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Isaac Tests New Orleans' Levees; Isaac Leads to 5-Cent Gas Spike; Isaac Slows Down Even More; Ann Romney Wows RNC; Voter Reacts to Convention Speeches; Rescue from Plaquemines Parish Flood; Romney Health Plan for Seniors
Aired August 29, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Stay safe. Thanks, Soledad.
Good morning to you. Thank you for joining us. I'm Carol Costello. This morning a special edition of NEWSROOM. We're watching two major stories unfolding this hour.
Mitt Romney locks down the Republican nomination, but this morning all the buzz is about who really stole the show.
But first, Hurricane Isaac unloads its fury. Floodwaters are rising, and rescues are lagging far behind. So let's quickly bring you up to speed on Isaac and the conditions that are living up to some of the worst fears.
A levee in Plaquemines Parish is overtopped. That's not as serious as a breach which is a structural failure, but it can undermine the strength of the levee. The overtopping is occurring in an 18-mile stretch, and emergency officials are warning of significant deep flooding.
That is already happening. Parish president says some homes are under as much as 14 feet of water.
Also this morning, we're hearing from one family who did not heed the warnings to evacuate that parish. The floodwaters have chased them to the attic where they are stranded with their baby. Listen to this heart-wrenching phone conversation with CNN affiliate WWL.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EUGENE ODDO, LOUISIANA FLOODING VICTIM: Right now, I'm in my attic with my wife and my year-and-a-half-old baby. The local police came around about 2:00 in the morning and told us the levee broke. And within an hour, the water was coming up. I barely got my vehicle to the levee. The river levee is dry. You know, but the water came up so quick. It looks like we lost everything. If I have to, I'm going to have to shoot a hole in my attic here to get out on our roof.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser explains why that overtopped levee was not upgraded after Hurricane Katrina. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY NUNGESSER, PRESIDENT, PLAQUEMINES PARISH, LOUISIANA: This is a levee that is a parish levee that was left out of the federal system. So we were spending parish money to raise it to give them a fighting chance. We just needed a couple more years without a major storm and it doesn't look like we got that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We're going to talk to Billy Nungesser a little later in the hour. Stick around.
In New Orleans, the newly rebuilt and refortified levee system is holding up to its biggest test yet. But as I just told you, the worst is not over. The city could see 20 inches of rain and extensive flooding.
CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is live in New Orleans.
This new levee system, this was built by the Army Corps of Engineers, unlike the levee in Plaquemines Parish that we're talking that was overtopped. So is the Army Corps of Engineers' levees holding?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So far that's the word we're getting, so good. I'm sure the water in some spots is getting close to the top. But some of those walls are -- go as deep as 40 feet in the ground, and some of them go as high as 30 feet into the air, not to mention the actual barrier that goes across Lake Bourne that is basically a two-mile seawall that protects the east side of New Orleans from the surge. So that's holding up.
The pumps, though, I bet you the pumps are having a hard time dealing with all this rain because they're only designed to take about an inch per hour. We've got a sustained winds now for a good 68 miles an hour. Over at the lake we had winds gusting over 60 miles an hour for 13 hours in a row now. So we've been in here all night long.
We are along on the port of New Orleans where -- well, the port is closed, that's for sure. And near the port is this facility. It's a big Mardi Gras facility where they have, well, Mardi Gras events, they have weddings, no doubt about it inside on. The outside, though, they have got this structure which is meant to house -- bolted into the concrete. They are being lifted up. The canvas canopy obviously being torn apart. Stage lighting being -- dangling from there. So piece-by-piece, that is coming apart.
Downwind of us, at least for now, so we're in a good spot to highlight that. Mississippi River, this was flowing the wrong way yesterday. Winds have shifted somewhat, so now we are getting whitecaps banging up against this, the east side of the river. The west bank, by the way, the bridge that takes you over to the west bank, those lights went out last night. Seventy percent of the people here are without power. That's about all in all in Louisiana almost half a million people without power. In St. John the Baptist, because of the overwash that we're seeing from Lake Pontchartrain, that they're shutting down the water supply right now for fear of that being contaminated up there north of the city. So a whole bunch of issues in and around the New Orleans area. Not to mention what's going on down there in Plaquemines Parish. And we still have several more hours of this kind of weather to contend with.
COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you, Isaac is sort of parked over the state of Louisiana right now. Right?
MARCIANO: Yes. And, you know, it's like two or three times now, it's just flat-out stalled into doing nothing. At best it's been drifting northwest at about, you know, five, six miles an hour. So that we didn't expect. We knew it would be slow. But we didn't expect it to just hit the brakes like that. So that means this kind of rainfall, you know, is just going to pile up. And so basically we ramped up the forecast for how much rain we'll see. In many spots, easily more than 20 inches of rainfall from here all the way to the Mississippi coastline.
And within the city limits, the pumps that are only designed to pump out an inch an hour, they're going to have a hard time keeping up.
COSTELLO: I wondered how long his shot would last. We'll try to get back to Rob when that shot goes back up again.
Wherever you drive in the U.S., you are being affected by Hurricane Isaac. Gas prices spiked nearly five cents overnight, and people in the southeast are just -- are actually seeing larger jumps than that at the pump.
Maribel Aber is at the New York Stock Exchange for us.
This is incredible. It jumps five cents in just one day?
MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, you know, it was a huge jump. In fact, it's the biggest one-day spike in prices since February of 2011. You know, that's when fighting in Libya raised concerns about oil supplies. The national average for a gallon of regular is now $3.87.
And Carol, as you mentioned, we're seeing some big jumps also in the southeast. Prices in Kentucky and Georgia jumped eight cents overnight, and prices are up five cents in Louisiana. So what's pushing up gas prices so much here? Well, eight Gulf Coast refineries shut down or ended up cutting back production preparing for the storm. And those eight refineries alone, they account for about 1/8 of the nation's refining capacity. So it's the law of supply and demand, Carol, with less gas on the market, prices are rising.
COSTELLO: So this storm is literally parked over the Gulf Coast. It's moving at an agonizingly slow pace. So does this mean that we could see higher gas prices yet? ABER: Well, you know, Carol, it really depends on how fast the refineries come back online. Even with, you know, the storm or the hurricane parked there in Louisiana. It's -- if there's no major storm damage, then prices may only rise a few more days as things get back to normal. But if the refineries do sustain damage, well, then that's a whole other story.
So hopefully that's not the case. You know, we had -- we saw wholesale gasoline prices already starting to drop. But even if the worst is avoided, Carol, it may still be sometime before we get any relief at the pump. You know, one analyst puts it this way. Prices tend to rise faster on the way up than they fall on the way down -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So is it going to affect the southeastern portion of the United States more than in other parts of the country?
ABER: Well, again, you know, this is golf -- or a refinery production is all, you know, 40 percent is in the gulf area. So that's impacting not just the southeast but the entire country. The one bit of bright news I do want to share, Carol, is that with summer coming to an end here, refineries will stop ending up making what's called summer blend of gasoline, which ends up costing more. So hopefully we'll see some relief at least with that at the pump.
COSTELLO: Maribel Aber, from the New York Stock Exchange, thank you.
You can get the latest information on Hurricane Isaac including satellite imagery, the forecast track, and more at CNN.com/hurricane.
And if you've been in the path of Hurricane Isaac or you felt its effects, we invite you to share your photos, video, and experience at CNNireport.com.
Ann Romney, she gave one of the biggest speeches of the Republican National Convention last night. It was all about her husband. She was electric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF MITT ROMNEY: Tonight, I want to talk to you about love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You will hear more from the woman who could be the nation's next first lady.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: A little bit more about Isaac. I want to know -- want to let you know exactly where it is and what exactly it's doing. It's a category 1 storm. It's kind of stalled over Louisiana. It's moving very slowly at six miles per hour. It started to slow down around 3:15 this morning. In the wee hours of the morning. It was actually moving at about 8 miles per hour. Then it's down to six now. Winds, 80 miles per hour. But they're gusting up to 100 miles per hour.
Of course, another part of our country that's being affected is Mississippi.
David Mattingly is in Gulfport right now where he's being dumped on there by Isaac.
David, tell us what it's like.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, I'm trying to find a new way to describe it. But I can't. We've had relentless tropical storm conditions on the Mississippi coast since midnight. And the rain at times is still very, very strong. Everyone revising their estimates about rainfall, about storm surge, everything else, about flooding just because of how slow this storm is moving.
Everybody thought Isaac would be just about done with the Mississippi coast by now. But we are nowhere near finished with this storm. The wind picking up again right now. One of -- another one of those bands coming in.
I want you to take a look at the Gulf of Mexico behind me. This part of the gulf on a clear day, on a calm day, that would look like a lake back there behind me, it would be so smooth. You can see how churned up it is right now. The beach is completely overtaken by the water. And we're watching to see what's going to happen at high tide, and when these easterly winds change and come around from the south.
Then we're going to see then how much water Isaac is going to try to push onshore. We haven't seen the real full effect of the storm surge here yet, and we're waiting to see what that high tide is going to do. And that's going to be a couple of hours from now. And as you can see, as the wind is picking up here, if we continue to have this kind of wind coming from the south, you can bet we're going to see a lot more water, perhaps hitting the seawall here and perhaps coming up onto the highway at some points along the coast here.
But right now, officials just bracing, waiting to find out when the storm is going to be over so they can get out there and start doing their damage assessments. There is flooding reported all over the place in the usual low-lying areas. The question right now is, how much flooding is there going to be when Isaac reaches its peak? And we don't think we are there yet.
COSTELLO: David Mattingly reporting live from Gulfport, Mississippi. Thank you.
Now to politics. Love, respect, and we built that -- three things Republicans hope were the big takeaways from Ann Romney's big night at the party's convention. And it was Mrs. Romney's night.
Many analysts say she was electric, and evoking the spirit of Al and Tipper Gore but maybe not with the same enthusiasm. Mitt Romney kissed his wife after her debut on the national stage.
Don't know if tonight's speakers can match Ann Romney's passion, but it's likely Condoleezza Rice and Paul Ryan will certainly give it a try.
Back to Mrs. Romney, though. She had a tough assignment. Appeal to women and paint a picture of her husband as a caring, warm, strong man. Mission accomplished?
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANN ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S WIFE: When Mitt and I met and fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in the way of our life together. I was an Episcopalian. He was a Mormon. We were very young, both still in college.
There were many reasons to delay marriage. And you know what? We just didn't care. We got married and moved into a basement apartment.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We walked to class together. Shared the housekeeping, ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish. Our desk was a door propped up on saw horses. Our dining room table was a fold down ironing board in the kitchen. But those were the best days.
Then, our first son came along. All at once, I'm 22 years old with a baby and a husband who's going to business school and law school at the same time. And I can tell you, probably like every other girl who finds herself in a new life far from family and friends, with a new baby and a new husband, that it dawned on me that I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into.
(LAUGHTER)
Well, that was 42 years ago. I've survived. We now have five sons and 18 beautiful grandchildren.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I'm still in love with that boy I met at a high school dance, and he still makes me laugh.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
I read somewhere that mitt and I have a storybook marriage. Well, let me tell you something, in the storybooks I read, there never were long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once.
(LAUGHTER)
And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called M.S. or breast cancer.
A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage.
(APPLAUSE)
Sometimes I think that late at night, if we were all silent, for just a few moments and listen carefully, we could hear a collective sigh from the moms and dads across America who made it through another day. And know that they'll make it through another one tomorrow. But in the end of that day moment, they just aren't sure how.
And if you listen carefully, you'll hear the women sighing a little bit more than the men. It's how it is, isn't it? It's the moms who have always had to work a little harder to make everything right. It's the moms of this nation, single, married, widowed, who really hold this country together.
We're the mothers. We're the wives. We're the grandmothers. We're the big sisters. We're the little sisters. And we are the daughters. You know it's true, don't you?
(APPLAUSE)
I love you women!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
And I hear your voices.
If the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on Mitt Romney's success?
AUDIENCE: No!
ROMNEY: Of course not. Mitt would be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world. He had two loving parents who gave him strong values and taught him the value of work. He had the chance to get the education his father never had.
But, as his partner on this amazing journey, I can tell you that Mitt Romney was not handed success. He built it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: We do want to break an Romney's speech down and get a look at the big picture. Two of our best political analysts will be here after the break to talk all about that.
And just a reminder, CNN's primetime convention coverage continues tonight at 7:00 eastern with Wolf Blitzer.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, did the GOP make a case for Mitt Romney?
Tuesday night was the night voters were to fall in love with Mitt Romney. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Ann Romney, tried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: This is important. I want to you hear what I'm going to say. Mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege. Not a political talking point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ann Romney was electric, strong, and stunning. And she got a standing ovation. Matt Drudge called her "Mrs. America."
Yet although it was clear Ann Romney loves her husband, some say she missed an opportunity to tell us something about Mitt Romney we didn't already know.
Peggy Noonan, who wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan, blogged, she, Ann Romney, failed to make it new, and so she failed to make it real.
As for the keynote speaker, Chris Christie, it took him almost 20 minutes to even mention the presidential nominee. Really, Christie's speech seemed more like a showcase for his take no holds barred style than a tribute to Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Our leaders today have decided it's more important to be popular, to say and do what's easy, and say yes rather than to say no, when no is what is required.
The people of New Jersey stepped up. They shared in the sacrifice. And you know what else they did? They rewarded politicians who led instead of politicians who pandered.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Still, the crowd loved him. And the crowd really loved Ann Romney. But do they now love Mitt? So the talk back question for you today, did the GOP make its case for Mitt Romney?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your responses later this hour.
The GOP convention last night was marked by a rousing speech. You heard some of it from the New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Here's some more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: If you're willing to stand up with me for America's future, I will stand up with you. If you're willing to fight with me for Mitt Romney, I will fight with you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: When you hear Christie's speech, you may wonder, as I alluded to, who it was really about.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: So, let's talk more about the Republican National Convention and their big night on Tuesday night.
Joining us from the CNN grill in Tampa is Roland Martin, a CNN political analyst, and syndicated columnist who leans left, and Ana Navarro, a CNN contributor and Republican strategist.
Hi, Roland. Hi, Anna.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We don't lean anything. We just simply give our viewpoint, and we just call it like it is, so --
ANN NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Wait. Wait. Carol, Carol --
MARTIN: Ana leans back.
NAVARRO: Carol, you've got a green flower. Look at this. He's got salmon little flower.
MARTIN: It's a pocket square.
NAVARRO: It's going to get wilted under the TV lights.
MARTIN: Everybody doesn't have style like I do. It's OK, Ana.
COSTELLO: Thank God for that, too, Roland.
MARTIN: You got that right.
NAVARRO: Do you think he stands out at a Republican convention, you'd be right.
MARTIN: I'm a black man at a Republican convention. Of course I stand out.
COSTELLO: Oh, stop that. Stop that. Let's talk big picture. Tuesday night was all about making voters love Mitt Romney.
So, Ana, did it work?
NAVARRO: Well, we know Ann Romney loves Mitt Romney. That part surely worked.
I think she did what she had to do. She talked about her husband, the father of her children, the man she knows personally. She talked about their love affair.
And I think it worked for the people that liked Mitt Romney and like Ann Romney. I happen to like Ann Romney very much. I think it didn't work for the people that don't. But I think she did what she had to do.
You know, was it subtle? No. But do we have time for subtlety? No. We have to talk to women. We have to talk about Mitt Romney, personalize him, and we got two months left.
You know, she did what she had to do, and I think she did it well. She got a rousing applause, and a great response from within the party.
COSTELLO: I will say this, Ana. I learned more about Mitt Romney from Gloria Borger's interview than I did from this speech. Most of what Ann Romney said kind of already knew.
Didn't she need, Roland, to say something different about her husband?
MARTIN: No. Because first of all, the documentary by Gloria Borger was an hour long, and this was a 15 or 20-minute speech.
But the issue really is not -- and first of all, let's be clear. She gave a very good speech that painted the picture in terms of their marriage. The problem is not Ann Romney painting that picture. The problem is going to be: can Mitt Romney do it? This is very similar, I think, to then Senator Obama in 2008, where Michelle Obama was extremely effective in terms of describing a different side of him.
It's up to the politician, the person who we're voting for, to be able to say this is how I connect with you. The advice they would give Mitt Romney is study your wife's speech, and realize that when you're able to tell more of your personal story, people will then say, oh, I do identify with you.
I remember interviewing Bishop T.D. Jakes. People talk about him preaching all across the world, 30,000 members, and his house and his cars. But there was a time when he had 50 members, and he dug ditches, and his wife was on food stamps to feed the family. He said, that also was Bishop T.D. Jakes.
So if you want for someone to know the whole story, you have to tell the whole story. Mitt Romney needs to do more of that, if he wants people to say he relates and connects with me.
COSTELLO: Well, he'll have his chance.
I want to move on to another topic. I wanted to talk about the Republicans and their featured speakers. Most of them were young. Many of them were not white. Mia Love, Ted Cruz, Nikki Haley, Artur Davis. Republicans say this is the new Republican Party. Is it? Anna?
MARTIN: Well, the Republicans have been saying this is the new Republican Party every time they have one of these conventions. It's not a question of who you put on the stage to give a speech. It's who is voting for you at the ballot box.
NAVARRO: All right, Carol. Now introduce me as Roland so I can answer.
MARTIN: When you look at the numbers, the bottom line is, the question is, you can have Artur Davis, former Democrat, we don't know what he is now, that ridiculous speech he gave last night, I call him a political fraud, he is. You look at Mia Love, she is running for Congress.
But you have to connect with the voters as opposed to this and that person here. That's where the rubber meets the road.
COSTELLO: I want you to weigh in, Ana, and I have to say that Mia Love kind of stole the show yesterday. But go on, Ana.
NAVARRO: I think you're seeing these diverse faces onstage because they are part of the party, they are winning elections as part of the party. Whether my friend Roland likes it or not --
MARTIN: Well, Mia hasn't won as a Republican.
NAVARRO: Calm down, take your meds and let me get some time in. The fact is we have got the -- the Republicans have got five elected statewide office holders to your one. You have Bob Menendez. We have five Republican rising stars that are Hispanic. We have Marco Rubio. Susanna Martinez, Brian Sandoval, And they are not niche Hispanics or niche minorities. So we have to put them onstage.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Get some mimosas and carry on. Thank you so much.
I have to move on.
Tonight, the headliner at the GOP convention is Paul Ryan. He'll be coming after big names like Condoleezza Rice and Mike Huckabee. We'll see if Ryan can top last night's keynote speaker, Governor Chris Christie.
Christie's speech pumped up the crowd. In fact, it almost seemed like he was running for president. It took him more than 15 minutes before he mentioned Mitt Romney's name. And Christie also took no time in going for the jugular. He spent the majority of his speech attacking Democrats, and he focused on what he called the hard truths.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIE: Let me be clear with the American people tonight. Here's what we believe as Republicans, and what they believe as Democrats.
We believe in telling hard working families the truth about our country's fiscal realities. Telling them what they already know. The math of federal spending does not add up.
With $5 trillion in debt, added over the last four years, we have no other option but to make the hard choices. Cut federal spending, and fundamentally reduce the size of this government.
(APPLAUSE)
Want to know what they believe? They believe that the American people don't want to hear the truth about the extent of our fiscal difficulties. They believe the American people need to be coddled by big government. They believe that the American people are content to live the lie with them. They're wrong.
We believe in telling our seniors the truth about our overburdened entitlements. We know seniors not only want these programs to survive, but they just as badly want them secured for their grandchildren. Our seniors are not selfish.
(APPLAUSE)
Here's what they believe. They believe seniors will always put themselves ahead of their grandchildren. And here's what they do. They prey on their vulnerabilities and scare them with misinformation for the single, cynical purpose of winning the next election.
Here's their plan. Whistle a happy tune while driving us off the fiscal cliff, as long as they are behind the wheel of power, when we fall.
(APPLAUSE)
Now we believe that the majority of teachers in America know our system must be reformed to put students first so that America can compete. Teachers don't teach to become rich or famous. They teach because they love children. We believe --
(APPLAUSE)
We believe that we should honor and reward the good ones, while doing what's best for our nation's future -- demanding accountability, demanding higher standards, and demanding the best teacher in every classroom in America.
(APPLAUSE)
Get ready. Here's what they believe. They believe that the educational establishment will always put themselves ahead of children, that self-interest will always trump common sense. They believe in pitting unions against teachers, educators against parents, lobbyists against children. They believe in teachers unions. We believe in teachers.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We believe -- we believe that if we tell the people the truth, that they will act bigger than the pettiness we see in Washington, D.C. We believe it's possible to forge bipartisan compromise and stand up for our conservative principles.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: So let's talk to someone who is not a delegate, and not an analyst, but a voter. Skip Becker is joining us from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He is a semiretired small businessman, registered Republican, and he has had concerns about Mitt Romney in the past.
Skip, welcome.
SKIP BECKER, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: Thank you. Thank you, it's good to be here.
COSTELLO: Nice to talk to you again. I talked with you during the primaries. You're a Republican. You've told me you want a man with a plan.
BECKER: Yes.
COSTELLO: Tuesday night, though, was the night that we were all supposed to fall in love with Mitt Romney. Did you?
BECKER: Well, I think to an extent, Mitt Romney continues to evolve. I'm not sure at this point that he has achieved that level of leadership that everybody around him would like him to have. So I'm still gaining momentum, but bit by bit. Yes.
COSTELLO: Do you have a clear picture of who Mitt Romney is?
BECKER: It's conflicted. The picture I have, at least the picture that Ann Romney painted for us last night, was a struggling young man and a young bride, making their way into the world. But we have to remember that this is the son of George Romney. This young man may in fact be struggling, but I don't think there are a lot of people around him who are going to allow him to fall as many young men perhaps before him and under other circumstances have.
So I think at this point, they want me to believe that he is sort of just a normal person, when in fact I think we all know and believe that he is a cut above. He has a safety net that many Americans simply don't have.
COSTELLO: I know you love Chris Christie. During Chris Christie's speech, it took Chris Christie such a long time to even mention Mitt Romney's name. He went on for 16 minutes.
What did you think of Chris Christie's speech?
BECKER: Well, I thought it was remarkable. And even more so I think that it's remarkability was reflected in Governor Romney's -- or President nominee Romney's face as the cameras cut to him, listening to the speech. I don't see that he was especially happy. I just see -- I see this dynamic speaker, standing there, telling me and many more Republicans of my attitude, exactly what we want to hear.
I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure that Governor Christie did what he was supposed to do.
COSTELLO: OK. So short answer, because I've got to go. So do you have your mind made up? Will you vote for Mitt Romney?
BECKER: Don't know yet. You know, I really want to know what he's going to do. This is theater we saw last night. It's theater we'll see for the next couple of nights. And indeed we'll see the same for the Democratic convention.
COSTELLO: I know. I know.
BECKER: I want to see some substance.
COSTELLO: You want to see a man with a plan.
BECKER: I want to see some substance.
COSTELLO: Skip Becker, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to talk with us. We appreciate it.
BECKER: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: CNN's primetime coverage continues tonight at 7:00 Eastern with Wolf Blitzer. Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan will talk at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Ryan in primetime. Piers Morgan wraps up the convention's second full day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Ok. Let's talk more about Hurricane Isaac because it's causing flooding, severe flooding south of New Orleans. This -- this is video coming out of Plaquemines Parish. As you can see, rescue workers are going from home to home rescuing people.
We talked earlier with a man and his family, including a baby, trapped in his attic. He was trying to figure out how to get out because most of his house was underwater.
Apparently, this type of scene is playing out south of New Orleans in Plaquemines Parish. Hurricane Isaac is sort of parked right over Louisiana. Maybe as much as 20 inches of rain will fall.
Let's head live to New Orleans now and check in with Martin Savidge. He's in -- he's in the tourism district. Martin, tell us what's going on.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, you know, the situation you were talking about, Plaquemines Parish, that is due to what they call an overtop situation. The pressure, the wind blowing against water, causes it to overtop the levee much like water overflowing a bathtub.
And that's the problem that triggered the isolation of the flooding down there at the back levee. You can understand that winds and in rain like this, emergency crews are not going to be able to get out there and perform rescues. So if those folks are going to be helped, it's going to be the neighbors that do it. And that is the way it is done in Louisiana.
Here in New Orleans, though, I guess you could say it is so far, so good. You know this was an all-night storm. Clearly it's going to be an all-day storm. And -- and that's the thing with Isaac.
We found this in Haiti. You wondered when the storm was going to arrive, very slow mover, very difficult making up its mind. And then you wondered when is it ever going to leave?
Same situation here, hours and hours yet to go. Lots of water coming down. And of course in a city that is mostly underwater, that's your biggest concern.
The Army Corps of Engineers says that the levees are doing ok. They should -- They spent a lot of money on them. And let's face it, this is only a Category 1. They were built to withstand up to at least a Category 3.
But here is the thing, Carol. The wind is going to change because as the storm moves and that's going to cause different stress in different places. We'll have to keep an eye on the levees and you bet everyone will -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes I bet you. Martin Savidge, thanks so much, reporting live from New Orleans.
Let's get a forecast now from Jennifer Delgado. The storm is moving so slowly.
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is moving slowly. And a couple of hours ago it was actually stationary. So we are seeing some improvement with that. As I take you over to our radar notice for yourself the center of circulation looks like a good part of it is actually making interaction with land. A lot of those stronger bands are still working into areas. You can see through Mobile as well as southern parts of Mississippi and of course through New Orleans.
We'll continue to see those heavier downpours. And we still are also dealing with a tornado watch in place. It looks like until 4:00 Central Time. But showing you on the satellite imagery, the winds right now 80 miles per hour, still some gusts up to 100 miles an hour. That's why you're seeing scenes with Marty as well as Rob coming out of there still dealing with rough conditions.
And we're going to continue to see those hurricane conditions affecting parts of New Orleans as well as that southern part of Louisiana as we go through the next couple of hours.
Want to track this. The center of circulation won't actually make it out of Louisiana. And it looks like not until very late Thursday. And making its way into the border of Arkansas it looks like on Friday. So this is going to be a big rain maker. We're talking 10 to 20 inches of rainfall in some of these locations. Big time flooding -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's crazy. Jennifer Delgado thank you.
Mitt Romney says he'll repeal Obamacare if he wins the White House. But what would Romney put in its place? We'll talk about his plan for seniors, next.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we started designing the (inaudible) laptop, we were just looking at how do you protect the keyboard and the screen, how do children carry it around? We set aside between 10 percent and 30 percent of our work hours toward those kinds of projects. I can't tell you that that's just what made business sense every month, but I can tell you that's what made human sense every month.
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COSTELLO: Mitt Romney says if he's elected, we will repeal Obamacare on day one. All this week we'll be looking at what Romney would do to replace President Obama's health care plan. One provision of the health care law allows seniors on Medicare to get discounts on some prescription drugs. It closes the donut hole, right? Elizabeth Cohen is here.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
COSTELLO: So, tell us how Mitt Romney would handle that part of Obamacare.
COHEN: Ok so let's talk a little bit about this donut hole. For the way that it works now is that Obamacare says to seniors who are out a certain spending level, this donut hole we hear about. Hey, we're going give you help, we're going to give you a 50 percent discount on prescription drugs. And so we talked to a Romney official and this official said well, that would be undone. We would reverse Obamacare and those discounts would go away. So what do you replace it with? Right?
COSTELLO: Right exactly. That's why a lot of seniors are upset about the donut hole.
COHEN: Right, right, right because it's a big -- it's a big gap there. So yes seniors are upset about it. There are a couple arguments, the main argument that the Romney campaign makes is look, they say that the Obamacare takes $700 billion worth of cuts out of Medicare. And when they reverse it, those cuts will go away. So they are basically saying you know forget about the donut hole for a second here, these $700 billion of cuts in Obamacare could put the very program in jeopardy. So I'm going to quote a Romney campaign official who we talked to. This person said "A senior in the donut hole is still better off without Obamacare because, again, they say that those cuts do so much damage to Medicare that the whole program might go away."
Now two fact check organizations, nonpartisan say this is simply not true and that these cuts are actually "savings", if we want to use that word and that it doesn't threaten Medicare or its central services.
COSTELLO: Elizabeth Cohen, many thanks to you.
COHEN: Thanks.
COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, "Did the GOP make the case for Mitt Romney?" Oh so many responses. We'll have some of them next.
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COSTELLO: To your responses now, our "Talk Back" question of the day, "Did the GOP make the case for Mitt Romney?"
This from Janet, "I like Mitt and Ann. they are humble people. I'm done with Obama's Mr. Cool act. He has to put on that act because he's not cool."
This from Stephen, "Obama has made the best case for Mitt Romney. Four years of failure -- hard to defend."
This from Tionna, "They continue to make the case, they have nothing new, nothing exciting and nothing very believable."
This is from George, "Absolutely did. And I cannot wait for the vice presidential debate, the next big event I cannot miss."
And this is from Belinda, "I would vote for a Chris Christie/Ann Romney ticket. That's what I came away with last night.
Facebook.com/carolCNN if you would like to continue the conversation.
The next hour of this special edition of CNN NEWSROOM starts after the break.
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