after a day of sitting around. republicans ready to get this show on the road. good morning, i'm willie geist. this is a special edition of "way too early" live from the howl at theoon bar in tampa. we are calling it the elephant bar this week. we have new numbers in the race in florida as the republican party is set to begin to make its case to the country. for mitt romney, it is the next president of the united states. governor romney's wife, ann, will speak in prime time. as will new jersey's governor, chris christie. whose speech is the second most anticipated of the week aft candidate's own. the big story at 5:30 this morning is tropical storm isaac. it slid past tampa to the west but has its sights on new orleans and the gulf coast. it could make landfall tomorrow, seven years to the day after hurricane katrina did the same. hurricane warnings in place from louisiana to the state line all the way to the state line of florida and alabama. we have complete coverage of the approaching storm. let's start with the weather channel's paul goodloe live in

gulfport, mississippi. paul, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, willie. you mentioned katrina. almost seven years to the day and this area here in coastal mississippi, gulfport, really was ground zero for hurricane katrina. we all know the tragedy in new orleans. the storm surge and winds was pounding this area and almost leveled whole blocks in this coastal region. i am standing about 18-feet above sea level. there was 10, 11 feet of water above me when katrina came onshore. so this area prone to storm surge. we are set up across the street from the gulf of mexico, because we know the storm surge forecast is a 6-12 foot storm surge. farther off to the right, that is the port of gulfport mississippi, completely evacuated tonight. they finished their preparations yesterday. that port completely demolished seven years ago because of katrina. they just reopened a year ago.

all the cranes have been moves away. locals around here were rushing their preparations last night. so far this morning, the weather can be described as every now and then, a couple of light rain showers. more like a breezy day. we have not seen the heavy rain yet with isaac. we haven't seen the strong winds yet with isaac. again, as the sun comes up, weather goes downhill. again, this time tomorrow, could be dealing with the landfall of isaac. maybe a hurricane or tropical storm. either way, people around here, willie, are prepared for the worst. >> seven years ago feels like yesterday to a lot of people. paul goodloe at weather channel. let's swing it out to new york at the path and when it will make landfall. we do it with bill karins. >> i think everyone expected it to be a hurricane. we are thankful it is not. it hasn't been able to intensify overnight. that is a good thing. it does look like it will have a big enough wind field to push water for a storm surge.

i am not concerned with any wind damage. i am not even too concerned immediately with heavy rainfalls. it is only about 200 miles away from new orleans. the winds will begin picking up in new orleans as we go throughout the next 12 hours. this is the tropical storm force wind field. they are just now impeding on the coastal areas. you will only feel those when you get any squalls that go through. the storm itself, the bottom half, looks very impressive. looks like a hurricane. the whole northern half of the storm is really tame. there is barely any rain in the northern half of the storm. don't expect to see a lot of our reporters down along the gulf coast with heavy rain today. the southern half, the back side, looks like it is going to be the worst. look at the radar. this is as sparse as it gets for almost being a hurricane. dry air wrapped into the storm last night. this is a tropical system. they don't like dry air. that's why it hasn't been intensifying. here is the forecast path. we will take it.

the hurricane center still thinks as a hurricane. just south of new orleans as we go throughout the night. the potential landfall will be sometime late this evening and during the overnight hours. not concerned with the exact center of the pag. this isn't a powerful hurricane. we are not going to see a lot of damaging winds. we go throughout the high tide circles around mississippi and eastern louisiana. >> landfall late tonight. we will be talking to you all morning. republicans keeping a close watch on isaac. organizers say the convention will move forward with the abbreviated schedule. that includes the delegate role call which will formatly nominate mitt romney. then, a speech from ann romney and the keynote address from new jersey governor, chris christie. according to political, mitt romney will be in tampa as his wife delivers that speech. the couple spent yesterday in new hampshire rehearsing for their appearances. the candidates was asked whether the storm churning towards the

gulf coast might further impact the convention in tampa. >> do you have a message for the people of new orleans? >> my thoughts are with the people in the storm's path and hope they are spared in he major destruction. >> would you give us your thoughts to cancel the convention? >> a great convention ahead. she is going to be terrific. >> in janesville, wisconsin, an emotional sendoff for paul ryan who took the stage at his high school alma matter before he heads here to tampa. >> wow, look at this. man, it is good to be home. it is good to be home. it is so good to be home. you know, i think i recognize just about every face in this room. this is my family over here, related to half of them.

hello, janesville. it is good to be home. we are not going to duck the tough issues and kick the can down the road. we are going to lead. [ applause ] >> we are not going to sfend the next four years blaming other people for problems. we are going to take responsibility. >> with us now here in tampa, politico's executive editor, mr. jim vandehei. >> great to be here. >> we just reported your reporting a minute ago about mitt romney's appearance here for the speech. was that supposed to be reported? >> we broke a little secret. what he wanted to do was surprise everyone and come on stage at the end of the speech much like barack obama did with michelle obama last time around and then he was going to leave town and come back for his speech. i think he will still leave town and come back. the idea is to humanize him and show him with his wife, a more

comfortable session for him. >> you are doing the reporting again. the chris christie piece in the "new york post" got a great headline. fat chance, that he never wanted to be the vice presidential nominee, that he thought mitt romney was going to lose. how much credence do you put into that piece? >> that reporter knows, is wired into the kriscamp. that he doesn't think he can win on the eve of him getting a prime time speech. >> we have had a lot of reporting over the last couple of months of low-degree tension between christie and romney. certainly, skepticism. don't forget, christie wants to be president. there are a lot of republicans. one is to look at marco rubio

and paul ryan and christie and bobby jindal. all those people want to run. they need to figure out how do i build up my own stature. they don't want to hurt the nominee, which is what christie did. the fact that it was there and written by a reporter that has known him for a long time suggests to me there is something. >> we have speeches tonight, ch rich ristie and ann romney. >> he is one of the few republicans that can pound on barack obama in a way that's going to electrify his audience. three or four daysi ago, he was on his sixth draft. it is reintroducing himself to the american people. he is going to be a fighter. they say he is going to tear apart barack obama. that's his job. i think that will be the most interesting speech. ann romney who is obviously really good. a gifted speaker. her job is to make everyone feel

like mitt romney is much more human than they might think he is or see another dimension to his personality. she wants to not just tell the mitt romney story from the last few years but walk through his life starting with his childhood through today so people have a fuller picture of who he is. the family has been frustrated for some time. they feel the campaign has been unsuccessful in showing the positive dimensions of his personality. if you read his bio, he has done a lot of good things. a lot of times we did stuff that wasn't in keeping with what the church wanted him to do, to go out and help other people in the community. for some reason, they haven't gotten that stuff out. >> jim vandehei, the party-pooper, ruining all the surprises at the republican convention. >> you make me get up at 5:00. tonight's keynote address will be made by governor chris christie, who is dismissing the

report that he doesn't think that romney can win the election. it talked about it with joe and mika on the convention floor. >> a lot of people will be chattering about the "new york post" article today, saying you don't think mitt romney can win. >> completely shoddy reporting. much of what was said in that story wasn't true and they never talked to me. both folks know me. if they wanted to talk to me, they could have. >> do you think mitt romney can win? >> i think he is going to win. >> yeah? >> i do. that story is just -- i guess they needed something to write since the convention was canned ld for monday. >> the "new york post" article today, you said it was shoddy reporting. also, the headlines deeply personal. does that sting? >> i don't let it sting, joe. i just don't. i talked to mika about this. i just don't let it get to me anymor i understand that people that engage in that kind of stuff are so shallow and so narrow an

don't understand the issues that go along with good health. i don't let it bother me. >> we will have joe and mika's entire interview with joe and kristy coming up in a few minutes on "morning joe." oil companies are evacuating offshore riggs and shutting down refineries as isaac heads for the gulf. nearly 80% was shut down. let's take an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business. geoff cutmore live in london for us. jeff, what can you tell us? >> good morning to you. gas prices are going higher. i don't think that's a revelation given how you have introduced me. it is worth about a quarter of the u.s. gas consumption, this region in the gulf of mexico and inevitably, if the refineries shut down, that means it is going to have some impact on supply. we have seen a significant spike in the price, the aaa average for the united states, $3.75.

the analysts are saying, we could see $3.80 before the labor day weekend. keep your eye on those gas prices. isaac is doing some damage to the wallet already. back to you. >> geoff cutmore in london. still ahead on way too early, we talked yesterday he about that monster trade that sent three superstar players from the red sox to the dodgers. josh beckett got his first start in dodger blue last night. it didn't get off to such a great start. highlights from the nice in baseball ahead in sports. we will stay on top of tropical storm isaac as it whips itself up over the warm waters of the gulf of mexico and heads for new orleans clear to the florida panhandle. "way too early" coming babb to the howl at the moon bar, the republican national convention in tampa. [ female announcer ] the power of green coffee extract

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welcome back to "way too early." live again at the republican national convention in tampa, florida. look at the outside bar. some stragglers, the last of the ink, people hanging out at the bar or maybe they are up early to drink. hard to say. welcome back inside the howl at the moon bar. we are calling it the elephant bar as we turn to sports. the hometown baseball team has gotten it going for real. the tampa bay rays near the top of the wild car card standings, 3 1/2 games behind the yankees. rays out of town last night

facing the rangers in arlington, tegs as. in the top of the first, evanloevan longoria gets ahold of one, early lead adrian beltre comes through and brings up a couple of runs. rays come back to tie it in the fi. beltre again. this time, a single to left to bring home the go-ahead run. that was enough for the rangers. sorry to report to people, rangers win, 6-5. with that loss, the rays find themselves the odd man out for the moment, a half game back of the a's and orioles. try their luck against hugh darvish and the rangers later tonight. yankees host the blue jays trying to close them out in the ninth. colby rasmus goes second deck off raphael soriano. yankees needed one more out. rasmus' three-run home run gives the jays a one-run lead.

derrick jeter trying to answer for the yankees. he drives one the other way, just enough to get over the wall and ties the game at seven. so we go to extra innings. still tied in the 11th. how about a ground ball at third? out at first. the runner from third going to try for home. the throw to the plate not in time. the go-ahead run scores for the jays. they bead the yankees, 8-7. mark teixeira left the game with a calf injury. he is expected to be out at least a week. red sox taking on the royals until cody ross smacks one off the top of the green monster. red sox takes the lead there. james loney, just over from the dodgers has been hot and delivers with an rbi single puts the red sox up, 5-1. daisuke, beloved daisuke making his first start since coming off the dl, sharp, six strikeouts over seven innings, his first win in over a year. red sox roll, 5-1.

red sox starter pitcher making his first start. an outing that made red sox nation happy he is now pitching. the first batter it is a dodger that serves up an upper-deck home run to tyler hoven. with beckett on the hill, they are 2 1/2 games behind the giants in the nl west. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," ann romney takes the stage for a prime time address to the republican faithful. we will ask the "morning joe" crew what supporters are hoping to here and hear their exclusive interview with governor chris christie. we will hover around the water cooler. what is happening with tom hanks and a fan, in "way too early," back in a moment. hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is

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live look at tropical storm isaac. expected to make landfall on the gulf coast as a hurricane early wednesday morning. here in tam parks the republican national convention will get going after yesterday's events were postponed. as the convention moved ahead, the local economy in tampa expected to make out pretty well. if you want to sound smart, tell

your friends about $175 million to $200 million expected to fino tampa's economy. $40 million to $50 million on visitor spending on hotel, transportation and gift, most of that coming from the "way too early" staff of three. >> enough of the real news. let's huddle up around the water cooler to hear about the encounter from some delegates to this republican national convention and hog hunters. scott joseph dae mayor was hold in bail after they found him poaching at a house that was hosting delegates. they fled in the orange groves when they saw police but were caught when their dogs ran towards the delegate's truck thechl were hunting hogs. carter was cited fortress passing. a fan of tom hanks

apparently ran into the two-time oscar winner at a restaurant. the encounter posted online reads, my friend met tom hanks, stole his glasses and pretended to be wasted. after leaning on his shoulder, she does a full face plant into his food and he plays along the whole time. not clear where the photos were taken. over one day, they have been viewed more than 1.8 million times. that photo shoot reminds us of the time that tom hanks stopped by the "morning joe" control room a couple years ago. >> we have a young up and comer. a guy that is trying to dip his toe into the producing waters. let's see who we have dialed up here. >> let's go back to the italian fox network. i want to show that again. i will add the translation. the problem with the tea party members is that right now, they are not going to get along. what we ought to do is we ought to all be able -- if you put that on the internet like that, i'm going to kill you. that's not the right start.

you can't do that to ann coulter. she is a pretty woman. >> why did we ever let him go? we h we h we had hanks and stuck with t.j. an elderly parishioner took it upon herself to restore this 120--year-old fresco of jesus christ. the end result, a painting that critics say looking much like a monkey. the botched restoration bringing hundreds of visitors to the region and much-needed tourist dollars. others not pleased with the new image leaving "david letterman" a list of excuses for the 81-year-old artist. >> here are her excuses for restoring the fresco. number ten, should have used a sharpie. number nine, it was supposed to look like who? number 8, don't worry. that's just primer. number seven, still looks better

than christ's driver's license photo. number six i-w, i was counting miracle. number five, if you squint -- no, still looks look a monkey. number four, at least i wasn't skinny dipping in the sea of galilee. number three, hiccups. number two, you have been frescooed and the number one fresco restore excuse is, it can't be that bad. everyone that sees it says, jesus christ. still ahead on "way too early," while you wait for the delegate, tweets, texts and e-mails are next. "morning joe." mannouer ifak caa atct wi cme

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around the clock to help protect your money and financial information. here's your temporary card. welcome back. how was london? [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far. welcome back. before we get to your e-mails, i want to introduce you to a young man playing hooky to be here. this is anthony in tampa catholic. you are going to be a sophomore, i understand? >> yes, sir.