are off, entire houses are destroyed. And we can't get our cars anywhere. Our cars were parked somewhere else, they were on slightly higher ground. They'll be safe. He said he started them up, they're working but we can't move them anywhere because the roads are full of debris.

John, we didn't come here -- a lot of people have been asking us. We didn't come to be in the center of the storm because this is a very isolated place. It's really right on the Gulf of Mexico. It's a tiny little barrier island. We came here because it's the center of oil operations and we were going to report on what was going on in preparation for the storm. It turned out we happened to be much closer to this than we thought. We thought we'd give you a little flavor of what happened over the last 24 hours here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN BLANCHARD, BLANCHARD SEAFOOD COMPANY: Attention all citizens on Grand Isle, we have a mandatory evacuation as of 1:00.

VELSHI (voice-over): We are staying in this house. It's a fortified house. So we expected we would lose power. We got preparation for that. Nobody here to get hurt on Grand Isle. There are only about ten of us let here and we're all hunkering down. We just can't get over the fact that this is clearly the flow of the Gulf of Mexico that is now on top of Grand Isle. There is no ground visible.

The garage just flew off the building that we're on. I'm just going to go out there with her. Stand by for a second.

ROBERTS: All right. Be careful there.

VELSHI: You can see me. This house is standing strong. In fact, the garage ripped off but everything else structurally seems to be sound. I don't know what it means but these are definitely the heaviest wind we've had. I just want to let you know. You can see this rope here. I'm tied around this pole and I got a rope over here. We're at Grand Isle and I think we're going to have to get off this right now.

We're going to wrap it up. (INAUDIBLE) Back to you.

VELSHI: This is Ali's first hurricane. And in this case, no time like your first. We assure you that he did not blow away, though he may before this is all over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And we didn't blow away. We and the residents who stayed on Grand Isle are happy about that. We're just going to now see what the damage has done and we're going to try to get some information out to the people who had to evacuate about when they can come back. John.

ROBERTS: Everybody remembers their first time, Ali. My first one was Hurricane Hugo. The eye went right over us but I was in a little hotel about eight miles inland. For you to go through that where you did, we're going to put you in an MRI and figure out what's wrong with that brain when you get back. But Ali, great work there. Thanks very much. It was really terrific having you there. VELSHI: Thanks, John.

ROBERTS: All right. We're going to take a short break and we're going to be back with more from the Republican National Convention here in St. Paul. They're having a full day of program today after Hurricane Gustav interrupted yesterday's. We'll tell you all about it, coming back here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now to the top of the hour. And new word this morning that the Republican Convention will get back on track tonight with a full schedule, including a speech from President Bush via satellite from Washington. Our political correspondent Jessica Yellin joins me now.

There was a big question as to whether or not they'd be able to get anything today and here they are they're back.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're very relieved that they can go on with the program. It's not quite the program they had intended but we will see not only President Bush but Senator Lieberman who you just interviewed, a Democrat, a former Democrat. And Senator Fred Thompson speaking.

The one issue, John, is they have also said still no partisan attacks in the wake of Gustav. They want to stay above the fray. The message will be service. It's a bit of a problem for the Republicans. They really didn't intend to go into this week so off message.

ROBERTS: Right. So I guess they're scrubbing the speeches right now, making sure that it's all positive and uplifting.

Do they run the risk though -- I mean, it's difficult to do this right after Gustav -- but do they run the risk of having the same sort of convention in 2008 that the Democrats had in 2004 where they spoke no evil of the other side?

YELLIN: Right. And they've learned that doesn't work so well. The truth is there's time to recover. I mean, they can stay above the fray and neutral today and then still move into partisan mode tomorrow and Thursday. The Democrats really didn't have a united front at their convention until Wednesday and Thursday anyway. So if they pull it together the next two days, they might come out of here OK.

ROBERTS: And then, no question, too, that they're way off message because of all the stuff around the governor. So, they got to work to get back on track with that as well.

YELLIN: And delegates are still trying to figure out how they feel about that.

ROBERTS: Jessica, good to see you. Thanks for coming in -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, yes, we're talking about the scaled-down Republican Convention, but it didn't keep protesters away. We're going to show you some of the confrontations between police and the demonstrators. You're watching the most news in the morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Video now of the protest going on at the Republican Convention, scores of people arrested. Police fired some kind of projectile. They won't exactly say what these projectiles were, a little bit bigger than rubber bullets, according to our people on the screen. They used teargas and pepper spray to break up a crowd of demonstrators near the Xcel Center in St. Paul. Well, Joe Johns joins me live now from St. Paul with more on the protest this morning.

Hi, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.

Two hundred and eighty-four arrests according to the police. That is the number that they released late last evening. About 130 of those were felonies we're told but the most serious thing we saw on the street were damage to property, vandalism, that kind of thing. A small group of individuals engaged in the vandalism. Out of 10,000 people in town for a larger protest that went on throughout the day. Still, police say this day did go as planned. That's because they were told there was going to be an attempt to blockade the convention, to not let delegates go in.

If that was the plan it never really materialized. So what did we see, as you said, we saw protesters breaking windows, putting obstacles in the streets for police, otherwise making a nuisance of themselves. We saw them trash one police car. The police responded with tear gas, pepper spray and other measures. Today, about 10:00 a.m. local time we're going to see a news conference to find out from the police whether they expect more of the same. Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: All right. Joe Johns for us. Thanks.

Well, "CNN NEWSROOM" just minutes away. Heidi Collins is at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead.

Good morning, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning there, Kiran.

Gustav wandering north now and Louisiana of course checking the damage today. Trees are down. Power is out and evacuees will not get to go home today. But the levees around New Orleans stood up to Gustav. So obviously some good news there. We'll be talking about all of it.

And here come Hanna and Ike right behind, and maybe even Josephine. A triple reminder we are in peak hurricane season.

And the Republicans trying to get back on track today. Gustav curtailed convention business on Monday, as you know. More on that as well. Also, new questions about the vetting process for VP choice Sarah Palin. NEWSROOM top of the hour right here on CNN -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Staying behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: If we get high enough, go all the way back there -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Dr. Sanjay Gupta on call and in the middle of the storm, riding along with an emergency responder who refused to leave his post.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's high. That's a lot of water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Getting some personal pictures in from Hurricane Gustav, a shot of a tornado sent to us by one of our i-Reporters in the region. Kevin Rockwell of Pensacola, Florida, says that he was delivering pizza when he heard the warning on the radio and then spotted the tornado by the naval station there. We encourage your i- Reports but, again, don't get close to danger to get those pictures for us.

To the west in Louisiana, the wind whipped through mostly empty streets after an unprecedented two million fled the storm. But thousands did chose to remain and their refusal had rescue workers risking their lives to help others. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent the day yesterday with emergency responders and he joins us now.

Sanjay, what did you find?

GUPTA: Hey, John.

You know, it's a real double-edged sword. Like everyone else, these rescue workers are being told to evacuate by the mayor and the governor. But they know there are some people who are going to stay left behind and there are going to be hospitals that are still going to have patients. So they stay as well, and often times risking their lives or their well-being so they can take care of others. Take a look at what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE GUILLOT, EAST JEFFERSON EMS: We're hoping that levee holds. If the levee doesn't hold, we're in trouble. It's scary. This is scary, because this is high.

GUPTA (voice-over): Mike Guillot has been here through Katrina and other storms. He is one of the guys we hear about. He is one of the guys who always stays. The governor has been on. The mayor has been on saying evacuate. I think it's maybe fair to say that you're still here. Did you think about leaving?

GUILLOT: I don't think about leaving. But, I mean, my priority is to make sure my family and my wife is safe, you know, my kids are safe. And as long as those things are in place, then, you know, I look at it, this is our job. And I don't see it as something heroic. It's just our job to do.

GUPTA: But it is heroic. Staying and trying to protect people from this. An angry Lake Pontchartrain.

GUPTA (on-camera): The only way that we can even be out here right now is with the assistance of EMS. They have brought us out here to show us exactly what they're concerned about. You can see it behind me, all this water over here that is really kicking out of Lake Pontchartrain. There are levees all around. The water is nowhere near close yet but the concern is that it might get there. They're patrolling right now in some of the worst conditions to try and see if anybody needs help but at some point even the EMS is going to be told, it's enough, it's time to go in. We're almost there.

It's been a challenging day, but this area just west of New Orleans has a better chance because Mike Guillot has chosen to stay.

GUILLOT: If you all want to go back out again, we can do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: You know, and everyone here has a story of some sort with relationship to the hurricanes. Mike Guillot lost a family member during Hurricane Katrina. Someone who had drowned in her own home, his aunt, and he was actually someone who recovered the body. You know, he told us, look, I'm not going to let that happen again. That's part of the reason that I'm staying. You know, he's had - after all was said and done, it wasn't as bad as people thought it was going to be, but he's somebody who's going to be here for the foreseeable future, John.

ROBERTS: Yes, a lot of people who risk their lives and engage in such sacrifice here when the storms come in. Sanjay, we all remember three years ago just how terrible the situation was with the hospitals there in New Orleans.

Are they out of danger now that the storm has passed? And how did they do?

GUPTA: You know, John, I think they did really well. We visited several different hospitals over the past few days here in New Orleans. There was two big things. One is -- three years ago they sort of planned on late evacuations. They would wait and see if they needed to evacuate. That ended up being a bad decision, as we know, because the floods came in and they simply could not evacuate patients who were there for too long without food, without enough supplies.

They got a much better grade this time around. They did early evacs. The second thing was the generators literally were in the basements of some of these hospitals which means as soon as any flooding came in, they lost emergency power. They moved generators up to higher levels. They moved the switches to higher levels. They created water tight compartments. So much better.

Over the next hours and days, there's no question that ERs will get busier. People come back to the city, they start to get on slippery roofs trying to fix some of the damage, debris is laying all around. But these are some of the more mundane injuries, more treatable injuries. We'll see those over the next couple of days, John.

ROBERTS: A lot of lessons learned since Katrina and thankfully the storm wasn't as bad as we thought it might have been. Sanjay Gupta for us in New Orleans. Sanjay, thanks.

There are still two million or so people waiting to go home in the area, making Gustav the third largest evacuation on record. Here's more on that in an "A.M. Extra." Floyd in 1999 was the second biggest. An estimated 2.6 million fled before the massive storm hit North Carolina but the biggest evacuation was for Hurricane Rita, which hit in 2005, just weeks after Katrina. Some three million people let their homes in Texas and Louisiana before Rita made landfall right along the border there.

CHETRY: Blown away.

Jeanne Moos takes us into the center of the storm, including a look back at our own Ali Velshi's first hurricane experience.

ROBERTS: What's it feel like?

CHETRY: You're watching the most news in the morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. A look right now at a shot of the gulf. A big, big oil producing area just off of our shore. And of course Gustav coming through there. Now, oil prices, though tumbling in electronic trading this morning as oil companies get ready to resume production in the Gulf of Mexico after the close call from the hurricane.

Right now oil trading at $108 a barrel. That's down more than $7 from where prices were last week. Gas prices seems to have weathered the storm so far as well, the national average price for a gallon of gas is down slightly. It's $3.68.

Reporters covering hurricanes are often blown away by the experience both literally and figuratively. CNN's Jeanne Moos has the Hurricane Gustav edition of man and woman versus mother nature.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An ominous, pulsating blob, jiggling drops on the lens, time once again for reporters to vie for the title of most weather beat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane Gustav is coming ashore right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no sense -- good grief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the big concern, it's flooding where I am --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoa! There's some debris starting to blow around and we want to get out of the way.

MOOS: Out of the way but not out of camera range.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not a lot of --

MOOS: With so much danger and damage, weatherman Al Roker was lucky to lose just his hat.

AL ROKER, NBC WEATHER ANCHOR: And of course right now, the - sorry. Well, so much for that hat.

MOOS: CNN's Ali Velshi's very first hurricane.

ROBERTS: What's it feel like?

MOOS: They came back later to Ali's deserted position.

ROBERTS: I can assure you he did not blow away.

MOOS: Actually, he couldn't blow away. He was tethered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heard Ali a little bit earlier, Chard, about, you know the shrimp --

MOOS: Ali wasn't the only one hanging on for dear life. Geraldo Rivera was out with his wind gauge.

GERALDO RIVERA, JOURNALIST: Over 50, 56 gusts here. You can see into the eye of this coming storm. I don't want to get that lens too wet.

MOOS: All day camera people were wiping.

CHETRY: Rob Marciano for us --

MOOS: Wiping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's get back.

MOOS: Wiping. Geraldo spotted a guy in the water.

RIVERA: You see right there, damn it, there's a person stranded. There's a person stranded. I'm telling the cops here. He's swimming. Oh, he's got a life line - oh, my god!

MOOS: It turns out the swimmer had intentionally gone into the water to attach a line to a propane tank to keep it from causing damage. Geraldo was fearless or fool hardy, take your pick, charging up to levees as water gust over the top, eventually retreated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back to you. This is starting to hurt. This hurts a lot. Back to you guys.

MOOS: Some wind-blown reporters --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's have a look.

MOOS: Pointed out other wind-blown reporters in shorts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quite honestly, I'm having trouble standing up.

MOOS: Beware of unidentified flying cardboard.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, watch out.

MOOS: Better flying cardboard than flying reporters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wasn't holding on to this pole, I'd probably be in the Mississippi River by now.

Oh, geez!

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Ah, yes. All in a day's work.

That's going to wrap it all for us. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Kiran, I'll see you back here again bright and early tomorrow.

CHETRY: All right, John, we look forward to it.

Right now, here is "CNN NEWSROOM" with Heidi Collins.