'This Week' Transcript: Gov. Bob McDonnell and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

NEW YORK, August 26, 2012— -- STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning, and welcome to This Week.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Storms brewing. The GOP convention threatened by Tropical Storm Isaac.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Sunshine State is on high alert.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And that political hurricane from Todd Akin.

AKIN: If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

RYAN: Rape is rape, period.

AKIN: I used the wrong words in the wrong way, and for that I apologize.

STEPHANOPOULOS: As all eyes turn to Tampa, we debate the big convention questions. How will Mitt Romney sell himself and his plan? Will he focus the campaign on the economy and forge a personal connection with America's votes? And how can the Democrats counter? We'll ask two convention chairs, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell and Democrat Mayor Antonio Vllaraigosa.

Plus, debate and analysis on our powerhouse roundtable, with George Will, Mary Matalin, Jennifer Granholm, Congresswoman Donna Edwards, and Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. And we remember an American icon.

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NEIL ARMSTRONG: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello again. The roundtable is standing by with their reflections on Neil Armstrong, the humble man who leapt into the history books when he stepped on the moon back in 1969. Hundreds of millions watched. We all remember where we were.

But we begin now with the latest on Tropical Storm Isaac and the Republican Convention. The storm is expected to become a hurricane later today, and it could strengthen to a category two by tomorrow before hitting land late Tuesday along the Gulf Coast.

The track varies right now. It could land anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to New Orleans. It should pass a good 200 miles west of Tampa. but Republican officials are taking no chances. They have postponed the first night of convention activities, and for more on that, let's go to ABC's Jon Karl in the convention hall. And, Jon, when they made this announcement last night, the officials said they can get everything they need to get done in three days.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS: Yes. It's not going to be easy. The speeches will be shorter. A few people may miss their mark. But, George, they said that had absolutely no choice. Even with that hurricane passing to the west, they think we could see winds of 70 miles an hour here, torrential rain, possible flooding.

The big issue here is some of the delegates are staying an hour away on the coast. They were concerned about loading them up on buses, bringing them here. They thought that it might have been too much of an issue, safety issue. It may be, George, like one of those school days, where they call a snow day, and the storm ended up not being as much. But they really didn't think they had a choice.

One other thing, George, every delegate gets one of these red umbrellas. The official Republican umbrella. One concern is though, technically right now, they're not allowed in the convention hall. But we got ours in.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good thing you got in. I guess the other concern though is going to be that even if things get started again on Tuesday, all the coverage of the hurricane will overwhelm their effort to get their message out.