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Grand Isle Takes Direct Hit; Dam in Peril of Breaking; It's Romney's Turn to Speak; Book Give New Info on Bin Laden Raid; Gas Prices Jump.

Aired August 30, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 10:00 on the Gulf Coast. Let's get you started today.

We've got some good news, finally, and that's that Tropic Storm Isaac is growing weaker as we speak. But there is bad news. Tropical Storm Isaac has turned deadly.

Dangerous surges and damaging floods, the reality across the entire Gulf Coast and now word that Isaac may have spawned three tornadoes, as well. That, as Mississippi and Louisiana are declared major disaster sites, that by the president of the United States.

Nearly a million people now are without power in four different Gulf States. Thousands of people are being flooded out of their homes, rescued, running for their lives, finding whatever kind of transportation they can.

And now, there is talk of breaching a levee, intentionally. We're going to explain what that's all about.

As we speak, some daring rescues are underway, as well, to help people who are trapped inside their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First, we were going to try to leave and then we didn't. Then we had nowhere to go. Then Mr. Billy come on the TV and said (INAUDIBLE) and that they were breaching the levee. So, then we were trying to leave, but trying to drive in the car, it was - you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it. I've had enough. I ain't coming back no more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you lose your home in Katrina, too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, now, you've lost the same home twice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The sad story of the storm that, all the while, another major story in Tampa, as well, and it's the GOP. They've got their man of the hour, Mitt Romney.

Today, it's his big day at the Republican National Convention and we're going to have a whole lot on that in just a few moments.

First, though, let's head to Mississippi. It's one of the areas that's getting hammered hardest right now by Hurricane Isaac. As we zoom in on the map, I want to take you to David Mattingly who's right there Gulfport, Mississippi. He's on the ground.

So, David, I can see the waves behind you and I don't see the rain like we've been seeing in the past, but this is really where the rain is hitting hard, Biloxi and also Gulfport and now there's talk that there could be some serious problems ahead with a dam.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We had a brief moment of sunshine just a second ago, a sign that things are letting up here, but there is more rain on the way.

We had over ten inches of rain right here in Gulfport. There is a lot of problems with flooding a little bit inland, off of the coast here, where all of that rain fell. It's now getting into the rivers and into the streams and there's at least one flood warning, severe flood warning, out for one river in this county along the coast.

We've also seen two tornadoes that have been confirmed along the coast of Mississippi, both of them doing some damage. There may have been others that just have not been confirmed just yet.

We still have tropical-storm force ...

(AUDIO BREAK)

... the winds ...

(AUDIO BREAK)

... very robust, but as you can see behind me, the storm surge we saw yesterday has retreated.

The ...

(AUDIO BREAK)

... at least you can see the beach. So, that water, at least ...

(AUDIO BREAK)

... the curfews have been lifted. People are going back to their homes and I spoke to the governor of Mississippi a short time ago about what's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOVERNOR PHIL BRYANT (R), MISSISSIPPI: Well, what worries me is the duration of this storm. As these bands come in, you get that heavy rain, you get this surge that's blocking the rivers and tributaries and then, behind it, we're hearing 48 hours of rain. That's going to - inland - it's going to be a lot of flooding, so we're having to shift some resources there to prepare for that eventuality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So, Ashleigh, you can sum it up in a nutshell. The water may have fallen here, but it is still rising and causing a problem.

BANFIELD: And, of course, storm surges and the winds pushing those waters, as well.

Talk to me a little bit, David, with the time we have left about the dam considerations and that there is this concern nearby about a dam giving way.

MATTINGLY: There is one dam on a lake in a state park here in Mississippi. I spoke to the governor about that. He said he was actually more concerned about some levees in the area than he is about that dam.

We spoke to state officials who say there is some water coming over that dam at a couple of places, but 100 percent failure they do not see that happening here.

BANFIELD: All right, David Mattingly in Gulfport, Mississippi, we can see some of the troops behind you, as well, who are watching closely. We will keep in touch with you to find out what happens there.

We're also closely tracking Isaac as it moves around where David is, moves into Northern Louisiana. From our CNN Hurricane Headquarters, meteorologist Chad Myers is monitoring the movements.

So, Chad, let's talk a little bit about the biggest concern right now, given the fact that this storm is so -- just agonizingly -- I call it "water torture" - it's just agonizingly slow.

What's the biggest problem at this moment?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Certainly, inland flooding will be the biggest concern.

Now, there's also a medium concern of these tornadoes, not big tornadoes. We're not talking Kansas or Texas tornadoes. We're talking tornadoes like water spouts that'll be moving onshore with every successive big storm that comes through here.

Let me see if I can get a map of that. I wasn't prepared to do that first. Back up here. Here we go. This will work for me. I always love to have all these things I can take pictures of. We have storms coming into Mobile. We have storms coming in here into North Florida and, also, still some storms still coming into New Orleans.

Now, you'll notice there's an awful lot of non-stormy weather here where the big area, the shield of rain, has moved up, just centered over Jackson, Mississippi, and that area here will pick up about five inches of rain today. That water all has to get into the Gulf of Mexico at some point.

Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: We talked at the top of the newscast, Chad, about this issue of actually intentionally breaching a levee - I never thought I would hear those words ...

MYERS: I know.

BANFIELD: ... especially in the New Orleans area, but intentionally breaching a levee to give relief to one of these parishes?

MYERS: Do you remember back in the flood of last year, the Mississippi River, the Army Corps breached a levee north of an area where they knew that the water was going to breach one way or the other, so they chose to breach it off to the west rather than let it go into a city off to the east.

So, let take you to what's happened here. New Orleans, I'm going to draw on this map a lot. Here's New Orleans, Kenner, Metairie, all the way back here. Here's the Crescent City. There, right there, would be the French Quarter.

And, now, let's zoom in to where this problem is. It is right here, Plaquemines Parish. It's a long parish. It goes all the way, basically, from New Orleans all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

And this is the area that has levees all around it. There's Mississippi River levee and then there's the back levee that goes 18 miles all the way back here. This is a swimming pool with levees on all sides. That's great to keep the water out from coming in here. This is the bayou. You don't want the water to come in here, if the Mississippi river ever floods.

So, all of this area, all basically 10-to-15-feet higher on all ends, all sides, due to the fact that there's levees al around.

Let's fly you in and show you the town that people were evacuated from, this subdivision, they called it, right here. That's where all those people were getting pulled out when the water did breach over the top of this. The water did get to this levee. Here's the levee, Ashleigh, you can see it here.

The water filled up here around and went over the levee and back down into this lowland area. So, if you have a levee here and a levee here and the people live down here, you have a problem and that's what they had. This levee, 18-miles long, all the way from Braithwaite all the way down to almost Carlisle.

On the other side, here's the other levee. This is the Mississippi River levee. This was built in case the Mississippi rises. You don't want that to happen and spill into your neighborhood. Well, that's why this is here.

Keep going. Go ahead and move it. There, you go. See all the way up here, another 18 miles.

So. down to the bottom of this, there's this 18-mile swimming pool, basically built from Braithwaite, all the way down toward Carlisle and this is the area that is filled in with water.

So, if you go to the lowest spot and you breach the levee here or maybe here. You can go down here, one more time. We can show you that there's a levee across here. This is where the water has stopped. It can't go any farther south from here because there's a levee and then you can't go any farther west than here because there's a levee.

If you breach this somewhere in here, you'll let the water out.

Now, it eventually will drain on its own, but would you kind of think you'd want to get the water out as fast as possible. That's the only reason why you would breach a levee -- to let the water out faster.

It will eventually get out. The pumps are working, but they're not working like people would want. They want the water out of their house so they can go back. These houses are trashed.

BANFIELD: That may have just been the most enlightening thing I ever saw with regard to how to manage that massive area and the water crisis there. I get it. I completely get it. It's as though you flew me over it.

Chad Myers, thank you for that and keep in touch and let me know where they are with that plan.

In the meantime, do want to let you know that, as Chad keeps an eye on things, you also can keep your eye on things and you can help everybody Chad was just talking about.

Those houses he mentioned? Gone, devastated by Tropical Storm Isaac. And you can help out by visiting our Impact Your World page. It's at CNN.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A quick note for you as you're heading out the door. You can continue to watch CNN from your mobile phone or, if you're heading out to work, you can watch us on your desktop, too, live. Just go to CNN.com/TV. Get yourself all set up there and you will never be without your "news fix."

If you did not hear this, wow, "America's Choice 2012," the speech of Paul Ryan's political career, to date. If you didn't hear it, I'll bet you heard about it. Man, was this thing good.

Seven-term GOP congressman and now his party's nominee for vice president, officially. Just electrified the Republican convention with attacks on President Obama.

He also had a tribute to his widowed mother. Also, numerous references to - let's say -- how young he is and one of those references, actually pretty funny. It came at the expense of the 65- year-old man who is at the top of the ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN, REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are songs on his iPod, which I've heard on the campaign bus and I've heard it on many hotel elevators.

He actually urged me to play some of these songs at campaign rallies.

I said, look, I hope it's not a deal breaker, Mitt, but my playlist starts with AC/DC and it ends with Zeppelin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I am with you, Congressman.

Wasn't all punch lines, though, last night. There was a lot of punch, as well as the funnies.

And, in the view of Team Obama, there were plenty of lies that came from this stage. That's what they're saying.

CNN's Brianna Keilar joining me now live from Tampa with that. You've got the great assignment there, Brianna. Let's go over some of this speech, in particular, because really, Paul Ryan hammered the president on debt and Medicare and General Motors, among a lot of other things.

But let's start with Medicare, that oft-argued point about $700 billion and who is gutting what. Walk me through the speech and where it was right and where it might have been wrong.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Paul Ryan, and we've heard him and the Romney campaign before, Ashleigh, as you know, say that President Obama has cut $716 billion from Medicare and the benefits that seniors rely on.

Here is what he said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN: $716 billion funneled out of Medicare by President Obama. An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, to be clear, Ashleigh, it is kind of debatable what is meant by "cuts" here. I guess you could say its cuts, but it's really a cut in the growth of Medicare spending and these are not cuts to guaranteed Medicare benefits, although Republicans do argue that it would kind of ultimately hurt those guaranteed benefits.

It's cuts on the provider side. What does that mean to hospitals, to insurance companies? Cuts to Medicare Advantage, which private insurers are providing Medicare benefits.

The issue here, obviously, is that Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, because he had embraced the Ryan budget, is definitely vulnerable on the Medicare argument because his plan voucherized Medicare.

And, so, this -- we saw this from the get-go, right, when Paul Ryan was announced as Romney's veep pick. They came out of the gate swinging on this to try to inoculate themselves against this Medicare argument.

BANFIELD: And that wasn't the only argument, as well, but you know what? That's what the wires and the blogs will tear apart until the next big speech.

So, Brianna Keilar, thank you for that. I know you have your work cut out for you, as we move ahead.

By the way, everything that we've heard out of Tampa, thus far, has been leading up to the guy we're going to hear tonight, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and CNN's Paul Steinhauser is going to be live with me for a preview a little later on this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was by herself, so I just wanted to come home in case, you know, there was a little water, power outage. Just may as well be home.

And never would have expected that we would have been knee-deep in water inside of our house.

It's hard to process. There's really nothing. Just, you can't even start thinking about things that I've a lost. You're just in shellshock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Shellshock. For those of you just joining us, Hurricane Isaac has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, but make no mistake, even as a tropical storm, it is still very dangerous.

We have some pretty dramatic iReport video of the storm surge in Slidell and I see a rearview mirror which means there's a car right there on that road and that's a dangerous place to be.

In fact, Isaac claimed its first fatality. It was a man who was killed by a falling tree in Mississippi.

And, also, this storm has drenched about -- well, some areas with about 20 inches or so of rain.

Of course, the big concern for many people, how would New Orleans' brand new system, very expensive levees and pumps and walls and gates, how would they hold up, how would they manage Isaac's Cat-1 fury?

Martin Savidge is there and, Marty, you know, this was something that we all looked towards. We were all very concerned. It's been seven years of building and spending. Did it work?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, to quote a popular phrase, this was a test. This was only a test of the emergency pumping system they have in the city of New Orleans and, as you point out, it held up pretty well.

This was a Category-1 storm. It is meant to handle a Category 3, so it should have done well.

Take a look out here. You can see this is the outflow that's going out from the canal on 17th Street. This is one of several pumping stations, the water going from the canals where the water is drained from the city and now headed out to Lake Pontchartrain.

If you look down over here, these are the floodgates. This is all part of that new installation, post-Katrina. The floodgates are down. They are designed to prevent the water from backing in from Lake Pontchartrain or the storm surge going into the city of New Orleans.

So, the pumps take the water from the canal, put it in the lake and the gates prevent the water from coming back.

Now take a look at Lake Pontchartrain out here. This is the real problem that continues today. You can see the water is extremely high. Part of that is the rain and part of that is the wind.

The wind, blowing strongly from the south, is driving that water up against the north shore and that's why places like Slidell are now suffering from rising waters, why evacuations are underway out there, because a combination of rain water draining off and the wind pushing it all north.

That's not the only place having problems. There are a couple of areas around here where evacuations and people are being told, head to higher ground. We know the water's going to rise and we know your house is too low.

Whoops.

Ashleigh? BANFIELD: Yeah, so, and I - when you were just pointing the neighborhood out behind you, I was looking at that building. I'm not sure if it's a house or a business, but it's clearly flooded.

So, give me a bit of a feel for how bad it is where you are, in terms of flooding, and then everywhere else, as well, all the surrounding communities where you are. How bad or do they even know? Is it too early?

SAVIDGE: I lost you for a second and I don't know if you can still hear us.

BANFIELD: I hear you. Can you hear me?

SAVIDGE: The flooding that's going on back there, that is relatively routine. I mean, it's not routine if it's your property or your home, but the rising waters along the banks of Lake Pontchartrain are not that uncommon and, so, what you're seeing back there is something that happens any time you get heavy rains and high winds.

As for elsewhere in New Orleans, I wouldn't say it was completely dry, but they were able to, at least, keep it from flooding and they were able to show that the flood containment system, the walls and the levees, all held.

Ironically now, it's places outside of that system that are suffering, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Yeah. All right, Marty, I don't know if you can hear me, but I think I got some of the answer anyway and I know that the assessments must be still continuing, now that they can even get choppers up in the sky, et cetera.

So, Marty Savidge, live in New Orleans. Thanks so much.

Also, it bears repeating, folks, that, look, they've been through this in New Orleans and the surrounding communities and they have been hit before and now they're getting hit again.

So, if you want to help them, because, clearly, there are victims here. The victims of Hurricane Isaac can be helped out by going to our Impact page. It's very helpful. It's Impact Your World, CNN.com/impact. Let me repeat, CNN.com/impact.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dogs, terrified. One of them actually ran and jumped into my arms as I was sitting in the boat there. Well, in fact, there it is, right there. In fact, another dog jumped into the water and there he is, there, trying to pull him back in.

Really, a frightening scene to be there in person and a stark difference from what we saw during Katrina when the rescuers I went out with made the decision not to take the dogs and the pets with them.

The scene was so, so radically different than it is now, that, this time, they are making the effort to try to save the pets, which was very precious to him there as he works his way off the roof.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And that scene was playing out, over and over, all around the Gulf Coast as rescuers had to not only find people coming out of their top windows, but punching out of their attics, as well, getting any kind of implement they could to punch through the roof because that water was literally coming up to the roof.

Grand isle, Louisiana, about as far south as you can go before you actually end up in the Gulf of Mexico and the eye of the hurricane passed right over that tiny island yesterday.

It's also where our Ed Lavandera and his crew have been holed up in a house there, watching these scenes when they could get out and about and then running for cover when they couldn't.

Here's what it's been like for Ed and his crew.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seems almost incredible to say that now, almost 40 hours after we first started feeling the effects of what was then Hurricane Isaac making its way onto the shores here in Grand Isle, Louisiana, we're still feeling the trace and the last remnants of this storm passing through here.

And just to give you a sense of what we've had to deal with since we've been here in Grand Isle, this is the house of - the home of Dean Blanchard that we've been using as shelter throughout much of this storm and we've been doing our live reports from just up here on this deck over the garage and you can see the storm surge that came through here.

This is the garage underneath the deck and look at the water still inside. That water came above that window line there and it quickly filled up in just a matter of minutes. It was absolutely incredible to see just how quickly the water rushed in.

I can show you over here where we're dealing with some of the remnants of the storm surge. The water got as high as here on the house and brought in about six inches of water into the first floor that was right over here.

But, you know, look, this is still what we're dealing with, pieces of wood and debris that has floated in from who knows where at this point.

The bay side of the island is over here, the Gulf side is over here and, even though we haven't had any major, major rainfall here in the last few hours, you know, it's going to take a while for all of this water to make its way back into the bay and into the Gulf. In fact, we haven't even had a chance yet to go out and survey any of the damage. Our car is just not high enough to be able to drive through this water, so it's just too dangerous and not a risk we're willing to take at this point.

But at some point here, when the sun breaks, we'll go out onto the roadways and begin surveying the damage.

But from everything that we can tell, not a great deal of structural damage from anything we have been able to see. Some rooftops and that sort of thing, damaged, probably power lines that need to be replaced and that sort of thing, but there hasn't been any structural -- severe structural damage, which is impressive when you think about it, because Hurricane Isaac came through here, the very eye of the storm came right by where we were.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Yeah, and that's the spot where seven years ago, the Blanchard family had to deal with that, as well. Poor Dean Blanchard, now twice at it.

Ed Lavandera, live at that same house. So, I know that the eye passed over, Ed, but I always wonder if the winds continue to push the surge or if you're actually in the clear and things are getting better now.

LAVANDERA: Well, we've been able to see the sun for most of the morning, but now we've got some cloud cover here. But the winds have considerably died down and that's really what we needed.

Up until about an hour ago there were still some pretty strong gusts coming out of the south and could you see the water kind of having a hard time receding.

But things have changed dramatically here overnight for us since we taped that bit that you just saw on camera there. The water is now out of Dean Blanchard's home. But the roadways are still covered. many of the roadways are still covered. We are waiting a little bit longer to get out. I think the water is still kind of probably bumper-high on the cars that we have. So, I don't quite feel comfortable yet getting those cars out there.

So, we will be able to -- we have talked to officials and other folks who have driven around quite a bit. And again, there isn't any reports of major widespread damage to the home, structural damage, which is what I think people care about most. There are shingles and parts of metal roofs that have to be replaced, and they will have to deal with that. But in terms of the big structural damage, homes collapsing, I haven't heard anything like that here on the island.

BANFIELD: Yes. Thank god. 1300 people living on that barrier island. Ed, we don't have any death reports either.

Ed, thanks very much. Do stay safe until it is OK. And you and your crew be careful, please. BANFIELD: I want to go back to some breaking news as well. David Mattingly was reporting earlier about a dam at the beginning of the show that was, you know, in peril. And they were watching it very closely.

I want to bring in Chad Myers who also knows about this dam.

I'm maybe pronouncing it wrong, Chad -- Tangipahoa -- what is going on with it?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There is a lake up north with a dam and this dam holding back the water has now, according to WWL, our affiliate in New Orleans, has failed. The water is now pouring through the dam into the river and down the river. The river eventually ends up in Lake Pontchartrain. There won't be a flood issue for Lake Pontchartrain. Lake Pontchartrain is huge compared to this river and this lake.

Up here, Tangipahoa Lake, right there, small lake here, this dam right there on the base, that dam now, according to WWL, has failed. Water pouring into the river and pouring down river.

If you are in this river valley -- and here's the first town here, the river off to your east. If you are in this valley, you need to get away.

Kentwood, in Louisiana -- there's your river right there. If you are in Kentwood, know where you are, know how far this water is going to go up. They are saying if you are on the west side of the river, go west. If you are on the east side of the river, go to the east.

Fly a little bit farther down, there is an awful lot more down here to take a look at. We are talking about a meet right here. The river off to your east. If you are on the west side of town, you should be OK, but there will be a surge, probably 10 to 12 feet at least of a surge as this works its way down.

According to WWL -- we can't independently confirm this with the weather service, but they put this together, they have reporters there. They say if you are in Kentwood right now, as of 11:23, 10:23 your time, you have 90 minutes to get out. So, you've already wasted 10. So, you have 80 minutes to get out of Kentwood if you are in that region.

We will keep watching it for you, and keep you up to date as we know more about the system.

BANFIELD: Repeat those directions. You said they can go east and they can go west but they can't go north or south?

MYERS: You should not go along the river, because the river does run north to south. If you are on the one side, just get higher. If you are on the east, go higher to the east. If you are to the west, go higher to the west, if you live in that river valley.

If you live in the towns and cities and 30 feet above that river, you are in good shape. But that's the problem. They think 40 to 50,000 people are -- need to be out of there as this water runs down hill. It all depends on how quickly the dam fails. If it fails and it runs, and it's rushing river, they will be OK. Water will rise five feet and it is fine. If the entire dam fails at the same time and that water rushes out at the same time, you literally have a tsunami rushing down this river. that's why they say get out of the way in you are in that Tangipahoa river valley.

BANFIELD: OK Lake Tangipahoa, Lakewood and Robert residents -- yes, call. If you know people, they may not have power but they may have cell phones, they may have phones.

Chad, keep an eye. If that does happen, if there's a deluge like that, break in with us, if you would, and let us know.

Chad Myers, thank you, sir.

Coming up after the break, we get the other big story in Tampa. It was big in Tampa. It was Paul Ryan's big night. He did a great job. And did he have a lot of hard acts to follow to do it? We'll get the whole assessment in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: The moment Mitt Romney has been waiting at least six years for, and actually probably lot longer than that, and it is now just hours away. The Republican nominee for president gets his hour in the spotlight on the closing night of the GOP convention tonight.

And my CNN colleague, Paul Steinhauser, is also counting the minutes.

So, here's the deal. Paul Ryan got on the stage last night and he had to follow Ann Romney. and she was a tough act to follow. And Paul Ryan knocked it out of the park, by a lot of accounts. So, is Mitt Romney going to be able to follow all of these spectacular speeches and really knock it out of the park the way he needs to?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: There is a lot of pressure on him, no doubt about it, Ashleigh. A lot of expectation. Republican officials are very, very happy with Paul Ryan's speech last night. Democrats pushing back. They are highlighting ad checks that say parts of that address was factually challenged. But whatever Paul Ryan said last night, whatever Ann Romney said the night before are important. Let's be honest, this is all about Mitt Romney.

(CHEERING)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEINHAUSER (voice-over): It's job number one at the Republican convention.

BOB MCDONNELL, (R), GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA: We need President Mitt Romney. REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: The president America needs is Mitt Romney.

(APPLAUSE)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: President Romney, boy, I like the sound of that.

STEINHAUSER: Call it the selling of GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney.

NEIL NEWHOUSE, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN POLLSTER: It is fill in the blanks on Mitt Romney and telling voters who he is.

STEINHAUSER: From highlighting his resume --

SCOTT WALKER, (R), GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN: Mitt Romney turned businesses around in the private sector.

STEINHAUSER: -- to describing what he would do as president.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to put us back on a path to growth and create good-paying private-sector jobs again in America.

STEINHAUSER: While most polls, like our latest CNN/ORC survey, indicate the race for the White House is a dead heat, most polls also indicate Romney lags behind President Barack Obama when it comes to relating to the average voter. And even though he has been running for president on and off for six years, most Americans don't know Mitt Romney, the man. That's where his wife, Ann, comes in.

ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF MITT ROMNEY: I know he's a good and decent man for what he is. He is warm and loving and parent.

STEINHAUSER: Now it's her husband's turn on the podium.

CRAIG ROMNEY, SON OF MITT ROMNEY: I think it's a great opportunity for people to get to see him and, you know, very unfiltered way, to get to hear his story and his vision for this country. I think, in large parts, he has been defined by the opposition up to this point. And it's a chance for him -- for the voters to get to know what kind of candidate he really is.

STEINHAUSER: What will he say? Romney hasn't said much about his speech, other than what he wants to highlight.

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How America is going to get on track, and we're going to get this economy really going again.

STEINHAUSER: But his top strategist gave us an appetizer.

STUART STEVENS, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: It will be a clear vision of a Romney presidency and very much from his heart about America. And why he wants to be president. (END VIDEOTAPE)

STEINHAUSER: Again, we haven't heard a lot from the Romney campaign what he will say tonight. They said he will share some personal stories but the opportunity here is they really want to capitalize. What happens after tonight, Ashleigh? Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan head right back on the campaign trail, start near Florida and then Virginia and other important battleground states. They are going to be out next week, of course, when president Obama is holding his convention in Charlotte -- Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Man, no rest for the weary. That is just a grueling schedule.

All right, Paul Steinhauser. Yours is grueling too. You have to have those hours as well. Thank you.

Also want to remind our viewers that Mitt Romney is going to deliver that nomination acceptance speech about 10:00 eastern time. That is 7:00 on the west. And our special coverage, that's live, begins at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. But we are on it all day, so don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: The Republican who ran for Republican last time around has a lot to say about this year's race. You may have heard some of John McCain's thoughts at the GOP convention last night, another great speech delivered from the podium.

Tonight, Piers Morgan is going to have an interview with not only Senator McCain, but his wife, Cindy, as well -- sat down together to talk about a conversation that spans the entire globe. And we have a special excerpt for you, this part on so-called women's issues and the GOP.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT: Cindy, social conservative issues rear their ugly head again, not all ugly, some are very laudable. But last week, the Todd Akin row blew up. To me, it feels strange. Mitt Romney who clearly moves around on issues like abortion. Paul Ryan has moved toward Mitt Romney's compromise position there should be exceptions. The GOP platform still resolutely insists there cannot be any abortions even in the cases of rape, insist or health to the mother. As a Republican, how do you feel about that?

CINDY MCCAIN, WIFE OF JOHN MCCAIN: I'm sorry for that. As a woman, I'm sorry for that. We don't agree on that issue. I mean, I clearly -- John and I take a different stand on that. but it's also not the most important issue that is driving this campaign. I think outside sources are driving it. But that's not what's -- as a woman and as, you know, people here, we are concerned about the economy.

MORGAN: I suppose the problem is what it does is it lends again succor to the argument, the Republican Party is anti-women.

CINDY MCCAIN: Right.

MORGAN: And that is its problem. The moment I heard what Todd Akin said, I could play out in my head exactly how that story was going to go. Every one in the senior level Republican Party said, oh, here we go.

(LAUGHTER)

CINDY MCCAIN: Yes.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: Well, I agree with you, it was harmful to our party. Second of all, the platform, some wag said, at one point, it's what you stand on during the convention and runaway from during the campaign.

CINDY MCCAIN: Yes. Yes.

JOHN MCCAIN: And in fact, people care what Mitt Romney's position is which is except information rape, incest and the life of the mother. That's what they care about more. The third thing is it's important to keep in mind what Mr. -- Congressman Akin was talking about was not abortion, it was not rape. And all of us find -- that's why all of us find that totally unacceptable, what he said. We were offended that he should state such a thing. And by the way, getting the nomination of your party for the senate or the presidency is a privilege. He has abused that privilege. That is why he should no longer be the candidate of the Republican Party in Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: This is a great interview. So, without question, you got to stick around for this because the full interview is going to be part of CNN's special live coverage on the GOP's closing night, on the big convention closing night tonight. So, stick around. We get live at 7:00 eastern. We go right through. Good stuff, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A former navy SEAL who was in the when Osama bin Laden has been killed has now written a book on the raid that went down. It was supposed to be released on 9/11, which is the anniversary of the killings which led to this. And the book is titled "No Easy Day" and it is the number-one book on Amazon. And the author's account of how the raid went down does not exactly match the story that we got from the White House.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is here to enlighten me.

And listen, I'm very, very concerned about this, because there was such a narrative coming from the White House explaining that they drew a gun on bin Laden and facing him down and the wife was nearby and she went to block it, and they shot her and then they shot him, and this Navy SEAL does not say that. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, he doesn't, Ashleigh, but it is worth noting when everybody reads the book, he was not a precise eyewitness account as far as we understand it to bin Laden actually being shot at the moment. He was further back on the stairs as the SEALs went up the stairs, and he will report that he heard shots. The man in front of him shot at a face peeking out from the stairs, and that person fell back into the room. By the time this SEAL got into the room, he will report that bin Laden was on the floor.

Look, you know, a lot of the initial details that were reported in the first 48 hours were quickly amended by many government officials as more information came in from the field and the SEALs were debriefed. One of the examples is initially the White House initially said that bin Laden was armed. And within 48 hours, then CIA Director Leon Panetta says, no, we don't believe that he was armed after looking at the information.

So it is a fascinating question really. Did bin Laden get killed inside of the room when the SEALs enter or killed on the stairs, essentially shot and then fell back into the room? He winds up in the same state, dead is dead for Osama bin Laden. But new details of how it might have gone down.

BANFIELD: I have been in combat zones and there is fog of war and maybe fog of mission as well, so somewhere between the accounts the actual truth lies.

But let me get to something else, and that is the politics of it. We were looking at a release date of 9/11 and that is political and now this whole book is political.

STARR: Well, be clear that it was the publisher who set the 9/11 release set and then word is coming out, book and hype and publicity and skyrockets on Amazon as you said and suddenly the publisher says it is all so important they will accelerate the release date to September 4th, all a publisher's decision, of course. But the author, the Navy SEAL, who went by the name Mark Owen, not his real name, when he wrote this book, has given an interview to CBS News. We are going to play a little bit of what he said about the politics of it, and then we will tell you who he really is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT BISSONNETTE, AUTHOR & FORMER NAVY SEAL: This book is not political whatsoever. Doesn't bad mouth either party, and we specifically chose September 11th to keep it out of the politics. You know, if these crazies on either side of the aisle want to make it political, shame on them. This is a book about September 11th, and it needs to rest on September 11th, not brought into the political arena, because it has nothing to do with politic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: That man, 36-year-old Matt Bissonette, former Navy SEAL, was on the stairs in the compound that night. Why are we naming him? Well, the Pentagon officials said they had concern about other members of the team being at risk from any member being identified. And now several days have gone by, and the U.S. military officials are saying that the members of SEAL Team Six have had plenty of time to get off social media if they were there in the first place.

BANFIELD: We will have to see if the Pentagon does ultimately with the security issues with this book.

And, Barbara, you will be back with that story soon hopefully.

Thank you, Barbara Starr.

And that Navy SEAL says he will donate the proceeds of the book to charities who help the families of fallen Navy SEALs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We have been talking a lot about Hurricane Isaac and the risks and the flooding, but there is a huge impact on the rest of the country.

And Christine Romans is here to join us about what is happening day to day and another gas spike.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Another couple of pennies overnight. and people are saying that the gas is going up, up, up, but I will tell you that it is coming back down, because all of the experts say that once you get the refineries up and running and the pipelines up again, you will see a price coming down. And you look around the great lake states, and they have gone up more than they have along the gulf coast, and part of the reason is because it is pipelines from the Gulf of Mexico that supply all of that gas in the middle of the country. That is where we will start first.

BANFIELD: And one thing I did not expect you and I to be talking about Thursday is that the port of New Orleans could open tomorrow.

ROMANS: Tomorrow. And the first thing they have to do is to get power everywhere but they are looking at the wind damage they have. You have the mouth of the Mississippi closed all of the way up to Baton Rouge and the port is still closed. And Morgan City is still closed, that port, too, but they are talking about -- in New Orleans, they are talking about a cruise ship conquest maybe docking Sunday. So --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Bringing people back from the cruise?

ROMANS: Yes. So once you figure out what kind of damage you have and power back, they will get things as carefully and safely back to normal.

BANFIELD: So all of the people on the cruise ship are coming back as if nothing happened and wondering if their cars are flooded.

ROMANS: The cars are flooded. I haven't thought of that.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: And the next thing that is important and really, really early estimated the uninsured estimates --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Insured losses on this storm --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Uninsured

Insured losses on shore --

(LAUGHTER)

Insured losses on shore are going to be somewhere around $1.5 billion and look at the numbers on the screen.

CHRISTINE: You won't see Isaac on the list. What is shocking about the list is how horrific Katrina is in so many ways and Irene just last year $4.3 billion in damage, but this is a storm that will be measured by water damage I think less than it will be wind damage. And big money damage to onshore property. So, we will -- these numbers will often change, and we know that a lot of the big oil production crews starting to figure out how to inspect the platforms and the like. So as soon as the outer bands stop buffeting the region we will find it.

BANFIELD: And not on that list is amazing.

ROMANS: Well, we talked to somebody this morning who does not have renter's insurance and lost everything.

BANFIELD: You live there, and you been through it, Christine Romans, and we will talk more about that port opening. Amazing.

Thank you, Christine.

Thank you, everyone, for watching.

Suzanne Malveaux is going to continue the -- take the baton now with NEWSROOM. Thank you for watching.