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Student Shot at Maryland High School; Isaac Threatens Gas Prices; Babies Born Drug Addicted in Kentucky; Isaac Alters RNC Schedule; James Holmes' Cryptic Message.

Aired August 27, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Carol Costello, thank you so much.

Hi, everybody. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It is 11:00 on the East Coast. It's 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast and here's where we start this morning, a big, big storm. Tropical Storm Isaac.

It's already passed across the Florida Keys. It is now en route for the Gulf Coast, a place that does not need to see it. Here's the radar view and you can see where Isaac is, right this moment.

Let me show you what the storm has already done, from one of our iReporters in the Keys, high winds, heavy rain, and a lot of flooding. And, right now, three different states have declared states of emergency before the storm even hit, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: I would recommend to our people let's hope and pray for the best, even as we prepare for the worse.

Obviously, it is -- now is the time to make sure you've got an evacuation plan. You know where you would go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: That is the governor of Louisiana. That's Bobby Jindal and our Rob Marciano is in his state, right now. He's live in New Orleans for us.

Oh, my lord, Wednesday, Rob, the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall. It is just spooky that that's exactly the day we're expecting it to hit Louisiana.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Even more surreal is the fact that it's kind of taking a similar path.

What's a bit of a bright spot in this equation is that it's nowhere near the strength that hurricane was at its position, the same position seven years ago. So, there we go.

By the way, the latest advisory is in. I know Chad will be going over that, still a tropical storm.

But you heard from the governor and his concerns there. Mayor Mitch Landrieu was talking to the public all and the media yesterday in regards to what the plans are when evacuation orders are ordered and here's what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MITCH LANDREIU, NEW ORLEANS: Our position right now is that we're not going to have any shelters of last resort. People cannot rely on the city sheltering people in the event that a major -- and we will take any precautions we need to protect people, but unfortunately, people hear that the wrong way and they don't make provisions for themselves and for their families and we get into the situations that we had during Katrina and Rita.

We do not want to do that again. And, so, the shelters of last resort do not exist for the Superdome and the convention center. That's why people have to really think about what their plan is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: OK, so, that's the plan when mandatory evacuations going into effect.

You know, the elderly, they're going to take care of them. They've got 17 zones to go pick up the elderly. They'll bring them to a bus terminal and they'll get them out of there, but they haven't pulled the trigger on that and probably won't unless this thing ramps up to a Category 3 or even higher.

Another reason that they're confident, Ashleigh, is what's behind me here. All right, this was not here seven years ago. This is the 17th Street Canal, one of the many vivid and dramatic images that we've seen of a hole punched through a levee, choppers dumping sand bags to plug it up.

Well, now, the Army Corps of Engineers built this, including 11 20-ton flood gates that can drop down on a dime and block the Lake Pontchartrain water. Eight of these massive pipes that each have the ability of pumping about 8,000-gallons-per-second out of there in order to relieve some of the flooding situation.

So, you've got that. You've got three of these. You've got 140 miles of ramped-up levee production across the city, so that's why there's no mandatory evacuation here, but in the outer lying parishes, there are and people are on the move there.

Given that, though, we got in yesterday, lines around the block for gas stations and to fill up their tanks. And a lot of gas stations are now empty because people are that much prepared and anxiety is that high.

BANFIELD: Yeah, I can imagine they are. You don't need to go door-to-door, calling on bullhorns to get people to evacuate and to pay attention to the news, I'm sure. But by the way, that's a really, really remarkable view behind you of what a difference seven years can make.

Rob Marciano, thanks so much.

Let's hope that the material you're looking at behind Rob is good enough for a Cat 3. Who knows if it will be?

Let's get to meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad, you just heard Rob talking about the latest advisory. I often wonder if I skip a couple hours of the news cycle, it seems things change.

Is it changing by the hour, by the minute? Is it possible that it could it end up as a Cat 3? All of those questions, what are the implications?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Still possible to get to the Cat 3, although right now, we're only high Cat 1. We're not even to the Cat 2 before landfall. And the reason why I think the Hurricane Center has brought the numbers down is because nothing really happened overnight. The storm is not up to a Category 1-minimal hurricane right now. It is still a tropical storm.

Now, the pressures are falling, which means the storm is getting stronger. We just haven't seen the wind speeds react to that lower pressure.

There's the storm right there. It came over the Dry Tortugas, now into the central Gulf of Mexico. Very warm water here, but not quite as thick and warm and deep as the water was when Katrina was in very similar water.

There's the forecast track right through Plaquemines Parish. There's the mouth of the Mississippi. Understand now this could go left and go right, but the closer we get to landfall, which is about, I'd say, maybe 35 hours from now, the smaller this cone gets.

So, we're going to start focusing, focusing, focusing on the middle part of the eye and the middle part of the cone as we get closer and closer to landfall.

So, anywhere from about - that's Gulfport all the way back over here where I backed up a little bit, maybe New Iberia, but the center part's still obviously over Plaquemines Parish driving right through it into New Orleans and then on by.

But it's only a 90-mile-per-hour storm. That's great. I'm not sure that that could hold. The Hurricane Center yesterday, Ed Rappaport and I talked about this for 20 minutes, I think, on air. He said that, at this point in time, 36 hours out, we could be plus or minus a category or a category-and-a-half, which means it could still be a tropical storm when it lands. It also could be - right there is a small Category 3.

So, don't let it out of your sights. An awful lot of convection over Florida right now. That could cause more tornadoes, of course, today, small like waterspout-like tornadoes coming onshore or even ending up on land and that would obviously be a tornado.

There's the idea of what it's now beginning to look like, a better ball, getting itself and its act together. The better it looks, the higher the wind speeds will go and, I think, Ashleigh, for sure, this gets to be hurricane strength as it makes landfall somewhere across the northern Gulf Coast.

BANFIELD: You know, I almost feel like I could split-screen you with the 2005 reports with that path, but I am curious about the temperatures of the water and the size of the storm at this particular moment.

There is a difference, isn't there, between Katrina and Isaac?

MYERS: There is a difference. At this point in time, Katrina was already -- even last night when it left Key West, Katrina was a Category 2, 105-mile-per-hour storm, now approaching Category 3. This storm here isn't even a hurricane yet.

And the thing is when this - I've tweeted this out a couple times last night, so if you want to look at my tweet board, you can. Once the storm gets an eye and it begins to really get a heat engine, it will get quicker. It will get stronger, fast.

It just hasn't got organized yet, but as soon as it does, you put the foot on the pedal and the gas in the storm is going to explode. It's just going to - it's taking this long time to get there and we're very happy it is because, as soon as it gets an eye, all of the sudden, it's going to be a big storm.

BANFIELD: Yeah, all hands on deck. Chad Myers, thanks so much. Do appreciate it.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BANFIELD: And we'll check in with Chad as things warrant, as well, but for now, Isaac injects the one thing that modern political conventions do not have. That's unpredictability.

RNC delegates, though, for now, are undeterred by all of this and my colleague, Brooke Baldwin, joins me now, live from Tampa, with all of that.

So, I've been trying to figure out, if I'm a delegate, do I fly, do I drive, do I cancel, do I get a plan b? Well, maybe I shouldn't say it's plan b. Do I get a plan c? What's going on where you are, Brooke Baldwin?

BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Well, Ashleigh Banfield, good morning. I think I might have jinxed this earlier because I saw some blue skies and the rain has already sort of started again.

And I think as far as plans a, b, c, z - I think for most part, the several thousand delegates they're in town. You know, they thought ahead, thinking if today would have been worse than what we're actually seeing. Certainly, the airport here in Tampa would be an absolute mess.

By the way, we did just learn that Congressman Paul Ryan was supposed to come to town today. He's coming to town tomorrow.

But when you're out and about, it's very easy here in Tampa to run into delegations and, so, yesterday, we were talking to a number of delegates from North Dakota.

When you think North Dakota, you don't think hurricanes. You don't think tropical storms. They don't know exactly know how to handle that. They know how to handle blizzards.

So, I said to them, how the heck do you know what to do if, in fact, the weather gets pretty bad here? And they say, we're relying on Florida. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: On the eve of what was supposed to be a full first day of the Republican National Convention, Cyndy Aafedt is prepared for a possible storm.

CYNDY AAFEDT, NORTH DAKOTA GOP DELEGATE: Well, I packed a flashlight. I've never packed a flashlight on a trip before.

BALDWIN: You packed a flashlight?

AAFEDT: I even went and bought batteries before I came.

BALDWIN: Cyndy, you're prepared. You are a prepared alternate delegate.

Aafedt is from North Dakota. Back home, she and her state party chairman, Stan Stein, are used to battling blizzards, not tropical storms.

STAN STEIN, NORTH DAKOTA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN: Sure, we're watching the weather channel just like everybody else. We're used to doing blizzards in North Dakota. We handle them just fine. We watch hurricanes on TV.

BALDWIN: Delegations from North Dakota and Connecticut thought they'd scored with this beachfront property near Tampa. Instead, all eyes are on Isaac.

The RNC has suspended Monday's session. The governors of Alabama and Louisiana are staying home and Florida Governor Rick Scott canceled his convention speaking appearance to stay on top of his official duties as the storm threatens his state.

In fact, Governor Scott is asking Floridians to help all of the out-of-towners cope.

GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: With regards to the convention, we made sure that the delegates that are coming have information about how they should act around here with regard -- because some of them have never been around a hurricane. Floridians, we deal with these things.

BALDWIN: Floridians like Bilmar hotel general manager, Clyde Smith.

CLYDE SMITH, GENERAL MANAGER, BILMAR HOTEL: This is a closet we try not to use too often.

BALDWIN: Smith has weathered his fair share of hurricanes and he has his guests covered with a closet full of flashlights, megaphones and lanterns, just in case.

What are the chances, you think, you're going to be using any of this this week?

SMITH: We probably will go into the flashlights and maybe the rain suits. We're doing a few sandbagging just to protect some of the sand sculptures out back, but I don't think we're going to have the major sandbagging to protect the building itself.

BALDWIN: This North Dakota delegate isn't too concerned. She thinks the storm won't detract from the convention much at all and reminds us why she's here, rain or shine.

AAFEDT: I'm excited about just the energy that comes from everyone together with the same values and the same desire to just to make the United States a better place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Of course, Ashleigh, Cyndy told me, you know, she's a little frustrated like a lot of the other delegates that this four-day convention that they're all in town for is now condensed into three.

She then did, at the very end of the interview, off-camera, say to me, Brooke, there is one positive and that is shorter speeches, wink. Just telling you what she told me.

BANFIELD: I hate to say it, I'm a total nerd. Nerd. I loves me the speeches. So - and I'm glad you're going to be OK and, obviously, no worse for the wear. No hurricane where you are.

BALDWIN: Think we'll be OK.

BANFIELD: Brooke, it's good to see you. Thanks so much for that.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought we were going to commercial break. Hello.

So, we've got a lot more coming up from Tampa ahead. We're going to preview day one of the RNC and it'll be very a short day. It is today. There is something actually happening. In just a moment, you're actually going to meet the youngest member of the platform committee. And now it's time for a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A quick note for you if you're heading out the door, you can continue to watch CNN from your mobile phone and also from your desktop. All you need to do is go to CNN.com/TV. All the instructions are there for you. It's a great way of catching up on the go.

One of the items on the convention agenda for Tuesday is going to be approving the platform. The platform, it's the blueprint of the Republican Party principles and it's been getting a whole lot of attention over the last week, mostly because of that one specific plank, abortion.

Of course, it came within that whole wake of the comments from Congressman Todd Akin about, quote, "legitimate rape," so that's what shined the spotlight on that plank.

But joining me now from the CNN Grill in Tampa is Jackie Curtiss and the reason we're talking to Jackie is she's the youngest person on the platform committee. She's a member of Alabama's delegation to that convention.

And, Jackie, you actually had a part in forming that plank. You helped to draft the original part of that plank and, yet, you put your hand up and you said, hold on there. I think we're missing something.

Can you tell me what it was you thought you were missing, why you put your hand up to say so, and how you were received when you did?

JACKIE CURTISS, REPUBLICAN DELEGATE FROM ALABAMA: Yeah, there was an amendment opposed - or, there was an amendment that was sponsored to ban -- to have the FDA ban any drugs that could be considered abortive.

And, you know, I just -- the language was really broad and, so, I just simply raised my hand and asked if that included the morning- after pill for rape victims and the answer I got kind of -- it told me that it might and I wanted it to be very clear that it did not count the morning-after pill for rape victims and that we did have an exception there.

And when we voted the amendment, it passed, but we started discussing about the exceptions and I think that's really important.

BANFIELD: So, just to be very clear, when we're talking about, you know, pills, abortive-style pills, there are the Plan B-style pills. There's the RU-486-style pills and, ultimately, the platform doesn't allow for any of these pills, correct?

CURTISS: It does -- it wants to have the FDA ban any pills that could be abortive.

BANFIELD: So, how "big tent" is that, especially for someone like you who, by the way, I think the reason you put your hand up was about Todd Akin's comments and that these need to be discussed because heretofore they had not been discussed.

If the Republican Party wants to be considered a "big tent" party, how "big tent" is it, given what you went through, and how do you feel now, post that discussion?

CURTISS: Yeah, I think the Republican Party has so many aspects of it that are "big tent," that people can get behind and the social issues may have dominated in the media last week.

But we have the economy and jobs and the national debt and those are the most important issues for American voters and the young people like myself, and hopefully, those things are "big tent" and, hopefully, those are the things people will be voting on in November.

BANFIELD: So, listen, I know you're 22 and I barely even remember being 22. I almost don't remember 32, so you're going to have to walk me back and let me know what it's like for someone your age to get excited about a candidate who some have said is somewhat old and stodgy.

I don't feel that way. I think I'm closer to his age than you are, but that seems to be the biggest criticism of Romney. He's detached. He's older. Perhaps Paul Ryan has changed that equation for you.

I want to feel what you're thinking. I want to know what you're thinking, as a young American, as a young Republican, about this candidate. Are you excited about him?

CURTISS: I am excited about Mitt Romney and the thing is, it doesn't matter how old the candidate is. It matters that he represents the things that I believe in and I believe in smaller government and I believe in more freedom and I believe in less regulations and that's why I'm excited about Mitt Romney.

And I'm excited about Paul Ryan, too, but I'm so excited ...

BANFIELD: How about your friends? You know, your friends who are also in their early 20s? Perhaps you're very engaged in the process, Jackie, but what about people your age who maybe aren't as engaged. Can he grab them?

CURTISS: I think we can grab them and, you know, I have friends that have never been excited before about politics, but they're graduating from college with me now and they realize that they don't have any job prospects even though they have one or two degrees.

And they want a change. They want to be able to find jobs. They want to know that they're going to have security later on in life. And that's what's most important to young people and I think Mitt Romney delivers that for us.

BANFIELD: Jackie Curtiss, I think you have a long career in this business if you so choose. It's nice to talk to you. Have a good time when it finally starts. I'm sorry it's truncated. Thanks for being with us.

CURTISS: Thank you so much.

BANFIELD: Jackie Curtiss, joining us from what will be the convention site. It's going to have gavel in a little while, but not a full day and we want to know from you. We want to know what it's really like to experience the Republican National Convention from the inside.

So, we want you to know that tomorrow you can join the CNN roundtable with Wolf Blitzer and CNN's political team. You can submit your questions. You can get answers in real-time in this live, virtual chat.

Don't miss the CNN election roundtable. It starts tomorrow at 12:00 noon. It's a good time, if you're just waking up at that time. It's a good thing to do, politics in the morning. Twelve noon Eastern, just logon to CNN.com/roundtable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Now to the horrors unfolding inside Syria. There are signs of civil war, if you can believe it, growing even worse. In Jobar, a northern suburb of Damascus, evidence of aerial assaults by government forces. Take a listen for yourself.

Not what you want to hear from above when you are a civilian below. The opposition says pro-regime helicopters are what's up in the sky, what you're looking at on your screen, firing on rebel forces, but one of those helicopters did not fair so well. We have the video to show you as it comes crashing down.

You can hear the now familiar cry of "Allahu akbar." You can see the chopper bursting into flames, but we at CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the video. It is just a glimpse of the explosive clashes across Syria today.

It is obvious not a day goes by that we don't hear terrible stories of carnage out of Syria. On Saturday, a horrifying milestone, a death toll. I know you've heard them before, but this one topped 400.

It's significant because it marks the deadliest day in Syria, to date, since this crisis started a year-and-a-half ago. And the worst of the stories are coming out of the suburb of Damascus, Dara'a, where the carnage continues, and now there is word from the activists who say that more than 245 bodies were found in just the past two days.

Let's get straight to Mohammed Jamjoom who is monitoring the latest of this from Beirut.

Mohammed, my question is this. If they're just finding these caches of dead bodies, I don't understand how it's happening. Are the government forces trying to hide these bodies? And if they are, don't they want the rebels to see them to inflict terror on them to make them stand down? What is happening? MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, let me try to walk the viewers through what we've been hearing because we've been hearing conflicting reports out of Dara'a.

Now, we started hearing on Saturday from opposition activists and rebel Free Syrian Army members that a massacre had taken place at some point in the last several days, over the last week, and that on Saturday, residents and activists in Dara'a started finding bodies, that by Saturday night, they had found at least 200 bodies, that by Sunday, they had found at least 45 more bodies. That puts it at 245 just in Dara'a over the last few two days.

The claims that we were getting from the activists is that the military had entered Dara'a over the last few days. They had been fighting with the rebel Free Syrian Army forces and that they had gone house-to-house and started killing people, indiscriminately. That's what we're hearing from activists.

The Syrian regime putting out a much different story, a different narrative. The Syrian regime has been showing video purporting to show Syrian forces in Dara'a, having cleaned up the streets. They show video with residents there, with the residents thanking Syrian forces for having vanquished terrorist elements that they say had taken over Dara'a in the past few days.

What is clear is that there has been a clash there between rebel Free Syrian Army forces and the Syrian regime and that it's those hundreds of lives, those hundreds of victims. That's what's so appalling to the people that we've heard from in Dara'a.

Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Well, regardless of whose story is the right story, we know one thing is for sure. Those who aren't dying on a daily basis are running for their lives. And many of them we've known have been running north to Turkey.

Now, we're hearing a lot more about them running to Jordan in the south, and Jordan cannot really afford that. They've had to deal with the Palestinian influx over the many decades of refugees, but now this.

JAMJOOM: That's right. And just today, to highlight how dire the situation is, just today, there's been a statement from UNICEF in which they are urgently appealing for at least $54 million to try to make sure that the right amount of aid is provided for those Syrian refugees there in Jordan that are in the Zar Turee refugee camp there.

They're saying that there's at least 17,000 people there, that in the last few days, at least 2,000 people showed up there, crossing the border, going to that refugee camp, and that they expect at least 70,000 refugees there by the end of this year.

They simply can't sustain it with the amount of money that they're getting now, but we've heard, again and again, of refugees from Syria going to neighboring countries, going to Iraq, going to Turkey, going to Lebanon.

It's getting more and more dire. The humanitarian agencies are more concerned about this. The conditions for the people where the fighting is happening in Syria is completely dire.

Now, we're hearing the conditions in the neighboring countries where the refugees can also go, also dire. A very, very worrying situation for the neighboring countries and for those Syrian refugees who are trying to get help.

Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: And, of course, you're right there in the neighboring country of Lebanon. Mohammed Jamjoom, thanks so much for that.

For those who did not get out, for those who did not get to a neighboring country, and for those who perished, we had a number for you. The activists, at least, have given us one. They say well over 20,000 -- 20,000 people have now been killed since this violence began last March.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BANFIELD: Some breaking news to report to you. Sadly, as most kids are returning to school, many for the first day of school since summer break, we have a shooting to report out of Maryland. This coming from the Baltimore County Police Department. They're saying there was a shooting at Perry Hall High School. We're showing you aerial shots right now.

Here's all we know. One student has been shot, and that student has already been taken to the hospital by medevac. The police are telling parents in this vicinity, if they're concerned, they can be reunited with their own kids at a nearby shopping center. But, again, so many kids going back to school for their first day, I don't know if, in this particular school, Perry Hall High School, it's their first day back after summer break. But just sad news to report, a shooting of a student at the high school in Baltimore. Don't know the condition of the student at this time, but we know the medevac has gotten that child to the hospital. We'll keep a close eye on it and bring you any updated information as we can. Again, this is Baltimore, and this information coming courtesy of the Baltimore County Police Department in Maryland. More information as we get it.

In the meantime, the other big story we're following is Tropical Storm Isaac. It changes by the moment. We have a live radar for you so you can take a look at how it's changed from the top of the hour until now. It's steadily moving to the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. And if you will remember, it wasn't even seven years ago, only two days shy, an eerie similar path of that of Hurricane Katrina. Isaac is expected to make landfall on Tuesday or Wednesday. And again, that would be the seventh anniversary of Katrina. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, already declaring states of emergency before the storm hits. Some areas are under mandatory evacuation already. And it's not just coastal residents impacted by all this. There's a business story, too. Oil and case supplies, dozens of oil platforms and rigs are directly in the path of Isaac. It happens before and they know what's coming.

Christine Romans is here to break down the potential impact.

Most people don't think of that right away. They think, people, get them out of there. There's people on those rigs and there's oil on those rigs.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they're getting those people off those rigs because it's lives and livelihoods, quite frankly. And there's been a dry run for this, too. Don't forget, 2008, Hurricane Gustav looked just like this path as well. That was a category 1 storm and that caused a great deal of damage. They're closely watching that.

I want to tell you a quarter of the oil production in the region, Gulf of Mexico, has been suspended. You have about 333,000 barrels a day. 39 platforms evacuated this morning, eight rigs evacuated. You'll see many more of them. Here's why. You can see just how many platforms are there. There are hundreds of platforms with people on them in the gulf region on the eastern edge of all of that. Those pink dots, they have already been evacuated, many, many more. Now if I lay in refiners and emergency petroleum supplies and oil depots and all of these other infrastructure, you can see how wide --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: All those dots are production and processing. Now I'm going to add in the pipelines and shipping terminals, and you can see that this is a storm, Ash, that is taking a bull's-eye approach to the heart of America's oil, Gulf of Mexico oil production.

BANFIELD: Quickly, you say the platforms in the water, the rigs on the land, correct? But so far, only eight rigs? They're going to probably --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Sometimes drilling rigs are out in the ocean.

BANFIELD: What's the difference between a platform and rig?

ROMANS: It depends if they're manned or not manned, or if they're permanent or temporary. Some these they can pull out of the way but it costs an awful lot of money to do that. There's a lot of different kinds of facilities. Inland, you have these refineries. They make chemicals. Take crude oil. You make gasoline out of it and chemicals and other products, too. All kinds of warehouses all along the way. There's a lot of facilities. They're expensive facilities that they're safeguarding right now.

BANFIELD: That infrastructure you put up is remarkable. You can see the significant -- by the way, not withstanding the danger to the people in the direct path of the storm, I have to ask you about the gas implications, the price at the pump, the oil prices.

ROMANS: Fill up your gas tank today. Numerous experts this morning have told us, fill up your gas tank today. As we talk to the energy companies and oil companies about what they're doing, they're shutting down production. There was a huge fire in Venezuela over the weekend. 41 killed in that Venezuela refinery fire. That facility also has oil, gasoline for export to the United States to CITGO gas stations. You have these two things happening all at once. Preparations for the hurricane, expected to be a hurricane, and this big fire in Venezuela. You could see gas prices higher in the near term.

BANFIELD: We'll check out with you to find out over the next coming days how it does impact.

Thank you. I'm amazed at that graphic. I knew it was a lot.

ROMANS: It's a lot.

BANFIELD: I didn't know it was that much.

Christine Romans, thank you.

By the way, it looks like right now, Tropical Storm Isaac is going to miss most of Florida's west coast and Tampa. That's significant because, oh, I don't know, 50,000 people headed there for the Republican National Convention. So far, dodging a bullet, so to speak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We're about two and a half hours away from the first 10 minutes of the Republican National Convention. Here's the problem. With Isaac still too close for comfort, the party chief, Reince Priebus, is going to pound the gavel to open this up at 2:00 p.m. eastern but then he's going to promptly shut it down and adjourn until tomorrow.

The news never adjourns, though. Paul Steinhauser live in Tampa, doesn't get a break, does not get a day off.

Here's what's critical. There's going to be this one very important bit of business taking place in the short 10 minutes. Tell me what it is.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, they're going to unveil what they call the debt clock, right behind me, at 2:00 eastern. It's going to be a quick 10-minute session and then they will adjourn until tomorrow. They will reveal the debt clock. This will show were the debt, the national debt stands right now. It's going to continue to balloon during these four days in Tampa. That's part of the point here. Republican National Committee, the Romney campaign, they have been going after the president, saying he's making matters worse when it comes to the federal debt. When it comes to trimming the deficit, Mitt Romney would do a better job in the minds of Americans than the president. Other than that, a short session, but we'll be here live.

BANFIELD: That's what you call seizing the narrative and getting the economic debate front and center, especially as you walk in the front doors.

Paul, since you're great with the numbers and the polls, why don't you let me know what some of the most recent polls are telling us about how likely voters are judging the candidates on the issues.

STEINHAUSER: We asked and here are the answers right here. This is our national poll. And there are three issues for you. You can see, on foreign policy and terrorism, the president has the advantage in our CNN/ORC poll. That's no surprise, especially, this administration responsible for the death of Osama bin Laden. The president coming out on top of that. What about issue number-one on the bottom, the economy, the top issue in the minds of Americans. Mitt Romney has a slight advantage in the minds of likely voters -- Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Slight advantage. Just within that -- just outside of the margin of error. Interesting to see.

Paul Steinhauser, thank you. Stay dry where you are.

A reminder as well to everybody, tonight at 8:00 eastern as part of CNN's Republican National Convention coverage, join us for a terrific profile of the presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. It's called "Romney Revealed, Family, Faith, and the Road to Power." It's reported by Gloria Borger. It will be followed at 9:30 eastern by a preview of the convention itself. All things Republican convention right here on CNN tonight.

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BANFIELD: We all know that prescription pill abuse is a huge problem across the country, but the worst state of all might just be Kentucky, according to the "Courier-Journal" newspaper. Addiction killed about 1,000 people there a year. What is worse, the tiniest victims of all of this are the newborn babies. You're not going to believe this report. The newspaper is saying more than half of the babies in one hospital's neo-natal ICU unit, one day this month, half were suffering from drug withdrawal. It's unbelievable. State-wide, Kentucky has seen hospitalizations for addicted newborns climb. 29 in 2000, but 730 last year.

Laura Ungar is a medical writer for the "Courier-Journal" newspaper, doing a two-year series on prescription drug abuse.

Laura, I could not believe the headline. What is going on in the state of Kentucky? And is it different than there rest of the country?

LAURA UNGAR, MEDICAL WRITER, COURIER-JOURNAL: Kentucky has a really terrible problem with prescription drug abuse. We have one of the worst problems overall with prescription pill abuse in the country, especially in our Appalachian area, eastern Kentucky. So because of that, that's a major driver in these numbers. And also, we have issues with addiction of treatment. There's not enough addiction treatment in Kentucky, particularly in the rural areas. So we have a big problem, but not enough treatment, and a doctor shortage as well overall for our state.

BANFIELD: So something I read in your reporting just made me sick to my stomach. As if the facts themselves weren't bad enough, they're now administering to these babies, licorice flavored morphine. And some are so sensitive to light. They have to be kept in little isolation chambers. What else are they doing to help these tiny babies going through a very, very adult painful crisis?

UNGAR: Well, certainly, the medication is a major part of a lot of the treatment for the babies. But some of the babies with more mild cases really, the treatment is sort of tender loving care. They need a lot of holding. They need a lot of, you know, patting on their backs. Just care. The nurses really have to hold them a lot, and they cry a lot. And so that's really a difficult thin thing, but nurses, volunteers, parents, you know, work on giving them than tender care, that's an important part of the treatment as well.

BANFIELD: Tender care is one thing, but the whole thing is so sickening. Then you think about the long range prospects for the babies. Do we know at this point what percentage of the little babies are going to be OK as they grow up or how many are going to be extraordinarily troubled?

UNGAR: Actually, there's not a whole lot of long term research, partly because it's a fairly new phenomenon in the scheme of things. The long-term research isn't there at this point. But there is some evidence that these babies grow up to have higher rates of ADHD and behavioral problems. So those are a couple things that have been observed.

BANFIELD: Well, Laura, I'm really glad that you and your paper dedicated these kinds of resources to do this long study to highlight this. It's just devastating to read, but it's just frightfully truthful.

Thanks, Laura Unger, from the "Courtier-Journal." Thanks for being with us.

UNGAR: OK, thank you.

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BANFIELD: We are learning more about the man who allegedly shot up that Colorado movie theater back in July. James Holmes, remember, the orange hair and the dazed look in that courtroom? Well, he may have apparently sent a cryptic text warning to another graduate student to stay away from him, because, quote, "I'm bad news." All of this two weeks before the shooting. It's been reported in "The New York Times" that James Holmes also apparently asked the fellow grad student if she had ever heard of something called dysphoric mania, which is a form of bipolar disorder. Is it possible this could play into an insanity defense? And how good of a defense could this be for James Holmes? Legitimate? Is he legally insane? Does he have any hope at all?

Joining me is attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, live from Florida.

Mark, I'm glad I have a chance to talk with you about this because I have been going through all of the things that happened in that horrible moment inside of that theater. Moment by moment, the action, the alleged action of with this young man, and I've been trying to match them up with statute. But I want to start with the text first. When he writes something, if he did, stay away from me, because I am bad news, does this show us that this man knows right from wrong?

MARK EIGLARSH, ATTORNEY: Well, that is what the prosecution is going to argue. The defense is going to say, it goes to show that he has a mental illness, and he was getting treated for it, and he is not malingering. This is not manufactured to excuse the horrific act. He really was being treated. He knew what he had. But that is one component, Ashleigh. The second component is that, at the time, because of the mental illness or defect, he didn't know right from wrong. And if we go through the facts, there is a wealth of facts that the prosecution can point to that shows he knew right from wrong at the time.

BANFIELD: And, well, I'm glad you mentioned that, because I think it is critical that you suggested the malingering, the faking it. So anyone who tries to assert this defense in court, that I'm legally insane, they have to prove they are not faking it. This text message may help to prove the point. I see that point.

But let's go through the crime and the facts of the crime. He propped open a door, allegedly, and he wore body armor, that urban assault vest and the ballistic helmet and the groin protector, all of that material ostensibly because you would not want to be hurt by any return fire.

EIGLARSH: Right.

BANFIELD: he wore a gas mask, allegedly, and then allegedly threw smoke bombs and he booby trapped his apartment setting off music so he would not be in it. Other people would be in it when the bombs went off. What does that tell you about knowing right from wrong?

EIGLARSH: Oh, it tells me that, I am not going to be on the jury. I would add also that he had the presence of mind when he is executing the innocent people to know, OK, my gun is out of bullets, let me move on to the next weapon of mass destruction. Oh, gosh, it jammed so let me go to the next weapon. There is a lot of information we know and don't know that would support your and my theory that he knew right from wrong.

That being said, who bears the burden of proof in Colorado? The state does. After John Hinckley got away with shooting the president, most state, 35 said, no, no, the burden is now on the defense to prove that the person didn't know right from wrong. In Colorado, it is different. There are a handful of states, including Colorado, where the burden is on the prosecution beyond and to the exclusion of a reasonable doubt to show that the person was sane. That creates some issues for sure for the prosecution.

BANFIELD: That is tough. I mean, that is tough. It is I have always said that it's tough to prove you are legally insane if you are the defense. But it is tough and it is unique in Colorado that the prosecutors have job to say, no, no, forget about the insanity story, we will prove you're sane.

And let's not forget the second prong, which is critical.

EIGLARSH: Yes.

BANFIELD: The nature and the consequences of your actions. You have to understand the nature and the consequences of your actions if you are to be found guilty.

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BANFIELD: So do any of these things not suggest that?

EIGLARSH: Well, let me just say this. In Colorado, there's only three people on death row. There's only three. I think that there is a reason for that. I think that oftentimes prosecutors for many reasons are more inclined to say, you know what, we will waive the death penalty just to agree to go away for life and that might possibly happen here.

BANFIELD: I'm talking Casey Anthony now. That is a lot of people who said maybe they should have waived the death penalty to get a conviction, but to convict Casey with a death penalty lingering over her head was tricky. Can you stick around for a little bit?

EIGLARSH: I'm here.

BANFIELD: Good. Good. I tell you what, I have another story I want to bring to your attention. Remember John Walker Lindh, Mark? Remember the American Taliban back in 2001?

EIGLARSH: Sure. Oh, yes, yes.

BANFIELD: We were talking about him this morning and not many people remembered right off the bat until we described -- remember those pictures we saw out of northern Afghanistan. He was caught up in the huge raid up in Afghanistan. And I was in Afghanistan when this happened and I was astounded at the time that it was an American and fighting our guys in the north.

It turns out he has been put away for quite some time. It was not a life sentence, but a long sentence. And the father came to his defense saying he was a kid and didn't know what he was doing. But now we have word that he is part of a suit against the feds saying, I want the ability to pray with a group of fellow Muslims in my federal prison.

EIGLARSH: Sure.

BANFIELD: There are a couple of issues. Number one, tell me about the law when it comes to federal prisons and why you can't pray as a group. And then I'll move on to the optics of making that kind of argument. Fire away.

EIGLARSH: First of all, what he is asking was already done in 2007. This surprised me when I read about this case. He is saying, I want to go back to the good old days where you let us, Warden, in 2007, pray as a group. The warden is saying, yes, but things changed, my friend, my 20-year-prison-serving friend. In 2007, as you guys were praying as a group and we say, OK, disband because there was a fire alarm going off, you continued the pray. That, among other reasons, creates a security concern for us, so no more. And I think the judge is going to say, I will defer to the warden on this John Walker Lindh, enemy combatant.

BANFIELD: It is fascinating, because regardless of how you feel about the law, the argument, either way, it does create an optic which is troublesome for him if his father was making the argument he is a misguided youth.

Mark, it's excellent to see you again, my friend.

Mark Eiglarsh, from Miami. Thank you.

EIGLARSH: Same here. All the best, Ashleigh. Take care.

BANFIELD: You, too.

And I want to let you all know, stay tuned, because NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL starts right after the break.

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