"jimmy fallon" happening right today," campaign controversy. former president bill clinton throws a wrench into florida's three-way race for u.s. senate. smoking gun -- a new report finds disturbing details leading up to the gulf oil disaster. and wake-up call, an australian man narrowly escapes death after a car crashes into his bedroom in the middle of the death after a car crashes into his bedroom in the middle of the nit. captions paid for by nbc-universal television this is "early today" for friday, october 29th, 2010. hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with down the

home stretch. with four days to go until election day, there have been some complications for both parties. for democrats, the florida senate race has take an twist courtesy of former president bill clinton. meanwhile republicans are trying to figure out what impact the tea party will have once the polls open. nbc's tracie potts is in washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. now president bill clinton has been a long-time democratic ally but there's word this morning that he may have asked meek to step aside. florida's democrat for senate says president clinton never pressured him to quit. >> no one has called me and said, hey, you need to get out of the race. >> reporter: but a clinton spokesperson says they did discuss it, if meek dropped out, independent charlie crist can win, and keen that seat from going republican. dlnts chided the media for

jumping on the story and mocked sarah palin. >> sarah palin's best line in this whole campaign, it made me cringe, was how's that hopey, changey thing working for you now? so, how's that trickle down thing working for us? >> reporter: palin jumped into alaska's three-way senate race trying to help joe miller beat a democrat and senator lisa murkowski. >> instead of debating the issue, what they're trying to do, throwing everything and the kitchen sink at our joe miller. >> reporter: miller's trailing in the polls, so is delaware's tea party republican christine o'donnell. >> it's going to be very difficult to reign these guys in. >> i feel great. >> reporter: in california senate republican candidate carly feisal is out of the hospital and back on her issue jobs. barbara boxer has an eight-point lead in the polls. that's because she's picked up independents, bucking the trend. polls show many independents plan to vote republican this year. lynn? >> thanks so much. a government panel has

uncovered a potential cause of the deadly blowout of bp's oil well in the gulf. that led to the worst environmental disaster in history. the presidential commission looking into the disaster received evidence that bp and haliburton knew months before the accident that the cement mixture they were using to seal the well wasn't holding. the cement's failure to prevent oil and gas from entering the well has been identified by bp and others as one of the causes of the explosion. halliburton is now acknowledging that it never tested the final mixture after a last-minute change from bp. an nbc news exclusive shows early results from an ongoing pentagon study finds the majority of u.s. troops do not object to serving alongside openly gay troops in the military. nbc's richard engel, who first reported the findings yesterday, reports military sources say the majority of troops also believe don't ask, don't tell, could be done away with. some service members, however,

did strongly object to a change in the controversial policy. the final pentagon report is due out in december. an arkansas school board member under fire for saying on facebook that he thinks gays should kill themselves is resigning. hours after protesters rallied outside of his school in response to the posting, the board member, clint mccance, said in a televised interview that he is resigning, but that he might still run in the future. speaking last night on cnn, he apologized for his comments which included that he enjoys that gays often give each other aids and die. >> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in california green balloons dotted the sky as friends and family honored the memory of lucas ransom. the southern california teen who was killed by a shark last week. true to the memory of what he loved best, friends paddled out

in mass into the ocean's waves. in new york, a rare and exquisite blue diamond is on display at the american museum of natural history. dubbed from the mines of india, the 35.5 carat gem is notable for its size, color, cut, and its long history. which includes a list of royal owners, dating back as far as the 1600s. and in new jersey it's always best to compete in favorable conditions in a sport and that includes meat cutting. several meat cutters sliced, diced and fill letted blocks of meat in a chilly 38 degrees ice rink. perfect for butchering and cooling nerves. the winner advances to the championship and pockets 20 grand. but the real winners, local family shelters that will receive 200 pounds of sirloin. now for a look at your national and regional weather. here's a meat and potatoes guy, meteorologist bill karins with

the weather channel forecast. >> good morning. >> more steak and eggs this time of morning. i never had steak and eggs. it's one of those things people say. >> like green eggs and ham. >> you can't have that. i don't think you want to eat the green eggs. >> all of it sounds delicious right now. >> to you. you get hungry this time of morning. been up for a long time. let's talk about what's happening weather wise and the only storm out there across the country is on the west coast. one of the rainiest spots in the entire nation today is going to be san francisco. because they've -- they're locked into this flow of moisture coming right off the ocean. let me explain. you see the swirl first off. this is our area of low pressure. this is our storm. it's cut off, it's going to sit here off the coast of california. and we get that tropical connection to it, coming right up the coast and you notice the green in here, that's the area of rain and for the most part, it's right over san francisco and just north of san francisco on the coast of the napa. san francisco is getting heavy rain but sacramento for the most part the rain is just off to your west and that continues up to redding and we have showers up interstate 5.

it's finally moving out of seat toll olympia to portland. back towards spokane, rain for you this morning too. that's kind of a look at your wet weather picture today. in l.a., i think tomorrow is your better chance of get some of that wet weather. that's a look atw. and mostly cloudy. lynn, someone told me there's something happening on sunday, like an important forecast for the kids. i'll try to figure out what that is. >> and get back to us. >> get back to you. >> we have a little time. thanks. wall street waits, microsoft surprises and blame it all on mcdonald's. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, this halloween weekend at the box office there's battle building between two horror franchises with bad blood in the past. the magic spoil john wall's

debut and the giants do it again. 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. north korean troops opened fire on a south korean guard post in a heavily armed demilitarized zone. the south returned fire briefly. no official reason has been given by either side for the shooting. it came hours after the north vowed to retaliate against north korea for its rejection of a north korean proposal for a military talks. the food and drug administration has rejected a diet pill touted by some experts as the most promising weight loss drug in more than a decade. the drug called qnexa is the third weight loss medicine to be denied approval this month dushgs to safety concerns.

this morning's "wall street journal" reports transportation officials are stepping up scrutiny at some boeing 757 planes after a two foot hole opened up at 31,000 feet during an american airlines flights from miami to boston this week. fortunately there were no injuries. two volcanos erupted in russia, tossing massive clouds of ash into the air forcing flights to divert and blanketing one town with thick, heavy ash. and an australian man is lucky to be alive today after a car crashed into his house and landed on the bed he had been sleeping in moments before. the homeowner says he got up just in the nick of time, to use his computer. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,113 after falling 12 points yesterday. the s&p edged up 1 point. the nasdaq added 4. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo the nikkei lost 163 points,

while in hong kong the hang sang dropped 114. wall street has taken on a holding pattern waiting to see what happens with two big events next week. both midterm elections and the fed's long expected move to stimulate the economy will finally play out, and thursday, the street was in wait and see mode, largely ignoring both earnings and economic data. investors even ignored the dollar. recently as the dollar goes, stocks usually go the other way. yesterday, despite the dollar falling, stocks slipped instead of rising. even bright job numbers failed to move stocks. fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week than any week in july. there were notable exceptions. haliburton tumbled 8% after the white house panel said the contractor ignored cement design flaws weeks before the gulf oil disaster. 3m dropped almost 6% after trimming its outlook due to recent acquisition costs.

not all corporate news was bad. eastman kodak rose more than 15% after reporting a boost for home and office printers. motorola jumped 2% after posting profits for the first time in three years. keep an eye on microsoft. after the bell, the tech giant reported its net income surged 51%, beating expectations. jp morgan chase and hsbc were hit by two investor lawsuits accusing them of conspiring to drive down silver prices and reaping hundreds of millions in illegal profits. and finally, a brazilian court ordered mcdonald's to pay a former manager $17,000 because he gained 65 pounds while working there 12 years. the man blamed being forced to sample food every day to ensure quality and free lunches offered to employees by the chain. a less than magical debut. for the nba's top pick. and hungry like the wolfpack.

the texas bull pen fell apart in game two of the world series putting the rangers in a giant hole. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >> your weekend forecast, of course it's all about halloween. that's coming right up. you're watching "early toup 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 world series is headed for texas, and if the rangers pitching doesn't improve it won't be returning to the bay area. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. if you want to keep it real, how real is this? the san francisco giants weren't even supposed to be here, and they won the nl west on the last day of the season. now they're two wins away from a world series title. here we go to san francisco, matt cain did everything right and had a little luck on his side. ian kinsler with a drive deep to center, off the top of the wall and bounced back into center field. kinsler couldn't believe it. one more time. the ball landed on the very top of the fence and that's as close as it gets. bottom five, edgar renteria s w showed kinsler how it's done. giants led it, 1-0. cain got out of a jam in the sixth. kinsler popped to end the inning. cain struck out two but kept them scoreless for 7 2/3.

there's renteria again. an rbi single. giants hung seven on the rangers in the eighth lead the world series two games to none after a 9-0 win. series moves to texas for game three tomorrow night at 7:00 eastern. jonathan sanchez and the rangers colby lewis are the probabilities. john wall's nba debut one he would like to forget. magics embarrass the wizards. orlando up by 14 after the first quarter. dwight howard had 23. the game so easy for howard he was doing pushups on the sideline. magic won 112-83. major upset in college football. number 16 florida state up three. fourth and goal for nc state. russell wilson found george bryant in the end zone. the wolf pack rallied to take the lead 28-24. plenty of time left for the seminoles they drove the length of the field. ponder fumbled the ball in the end zone. nc state recovered under a minute to play.

they held on to upset florida state 28-24. that is your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. >> "early today" sports brought to you by just for men hair color. live forward. the verdict is in the anna nicole smith drug trial. she's getting her first tattoo and she's earned it in a special way. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. let's take a look at your weekend forecast. rain today, pretty much a solid shield of rain. right now over san francisco just east of sacramento that will continue over central california during the day today. notice that the pacific northwest isn't too bad. over the weekend another shot of moisture comes into the pacific northwest. at the same time our rain that was in san francisco, some of that weakens and shifts further to the south to santa barbara and l.a. you have a chance of showers there on saturday. by the time halloween arrives the only location that has to deal with rainy weather looks like really i would say portland, may be seattle northwards up into areas of southern canada. watching us on king 5 news in seattle, washington, celebrate halloween weekend with treats, games and a chance to meet the ghost of aviation's past. that's a museum of fright. at the museum of flight. that's your pacific event of the day, lynn. >> thank you. >> maybe amelia earhart will be

there. >> in spirit. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. a mixed verdict came down yesterday in the trial of anna nicole smith's inner circled, charged with enabling her prescription drug use. howard k. stern, smith's boyfriend/lawyer and her psychiatrist were both convicted of conspiring to get the former playboy mod le and realty tv star painkillers and sedatives. it was not clear how much prison time, if any, they could face. the physician who prescribed most of her pain medications was acquitted on all charges. at the box office this weekend, "saw 3d" is being billed as the last in the successful fright franchise. can it finish number one over last week's winner, "paranormal activity 2"? last year, on halloween weekend, we had the same matchup, and "saw 6" got slashed, upset by the original "paranormal activity." this year experts are cautiously predicting over $20 million for

"saw 3d" and number one. and an under $20 million second place for "paranormal activity 2." still given last year's upset they're going to make the predictions but sort of holding their breath. this comes from kwwl, iowa's news channel 7 where in nearby jessup one man is offering permanent reminders of the fight against breast cancer. greg donates his time and lots of pink ink applying free tattoos of the signature pink ribbon. sandy is one of the dozens who have sat in his chair. despite losing a breast she's won her battle against cancer and the pink ribbon right above her scar is a badge of honor, a permanent reminder of her will to survive. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station.

cars are getting so efficient, they don't need a driver any more. a group of wireless operated vehicles completed a 9,000 mile test ride from italy all the way to china. the driverless minivans are using sensors to navigate. its inventors are hoping the car can soon be used by people with disabilities and eliminate human error. this halloween, people in mexico city are living it up at a ceremony that celebrates the dead. dressed up skeletons went on display for the upcoming day of the dead festival. they look like spook gee halloween decorations but these are made in honor of revolutionary war heros.

mexico's tradition of halloween to remember the dead is one of the most important in the country. here's hoping these sweet treats taste better than they look. cake designers in london teamed up for the opening of a horror-themed bake shop. cakes, cup cakes and cookies were covered with grotesque designs including dismembered body parts and even road kill. patrons looking to taste the decapitated desserts might need more than a strong stomach. some of these cakes sell for upwards of $900. $900. that's not -- >> you would be the hit of the party, though, lynn. >> i don't know. i feel like i could just mush up a whole bunch of homemade cakes and make it look the same. put red food coloring. >> that youing on one of those fingers. >> no thank you. time for an early look at some of the stories we'll followen on nbc. a pakistani american accused of plotting to bomb new york's subway system will be in

courtroom. official say he was working on a plot with al qaeda when it was part of a sting operation. it's time to get the ab tenny ballots in for tuesday's elections. many states it is the deadline to mail in the ballots. and it's the anniversary of the wall street crash known as black tuesday. on this day in 1929, stocks plunged nearly 13% marking the start of the great depression. all day long you can stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc and tonight be sure to watch brine williams with "nbc nightly news." a look at what's coming up this morning on the "today" show. in a "today" exclusive hear from the doctor in the anna nicole smith drug trial who was cleared on all charges. and matt and meredith, ann, aisle and natalie reveal their costumes on the plaza. 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. 1 what can i get you? i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. sure. decaf or regular? regular. cake or pie? pie. apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream please! (announcer) when other toppings are made with hydrogenated oil, the real dairy cream in reddi wip's sure an easy choice. nothing's more real than reddi wip. fork or spoon? i vacuumed my carpet, but it's still so dingy.