and flying high. thrill seekers in utah take rope swinging to stunning new heights. 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 another candidates' debate. less than a week before the arizona and michigan primaries, the remaining republican candidates will square off tonight. brand new poll numbers this morning show just how close the race is in michigan. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with those details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. those numbers show us that mitt romney is still fighting to win his home state while rick santorum is hoping to transfer that surge in michigan to votes in arizona. rick santorum is the one to watch tonight.

nbc's brand new poll out this morning has him in a statistical tie with mitt romney in michigan, behind by just two points in the margin of error but down by 16 in arizona, where tonight's debate is being held. >> i always have and will win in the states that matter to win this election. >> reporter: santorum is now under attack in a new ad from ron paul. >> is this dude serious? >> reporter: focusing on social issues worked for santorum. now mitt romney's looking right, meeting with the tea party tomorrow in michigan and hammering president obama. >> unfortunately, perhaps because of the people the president hangs around with and their agenda, a secular agenda, they have fought against religion. >> reporter: at tonight's debate, santorum will get more scrutiny, but so will mitt romney. >> he's under the microscope. he's under pressure. he needs to do well. he needs to re-establish a sense that he's the front runner in the race. >> reporter: newt gingrich, far behind in the polls, is trying to connect with voters by focusing on a hot-button issue,

gas prices. both romney and santorum will be campaigning today in arizona ahead of that debate there tonight. lynn. >> tracie potts there in washington, thank you so much. president obama follows up on his state of the union speech today to propose cutting the corporate tax rate to help businesses in the u.s. the president's plan would reduce taxes on companies from 35% to 28%. it would lower the effective tax rate for manufacturers to only 25%. but corporations would lose dozens of loopholes and subsidies to make the tax code more simple and fair. corporations with overseas operations would face a minimum tax on their foreign earnings. the plan faces an uncertain future in congress. on wall street, the dow saw its biggest day since before the market plunged in 2008. for the first time in nearly four years, dow jones industrial average traded above the important 13,000 mark yesterday. we'll have much more on what

triggered blue chip's rally and why it didn't hold on though those gains coming up a few minutes away in business. first, here's a look at some others stories making news. a bridge that connected ohio and virginia was blown up tuesday morning. crews demolished the bridge over the ohio river in just seconds. it was closed for three years after cracks were found. mountain lions aren't known for being afraid, but one spent the morning 40 feet up in a tree after a german shepherd chased it and apparently spooked the animal. the cat spent hours hanging out above a california neighborhood, wildlife officials decided to just let the lion come down on sown. eventually, it did. in connecticut they put the fat into fat tuesday during the annual punch key eating contest. it's a race to see who can chow down on the most polish dough

nuts in a minute. in the end, a long-time winner was able to fend off its hungry competition once again. finally, a group of climbers turned dare devils in utah. built what they are calling the world's largest rope swing. look at that. online video of their high flying act has received more than 5 million hits in just one week. the swingers say they took numerous steps to make the rope safer and because they're outside national park boundaries, it was perfectly legal. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning. >> is that spielberg that produced that? >> didn't it look like it? >> beautiful. >> great quality. >> put my 3-d glasses on. looks great. good morning, everyone. in the northwest, we talked yeerday about the expected heavy rain, the expected river f fl onnging right now.g ight now. the heaviest rains have gone in the mountains of the western slopes of the cascades overnight and continuing this morning. still with heavy rain.

rainfall totals anywhere between 2 to 7 inches of rain. snow levels well above 6,000 feet. in other words, a lot of snow pack is on the ground and has melted too. the rivers there, especially near snoqualmie, that's the worst of it. some of the heavier rains will focus further to the south. storm system is moving through. we're going to knock off the rain slowly from north to south today. doesn't look like the rivers will get too much worse than in the next 24 hours. hopefully after that, they'll begin to recede. now the rains go to the south. portland, your rainfall is going to begin. you're not going to get the high, high amounts like they did in areas of washington state. we could still pick up an inch or two, especially in the higher elevations and western facing slopes. here's a bigger picture of the storm system. just a classic set up with a huge area of high pressure off the california coast. that's keeping all of the storm up to the north. really slow moving too. the frontal system has kind of stalled out. jet stream is very powerful. this is finally going to be on the move during the day today. it will head inland.

we'll get to the rain and mountain snow. temperatures are very warm, even outside of boise and billings. we'll see snow at the highest ef elevatio rain coming in. highs today in the low 50s. thursday's forecast, lynn, looks a lot better. >> all right. good news. thanks. coming up, the dow soars and netflix has arrival and the consumer watch dog has your back. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, after publicly blasting his sitcom successor, charlie sheen has a rare stroke of conscience. coming up a pair of big upsets in college basketball, but was kentucky one of them and the streaking spurs hit with a

40-point loss. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. the u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan, is on lockdown as hundreds have taken to the streets again to protest the u.s. burning of a quran. at least six people are reported dead in the demonstrations. the u.s. has apologized for the burning. in syria, opposition activists have confirmed that two western journalists have been killed in homs. one was an american-born reporter working for the "sunday times" of london. the other, a french journalists. at least 125 people have been killed in government-led violence just since yesterday. u.n. nuclear inspectors say they were blocked from inspecting a site during their visit to iran this week.

that news comes as an iranian general warns his country would consider a pre-emptive strike against any nation considered a threat. "the scream" is going up for auction in may. one of only four original versions. it could fetch $80 million. finally, it could be a real-life water world. scientists say they've discovered a new planet more than twice the size of earth with more water and less rock than we have, but it's also a bit too hot for any of us to live on with a surface temperature of about 446 degrees. now here is an "early" look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. researchers find doctors are overly confident about their patients' ability to lose weight. in the study, doctors predicted 55% of their patients would be likely to follow recommendations for losing weight. but after three months, only about half, 28%, lost at least two pounds and only 16% of those predicted to lose weight

actually did. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. >> announcer: "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil cream. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,965, after adding 15 points yesterday. s&p up a fraction but the nasdaq lost three. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei rose 90 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng gained 70. i mentioned earlier a wave of optimism pushed the dow into prerecession territory tuesday. two hours into trading, the dow broke the 13,000 mark for the first time since may 2008. a green light for greece's second bailout helped fuel the early morning surge but lingering worries about that country's financial stability and some mixed corporate reports here at home dragged stocks lower late in the day.

encouraging earnings from retail heavyweights home depot and macy's added to the blue chip's upward momentum, but disappointing resultings from wal-mart dragged that stock 4% lower and weighed heavily on the dow. meanwhile, kraft reported fourth quarter earnings in line with analysts estimates and barnes & noble fell 4% after missing expectations on revenues and earnings. after the bell, dell shares dipped on disappointing earnings thanks to dwindling pc demand and competition from apple. comcast, majority owner of this network, is giving netflix a run for its money with the launch of an online streaming video service to its cable subscribers this week. johnson & johnson has tapped an insider to replace its out going ceo in the wake of a string of embarrassing safety recalls. the government's new consumer watchdog agency, the consumer financial protection bureau, is launching a probe into overdraft fees by by big

banks. and back to the basics with an egg drop competition. at least one design survived the four-story fall and hopefully inspired local middle schoolers to a career in science. coming up, the wildcats claw the tigers. seton hall shocks georgetown. and the spurs' streak is snapped. plus, a late game surge hands the miami heat a seventh consecutive win. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. much of the country is going to enjoy a very mild middle of the week. but this weekend things get a little cooler. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, college basketball's top-ranked kentucky staves off an upset from mississippi state. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning, less than a month away until the ncaa tournament and last night, fans got an early taste of march madness. number one ranked kentucky trailed by as many as 13 to mississippi state on the road. wildcats proved why they are the most talented team in the nation. miller nailed the three. kentucky cut their deficit to one. late in the second half, gilchrist gave the wildcats first lead of the game and off

the miss and the foul. kentucky up 63-62. miller who finished with 12 off the bench in the second half nailed the dagger from downtown. kentucky finished the game on a 20-4 run. survived winning 73-64 and clinching the s.e.c. title. after gyp supsetting baylor the road, kansas beat number one missouri away from home. seton hall improved its chances to make the tournament for the first time since 2006. stunning number 9 georgetown shooting 61% for the game. jordan theodore 5 for 5 from downtown, career high 29. seton hall dominated ninth ranked georgetown. 73-55. nba looks like gregg popovich didn't care about extending their 11-game win streak. he said the veterans need add

-- needed a rest. portland took advantage and blew san antonio out. jamal crawford scored 20. it snaps the spurs' 11-game win streak. lebron james has perfected the long distance alley-oop. sweet connection with dwyane wade. miami winning seventh straight. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. adele lifts more than just trophies at last night's britain awards. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, just call him the crooner in chief. coming up, president obama sings the blues. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this wednesday morning. we are watching rain coming in -- continuing to come in, i should say, to washington state. now it's shifting further to the south. bring your umbrella with you today around portland and any of the suburbs. the mountainous areas are getting snow at only the highest of elevations. boise, 55 degrees. just all rain for you. even in salt lake city, dealing with rain. temperatures not bad. low 50s. we should see a nice forecast for the end of the week. if you're watching us on knbc 4 in l.a., california, see the costumes stars wore on the silver screen before they struck

the red carpet at the art of motion picture costume design at the fidm museum and galleries. that's your pacific event of the day. >> bill, thanks so much. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. is charlie sheen turning over a new leaf? is it possible? in a statement on his website, the self-proclaimed warlock apologized to ashton kutcher for trashing his work on "two and a half men." last week, he called into tmz life to rant about kutcher saying, i'm tired of pretending the show doesn't suck. i'm tired of pretending ashton doesn't suck. come on. the newly engaged drew barrymore has punched pregnancy rumors. a rep for the 36-year-old actress only fueled speculation by refusing to confirm or deny the story. finally, fresh from her six grammy wins earlier this month, singer adele continued her

winning streak at the brit awards on tuesday. unfortunately, her big night was soured when she flipped a middle finger on stage. we had to blur it. this is after her acceptance speech was cut short. adele later defended the angry gesture saying it went out to the suit behind the event. they cut her off. this comes to us from the white house where president obama doubled down on his newfound love of public singing during a tribute to the blues. take a listen. ♪ come on ♪ baby don't you want to go ♪ ain't no place, we know chicago ♪ >> along with that b.b. king debut, or duet, the president

welcomed mick jagger and other greats. the concert was held in celebration of black history month. it's going to be broadcast on pbs for everyone so see the full version. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in rio, carnival festivities ended with a bling. rhinestone gowns and feathered head gear dominated the party at the annual carnival gay ball. every year, men don makeup and

heels and dance until dawn in what's become the city's most luxurious events, drawing thousands from around the world to gather for one last hooray. in germany, carnival celebrations are just getting started. revelers counted down to the party very early in the morning with hundreds dressed in elaborate costumes. soon, dancing and drinking fill the city streets along with traditional jigs and songs. the carnival celebrations here are said to put even oktoberfest to shame. finally, in london, two ladies may have you doing a double take. capitalizing on their likeness to the middleton sisters. a faux kate and pippa posed for some fake photography. they got the royal treatment in london's fashion week. one says she is often mistaken for the real deal. she says when she's out at club when people have a few too many,

they're like, you look a lot like her. a little blurry eyed. >> kate, a little iffy on that one. >> really? i thought she actually looked a lot like her. she had the hair, the smile. >> do you think she pulled it off? >> i did. but we don't agree on much. time for a look on some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. the u.s. supreme court will decide whether "the stolen valor" act. in washington, the smithsonian will hold a ground breaking ceremony for the african-american history and culture which is expected to open in 2015. president obama and the first lady will be in attendance. actress jennifer aniston will receive a star on the hollywood walk of fame. all day long, you can stay on top of all of those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight, be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at

what is coming up later this morning on the "today" show. a live report on the trial of a man accused of killing his coworker's husband at a georgia preschool. today's professionals weigh in on the collaboration of rihanna and chris brown on two new songs, despite their stormy past. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thank you for watching "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

new this morning -- a suspect in a berkeley killing makes a court appearance this afternoon in oakland as