The Republican vice-presidential nominee used a folksy style and policy chops to make the case against the incumbent. Howard Kurtz on why his speech was effective. Plus, Matt Latimer, Michelle Goldberg, and more weigh in the convention. And tune in for our all-star Tampa lineup on Beast TV: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Ari Fleischer, Ann Coulter, Peter Boyer, Keli Goff, Martin Amis, Lloyd Grove, and more. Live on The Daily Beast homepage starting at 12 noon ET.

Hurricane Isaac became a tropical storm again, but the slow-moving storm refused to let up on the Louisiana coast as flooding trapped residents in their homes and on levees. Worst affected is Plaquemines Parish, outside New Orleans, where National Guardsmen and residents rescued dozens who were trapped in their homes after a levee overtopped. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned there is “much more coming” as the rain and the winds are expected to last through Friday and upwards of 300,000 are still without power in the southeast. The storm slowly churned away from southeast Louisiana on Thursday, with 7 to 14 inches of rainfall expected—with isolated accumulations of 20 inches—and storm surge warnings are still in effect. 

As Isaac weakens to a tropical storm, some may wonder, what’s it like to sit through a hurricane? Katy Reckdahl, who gave birth the day before Hurricane Katrina, calls in her report from the middle of a windy and wet New Orleans.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Thursday called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power, calling Assad’s regime “oppressive.” Morsi is in Iran for a diplomatic conference, and it is the first visit for an Egyptian leader since that Iran broke its diplomatic ties with Egypt after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But Iran has remained a key ally in the region to Syria, although Morsi proposed the formation for a four-nation alliance between Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to end the bloody Syrian crackdown. Morsi also mentioned the ties between the Syrian rebellion and Egypt’s Arab Spring—considered the inspiration for a wave of uprisings in the region.

Barclays appointed Antony Jenkins as the new chief executive on Thursday, weeks after Bob Diamond resigned amid accusations of rate-fixing. Jenkins is the head of the bank’s retail and business banking division, raising questions about the future of the bank’s investment division. Jenkins acknowledged the “serious mistakes” of recent years, but he insisted the bank has a “unique opportunity to restore Barclays reputation by making it the ‘go to’ bank in all of our chosen markets.”