this morning on "early today" -- wave of momentum. new gop front-runner newt gingrich courting donald trump. scientists discover the most earth-like planet yet in the so-called goldilocks zone. and pet pizazz. check out a new holiday trend and pet pizazz. check out a new holiday trend that's going to the dogs. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. add we begin with an empire state of mind as gop presidential hopefuls make the

most of their final few weeks before their iowa caucuses. former house speaker newt gingrich took his campaign to new york. in addition to drumming up funds for his surging campaign, the most recent republican front-runner reached out for some bright light, big city support. nbc's brian mooar has more. >> reporter: newt gingrich is on a roll in iowa and new hampshire, but he spent the day in new york. courting the support of donald trump. >> i think one of the differences between my party and the other party is we actually go to people who know how to create jobs. >> it was a great honor to have newt up here. it's amazing how well he's doing. >> reporter: the former speaker is cultivating a tea party power base that only grew stronger over the weekend when herman cain dropped out, which spells trouble for mitt romney. >> this translates politically into being out of step with the electorate on fundamental ideological grounds. if you're conservative, you're looking for conservative, and you don't think mitt romney is. >> reporter: in a new ad gingrich echoes ronald reagan. >> working together, i know we

can rebuild america. >> reporter: ron paul is taking a very different tone. >> what's up with these sorry politicians? lots of bark. when it's showtime, whimpering. >> reporter: iowa's top republican predicts nothing but the unpredictable. >> some two-thirds of likely iowa caucus-goers can be persuaded to support another candidate so i think it will be a completely wild ride over the last four weeks. >> reporter: 29 days left and the gop candidates are cramming for their first big test. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. elsewhere, president obama travels to kansas today where he's expected to continue pushing republicans to extend an expiring payroll tax cut. highlighting what he calls a make or break moment for middle class families. now, yesterday democrats unveiled a scaled down proposal, one that includes a smaller sure tax on the wealthy. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning.

ed small kansas town where the president will speak is significant because it's the same place where president roosevelt delivered his popular square deal speech, so many years ago. president obama today expected to say what he said at the white house yesterday, don't tax the middle class. getting to that could be tough. we're looking at $180 billion to pay for extending the payroll tax cut, to keep the 2% in your wallet as opposed to coming to washington. and democrats laid out their plan for how to do that. they are scaling back the millionaire tax that republicans didn't like to just under 2% and they're also suggesting that we get rid of the tax break for businesses and put some fees on mortgages when people take out mortgages with freddie mac and fannie mae. republicans are trying to cut or freeze pay for federal workers. lyn? >> tracie potts for us in washington, thanks. overseas now where thousands took to the street in moe moscow protesting what they called a

rigged parliamentary election. protesters chanted against prime minister vladimir putin after his russia party emerged with the largest share of seats in sunday's election, though that number was drastically reduced. a white house spokesman said yesterday it has, quote, serious concerns after reports of ballot box stuffing and voter list tampering. former ussr mikhail gorbachev told journalists yesterday he does not see democracy in russia's future. a look at other stories making news early today in america. a raging fire burned a colorado buddhist temple to the ground. frigid weather conditions made fighting the inferno a tough job for firefighters. they were able to contain the early morning blaze by afternoon. unfortunately, it wasn't before the house of worship was totally destroyed. a cold weather front in texas produced the season's first snowfall as well as treacherous driving conditions in several parts of the state. light snow mixed with icy road

conditions caused several rollovers and smash-ups. the weather conditions also led to school shutdowns and power outages in western and northern cities. the cold weather isn't stopping the traffic to one texas woman's home. judy has collected nearly 3,000 nativity scenes over a decade. tourists have even stopped by to get a sneak peek at the holiday-theme ed souvenirs she's picked up from all over the world. her collection is so vast, that her husband had to build a separate house for them. finally, right or wrong, north carolina pet owners are adding some color to their holiday celebrations. they are taking their dogs to a spa that specializes in full-body coloring of animals with pet-safe dyes or the lesser stencil decorations. they say calls for the service have been coming in for the last three months. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast.

>> would you do that to your dog? >> lynn, you know me. i refuse to judge no matter how wrong that is. i'll leave my opinion behind. yes, even if it's horribly wrong. >> there you go. good morning, everyone, the forecast in the west, very cold air is one of the coldest mornings we've seen yet this winter season. many locations are seeing their first freeze of the winter season. temperatures are the coldest in the rockies as you can see. salt lake city at 15, 2 in colorado in denver. 22 in boise and even below freezing in seattle. i put sacramento on the map here, 34 degrees. areas near sacramento have dipped to around freezing or just below. we're okay in l.a., we won't get quite that cold. but vegas this morning, first freeze of the season down to 30 degrees. so usually a very cold night like this, things have cleared out. we'll see a good bit of sunshine eventually. the pocket of cold air will warm up from here. it's losing its source from the north and some of the cold air

is going to shift a little bit more into the middle of the country. so with sunshine in place, no storms coming your way. there's a little bit of freezing drizzle concern. a few spots in oregon. so check with your local nbc station for those pinpointed locations. as we warm it up, that won't be a concern as we go throughout the later hours and tomorrow we're also looking at a similar weatportland areas. and the northern areas are typically the worst. a cold morning, but sunshine nonetheless and no big storms heading that way. so it's nice. >> bill, thanks so much. well, coming up, euro debt ups and downs. the business world loses a pioneer. amanda knox inks a deal to ink a book. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead.

plus, bradley cooper's scoop on the next hangover movie. he says this one is going to be different. coming up, a big hit, a must win and a heisman trophy finalists. 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. police in afghanistan say three separate bomb attacks targeting shiite muslims marking a holy day killed 30 people. a suicide bomber in kabul targeted a crowd outside a shrine, killing at least 54 and wounding 150. the head of the faa jay randolph babbitt is on administrative leave after being charged with drunken driving saturday. police said he was driving on the wrong side of the road. the cash-strapped u.s.

postal service says it plan to eliminate next day delivery for first class mail as part of a push to cut costs. 3700 post offices, 28,000 jobs, and half the nation's mail processing centers will be cut. england's royal family is feeling the financial pinch. austerity measures mean the queen's income will be frozen until the year 2015 and that palace repairs will be put on hold. and astronomers say they discovered an earth-like planet named kepler 22b, about 600 light years away in an habitable environment away, but don't pack your bags just yet. scientists say it would take a space shuttle 22 million years to get there. we won't hold our breath. an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,097 after adding 78 yesterday. the s&p gained 12. the nasdaq was up 28. taking a look at overseas

trading, in tokyo the nikkei dipped 114 points while in hong kong the hang seng tumbled 237. stocks rode a roller coaster of european developments monday. investors bought early on news of an agreement between germany and france for new treaty proposals on tighter fiscal proposals to be presented. at the upcoming european summit. the gains were wiped out later on report of possible downgrades for eurozone nations. oil fell about $2 a barrel on that news. after the bell, standard & poor's did place germany, france and others on credit watch negative. the step before a downgrade. that sent stocks lower after hours. still there was progress italy's main stock index jumped after the yield on italy's ten-year bond jumped to the lowest level in a month. european steps reduced demand for gold. here financials led the way as all ten industry groups on the s&p 500 rose. among other gainers success

factor surged 51% on sale to germany's s.a.p. met life rose after forecasting 2012 earning forecast. gannett rose. netflix rose. despite postal service cutbacks that could delay dvd deliveries. incyte dropped. after a downgrade to neutral. elsewhere, former hewlett-packard chairmanwoman dunn lost her battle with cancer at age 58. finally, amanda knox recently cleared in italy for murdering her roommate has hired a lawyer to land a book deal, the same lawyer that handled book deals for the last three presidents, tony blair and sarah palin. the chargers suddenly awake. the bruins keep winning. the finalist for college football's biggest trophy. professional hockey is a tough sport but this is ridiculous. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

we have all the cold air in the middle of the country, wet weather in the east. the two are going to meet up for possibly some snow. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up this is "early today." in sports, the san diego chargers who had lost six games

in a row headed into last night's match-up with the jaguars, suddenly looking like world beaters. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it has been a long time since the chargers won a game. early october, to be exact. last night they ended their six-game skid with a victory over the jaguars. let's go to jacksonville. philip rivers put a complete game today, three touchdowns, no interceptions. aired it out to vincent jackson in the second. san diego up 24-14 at the half. they added to the lead in the third. 53-yard strike to floyd. chargers had their way with the jags depleted secondary. san diego is back in the playoff hunt. they're now just two games back in the afc west after a 38-14 win. heisman trophy finalists have been announced. wisconsin's montee ball, baylor's robert griffin iii, stanford's andrew luck, tyrone matthew and trent richardson have been invited to new york for saturday's presentation.

bruins have been on a tear lately, lost one in the last 15 and latest victim, the pittsburgh penguins. pouliot gave the champ as 2-0 lead and late anywhere the third, bergeron undressed a defenseman and dished to tyler seguin. bruins beat the pens 3-1. on the flipside the capitals who fired their coach last week and continue to underachieve. the panthers scored two goals in a span of 13 seconds in the first period. weiss with a pair. panthers won 5-4. blackhawks rally from three down but couldn't complete it against the coyotes. rabata scored the winner in the shoout shootout. winning 4-3. to new york for the hit of the night. maple leafs phaneuf crushed rangers michael sauer. nothing illegal about it. that's a textbook hit. the helmet came flying off. he actually hit his head on the boards on the way down. he was fine just a little rattled. toronto bruised the rangers 4-2. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. well, rosie gets ready to

say "i do" and larry king gets ready for, well, passing away. your entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus the whole dog and cat thing is mostly just a myth. they're really -- they could be best friends. you're watching "early today."

welcome back, on this tuesday morning, very cold in many areas of the west, the

inner mountain west, definitely winter clothes for the kids and yourself. temperatures warm up a little in the afternoon in the pacific northwest. watch for freezing fog early, especially in areas, valley locations in oregon. california warming up nicely in l.a. after a cool start. and vegas, still kind of chilly, only 55 for a high today. tomorrow, very similar, we're not going to see conditions changing too much. we'll add a couple of showers around seattle. overall we're stuck in a pretty tranquil and cool weather pattern in the west. if you're watching us on khnl news now in honolulu, hawaii, see 13th and 14th century arts that reveals a painting revolution in china, masterpieces of landscape painting from the forbidden city at the honolulu academy of art, that's your pacific event of the day. >> thanks so much. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. there's good news and bad news this morning for the fans of the "hangover" movie. bradley cooper says shooting will begin in september on "hangover 3" acknowledging there were some problems with the second film.

>> it wasn't funny. >> ooh, harsh. he promises this will be a little different. he also says, however, this one will be the last of the series. well, during a taping break, rosie o'donnell told the audience of her rosie show she's getting married to girlfriend michelle rounds, who she met earlier this year in a starbucks. giuliana rancic announced yesterday on the "today" show battling breast cancer, announced yesterday on the "today show", she's decided to get a double mastectomy. and finally, this is kind of bizarre. 87-year-old talk show host larry king says when he dies he wants to be frozen into a state of suspended animation. he told a group of celebrities on an upcoming cnn special, he wants to be frozen, hoping he can be brought back to life when a cure for whatever kills him is discovered. maybe he's got this figured out, instead of a cemetery, we're going to have freezing anywhere.

>> which gets me to the next point, who would you be frozen with. if you could be frozen in time with anyone, just ponder that thought. >> this comes to us from des moines, iowa, where in nearby urbandale, two cute kittens are alive because of a life-saving heroics because of one dog. reagan whined nonstop until his owner opened a bag he dragged home it contained a litter of kittens, most of them dead. tossed by someone on to a rural highway like garbage, just horrible. all but two of the kittens had been crushed by traffic. but now those two have been nursed back to health. they're up for adoption and ready to start a new life. all of this thanks to reagan. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

well, forget the sleigh and reindeer. nearly 250 people dressed as santa claus strapped on their skis and snow boards for the 12th annual santa sunday at the sunday river resort. the charity event drew crowds of onlookers that watched the skiing st. nicks take to the slope. in norway one group takes table tennis to a place it's never been before by moving the intensity of the sport from the table to the dance floor. one director created an interesting act. paddles in hand, they married the swift moves of the game with a dancer's grace, delivering a cutting-edge performance. and finally, if children are

nice, they know that santa will bring them gifts on christmas. what happens when they're naughty? well, a mythical creature is said to punish bad children opposite to jolly st. nicholas. he's terrifying. it's become a tradition for people to dress up each december roaming the streets to frighten children. i have to say, i want to call like dhs about this. this is ridiculous. it looks so scary. >> scary street. >> i guess. it doesn't work. >> no. >> i mean, the cold -- >> the child will be in therapy -- >> the bag of coal was bad enough, now have i to deal with that guy? >> no kidding. time for an early look at stories we'll follow throughout date here on nbc. occupy our homes activists have planned a day of action in neighborhoods across the country that have been hit hard by foreclosure. protesting what they say is the mistreatment of homeowners by mortgage lenders, asking banks

to negotiate with homeowners instead of foreclosing on them. during a ceremony this evening in washington, house speaker john boehner will light the annual capitol christmas tree which he he says stands as a symbol of strength and comfort. during this season of peace and goodwill. happy birthday to jazz legend dave brubeck who turns 91. 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." finally, a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. the family of a 23-year-old model who is in intensive care after walking into a spinning airplane propeller speaks out in a live interview. al roker explores the cut-throat world of daytime tv with his latest novel "talk show murders". keep it on your local nbc station for local news, weather and more. i'm lynn berry, thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

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