edition of "special report," fair, balanced and unafraid. >> bret: this is the fox report. tonight, live from time warner cable arena in charlotte where we are just hours away from the kickoff of the democratic national convention. and republicans want to know are you better off than before president obama took office. the president's team on the defense and on the road. [chanting] obama. >> shepard: the president making a stop in a key battleground state. >> if we win toledo, we will win ohio, if we win ohio, we will win this election.

>> vice president candidate paul ryan looking turn back colorado. it is time for an american turn around and the man for that job is mitt romney. [cheers] >> shepard: plus, republicans asking, are you better off than you were four years ago? now the obama campaign responds but first from fox this labor day night. good evening from time warner cable arena in charlotte, north carolina on the eve of the democratic national convention. tomorrow, democrats from across our land will meet here to begin the process of, again, nominating barack obama for the presidency. the president will accept that nomination or that's the plan on thursday at bank of america stadium. in 2008, the president turned this state blue for the first time in nearly four decades. now, democrats are looking for a repeat. but republicans are putting up a fight. today, 200 miles to the east of us in greenville, north carolina, the vice presidential nominee paul ryan

held a campaign rally at east carolina university. more on that and his labor day message coming up inside fox report. first we begin with president obama. he visited the contested swing state of ohio today to meet with auto workers in toledo. the president was there to talk about the economy and jobs. the national unemployment rate of course is .3%. no -- is 8.3%. no president since roosevelt have won with a higher unemployment rate of 7.2. the president said when it comes to creating the economy and growing good jobs, he has a better plan than his republic revival. when the car company was in trouble he was there to help. >> i stood with american workers. i stood with american manufacturing. i believed new. i bet on you. i will make that bet any day of the week and because of that bet, three years later, that bet is paying off for

america. [cheers] >> republicans say that auto bailout hasn't paid off for america. they are asking the question are you better off than you were four years ago. one democrat speaking for the obama campaign says no. today president obama's team is now out in force walking back that comment. ed henry is live in new orleans where the president saw firsthand some of the damage from the catastrophic damage of hurricane isaac. it seems the obama pa team, ed, may have been a little bit unprepared for this question somehow shep, they are damned if they say yes and damned if they say no to that question if you are better off than four years ago. republicans start calculate ling and saying what about the high unemployment and low wages, the president is out of touch. if you say no we're not better off. the republicans jump on that and say ah-ha this is an admission from the president's team that his economic policies have not made things

better. that's the trap that governor martin o'malley of maryland fell into yesterday. >> can you honestly say that people are better off today than they were four years ago? >> no. but that's not the question of this election. the question without a doubt, we were not as off as we were since president bush brought us the bush job losses, the bush recess. >> that's the case obama camp will make. if you will look in context where we were when president took office things have gotten got better. o'malley had to get out there and do a 180 saying yes we are better off than we were four years ago. the problem for the obama camp david axelrod when they were asked this question yesterday they wouldn't say yes or no. take a listen. >> there are plenty of people in our economy who have been impacted in a positive way by the decisions the president has made. we have a lot of work to do. >> so the bottom line is it's

not a simple yes or no answer for this administration. and that's why the president is going to have a lot of work to do at that convention where you are in charlotte. why it's so sensitive to them and why it could be problematic in the debates ahead is that mitt romney is going to try to hammer this question bike ronald reagan did since 1980 like another democratic incumbent jimmy carter. that turned the election against carter, shep. >> shepard: we are going to hear from a couple of bain capital staffers during the convention this week. >> we are. senior obama officials confirm that there will be officials of bain capital who worked will mitt romney who will speak out at the democratic election talk about some of the bad parts they think in mitt romney's record. this is more of the same in terms of the attempts that the obama campaign have made to sort of mark up these credentials as a businessman that mitt romney has brought to the table. one potential problem with that strategy though the "new york post" reporting that various democrats and union workers have benefited from bain capital because they

helped manage their nest eggs, unionize workers and some of their accounts. it's helped some democrats bain capital and some of that could blow up in their face. >> the president toured new orleans and some of the damage around new orleans today and the effects of hurricane isaac. pictures as the president walking around at an event. is he about to speak there in new orleans. you can't see him in a picture but you will in a moment. i wonder what his assessment was. it looked pretty bad when we were there. >> his aides are saying this is something he wanted to get that up close look. we are still waiting for read out. what you are seeing is him in the distance getting a tour with governor jindal and others. i imagine what we saw as we flew in, as you say there are a lot of people still hurting right now. post katrina, every president, either party has to deal with the fact that these natural disasters are something you have to jump on top of. otherwise, you look out of touch. this president dealing with the fact that republic mitt romney got ahead of him and actually three days ago and

was nurelsna. white house spokesman jay carney aboard air force one said this should not be political in any way at all. proceeded to hit paul ryan and say that the republic running mate wants to slash disaster funding relief. that was something that the ryan camp didn't take lightly. they insist that is not true. they think that the president's team is politicizing things. here you are even in a natural disaster both sides trading jabs. shep. >> shepard: vice president biden weighing in on that whole are you better off question tonight. he told thousands of supporters in detroit the answer is simple. here, listen. >> do you want to know whether we are better off? i have got a bumper sticker for you. usama bin laden is dead and general motors is alive. >> shepard: romney campaign is responding unemployment remains high, income has fallen and gas prices have doubled. americans are not better off than they were four years ago and they deserve a president

who recognizes that that from the romney campaign today. the secret service has reportedly recovered a stolen truck that was caring equipment for vice president's visit for detroit. the u-haul vanished yesterday from a hotel parking lot. our local fox station reports carrying metal detectors and no weapons of any kind. a secret service person tells the detroit news newspaper that agents found the truck today in another parking lot about three miles away. he will not say whether the equipment was still inside that truck. now detroit police have released these pictures showing a, quote, person of interest. you can see him there in the green shirt. police say they are working with the secret service as this investigation continues. well, as democrats put the finishing touches on the democratic national convention kickoff. vice with nominee paul ryan stumped in greenville, north carolina about a four and a half hour drive from charlotte site of the convention. supporters of east carolina university.

the congressman continued to attack the president on his hand ling of the economy. >> we have a very crystal clear choice. we can either choose to stay on the path that we are on. a paft debt, a path of doubt and decline. we can elect mitt romney the president of the united states and get america back on track. >> shepard: democrats had planned a similar tactic to send vice president bide ton florida during the convention in florida. the president called off that visit because hurricane isaac was hitting. congressman ryan is leading the charge against the president it would appear, carl? >> that's right, shep. republicans are making good their pledge to make this the most aggressive counter argument that's ever happened at a convention. they do site he had planned to be in florida at the republic national convention though they were interrupted by isaac. marco rubio, nikki haley, the

governor of south carolina, governor of oklahoma as well. ryan gave what was more the most part a standard stump speech signal the question for the week for are you better off now as you were four years ago reagan made famous. here is paul ryan's 2012 rendition. >> every president since the great depression who asked americans to send them into a second term could say you are better off today than you were four years ago except for jimmy carter and for president barack obama. [cheers] the republic national committee will hold daily news conferences, daily attack ads. new commercials from the dnc as well. steady stream of republicans across north carolina and particularly at charlotte all meant to act as what they call bracketing or the counter programming to the dnc, shep. >> shepard: bracketing it is the word for the season. as we reported, carl, the

president was in louisiana checking out the storm damage there what was governor romney doing today. >> they are quick to say he was in new orleans on thursday and met with bobby jindal but he was up at the lake in new hampshire at the family lake vacation house. took a spin with his boat. got wife ann a rented jet ski for a little while and for mr. romney he too is sort of trying to take a step back concentrate on debate prep and let paul ryan and others surround the democratic debate with republic rhetoric. the latest polls from the associated press talked a little bit about how people are doing. fully 36% say they are doing worse now than they were four years ago. 36% say there hasn't been an improvement. it's about the same. only 28% say things are better. that to republicans 2 to 1 people think they were pretty much as they were four years ago or worse. another reason they say to get rid of barack obama at the end of the process. 9 weeks until election day. >> shepard: carl cammeron in north carolina. ratings are in for the

republic get together. 80 million people watched governor romney's prime time th. nielsen says that's a 23% drop from four years when 39 million watched john mccain. the drop was even bigger than the vice presidential nominee. nielsen estimates congressman ryan drew 22 million. that's a 41% drop from then governor palin's acceptance speech in 2008. this year a will the more people were following on social media. romney 14,000 tweets per minute. the most tweeted event of the year thus far. democrats are getting ready to lay out their official party platform. expecting changes from everything on same sex marriage to minimum wage. that's coming up from journalists fox news on this monday fox report live from charlotte, north carolina. this is america's choice for news and information. it's great to have you with us. flu protection with a 90% smaller needle.

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. >> shepard: democrats renominate president obama the party will adopt official political platform. in other words, big stance on the issues they consider surrounds this election. this year they are expected to endorse same sex marriage for the very first time. as far as the economy is concerned the democratic platform will call for increases in the minimum wage. hot button issue of immigration, democrats call for comprehensive immigration reform citing the dream act could give path towards citizenship. these are often big differences between the party stance on issues and those of the the candidate running for president. james roach live on the convention floor. is there any daylight between the dnc platform and that of president obama as there was last week. >> there is, shep. somewhat artfully papered over. you will recall when president

obama endorsed same sex marriage back in june he let it be known that he still thinks it's an issue that each state should be allowed to decide for itself. the law that allows one state to reject the validity of a same sex marriage license in another state is called dome matchett defense of major act. dome that. defense of major act. >> actually the president's long time position has been that we repeal doma. what he says we personally support same sex marriage. had he been in a state legislature where these decisions were made he would have voted for it. >> now the democratic platform, that first called for an end to discrimination on the basis of, quote, sexual orientation, was back in 1980, shep. >> shepard: the democrats claim their platform is right in tune with where america is on all the issues. >> well, we will certainly hear a lot about how to help the middle class and the economy. however, the plat's very strong plank on pro-choice could put the president and

his party out of step. 58% of americans identify themselves as pro-life. with only about four in ten saying they are pro-choice. that gap exceeded the palm's margin of error. susan estrich served as dnc convention where ted kennedy ended primary challenge to jimmy carter. >> back in the 1980s when i was writing platforms, everybody we know a lot about the democratic platform coming into conventions because there would be all these ideological battles, sort of like what the republicans had before their convention. so, i think the truth of this platform is, it's going to be obama's platform, it's going to be obama's policies and you are going to hear almost nothing about it. >> one of the other economic planks in the 2012 dnc platform calls for tax credits for manufacturers who use clean energy, shep. >> shepard: james rosen live on the convention floor. thank you. the storm is gone but the flooding is still there almost

a week after hurricane isaac first made landfall in the gulf coast, lots of homes and businesses are still under water. president obama meeting with storm victims right now. we'll go live to new orleans. but, first the actor michael clark duncan has died. he is best known for his role in the green mile. he died in a los angeles hospital where he had been suffering since a heart attack in july. that's according to his fiancee who became famous on donald trump show the apprentice. he was 6'5", 300 pounds and appeared in dozens of age in films including armageddon and planet of the apes. in 99 he scored oscar nomination playing a prisoner in the 1930s. michael clark duncan dead today at 54.

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>> shepard: happening now in new orleans, the president is speaking to some homeowners and other folks affected by the hurricane isaac and all of the rain that it brought to that region. let's listen in as he began just a couple of minutes ago. >> bobby jindal, senator mary landrieu, vitter, cedric richmond, we have got mayor mitch landrieu of new orleans saint john the baptist parish president natalie. and we also got saint bap baptist the sheriff. as you can see there has been enormous devastation in saint john's parish. has he not the only place that's been hard-hit. we have season enormous damage in plaquemines parish and in other parts of louisiana and mississippi.

i want to commend everybody who is here for the extraordinary work they have done in making sure that lives were saved; that although there was tremendous property damage. people were in a position to get out quickly as you can see, folks are on the ground already clearing out the debris and making sure that they are able to recover as rapidly as possible. i want to particularly thank fema, and the state and local authorities because sometimes in the past we haven't seen the kind of coordination that is necessary in response to these kind of disasters. this time we have seen it you know, we made sure that we had the disaster declarations happen quickly so, that we weren't behind the 8 ball. we have approved individual assistance for this area which means that these folks, if

they suffer additional losses beyond what they are ensured for that they are potentially eligible for some help. we're going to be providing saint john's the baptist parish with help in debris removal. and some of the other losses that have been suffered. i particularly want to commend the sheriff and his team because they have been working around the clock saving lives. some of the folks that we just walked by literally had to be saved by boat. they were in their homes, trapped, the waters came in so quickly, and this is an area that hadn't been flooded in 17 years, so as a consequence, folks just weren't anticipating and accustomed to the scale and scope of the destruction. but because of the great work of law enforcement, national guard, coast guard, making sure that folks were out in rescue mode rapidly.

even in some cases that risked their own lives, no lives were lost. keep in mind that many of these folks who have been working so hard, they themselves suffered losses. i have just been talking to the sheriff and his wife about the fact that they are having to do actually his wife is having to do exactly that what these families are having to do while he is on the job. >> a couple of final points i want to make. obviously right now we are still in recovery mode. that means that our biggest priority is helping to house people who have been displaced. making sure that they have got the resources they need to reenroll their kids in school. make sure that they are able to get to their jobs. make sure that they can have the kind of support that they need to get restarted. that's in the short-term. and i'm confident that with craig fugate and his team on the job on the ground that that's going to happen in a seemless fashion. we have larger issue involved

here, and that is how do we anticipate these storms and how do we make sure that an area like saint john's is protected when you have these kind of disasters. the good news is is that the army corps levees that were built around new orleans in jefferson parish and some of these other areas worked very well and they were done expeditiously. so what i have pledged to these folks is we are going to make sure that at the federal level we are getting on the case very quickly about figuring out what exactly happened here. what can we do to make sure that it doesn't happen again. and expediting some of the decisions is that may need to be made to ensure that we have got the infrastructure in place to protect people's property and lives. so, the final point i will make is one thing you know about folks in louisiana, they are resilient. people in mississippi, they

are resilient. they know what tough times are like. but, they know that they can bounce back. there is is enormous faith here. enormous strength here. can you see it with these families. they were just devastated a few days ago and they're already smiling and laughing feeling confident about the future and pulling together. we heard one story about one of these homes where local church group came in and did all the work that was needed to strip out the damaged interior of the house. they did it not for any pay. weren't even asked but they did it because they care about their neighbors and their friends and that's what we do here in the united states of america. that's what happens in louisiana. when disasters like this happen, we set aside whatever petty disagreements we may have. money is a democrat or a republic. we're all just americans looking out for one another. i couldn't be prouder of this group right here that's around me for the great work that

they have done. thank you very much, everybody. >> shepard: president obama speaking in la ploce, louisiana. he was talking about the hardest hit. if you look at map. on the east bank of east pontchartrain was slidell, that was very badly hit as well. so as the winds went, just pushed the water right out of the lake and into those two towns before it passed it went to the west. after it passed it went to the east because of the way -- and then he mentioned plaquemines parish down to the south and where it first made landfall. those are the three areas with the worst trouble now. casey stegall is in new orleans heading up our coverage there casey, the power outages not only inconvenient but today became deadly. >> yeah, shepard. there needs to be

clarification. there was no loss of life in that particular parish he was visiting. sad news out of severson parish where a 90-year-old man died heat related. found inside his home having no electricity meaning, of course, no air-conditioning. it's hot and humid from all of the rains here. that brings the death toll here in the united states to 8 in the wake of hurricane isaac. intergee the power provider for the state of louisiana says 100 homes are still without power. 25,000 fewer than when we talked to you during "studio b." utility crews from all over the united states have converged on this area. out there working on the poles. trying to get the power restored as quickly as possible, shepard. could still be several days away, shep. >> shepard: there were evacuation orders, there have been curfews, those have been lifted, right, casey? >> most of the evacuation orders, all of them have been lifted, that does not mean

that folks are going to be sleeping in their own beds, under their own roofs. neighborhoods are still under water. you mentioned plaquemines parish today look at the video coming out of there. some of the residence allowed to go back in for the first time. long lines of traffic up on the levees of myrtle grove down there in plaquemines. people waiting to board boats just to get in. many still cannot believe that a category 1 storm left all of this behind. listen. >> the damage here with isaac, nowhere near what hurricane katrina. i mean, what i'm say something there is more damage and destruction and water here today than there was for katrina. katrina was a -- >> very very early estimates put the damage isaac has done at about $2 billion, shepard. a number that is likely to rise as more of these assessment teams are out on the grounds seeing what exactly he did when he came ashore here.

>> shepard: casey stegall on the banks of the new orleans. don't pay as much attention to the category. there are some other factors in play here, what the storm surge will be and how much rain it will bring. and in this storm how long it will sit and spin. in this case with hurricane and tropical storm isaac it seemed intermable. as democrats get set for tomorrow's convention in charlotte. republicans are sending some of their heavy hitters to north carolina. a look at the rapid response team and how it could effect the democrats' message. hundreds of people gathered together to watch the race over the weekend had no way of knowing that within minutes some of them would be running for their lives. they were there to see some oversized trucks tear down a dirt track. but one of the trucks went out of control and right into the crowd. [screams] >> the disaster at the races coming up. [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of.

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three people are recovering after a truck ran off the road during a race and right into a crowd it happened saturday in harrisburg, oregon north of eugene. look at this. well, investigators say that was a 1975 pickup rolling on tractor tires. another look at this crash in slow mo now. the truck announcer at the track says the driver lost control of his steering but he did manage to slow down to

about 10 miles per hour before he actually slammed into the spectators, still three people got hurt but the sheriff's department officials say they expect everybody will indeed survive another wreck on video this one in the water. my lake tv happened friday while a family was on the lake missouri ozarks. the boat apparently hit a large wake at very high speed. tossed the passengers all over the place. the rough water threw the driver from the seat and slammed them to the floor. there here is that drivers fall again. nearly flipping as it went out of control. all seven people on board but not a serious sing gel injury. hours away from the opening of the 2012 democratic national convention in charlotte. thousands of democratic leaders and lawmakers and supporters have descended upon the queen city to take part in the festivities and renominate president obama. democrats will not be the only party in town. some republicans are sending the rising stars to charlotte

to do a little, i don't know, counter programming. john roberts is live here in charlotte for us. hey, john. >> hey, shep. it's called bracketing. surround and try to dilute your parties' message with aggressive counter campaign. republicans have put up a war room in the nascar headquarters blasting out tweets and videos. today's message was are you better off than you were four years ago. one of people involved jason chief of chafettes a party can no longer afford lay low during the opponent's connection. usually you could wait a day or two and put out a late. between tweets, facebook and 24 hours news cycle you better be there on the scene to provide a perspective. >> as part of the messaging today the romney campaign and rnc released an ad that suggests nothing else has changed in the last four years showing how the president's campaign rhetoric in 2012 is

very similar to what it was in 2008. take a look at this. >> if you are willing to work with me. >> if you are willing to work even harder in this election. >> i promise. >> then i promise you. >> i promise you, change will come. >> the romney campaign and the rnc are determined to stay engaged during this convention. recalling what happened 8 years ago back in 2004 when the kerry campaign basically went dark and he went wind surfing during george bush's campaign. here is sean spicer a communication's chief for the rnc. >> they sat back and waited and obviously it didn't work out too well. we are going to make sure that we take advantage of every minute that we can be here in charlotte. >> to show just how powerful this bracketing is, shep, all democrats could talk about today is how they thought that americans were better off than they were four years ago. clearly thrown off message today, shep. >> shepard: forgot all about the wind surfing. that was quite a moment. john roberts with us. thanks. con convenient timing the debt

clock is expected to cross the 16 trillion-dollar mark. just as democrats start their convention. it's pretty close. never been this high in the history of the nation. republicans had a debt clock at their convention but organizers say there will be no such debt clock at the convention here in charlotte. more to come convention hall inside fox report. first august was reportedly the deadliest month in syria since the uprising began there. now one western leader is warning of a massive response. if the regime resorts to using chemical weapons or using them. we will get to that live report on that. a fierce wildfire burning outside of los angeles. officials say it got so big and so quickly. as fox reports live from the home of the democratic national convention in charlotte, north carolina. this is america's choice for news and information on cable we're so glad that you're with us. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand,

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>> shepard: a major world power is now threatening what is called massive and blistering response syria unleash chemical weapons. warning came today from the french foreign minister. he adds that france remains in close contact with other western nations, including the united states about that civil war. just last month president obama said he would consider u.s. military action if sir i don't even moved its chemical weapons. a few days later governor mitt romney said he would consider sending u.s. troops to prevent

those weapons from getting into the wrong hands. troops. fighting in syria killed 5,000 people in the month of august alone. we can't confirm that of course, if true, it makes august the deadliest month since the crisis began more than a year and a half ago. the chief fox report correspondent jonathan hunt live in our new york city newsroom. not a lot of optimism at the united nations now. >> least the man the man peace. man taking over for former u.n. secretary general kofi annan. a very seasoned diplomat he told bbc in an interview today quote i'm scared of the weight of the responsibility. people are already saying people are dying what are you doing to help? and indeed we are not doing much. other experts though believe that the conditions on the ground are beginning to change and it's just a matter of time before president assad falls. listen to this.

>> you are seeing a lot of internal dissent within his parliament. within his supporters. he is seeing friends like the russians and chinese, especially the russians getting a little tougher and saying, hey, you have got to do something, you can't just keep mowing people down and not starting talks with the rebels. >> of course, with every passing day it appears that more civiles are i doing. >> nobody wants to talk about syria at all right now. >> foreign policy in general seems to be on the back burner during this campaign season. and syria in particular is barely getting a mexico. we had our researchers go through every speech from the rnc last week, shep. we found two mentions of syria. one by senator john mccain and the other by former secretary of state condoleezza rice. they were the only mentions of syria that we could find. and indeed president obama, according to our researchers

again didn't mention syria once on the campaign trail last week. a curious factor with all these politicians when you consider that this is is a civil war in the most volatile region of the world and tens of thousands of people have died, it is not being talked about politically right now, shep. >> we are officially in the silly season. jonathan hunt live for us in new york. thank you. two americans hurt after a deadly attack u.s. government vehicle in pakistan. a suicide car bomb rammed an armored u.s. console late killed two pack assistance and a dozen others. they do expect the two americans to survive. secretary clinton is condemning that attack. >> we pray for the state's recovery of pakistani victims and once again we deplore the cowardly act of suicide bombing and terrorism. >> shepard: u.s. officials say they are taking another look at security procedures after

today's attack. nobody claims responsibility, at least not yet. the investigations say that taliban and al qaeda are prime suspects. police say protesters injured almost 50 officers trying to break up a battle between two rival groups. that tops our news around the world in 80 "around the world in 80 seconds." united kingdom. cops in northern ireland used water canons to battle back against the reporterrers small bombs. police say the violence broke out between catholics and protestants after a dispute over parades in the area. a spokeswoman said most of the police injuries were minor. india, mineral mind in state shut down. posters in aan area. extremist group is trying to extort money. workers say the shutdown will hurt the poorest people the mine provides about 70% of their job.

thatmalawi. many unemployed young men take up house hunting. popular food in the area. so the men say it's not hard to sell their catch. they charge about 50 cents for four mice. canada, more than 200 racers competed in this year's down hill skateboarding championships alberta. events including street lugeing with riders lying on their backs and upright boarding. >> grass roots feeling when you took your big wheel up to the top of the hill and zoomed on down. this is just much faster. much bigger hill. >> shepard: riders say they can go more than 55 miles per hour during the race and that a wrap on this fox trip around the world in 80 "around the wor0 seconds." wildfire alert two crews battling a fire outside of los angeles this evening. officials say it broke out yesterday afternoon in a campground in the national forest. u.s. forest spokeswoman says that the thing grew in a big

way overnight. fueled by really dry brush and lots of heat. it now covers, they tell us, almost 4,000 acres. here is a picture from a passenger jet yesterday showing a massive plume of smoke over that park. officials say thousands of people visit the forest normally during labor day weekend. officials evacuated campgrounds so emergency crews can use the only road in to that canyon. choppers and air tankers are dropping water to help hundreds of firefighters attack the flames from above. look at this. one of the central america's most active volcanos spewing giant clouds of smoke into the air. this is today. officials there have alerted the airlines because they say the columns of ash could reach out for nearly a mile above that crater. so far no reports of any evacuations. the volume contain any sits near guatemala pacific coast. lava flowing out that same crater on friday. most of the democratic

national convention will happen here. president set to speak in outdoor stadium. the weather -- maybe, i don't know, maybe mother nature is pulling for the other team. we have team fox coverage ahead for the democratic national convention live in charlotte, north carolina. home of those bobcats. we'll be right back. ♪ [ acoustic guitar: upbeat ] [ dog ] we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you.

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>> charlotte, north carolina, the democrats are said to have officially kicked things off here in the time warner cable arena tomorrow and we will hear from former president jimmy carter, first lady michelle obama here this afternoon during "studio b" checking out the stage. former president bill clinton set to peek wednesday night and then thursday, the whole

thing moves to bank of america stadium for president obama's acceptance speech. ed state yum does not have a dome. pretty good chance of thunderstorms. mike emanuel is here in charlotte. pretty good reason to worry about the weather based on the deluge we had this afternoon. >> that's right, shep. we have had really big thunderstorms in recent days, including a doosie today at an outdoor festival for delegates and for the public. weather clearly was a factor. in fact, north carolina's own james taylor, the headliner at an event this afternoon was playing and trying to get through the driving rain, did his very best to try to power through and instruments. in driving rain with thunder and lightning the plug was eventually pulled on his show. obviously it would be a much bigger deal if such a weather factor happened during the president's speech, shep. >> shepard: sure it would.

he has seen fire and rain and sunny days. sorry. a key supporter of the democrats was not happy with this city as the selection. where do things stand now with the labor unions, mike? >> well, shep, that's right. this is a right-to-work state. north carolina ranks 50th in terms it of the percentage of union workers, 50th bottom of the country. so organized labor was not happy with charlotte being selected. although today the president of the afl-cio offered this show of support for the democratic ticket. >> what mitt romney is doing is wrong. those aren't the values that i grew up with. what he is doing is beneath the dignity of the american people and we won't let him win. >> so instead of spending $8 million on the convention, which they did four years ago in denver, organized labor is doing a lot of their spending on grass roots efforts. shep? >> shepard: and there will be a lot of v.i.p.es in this town starting and throughout the week, mike.

no question about that. in fact, i have seen some folks milling around here. putting on their tuxedos after the driving rainstorm. parties are underkaye out of town tomorrow on what will be the first day of business for the democratic convention, shep. >> shepard: mike emanuel is outside in the rain and backing up trucks. the democrats will to kick off their convention and it might not be easy to top last week's memorable speech from clinton eastwood. but lots of fans say betty white is the woman for the job. there is a new push to send the golden girl star to the convention. we'll get into that as fox reports live from the dnc. these fellas used capital one venture miles

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including behr ultra, now through september 5th. >> shepard: betty white now they got her on "saturday night live" with a facebook campaign now they are trying to get her a gig at the geneva convention. -- democratic national convention. gig for her to introduce the president thursday night and 20,000 or more have liked a facebook page that calls for betty white appearance of some kind here at the dnc. believe it or not, betty white is now 90 years old said to be an obama supporter. online petition reads governor romney can have clint eastwood and improvisational skill because president obama has the one and only betty white.

the oscar-winning actor russell crowe took a break from filming his new movie to go kayaking off the coast of long island. it got dark and he got lost. that's what the coast guard reports. russell crow snapped a picture with two officers who gave him a lift along with another kayaker. that's russell crowe in the middle there. after hearing that the actor called them from the shore. russell crow sent out a tweet thanking these guys. updating some of fox top story tonight. saint john the baptist parish outside of new orleans on the west bank of lake pontchartrain after hurricane isaac drenched the west coast. mitt romney visited louisiana on friday. the vice presidential nominee paul ryan said today that president obama cannot claim americans are better off than they were four years ago. obama campaign staffers fired back today saying the economy has added millions of jobs since 2010. and members of chicago's

teacher's union has threatened to go on strike in less than a week. city officials say they are making contingency plans for hundreds of thousands of students. and on this day in the year 1783, the united states and great britain signed the treaty of paris, which ended the revolutionary war and formalized our status as a free nation. of course, it all began when the clonists had decided they had had enough of the king. no taxation without representation, remember. the battle lines were were officially drawn with the signing of the declaration of the independence. the brits had no intention of giving up without a fight. but they underestimated our young nation's resolve and after 8 long and very bloody years, the red coats gave up and went back home on that september day in paris ben franklin, john adams and john j. signed the treat underat stars and stripes first waved free 229 years ago today. and now you