this morning on "early today" -- second thoughts. herman cain says he's reassessing his run for the presidency following allegations of an extra-martial affair. under siege. england evacuates diplomats from iran after the embassy comes under attack. and, o, christmas tree. preparations are under way for the lighting of the world's most famous. 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 a tough day on the campaign trail. republican herman cain says

he's, quote, reassessing his run for president despite mixed signals from his camp and adamant denials of a long-term affair with a georgia woman. another oops moment comes from texas governor rick perry in new hampshire. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with all the detail. good morning. >> reporter: let's start with herman cain who says the allegations have left a cloud over his head. those in washington wondering whether he may back off. he said he is reeye cessing the campaign. in an e-mail to supporters he said the latest allegations of an affair are fabricated, unsubstantiated, and helping a friend financially and in his words, she is taking advantage of that. but they are having an impact in iowa and has an campaign ad they can't get off the ground. they don't have enough money. some supporters backed out. yesterday he skipped a party in new york with a big journalist there apparently just not

wanting to be a part of that crowd. also, a new hampshire lawmaker has backed off taking the back his endorsement of cain after these allegations. now, rick perry, yes, another oops moment. listen to what he said and pay close attention to the age and date. >> those of you that will be 21 by november 12 i ask for your your support. those of you that won't be just work hard. >> he got the date of the election wrong, legal voting age wrong and he corrected himself and he said from time to time i make a mistake. >> trac >>. occupy protesters have been pulled out of philadelphia two days after they have been ordered out. protesters embarked on an early morning march after police began pulling down tents just after 1:00 a.m. this morning. so far there are no reports of any arrests.

a similar scene is playing out in los angeles where police in riot gear moved in to enforce an expired deadline for occupy protesters camped in downtown l.a. the associated press reports more than 200 occupiers were arrested but there was no violence. let's go overseas. yesterday vice president joe biden arrived unannounced in iraq. secretary of state hillary clinton's historic arrival in myanmar this morning, she expressed hope that recent flickers of progress will lead to improvements in human rights. let's get back to new york where we are counting down to one of the biggest moments of the year here at rockefeller center, the annual tree lighting ceremony. nbc's michelle franzen is live

out there, it is quieter at 30 rock. good morning. >> good morning. little bit of organized chaos behind me. take a look at the tree all dark for tonight it will be shining and all its glory wrapped about five miles, wires and lights and adorned on top with the swarovski crystal. the tree comes to us by way of pennsylvania. family donating that tree after nearly a yearlong search. it arrived here in new york on veterans day. since then crews have been working around the clock to make sure this tree is ready. that treetoper is not the only star turning out tonight. performances by justin bieber, tony bennett. this is a holiday tradition, not only here in new york city but one that will be watched all around the country as we usher in the official start of the holiday season. >> that's right. thanks so much. be sure to catch christmas in rockefeller center hosted by al roker and savannah guthrie.

performances by justin bieber, tony bennett, michael buble and radio city rockettes. it begins tonight at 8:00/7:00 central time on your nbc station. here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a 1-year-old is fighting for his life after getting shot in the head on the set of a rap video. this is disturbing. the infant was one of seven people injured in an oakland shooting caught on tape. the police investigation has been hampered by uncooperative witnesses who may have returned fire on the gunman. so far, there is no motive and no arrests have been made. one california thief trying to cover up a surveillance camera and forgot about his own big close-up. whoops. a fast food restaurant security tape-recorded clear picture of an atm robbery suspect before he could cover the lens with a napkin. the stolen atm had about $2,000 inside. look at that face. police have not made an arrest.

finally, a nasty cold front hammered the chicago area tuesday. the windy weather fueled 60-mile-an-hour wind gusts as well as 15 to 20-foot waves. crashing water battered lake michigan shoreline shutting down paths used by runners and bikers. let's check in for your national weather with todd santos. good morning, todd. lots going on. >> lots going on. for chicago, winds dropping back to 5 miles per hour. a big improvement there. we are going to start to see winds picking up over the next couple of days across a good portion of the west. underneath some of the clouds you are seeing here on the satellite and radar together, little bit of snowfall copping down. at least still across eastern portions of michigan and lot of that now channeling up into southeastern canada and see some of the showers exiting the major cities. if you are headed out to the east coast looking fairly good from boston through d.c., look at this system. starting to see some cooler air channeling in down towards

billings where snow falling across the bitter roots and getting down into the tetons. late tonight and early tomorrow morning, even start to get some of that back towards denver itself. winter storm watches in effect that go -- really say later on this evening into early thursday morning. some of the winter storm warnings in effect through northwestern montana and those expire later on this evening. the winds, again, start to increase through the southwest. gusts as a matter of fact of the ridge tops upwards of 70 miles per hour. especially as you work our way later on tuesday and again into friday.lifornia, temperatures in the low 40s as well. little built of sunshine through your afternoon. certainly be careful as far as the winds are concerned. more about that. some of the warnings through the daytime friday. >> thanks so much, todd. also coming up consumer

confidence soars. american airlines parents spirals and surprising top searches of the year. he has a license to kill and he's using it on the kardashians. coming up, big moves for the jaguars. nfl drops the hammer. valentine's day in boston. you are watching "early today."

da good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headline. england says it's withdrawing some staff and their families from tehran after their embassy was stormed by hard-line iranian protesters. prime minister david cameron says iran's failure to defend the embassy and staff was a disgrace and would have serious consequences. michael jackson's former doctor, conrad murray, has been handed the maximum sentence of four years behind bars for his conviction on manslaughter

charges in the singer's overdose death. due to california's overcrowded population problem he will likely serve less than two years. following a nationwide manhunt, a 27-year-old new jersey man suspected of killing his 2-year-old daughter by tossing her into a creek has been captured in san diego. and only the royal newlyweds could steal the spotlight from queen's elizabeth at her own party. prince william and his wife kate were on hand for a gala at buckingham palace honoring the queen's upcoming diamond jubilee. here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,555 after gaining 32 points yesterday. the s&p was up 2 points but the nasdaq lost 11. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei fell 43 points, while in hong kong the hang seng dropped 266.

stronger than expected consumer confidence and progress with europe's financial mess sent most stocks higher tuesday. consumer confidence jumped to its highest level since july. topping already optimistic forecasts. home depot and best buy shares jumped. euro news, italian bond yields fell as the government sold 7.5 billion euros' worth. eurozone ministers office greece a christmas rescue package and made moves to beef up the zone's general rescue fund. financials here fell on continued euro concern. bank of america dropped to its lowest closing level since 2009. watch banks today, after the bell, standard & poor's cut credit rating on several, including jpmorgan chase, wells fargo, goldman sachs and morgan stanley. tuesday's hot potato was amr. it plunged 84% to 26 cents

a share after filing for bankruptcy protection. trade was halted 28 times throughout the day. amr made the move due to high fuel costs and a heavy debt load. elsewhere, the government claims cargill meat discriminated against over 4,000 qualified people at an arkansas plant, specifically against women, in favor of asians and pacific islanders. federal officials want to cancel hundreds of millions in cargill contracts. facebook is settling charges brought by the federal trade commission of misleading customers about its privacy settings. and finally, justin bieber topped kim kardashian as bing's most searched celebrity in 20 11. not a big surprise there. this may be a surprise. the casey anthony trial topped osama bin laden's death as top news story search. at least i found it surprising. coming up, a valentine for boston. a shakeup in jacksonville. new york's rangers take another

on the ice. plus, two giants square off on the college hardwood. it wasn't even close. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and as one snow system fades out of the country we'll talk about the new one heading into the rockies coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this

is "early today." in sports, a boston red sox team left in shambles by a summer swoon and subsequent resignations and defections, took the first step toward putting the pieces back together yesterday. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. it's wednesday everywhere else, it's valentine's day in boston. red sox hired bobby valentine to be the new manager. he took the mets to the world series in 2000 where he lost to the yankees. he'll have to beat the yankees if he wants to stick around in boston. lebron james and dwyane wade to watch ohio state and duke. great game on paper. unfortunately, not a great game on the court. buckeyes jumped out to a 19-point lead in the first half. if it wasn't sullinger it was buford, combining for 41. 85-63. football after a 3-8 start jaguars fired jack del rio. wayne weaver agreed to sell it to an ohio businessman, who will keep the jags in jacksonville.

del rio is out and so is ndamukong suh, suspended two games. suh appealed the suspension but expected to miss sunday's game on nbc. hockey. sidney crosby comeback made a stop. crosby may be the headliner. mitchell and rogers scored 90 seconds apart. rangers won 4-3. to washington, d.c., new coach, same results for the caps. hunter's debut is a for gettable one. blues held on for a 2-1 win. carolina has a new coach. florida mathias scored game-winner late in the third and added an empty netter. panthers won it 3-1. a great save from the sabres. puck deflected off the teammate and he made the sprawling save with his stick. the islanders doubled up the sabres 2-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today."

i'm fred roggin. guy ritchie talks about his ex, while demi moore is forgetting hers. plus, the latest chapter in the thrilling saga of the wanna-be super hero. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on "early today." pretty mild morning.

in denver this time tomorrow we could see snow flying around the area. bring something some of the cooler air. winds start to increase thursday evening into friday across much of the southwest. again, breezy evening there. setting off at least weatherwise today billings little bit of rain starting off. snow mixing in later in the day. quieting down from seattle back down through portland. much of the west coast coming in quiet today. as you work in tomorrow keep in mind strong winds starting to pick up. those cool temperatures and snow heading up in denver. looking for about three to five inches mile high city. if you are watching us on kmtr in eugene, oregon, reflecting on past, present and future through art the art of the transitional time of the year at the arts center. >> todd, thank so much. a check of your headlines in entertainment. guy ritchie has spoken for first time in years about his marriage to madonna. the director of the soon-to-be released "sherlock holmes a game of shadows" who slit with the material girl three years ago called their marriage a soap

opera but said it is something he doesn't regret. ultimately it was a very positive experience and says he love the kids that came out of it. a source tells the "chicago sun-times" that demi moore has moved on from ashton kutcher. the source says she she isn't as tense and clearly unhappy as she was all this past summer. it is official. the twilight saga breaking dawn part i broke the $500 million mark worldwide on monday. 12 days after its release. and finally, daniel craig is definitely not a fan of the kardashians. the big screen's current james bond blasts the reality clan in the january 2012 edition of british "gq" labeling them, quote, and we are cleaning this up, blanking idiots, insert word in the blank line. >> i appreciate this.

they are a tough example of kids. even if you don't want to see them they are in your face. >> there is a teeny sliver of myself that says a little bit of -- being skewered in the media but -- the rest of me says -- >> 70-day marriage. >> rest of me agrees with you, todd. this comes from king 5 news in seattle, washington, where a mass crusader has toned down his super hero ways. weeks ago phoenix jones was forced to reveal his true identity after being accused of going too far fighting crime. but sunday when jones and his cohorts chased down a stabbing suspect instead of handing out vigilante justice, they called police. last month responding officers arrested jones on assault charges. this time police were thankful for both his help and letting them do their job. i'm lynn barry.

a slow economy can't keep these from their precious tones. emerald earrings sold for over $4 million at the christie's autumn auction in hong kong. setting a new world record. you can see why. among the jewelry auctioned was also a pair of perfect round diamonds that sold for $16.4 million. the highest price ever paid for colorless diamonds in asia. looking nice there. in china, one massive vegetable may have come in handy at your thanksgiving table. a giant sweet potato measuring over 45 inches long and weighing roughly 77 pounds was discovered by a local farmer at over 70 times the weight of a normal vegetable.

this big guy could feed even the biggest crowd. the farmer had to dig three feet just to unearth this oddly shaped spud. and finally, this is pretty sweet. how would you like to live in ginger town? the fantasy city created by an architectural firm in the nation's capital uses everything from jelly beans to gum drops to accent delicious gingerbread houses. the handcrafted homes will all be donated to local hospitals and organizations around the area to spread a little holiday cheer there, which is such a great idea. did you do that when you were growing up? >> yeah. not a whole city. maybe one little house and then you eat half -- >> the hershey kisses never made it onto the house. it's time for an early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. the house will consider naming a room in the capitol visitor center in honor of gabriel zimmerman, the aide killed in the january shooting that wounded arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. zimmerman is the only congressional aide to ever die

in the line of duty. michele obama will welcome military families to the white house for the first viewing of season's holiday decorations, including two christmas trees in their honor. the white house's executive pastry chef will also unveil a gingerbread white house replica. america's oldest teenager, and dick clark turns 82. all day long you can stay on top of 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. ann curry reports live from iraq where joe biden has made a surprise visit as u.s. troops begin to leave the country. and grammy-winning singer/songwriter neil diamond performs live in concert. 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. ok, trevor

where's the big dipper? over there! trevor is a space wiz and he's battling a brain tumor. he came to st. jude children's research hospital where our pioneering research helps save kids, with brain tumors across america. how many stars are there? oh, that's easy... one... two... three... get outta here. give thanks for the healthy kids in your life and give to those who are not. go to st. jude.org or shop wherever you see our magnifying glass. 5,000,001... 5,000,002...