i want to thank my guests, [ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" -- he said/she said. herman cain's campaign stays where it has been for days, mired in focus on past sexual harassment claims. point of impact. new released video shows a deadly collision between a barge and a tour boat. battering ram. brazilian police go to extreme measures to stop some suspected brazilian police go to extreme measures to stop some suspected smugglers. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today we begin with campaign in crisis.

gop front-runner herman cain is firing back against a firestorm of controversy over accusations and denials of sexual harassment from his past. cain's camp is reportedly seeking legal action against politico for reporting those claims while cain himself compares his situation to that of another historic harassment case. nbc's steve handelsman reports. >> reporter: herman cain is linking his ordeal over sexual accusations to supreme court justice clarence thomas's in 1991. by doing an interview with thomas's conservative activist wife. >> d.c. culture, guilty until proven innocent. >> reporter: one of the three women who worked at the national association restaurant in the 1990s and said cain, the ceo, made unwanted sexual advances had her lawyer ask that she be released from a confidentiality agreement, wanting to tell her side, now that cain is telling his. >> she had nothing to do with

this becoming public and would -- and is anxious for it to go away. >> reporter: cain went on talk radio. >> give me a break. no touching was involved. the door to my office was open. my secretary was sitting right outside. absolutely nothing. this is why it was found to be baseless. >> reporter: the cain drama has topped republicans. >> this makes us look bad with women voters. this is causing us a national distraction now. and it's, of course, causing people to look negatively at the party as a whole. >> reporter: the restaurant association indicates it might allow the release of a statement by a woman who accused herman cain of harassment. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. elsewhere in washington, president obama's american jobs act received its third strike in the senate yesterday. one democrat and one independent joined all 47 republicans in

blocking the measure, which would have pumped $60 billion into the nation's crumbling infrastructure. republicans were opposed to raising taxes to pay for the plan. while democrats emphasized that the jobs it would have created for struggling construction workers over weigh. >> so, the truth is, democrats are more interested in building a campaign message than in rebuilding roads and bridges. frankly, the american people deserve a lot better. >> their goal is to do everything they can to drag down this economy. to do anything they can to focus attention negatively on the president of the united states. >> from a global economic summit in france, president obama responded to the roadblock, calling republicans, quote, out of touch with americans. men while a house panel voted yesterday to subpoena high-level white house e-mails tied to solnydra, government-funded and now defunct southerly power company. the subcommittee voted 14-9 along party lines to approve the

broad subpoena. democrats on the panel said it was unnecessary because the white house has already produced tens of thousands of pages of documents related to the loan. white house officials say they are ready to invoke executive privilege to protect internal communications. well, now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america. newly released video shows the horrific july 2010 collision that killed two tourists on a philadelphia duck boat. distracted by a family emergency call on his cell phone, the driver of a 250-foot barge rammed into the idle tour vessel, sinking the boat and sending all 37 people on board into the delaware river. the tugboat driver pled guilty to charges stemming from the crash and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. whale watchers in santa cruz got a once in a lifetime encounter with a couple of

humpback whales. oh, my goodness. a surfer and kayaker were a few feet away when the massive animals erupted from the ocean. and extreme tussle between two whitetail bucks forced nebraska wildlife officials to step in. the animals became inseparable after their antlers became entangled. a four-hour struggle to free themselves ended when officials stepped in to cut one of the animal's antlers off. one new jersey man thought busting the move was the perfect way to pull off a shoplifting heist. after a short dance routine, the suspect stuffed clothes in his pants but confronted by security when attempted to leave, the suspect threw the clothes and made a quick getaway. he is still at large. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. >> the cameras followed him pretty closely.

>> like they had a toggle. >> the security guard didn't want to chase him. that $9.98 shirt will get you every time. we have an active weather system moving through. almost like a winter-like storm is moving down. we have a winter weather advisory for the hills in los angeles. you can feel the cold air as you head outside in the northwest. snow in yosemite. and wet weather here. initial front, these are instability showers that are going through san jose. oakland getting some showers at the time being. temperatures are cool, as i mentioned. temperatures in the 30s in seattle, 60 in la but that will not last long as the front moves through. location.

that isn't all that bad. remind everyone that saturday night, set your clocks back one hour. that will mean a one hour earlier sunrise. that will upset you with the sunsetting an hour earlier. >> greece gets in line. optimism on jobs and how big of a mistake would it take for you to fire your accountant? eddy murphy returning to the big screen teaming up with ben stiller that's expected to add up to big bucks this weekend at the box office. coming up, a referee that can take a punch and was this david beckham's last game in the u.s.? you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry and here are some of your top headlines this morning. jury deliberations begin today in the involuntary manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor. in closing arguments they said dr. conrad murray gave him the propofol. idaho is the first state to require high school students to take online courses to graduate 37 supporters say virtual classes will save money while opponents say teachers are being replaced with computers. the michigan senate passed legislation requiring school districts to develop antibullying policies but last-minute language in the bill is drawing fire. the bill protects statements of,

quote, a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, voluntary or, pupil, pupil's parents. a man for whom the bill was named says it will allow anyone to bully and cite religious belief. president obama has reclaimed the list on forbes' list of most powerful people. vladimir putin came in second and chinese president hu jintao fell to third. authorities in brazil has released video of officers ramming their car into a small plane to stop it from taking off. police say the plane was carrying more than $100,000 worth of smuggled electronic goods. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,044 after

climbing 208 points yesterday. the s&p jumped 23 points. the nasdaq spiked 57. taking a look at overseas trading this morning n tokyo the nikkei rows 160 points, while in hong kong the hang seng skyrocketed 600. well, faced with expulsion from the european union and revolt in his own government, greece's prime minister backed off a national referendum on europe's debt crisis plan thursday and wall street breathed a big sigh of relief. stocks rallied after embattled greek leader george papandreou not only gave up the referendum many feared could destabilize global markets but agreed to resign soon. also reigniting european optimism, european central bank cut interest rates. good job news also fueled

the market. unemployment applications fell last week, below 400,000, for only the third time since april. a sign layoffs are easing. today the labor department releases the all-important monthly jobs report with most analysts forecasting 95,000 to 100,000 added jobs. in earnings, qualcomm gained after posting strong results. kellogg sank on earnings that fell even further than analysts expected. estee lauder spying spiked on strong global sales. after the bell, starbucks rose on higher profits. groupon's ipo after they raised the price per share to $20. the world's daily deals leader is now valued at almost $13 billion. an airline trade group predicts passengers traveling this thanksgiving will fall about 2%. thanks to flight cuts,there will not be any empty seats. finally, how's this for job security? saying he doesn't believe in scapegoats, german's finance

minister says he won't be firing accountants who made a $75 billion book keeping blunder. they lucked out there. coming up, david beckham drama in the playoffs. the dangers of being a hockey referee. and detroit is down in the dumps. plus, it's not exactly textbook shootout style but it worked. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the old quick stop. good morning, everyone. your weekend forecast is coming up. it looks nice in most areas. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, the nba should take notice. with basketball out of action due to the owners' lockout, hockey is getting an awful lot of attention these days. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. what in the world has happened to the red wings? the stanley cup favorites have fallen on hard times and hit a new low last night. against the flames this is how the season has gone for the wings. lee stempniak shot from a terrible angle and beat howard. third period wings turned it over in their own end and iginla made them pay. second of the night. red wings lost sixth straight, 4-1. handful of shootouts last night. in philly, danny briar put on the brakes and beat the goalie. he gave the goalie a faceful of

snow. devils won it 4-3. to new york, rangers and ducks, eric christianson said, fake the goalie one way, slip it between his puck. that's pretty. panthers with a shootout in the final two minutes but celebration short lived. patrick kane forehand/backhand goal, chicago won 3-2. mls playoffs. this could have been david beckham's last game with the galaxy but their still alive. beckham went up and came down hard. he was woozy but stayed in the game. galaxy are glad he did. off the corner kick, beckham bends it to mcgee who scored on the header beating red bulls 2-1 and advance to western conference final. finally, if you think you've taken a beating at work, you've not seen anything yet. during canucks and wild game, watch the scrum along the board. referee gibbs tried to break up

a fight and punched in the face, twice. two players were done for the night but gibbs stayed in the game proving in hockey, even referees can take a punch. that's your early look at sports on "early today." >> and not look phased. coming up, who are hollywood's most overpaid actors? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. from walks to marathons, all kinds of ways to raise awareness for breast cancer but we'll show you something a little more unusual. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this friday. we do have a shower, maybe an isolated thunderstorm. as we go through saturday, that system will go through the rockies with snow and rain showers. it will not rain all day but showers are in the forecast for saturday. in sunday we will just have isolated showers. really nothing that bad. just hit and miss. see a collection of hand painted movie posters of cult flicks from the 30s to the 80s, it's supertrash. >> thank you so much. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. come day debuts take center stage this weekend at the box office. ben stiller and eddie murphy are

expected to take the top spot with "tower heist" revenge on taking revenge on a wealthy businessman who ran a ponzi scheme. a 30 million dollar opening is said to be in the cards. the r rated comedy three-quel is expected to debut in third place. >> i don't like that immature movie stuff. >> of course not. a smaller opening getting big interest in america's soccer community, "rise and shine," the hard to believe true story of an obscure american player who went to england and worked his way up to become a captain in the world's greatest league. you're headed to see that, i'm sure. and finally, according to figures from forbes comparing salaries versus earnings, drew barrymore is most overpaid, eddy murphy and believed to be in third, will ferrell. i guess it's been a long time since "elf".

>> he does like one really funny movie and four or five that you can forget. >> i am still riding wedding crashers out. this comes to us from wlbt news in jackson, mississippi. where in nearby vicksburg a vast collection of intimate apparel was used to bridge support in a fight against a deadly disease. undergarments from around the world adorned the old mississippi bridge for the fourth annual bras for breast cancer. for each brassiere donated, $1 is given to american cancer society. this year's organizers succeeded their goal bringing over 18,000 bras, besting last year's tally of just under 10,000. way to go, guys. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in georgia there was a special celebration for one panda's first birthday. po, the only giant panda cub born in the u.s. last year was given a wrapped birthday present to mark the occasion. the frozen treat was in the shape of a birthday cake. he wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first but he figured it out in time. in india, three kittens have found a mother's love. in an unlikely friend. in the family dog. the trio were taken in by villagers were they refused to eat and drink, so to everyone's surprise, the dog took them under their wing and has been caring for them ever since. soon other dogs in the house followed suit. officially putting the

canine/feline war to an end. for now. well, for one pregnant elephant in england, a due date really is just a number. after a whopping 700 days, this baby asian elephant has finally made its debut. that's more than a month after its due date. at over 200 pounds the newborn is actually the smallest pachyderm born at the zoo. surprising for one that had so much extra time. >> 700 days? that's two years. >> mom should get a crown -- >> a week-long massage? >> the push present should be amazing. well, it's time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. senator claire mccaskill visits section 60 of arlington national cemetery reserved for military personnel killed in iraq and afghanistan to review an ongoing

investigation into mismanaged records. it's to look at graves unmarked or mislabeled after they found errors in the army's burial system. leading up to this weekend's new york city marathon, about 1500 runners carrying flags from 75 countries will participate in the parade of nations in central park to recognize the global running community. and actor matthew mcconaughey turns 42. all day long you can stay on top the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." here's a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show. pop superstar justin bieber is live on the plaza to talk about his highly anticipated new holiday album. and struggles of the young and famous. former "snl" funnyman darrell hammond opens up about battling his own demons. keep it on this channel for continue local news, sports and weather. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching. have a good one. just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.