CNN's Cooper, O'Brien Head to New Orleans

Pair exit Tampa and will anchor some primetime coverage from NOLA

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/27/2012 12:22:47 PM

CNN's Anderson Cooper and Soledad O'Brien are leaving Tampa and heading to New Orleans to anchor coverage of the approaching tropical storm as a full-court press on the GOP convention in Tampa has turned into a dual, thought intersecting, story of storm and politics.

"Soledad and Anderson have covered NOLA & Katrina extensively, and they will handle that coverage for us," said a CNN spokesperson, along with weather anchor Rob Marciano.

But that will leave plenty of boots on the ground in Tampa, including Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Candy Crowley, John King, Piers Morgan, Gloria Borger, David Gergen and a dozen others, though there will be no convention speeches from Tampa, with the start of the convention is delayed until Tuesday, Aug. 28.

Cooper and O'Brien will anchor some of CNN's primetime coverage Monday night from New Orleans, with O'Brien anchoring Starting Point from there Tuesday and Wednesday, though those plans could change.

At presstime, the National Weather Service was predicting that tropical storm Isaac would make landfall along the coast of Louisiana as a hurricane with winds as high as 109 mph.