and, of course, pauly d, travie tomorrow night, heidi klum will "jimmy fallon" happening right now. this morning on "early today," shifting into high gear. with election day just two weeks away, the gloves come off in two key debates. both parties pull out the big guns. disorder in court. accused rapist goes berserk during his trial in an oregon courtroom. and luck of the draw. the one in four trillion occurrence that has stunned israeli lottery players. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pick time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with campaign countdown.

time is running out for candidates stumping in this year's midterm elections. heading into the last two-week stretch. the fight to the finish played out last night in a war of words and debates in west virginia and new york. tracie potts has the details. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. good morning, everyone. as this election gets closer and close e, the pressure is on to make sure that those who have already made up their minds actually go vote. >> please, enjoy your retirement. we don't work for you. >> reporter: reaching out at the debate. >> nancy pelosi, you're fired. and mr. obama and your czars, you're next. >> reporter: republicans with the tea party in nevada, democrats supporting unions, airline workers. >> their jobs have to stay right here in america. >> reporter: and steelworkers. >> struggling families. >> that's what our conversation will be about today. >> you're fired up and ready to

go! just like were you two years ago, then i know that we can keep this movement going. >> reporter: while michelle obama's out campaigning, her husband's raising money, $30,000 a ticket last night. >> would you like new government? >> please. >> reporter: hopefuls in west virginia and governors' candidates in new york talking about jobs, taxes, corruption, and public trust. >> the people of the state of new york, they're looking for something to hold on to. >> people just don't have faith in state government anymore. >> reporter: the state race is full of personal attacks. >> indication one that they are closed, feeling the heat. >> reporter: with 15 days left the heat is on. and the economy seems to be working against both democrats and incumbents. in fact, veronica, the federal reserve reports that factory reconstruction is down mainly because businesses and consumers just aren't buying as much. >> tracie potts live in washington. tracie, appreciate it. thank you.

big banks are getting ready to end a foreclosure freeze ending accusations that foreclosures were fraud. perhaps even forged. bank of america will seize more than 100,000 homes in 23 states next week. gmac mortgage is going ahead with foreclosures. the green light comes despite outrage over foreclosure practices. among the allegations, the bank workers known as robo signers signed off on documents, but didn't even read the papers, papers that may have been wrong. bank of america claims it has not found any instances where a foreclosure was brought in error. a federal judge says that she is inclined to deny the government's request that she let the pentagon end forces ban on gays serving in the military. this against the policy. u.s. district judge virginia phillips who last month declined declared the don't ask, don't tell policy unconstitutional says the government has not proven that her order would harm troops in any way. defense secretary roberts gates

says he supports lifting the ban but wants it done slowly. phillips will make her final decision within a week. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america -- ishgts the owners of a florida liquor store hope a $500 reward will help police find leads to a group of women who allegedly stole over $3,000 worth of alcohol. security video shows women slipping several bottles under their skirts and in their purses. they walked out with six bottles, some worth $1,000 apiece. in oregon, a rape suspect went berserk during his accuser's testimony. courtroom video shows the 55-year-old suspect leaped to his feet yelling at the victim and flipping over a table. it took three deputies to subdue the man, found guilty of sex abuse and tampering with a witness. in kentucky, the world's smallest mom and her family continue to celebrate each milestone, and this time it's her first child's fourth birthday.

doctors said she could never have kids and now she has three. two have been diagnosed with the same rare disorder mom has, but the family says they're not worried, and they will celebrate each inch of each of their miracles. in washington state, one dentist is exchanging cash for treats. he's paying out $1 for every pound of candy his young patients bring in and then he'll send that candy to troops overseas. pretty sweet deal compared to the tooth fairy. kids get to keep the cash and they get to the keep their teeth as well. hmm. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, not something that i would say is -- the best idea for kids. i mean, how much fun is that? >> i found a way to spin it. kids, keep your candy. a lot of people always have a lot of leftover candy. sometimes you don't get as many trick-or-treaters as you expect, take that kand toy them. >> $1 per pound?

that's a lot of candy for $1. >> yes it is. hey, i know. let's talk about what's happening out there weatherwise. good morning, everyone. caught off a low. very unusual. san francisco, seattle, portland, beautiful weather. l.a., san diego and santa barbara, not so much. this cutoff low is spinning just off the coast of california. that's going to give you unsettled weather for the next two to three days. yesterday we had rain and even this morning rain in areas you don't usually see a lot of it. you can see the weather pattern here. these clouds go all the way into british columbia, back down into the central plains. when we say cut off a big, huge area of high pressure to the north. the low to the south. nowhere for it to go. just sitting here. it's going to be a while until it opens up and weakens. that rainfall, enough of it. it's showing up rather well. san diego, showers. a strange direction, because the rain's actually coming from the east and traveling west. you don't see that all that often either, and can see from santa barbara northwards into

the mountains, showers continue. that's the forecast today. even this afternoon as we get sunshine, too, we can get some small hail from these thunderstorms. so watch out around los angeles today. i think even phoenix has a slight chance of some rain. mostly it's southern california today with the wet weather, while it's gorge us to your northagnant weather forecast wi cutoff lows. if the weather's great around you, it's going to stay that way. so staying beautiful in much of the west. your wednesday forecast coming up. i'm a little confused. did you just say los angeles and hail in the same sentence? >> if they get sunshine today, it's possible they could get a little hail. just tiny little stuff. maybe not in the city itself, but in the area. >> oh, okay. apple falls, big blue and is

facebook selling you out? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus a report england's future king chosen a time to marry his princess. lebron james makes his return. titans cake the jaguars and another october gem for cliff lee. you're watching "early today."

well, good morning to you an welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- russian police say at least six people are dead after insurgents stormed government buildings in the volatile region of chechnya today. officials say there were at least three militants, one of whom blew himself up killing two security guards. super typhoon megi is headed towards china today after battering the northern philippines with torrential

rain. the cyclone left at least ten people dead in the philippines and caused significant damage collapsing trees and power lines. mexican security forces say they seized at least 105 tons of marijuana bound for the u.s. the biggest pot bust the country has seen in years. the drugs, which have a street value of about $340 million, were found in predawn raids yesterday in the border city of tijuana. and conspiracy theorists are buzzing this morning after israel's national lottery drew exactly the same six numbers as it did three weeks ago. radio stations are flooded with callers who suspected the lottery was rigged. but officials deny those allegations. an expert later chalked it up to a rare coincidence with odds of -- listen to this -- one in four trillion. by the way, there were three first prize winners who earned over $1 million apiece. very nice.

>> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day -- the dow opens at 11,143 after adding 80 points yesterday. the s&p rose 8 points and the nasdaq gained 11. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei went up 40 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng climbed 294. wall street could be in for a rough start today if late monday results from two tech giants take a toll on stocks this morning. apple shares hit an all-time high on monday, but logged their largest single slide in two years after the bell. thanks to a bottleneck that explode production of ipad. iphone drew past expectations boosting apple's net income by 70%. elsewhere, after the bell, ibm beat the street's profit estimates and raised its full year outlook, but a 7% drop in new service contracts dragged shares nearly 4% lower in late trade. yesterday, upbeat earnings from citigroup injected optimism back

into the financial sector. ci city -- citi shares shot up more than 5%. an index of home builder's confidence ticked higher for the first time in four months, giving the real estate sector some much-needed positive news. halliburton shares fell nearly 5% after its quarterly revenue failed to meet expectations. more privacy problems for facebook. the social networking site is facing questions from congress in the wake of reports that several third party applications including the popular farmville game, gathered and distributed personal information about users and their friends to advertisers. johnson & johnson is recalling another quarter million bottles of tylenol caplets in the u.s. and puerto rico. customers are complaining of that same moldy smell that led the company to recall tens of millions of bottles of medication over the past year. one person walked away with a poster of the ill fated "titanic" and its sister ship passing at sea.

the poster bringing in a whooping $96,000. the titans toured jacksonville, the kings back on the court, and the team is back in a hockey thriller. plus, this mishap at the postgame press conference was about the only thing that didn't go well for cliff lee at yankees stadium. your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. early morning rain in the mid-atlantic, and thunderstorms where you expect them in the desert northwest. your tuesday forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the texas rangers turning a pitching duel into the worst loss in yankees history. fred roggin has an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. the texas rangers got on the board in the first inning and cliff lee did the rest. game three in the bronx, this is why the yankees walked josh hamilton three times in the last game. texas up early within 2-0. what can you say about cliff lee that's not already been said? he's never lost to new york. whatever happened last night had a no-hitter going into the fifth. rangers scored six in the ninth, but the story was lee. he was virtually unhitable. texas won, 8-0.

they lead the series 2-1 going into tonight. monday night football, jacksonville, all tennessee. over the middle to kenny, muscling his way into the end zone. 7-0 titan up after one. titans won it, 30-3, but they lost vince young with a sprained knee. he'll be re-evaluated today. nba regular season starts a week from today and lebron james appears to be ready to go. after missing a game with a sore hamstring he made his return against the bobcats. scored 33 in 29 minutes and sat the entire fourth quarter. could have used him down the stretch. then again, it's only preseason. bobcats won it, 102-96. hockey islanders and maple leafs, toronto down with about two minutes to play. the shot was deflected to phil kessel. tied it 59 one in forced overtime. john tavares ended if in o.t., islanders win 2-1. chicago, blackhawks and

blues tied at 2. pat king connected with patrick sharp. the champs scored three unanswered to beat the blues, 3-2. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. elton john gets grumpy, not with the paparazzi but with today's pop music. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, the washington huskies football team has many loyal fans, but one is still with them, even after he passed away. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. unusual weather pattern for southern california. you have rain showers coming at you from the east traveling to the west, and can you see an area of low pressure, the storm is just to the south off the coast of san diego, l.a., interstate 5. a good chance of seeing wet weather today. maybe even a thunderstorm or two from l.a. to san diego, palm springs i'll include you in the forecast. looks better in phoenix. the low is far enough away. tomorrow will be better day for you. to the north, gorgeous. staying that way even into wednesday. incredible period of great fall weather. if you're watching us on knsd nbc 7 39 in san diego, california. step aboard and go back in time when the pacific was largely unknown with enlightened voyages. the maritime museum of san diego that's your pacific event of date, veronica.

>> sounds like a lot of fun. let's gets you to an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment -- elton john has made one thing clear this morning. he is not a fan of today's music. he said today's song writers are, quote, pretty awful. all pop music sounds the same and reality tv talent shows like "american idol" are boring. the online column the dish rag is speculating taylor swift's song "dear john" is her long line of odes to ex-boyfriends. who is she talking about? john mayer who she was rumored to have dated unhappily. finally, speculation is over between the prince of wales and kate singleton. a report that the two will marry next year. the paper says they will announce their wedding in the spring and marry in july or august.

the paper also adds the wedding will take place at westminster abbey, the location of the funeral of william's mother diana. and a family tradition. this comes to us from knig television 5 in washington where one royal huskies fan will always have the best seat in the house. craig was a devout football fan who made game time a tradition. and when his daughter died, his daughter decided, legal or not, she would leave some of his ashes in the end zone. that very same night, the huskies won in a double overtime thriller n right there in that very end zone. i'm veronica de la cruz, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one sticker painting in peru has literally been giving saintly like status. peru's president named a 17th century painting of christ. the image was left safe on an undamaged wall. since then it's known as the lord of the miracles, and honored with city-wide parades. one library in england is looking beyond history books and into the future. debuting new high-tech gadgets. some seen straight out of star wars such as a prompter for 3d images. pretty cool. and for all those social media fans, there is a meter that tracks twitter activity in different cities around the

world. huh. definitely like that one. if you're looking for some exotic real estate, we have a deal for you. one island off the coast of spain is on sale for a cool $8.4 million. of course, there's a catch. although it offers 143 acres and beautiful views, the new owners will need to make major renovations and take on responsibility for conserving the island's natural wildlife. >> all right, bill, so do you have $10 million i could borrow somewhere >> 10 -- i mean, i could check. >> 8.4, and then i'll need money for the renovations. and -- >> don't forget the taxes and stuff. >> some shoe shopping. >> aisle have to check my billion dollar account. >> okay. good. get back to me. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- a somali pirate who pleaded guilty to highjacking the "maersk alabama" will be sentenced. with the november 2nd elections just around the corner, candidates will be squaring off in debates across

the nation tonight. there will be matchups in georgia, south carolina and illinois. and in san francisco, the days of toy-filled happy meals may be numbered. the city's board of supervisors will vote on a ban on pud putting toys in kids' meals unless they are made healthier. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. the latest from the campaign trail as the midterm races heat up with just two weeks to go now. and then christmas comes early to the plaza with a sneak speak at the season's hottest gifts. don't forget, you have less than 70 days until christmas. eke! now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific tuesday.

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