this morning on "early today," campaign blitz. president obama zeros in on female voters on day two of his western swing. joy riding juvenile. an 11-year-old boy lands himself in hot water after leading police on two chases in two days. and silvery moon. scientists discover a "treasure chest" of elements on the lunar surface. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning.

welcome to ow viewers on the pacific coast line. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with tracking the campaign trail. president obama is hoping to drum up votes again today to help his party hold on to congress and hold on to control of congress. and last night, the president helped the democratic party pump funds into their campaign coffer in a campaign in california that cost $30,000 a plate. steve handelsman has more details on the president's west coast swing. >> reporter: in washington state, to try to preserve his senate majority, president obama campaigned for incumbent democrat patti murray who is in a tough race. >> in just a few days, your decision in this election is going to set the direction of this state and of this country for years to come. >> reporter: murray's republican opponent expired back. >> she has her d.c. friends coming to washington state to defend the indefensible, which happens to be her 18-year record. >> reporter: the president touted the votes for women.

key in these states. >> when we come out, they can make the difference. it's always important to get women out. this election in particular. >> reporter: in kentucky, republican senate candidate rand paul complained democrats are focusing on his alleged extremism. >> personally vilifying me because they don't want to talk about their support for obama care. >> the u.s. senate debate. >> reporter: in pennsylvania's democrat race, joe sestak and pat toomey discussed extremism. >> the stimulus, government run health care. cap and trade. >> we have someone who is really extreme that believes, for example, corporations should pay no taxes. >> hey, guys. >> reporter: barack obama smiled through a seattle coffee break. but with 12 days to go, the senate races that will determine the president's power through 2012 are as bitter as overheated espresso. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. amid the illegal uncertainty

over don't ask, don't tell, the pentagon is now restricting who can expel openly gay members of the military. in a memo yesterday, defense secretary roberts gates ordered that only five people will be allowed to make such discharges as opposed to the previously hundreds that could do so. that announcement came a day after a california appeals court lift add judge's order barring the pentagon from enforcing the controversial policy. those in quake ravaged haiti are threadening another crisis. a deadly disease wreaks havoc in the region. a bacterial outbreak has taken the lives of at least 135 people and sickened 1,500 more in parts of rural central haiti. health workers are awaiting test results, but they expect the devastating disease could be cholera. hospital floors are lined with ailing residents and caregivers struggle to keep up with the flood of patients.

now, here's a look at other stories making news early today in america -- in south carolina, an 11-year-old boy is in serious trouble after he led a dozen police cars on a chase around the neighborhood driving through circles and blowing through stop signs for the second time this week. he drove a fire truck just days prior. the chase ended calmly, but the boy, who said he just got tired of walking, will be placed in state custody. in california, six robbers got more than they bargained for when they tried to rip off some jewelers. the suspects smashed jewelry case, got everything they could, when the vendors realized the robbers only had hammers and guns, they fought back with chairs and anything else they could throw at them. the robbers are still at large. in north dakota, the hotel donaldson paid tribute to the breast cancer fight in a very unusual way. draping 3,000 bras on the side of its building. it's part of the annual bras on broadway which will help breast cancer patients in the fargo

area. and in new york, there's one pumpkin that trumps them all. officials say this 1,810 pound pumpkin is the heaviest in the world. i would imagine it would be. the grower is a relative newbie in the gourd-greing trade. he says all of it took a little bit of luck mixed in with cow manure, rain, fish emulsion and seaweed. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, good morning. >> the guy the speakers. >> secret recipe for a giant pumpkin. i'm sure there's -- >> i mean -- >> i'm sure a big market out in for that. let's talk about the forecast. good morning to everyone on this friday. the west coast, big changes are under way. a huge storm system is just off the coast. it's mostly going to move in during the day late today and

all day saturday. it's going to linger into sunday. not a pretty forecast out there. the storm did affect the desert southwest is now in the middle of the country, but it's the storm system that's just off the coast, and we have one storm, you can see it spinning here. that's a weak one. a little front and showers out there. not a big deal. right behind that, just coming on to the picture here, you see the bright, white clouds. a pretty strong storm. it's going to sit just off the coastline for much of the weekend. now, as far as today goes, this morning, just showers heading up through sacramento. wet roads for your morning commute. a little batch of showers trying to hold together as it gets to interstate 5. that's about it. the next storm system, though, is a much more potent storm bringing heavy rain. our computers are estimating right at the coastline of northern california, southern oregon, somewhere between two to three inches of rainfall. high winds. could have high wind warnings, downed trees possible and big, huge waves on the coastlines of oregon and washington over the weekend. the forecast it will eventually have showers with it during the day today. heavy rain coming for your

saturday, maybe your sunday. that's a look at your the central valleys of california. most of the date should be dry. well, that's a look at your friday forecast. 2 looks like a stormy weekend. more details ahead. >> all right, bill. thank you. also ahead -- amp countless plots of the wrist, is today the day lindsay lohan really faces the music? the phillies bounce back and oregon makes a huge statement against ucla. you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- typhoon megsy bringing heavy rains to northeastern taiwan bringing flooding in coastal highways trapping tourists. the typhoon packing winds of 100 miles an hour is expected to make landfall in china tomorrow. national public radio fired longtime calm's tater ron williams for comments made this week on fox news about how he sometimes gets nervous on airplanes when he sees people with muslim clothing onboard. with 24 hours of losing his job, fox hired williams giving him a three-year $2 million contract. the sole survivor of an august plane crash in the congress ocongo that killed 20 said the crash was caused by a crocodile smuggle aid board the plane. a passenger on the board hoped to sell, according to him,

escaped from a large sports bag causing a stampede in the cabin which threw the aircraft off balance sending it out of control. a nasa mission which slammed a rocket into the moon's surface revealed the moon has enough ice and vapor to potentially sustain astronauts on a long visit and even fuel lunar rockets. researchers also discovered lunar soil surprisingly rich in materials including mercury, sodium and sulfur. now here's your early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,146 after gaining 38 points yesterday. both the s&p and nasdaq added two. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei rose 50 points. in hong kong, the hang seng lost 131. after a back-and-forth roller coaster day on wall street, stocks edged higher thursday on strong corporate earnings. mcdonald's hit a 52-week high after beating expectations for

quarterly profit, and same-store sales growth in september. insured travelers hit a year-long highs after easily beating estimates. bellwether caterpillar after posting results that beat expectations hit a high for the year early but ended up down for the day. u.p.s. saw a profit jump and raised it its outlook, but it, too, retreated after coming with $1 of its 2010 high. in fact, the early morning rally pushed share prices near year highs across the board, but those gains were later trimmed by more seats of currency action with the dollar rising and the euro falling. that made wednesday's winners thursday's losers. commodity linked stocks took a beating with occidental petroleum falling almost 3%. oil tumbled to under $81 a barrel and natural gas prices fell to a new low for the year. bank stocks were volatile thanks to mostly the possibility of bank of america that they may be pressured to buy back billions

in mortgage bonds over the last seven days, bank of america has skidded 16% lower. after posting strong results wednesday, netflix jumped around 13%. ebay jumped 6% thanks to wednesday's upbeat after the bell results. home depot rose 3.5% on a buy recommendation. and keep an eye today on amazon. amp the bell, amazon reported higher earnings pushing the stock lower after hours. finally, sex.com, widely considered among the most valuable web addresses in the world was sold for $13 million yesterday by its bankrupt owner, escom. and oregon quack attack. the king gets booed and it's worth the wait for the islanders. plus, with their backs against the wall, the philadelphia phillies didn't leave their hearts or their season in san francisco. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. unfortunately, as we head into the weekend, two big

stormsone in the middle and one on the west coast. your weekend forecast is umming up. you're watching "early today." i'm among 30,000 employees who used to work for hp.

i was supposed to retire there. carly fiorina changed all that. [ cheri ] fiorina laid off 30,000 people. and she shipped our jobs to china. and india. i had to pack my bags and i was out the door that night. we even had to train our replacements. she didn't need 5 corporate jets. [ farrell ] one hundred million for herself. fiorina never cared about our jobs. not then and not now. [ boxer ] i'm barbara boxer and i approve this message. good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the phillies showed some fight last night and now the national league championship series is headed back to

philadelphia. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. hold everything. keep that champagne on ice. with their backs against the wall, the phillies force a game six with a win over the giants. giants up, 1-0. shane victorino hit one to aubrey hough and he booted in. in came carlos luiz on the error. the phils jumped on top 2-1. your next hitter, kept it going. rbi single to left. scored victorino. phillies up 3 in the third. roy halladay wasn't great, but he wasn't good enough. the phillies stay alive, win it 4-2. game six saturday back in philadelphia. college football a statement game of sorts for oregon. the number one team, second in the bcs, fifth placed throttled ucla. the ducks scored on every one of their first half possessions and led 32-3 at the break. ducks scored 8 touchdowns. we would love to show them all to you, but we would be here all

morning. they needed a lot of push-ups. oregon won, 60-13. if oklahoma stumbles against missouri tomorrow, oregon undoubtedly will be the outright number one team in the country. nba, lebron james booed by fans in atlanta. perhaps that inspired him because he went out and dropped 38 on the hawks. 28 in the first half. unfortunately, he received little help from his teammates. hockey for the second time this week, the islanders needed overtime to pull out a win against the lightnings. a scramble in front of the net. dan made the first save and appeared to make a second save. this, before the puck crossed the goal line. the officials reviewed it and after about ten minutes, they got it right. ellis did make two great stops, but on the second, the puck crossed the line by the slimmest of margins. that's a goal. credited with the game winner. islanders won it in overtime, 3-2. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. "early today" sports is

brought to you by just for men hair color. live forward. when was the last time a movie made for a million bucks was number one at the box office? it could happen this weekend. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, sure, it's a cliche, but this dog really is this guy's best friend. you're watching "early today."

welcomes back on this friday a lot of great weather this weekend not one of them. as far as today goes, lots of clouds in many areas chance of even a stray shower or two in areas like los angeles today. and as we go through weekend, the bigger storm system moves in saturday afternoon, saturday night and the coastlines here, northern california, southern oregon, high winds, huge waves on the coast and putting on quite a show. the forecast even into sunday up here will stay unsettled. shouldn't rain as hard on sunday, but still going to be on and off during the day. if you're watching us on k mcht ir, palm springs, california. explore the world of theater, fashion and film through the photography of an industry icon. head to the palm springs art museum for the richard avedon exhibition. that's your pacific event of day. >> thanks, bill. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. today, lindsay lohan faces what could be serious jail time.

a source tells radar online her legal team is pretty concerned. the judge ordered her to appear personally despite the fact she admitted using drugs, admitted violating her parole and voluntarily entered rehab. they fear the judge could terminate her probation and threaten her with a year in jail. days after word leaked mel gibson would do a cameo, he's been dropped after the cast and crew complained. at the box office this weekend, some experts are predicting and picking a spooky debut of "paranormal activity ii" to be the number two movie taking in $ million. $2 million. but no matter what, it will be a winner. it only cost $1 million to make. and "hereafter's" matt damon is expected to come in third, but experts think it will do very well.

>> unfortunately, probably winning again, "paranormal activity" will probably do well. >> a week before halloween. >> and last week, the big buzz and a lot of those people will come back for more. >> we'll see. we'll see on monday. >> this comes from north dakota. one lone dog is back where he belongs. huck is happily reunited with this family after a devastating car accident separated them. huck and his owner were going hunting when a deer spooked them both. huck was so frightened he ran off, but with the help of the entire community, the best friends and hunting buddies are back together licking a few wounds but clearly very happy that they've reunited. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

it's check with plenty of mates at one chess tournament in israel. that's where an israeli chess master set out to break the world report in simultaneous chess games. he's competing against 525 players and it's all supposed to last 18 hours. to get the title, he has to win at least 80% of the games. good luck with that. well, now is your chance to live like a queen, but it's going to cost you. collectors in moscow got a taste of an upcoming auction with royal standing. iteming on sale include diamonds that belonged to royal. the diamond encrusted pieces are worth millions.

some have intimate messages from king edward viii who gave up the throne for the woman he loved. >> what would you do and what would it take to live in a glass box for a month? $10,000 made this contest in chicago worthwhile for one woman in chicago. she was awarded a month-long stay inside a glass block living quarters and will blog about the experience. on top of the cash, she gets free food and more importantly, a fresh t-shirt each day. i don't know, bill, would you do it? a month. that's a long time. for how much money, did you say? >> $10,000. >> no. >> really? >> 10 grand? maybe 100 grand. >> whoa! >> let's add a zero. >> what else do you want? okay. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- muslim leaders are inviting leaders of all faiths into mosques this weekend in an effort to open dialogue in the wake of recent controversy over proposed islamic center in new york's ground zero.

in new mexico, richard branson will be on hand when his spaceship airplane combo galactic spaceship ii flies over a dedication ceremony for the world's first commercial built spaceport. on wall street, the new york stock exchange will host this year's global entrepreneur awards. 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. hear from a survivor of the alaska plane crash that claimed the life of senator ted stevens. and meet some fathers who are helping their daughters take the beauty pageant circuit by storm. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com