♪ this morning on "early today," romney/huntsman tie. it's neck and neck in new hampshire after one village casts its vote in today's presidential primary. smashing debut. a wayward deer makes a memorable entrance at a goodwill store in new jersey. and championship round. alabama's crimson tide shuts out louisiana state 21-0 for this year's college football title. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello. good morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz.

new hampshire republicans have already turned out for the primary. last night in dixville notch, the famous town for casting the first votes in the primary, all residents showed up to cast their votes. so far, it's a tie between mitt romney and john huntsman. tracy potts joins us for the latest. >> reporter: good morning from new hampshire. just after midnight, they already voted in dixville notch. they have a record of picking the first place winner. just after midnight, john huntsman and mitt romney tied in dixville notch. >> i hope you'll be able to give me a bigger margin of victory than i got in iowa. >> reporter: romney's the clear front runner in iowa today, but will it be a big win? his support has eroded 10% in

just a week. gingrich predicts he'll do better than expected. >> mccain was behind in 2000. we'll see. i sense a lot of momentum. >> reporter: ron paul is polling second here. >> he's winning hearts and minds. >> reporter: john hauntsman told a standing-room only crowd last night he's hoping for a strong finish. >> can you feel a little momentum in the air? we're going to surprise a whole lot of people tomorrow night. >> reporter: his supporters predict success today. >> he's worked incredibly hard in new hampshire. i think that deserves to be rewarded as well. >> reporter: rick santorum is not expected to pull off another iowa surprise. rick perry's focused on south carolina. >> iowa, new hampshire. they are a process. south carolina picks presidents. that's what you do. >> reporter: in 60 years, no republican has won the nomination without getting first or second place here in new

hampshire. veronica. >> tracy, thank you. a shake-up in the white house to tell you about. william z william daley is stepping down. it was thought he would stay on through the election. the president said yesterday daley wanted to return to his family in chicago. after praising daley, the president named jack lew as his new chief of staff. unlike daley, he has extensive experience and relationships with congress. last night's bcs title game at the super dome in new orleans, the crimson tide of alabama avenged an early season loss to the tigers of lsu. here's nbc's freg roggin. >> good morning. alabama came into last night's game as the second ranked team in the nation and left new orleans as national champs. with a combination of field goals and stifling defense, the crimson tide led from start to finish against lsu. jeremy shelly provided all the

offense they needed with five field goals. the defense did the rest. they shut out the tigers. alabama wins its second national title in three years 21-0. we'll have much more on the bcs title game coming up in sports. for now, back to you. >> thank you, fred. see you soon. here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. there was nothing stealthy about an atm heist inside a florida nail salon. robbers broke in using their car to smash through the door. the thieves abandoned the car after escaping with stolen property. no arrests have been made. security cameras are rolling at a new jersey store when a deer smashed through the glass doors of a goodwill store. after the animal regained its footing, it quickly made an exit through the same way it came in. much of the nation misses winter snowfall. cordova, alaska, has been buried under more than 10 feet of white stuff. look at these pictures. officials have declared the town of 2200 a disaster area,

triggering state assistance. the national guard has arrived to dig out homes and businesses. dozens of troops have a tough job ahead. 82 inches of snow fell in december. 56 inches have already accumulated in the first eight days of january. wow. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. put it into perspective. that's a lot of snow. >> they get snow there, but this has been, you know, double what they normally should be getting. >> wow, really? >> but alaska's had a brutal winter. it's been plenty cold. unlike the west, they've been getting the storms. they have another one this morning. let's look at the satellite radar in the gulf of alaska. there's another storm system. it's been so cold up in alaska, everything is falling as snow. there's no rain with this storm system. the storm itself is just to the bottom of your screen. you can see the bright white clouds. a lot of this moisture won't make it into central alaska, but we are watching blizzard conditions down here in some southern areas.

the forecast today, anchorage, snow for you. that town of cordova is located right where my finger is here. just to the north of the coast. it's a little inland fishing community. as far as the west goes, we are watching a cold front draping down over the northern rockies. just enough moisture for a little bit of light snow. some winter weather advisories through northern idaho. also rain showers along the front. the green is the rain. you can see the colder air starting to filter in from the north. everything is turning over to white here. some of those ski areas that could use some fresh powder are getting a little bit. forecast today, other areas of the west. you look just fine. more clouds than you'd probably like in northern california. still mild. yesterday was 74 in l.a. today, a nice 72. phoenix n a great stretch of nice, cool mornings and warm fternoons.

areas. fresno, a nice day. same in san jose. we're going to continue to watch tranquil weather in the west. no big storms. it's the opposite of what we thought going into winter. >> 72 degrees in los angeles? >> yeah, a little cooler than it's been lately. >> normally it's in the 80s. i'm supposed to get a dollar every time. they're suffering. it's freezing there. thanks, bill. alcoa starts off earnings. netflix flies. and construction chinese style. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, she can't get a role and can't stay out of trouble, but suddenly she's been offered a part any actress would die for. coming up, the alabama crimson tide are national champs. michael jordan got his number 23 from president obama? you're watching "early today."

good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. u.s. drug agents have gone to mexico and helped launder millions of dollars for a powerful drug trafficker they were targeting. they conducted wire transferred to smuggle cash and cocaine out of the country. a kosovo-born man is under arrest accused of plotting terror attacks around florida. the 25-year-old recorded a video shortly before his arrest calling the planned bombings pay back for wrong done to muslims. searchers have found three men who went missing while exploring a cave system in west virginia. the men had intended to spend saturday night in the cave but were later reported missing by their family when they didn't come home sunday night. the obama administration has

proposed a new ban on mining near the grand canyon. critics say it cuts off access to 40% of the nation's uranium supply. and a 3-year-old girl got quite a surprise during a trip to a zoo in new zealand. a lion started pawing frantically just inches from the child. luckily, they were separated by heavy glass. but the girl wasn't scared. she wants to go back to the zoo next month when she turns 4. pretty brave. and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. nicotine may help tune up the brains of seniors suffering from mild memory loss. seniors suffering from mild cognitive impairment could boost their memories with a nicotine patch. the patch also led to improvement in attention and mental processing. for more information on this and other health stories, you can always head to the web. check out the health page online at msnbc.com.

and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,392 after gaining 32 points yesterday. the s&p was up too. the nasdaq also added two. taking a look at overseas trading in tokyo. the nikkei nudged up 32 points. in hong kong, the hang seng rose 138. stocks ended slightly higher monday in subdued trade as investors waited on developments in europe. after the bell, alcoa led off earnings despite lower prices leading them to their first quarterly loss in more than two years. growing confidence is leading americans to take on more debt. november's consumer credit surged 10%, the biggest jump in a decade. google fell after motorola mobility's weak results wazing questions about google's acquisition of the company. netflix zoomed almost 14% after making its debut in england and

ireland, up 28% this year. best on the s&p 500. inhibitex soared 140% on bristol-myers squib buying the company. achillion rose 22%. the company took bids from potential buyers. and keep an eye on juniper, which slipped in late trade. elsewhere, germany's angela merkel and italy's nicolas sarkozy warned germany they must do more before more bailout funds. amazon.com will collect sales tax from indiana residents. they call it an unfair price advantage. the "wall street journal" reports hostess may apply for chapter 11 bankruptcy this week.

finally a chinese firm built a 30-story hotel in just 360 hours and posted a video on youtube to prove it. president obama makes a surprising claim regarding basketball legend michael jordan. plus, more on the tide rolling and the humbling of the lsu tigers. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. after the amazing flooding rains in houston, that system is heading for the southeast. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

a very good morning to you. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, more now on alabama's emphatic claim to being college football's top team in the nation. here's fred roggin. >> hello again. as we told you earlier in the show, the alabama crimson tide dominated top-ranked lsu to win the bcs title. off to new orleans. this a rematch of their game back in november. lsu won that one, but this time it was all alabama. took an early lead on field goals. jeremy shelly hit three in the first half and tied a bowl record with five in the game. crimson tide up 9-0 at the break. picked off jordan jefferson in the third. listen to this stat. the tigers' offense crossed the 50 yard line just once the entire game. when they did, this happened on

fourth and long. dominating performance by the nation's top-ranked defense. held lsu to just 92 yards. for a while, it looked like alabama was going to win with field goals. trent richardson ripped off a big run. only touchdown of the game to seal the victory. crimson tide rolled the tigers 21-0. second bcs title in three years. finally, the dallas mavericks may not be playing like champions this season, but they were honored like champions yesterday at white house. dirk nowitzki gave the president a number 23 mavericks jersey. of course, mr. obama is a die hard bulls fan and joked about where michael jordan got that iconic number. >> you know, i was actually 23 before jordan. >> oh, you were? >> i was. so he got the number from me, i think. [ laughter ] that's what happened. that's beautiful. >> that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin.

joining tv's late night comedy club, and who says he is not crazy anymore. your early morning entertainment headlines are ahead. plus, a brave boy gets to do something most little and big kids dream of. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. if you're watching us anywhere up in alaska today, we talked about the heavy snow earlier that fell on the ground there around cordova. we're continuing to watch that storm heading your way.

you're getting additional snow. no such problems here in many areas of the west. northern idaho is the exception. a little light snow for you. all of california looks good along with oregon and washington state. maybe freezing drizzle tomorrow. still a quiet forecast for most parts. if you're watching on kntv in california's bay area, in san jose see photographs of symbols that characterized the 1970s at the museum of art. >> very cool. the weather there today? >> not bad at all. >> california, they're so lucky. here's a look at this morning eegs headlines. it appears russell brand's post-divorce plans don't include sitting around and feeling sorry for himself. he's signed on to do a late-night comedy this year on fx. he was forced to resign as a bbc host after making nasty prank phone calls.

another host of an upcoming fx show, charlie sheen, told critics he is not crazy anymore. sheen passed off last year's torpedo of truth period as an episode, insisting he's a different person. now he says everything is a lot more focused and mellow and rooted in reality. finally, unable to land a film role even playing a former porn star, lindsay lohan is suddenly in talks to play a screen legend on television. reports say lohan is in early negotiations to play liz taylor in a lifetime tv movie chronicling her relationship with richard burton, whom she was married to twice. taylor died last year at the age of 79. you know, you never know. this could be her comeback. >> you got to start somewhere, you know. lifetime could be the beginning, i guess. not quite the silver screen. >> everybody loves a comeback. also, the charlie sheen story. did he just flip the off switch? not crazy anymore. >> he said it was an episode.

now he's back on the straight and narrow. >> maybe another comeback. okay. this now comes to us from wkyc channel 3 in cleveland, ohio, where one boy was guaranteed to have an absolute blast making his dream come true. michael has battled nerve tissue cancer over e past two years. the 7-year-old had one request when the make-a-wish foundation came calling. he wanted to blow up a building. so this past weekend, michael did just that. he pushed a button to implode an old grain mill. in the process, he lived out one of every little boy's fantasies. that is just great. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day on today on your nbc station. t

right now, parts of china's yellow river lie in suspended animation. that's because it is frozen. five-degree temperatures have turned the largest waterfall on the yellow river into a 66-foot high curtain of ice. formed by icicles hanging by rocks, the seasonal tourist attraction appeared friday, nearly half a month later than last year due to higher temperatures. amazing. new residents are causing quite a splash in russia. a pair of bottle-nosed dolphins and a couple whales have moved into the new dolphinarium. the group performs various

tricks in a water show attra attracting several hundred visitors every day. a ginger bread exhibition has both food and art lovers amazed. the event showcases sculptures and portraits made from ginger bread. 140 well-known artists from around the country used almost 900 pounds of dough to create the exhibit. a portrait of the astonian president is set to be auctioned off on the internet and was the highlight of the show. >> if you've never made a ginger bread house, you don't appreciate that. if you've ever sat that and made one from scratch, you can appreciate how pain stakingly difficult it is. >> i carved a pumpkin once. that was hard enough. >> we'll be up to the ginger bread next holiday season. >> sounds good. time now for a look at stories we'll follow today. a public memorial will be held in tacoma, washington, today for margaret anderson. she was a park ranger shot and killed while trying to stop a fleeing suspect on new year's

day. in the wake of a deadly air show crash in nevada last year, a hearing will be held looking at the risk to pilots and the public from such air shows. the reno tragedy was the first u.s. air show in which spectators on the ground were killed. and in las vegas, the mass ive consumer electronics show starts today. you can stay on top of those developments and other stories as they break on msnbc. tonight, be sure to watch "nightly news" with brian williams. here's a look at what's coming up on the "today" show." john huntsman sits down for a live interview. and "30 rock" stars reveal what's in store for the hit comedy's new season. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and much more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific tuesday.

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