critical condition. the debate over medicare takes center stage as the countdown to the convention begins. raging out west. thousands are ordered to evacuate as some of the worst wildfires in years threaten communities. and occupational hazard. a brazilian construction worker survived a six-foot rod through a brazilian construction worker survived a six-foot rod through his skull. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and very good morning to you. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with crunch time. after a day of rest, both candidates in the presidential race are gearing up for a busy week on the campaign trail. president obama head to ohio

tomorrow while mitt romney and paul ryan reunite in new hampshire with one week left before the republican convention. nbc's claire leka joins us with the details. claire, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, veronica. new hampshire is one of the 13 hotly contested states that will provide some results. it's reunion time. mitt romney and paul ryan pair up again in new hampshire this morning for a joint town hall meeting. this comes a full week before they were supposed to appear together again at the republican convention in tampa. >> they had at one point thought they would split up in the week before the convention but now they're going to be together. the dynamic duo out in new hampshire. >> reporter: both teams are battling it out in the granite state for its four electoral votes. obama won it hand dilly in 2008 but this time it's romney's

backyard, and adding ryan to today's appearance just may push the duo over the top. >> he has a relationship with governor romney that i think is a very positive one and i think they're very good together and people see that. >> reporter: meanwhile, both want to keep the medicare debate front and center. whatever changes are made, they will not affect current seniors. >> and the tax issue keeps coming up. one of romney's senior advisors indicated he would release the 2011 return by the october 15th tax extension deadline. democratic maryland governor martin omalley suggested the disclosure may be the reason for the delay. >> but it is tax avoidance at a time when our country needs everyone's help to accelerate our nation's recovery. >> reporter: president obama returns to campaigning on tuesday. he'll be in ohio tomorrow before heading to nevada on wednesday.

in washington, i'm claire leka. a republican senate hopeful from missouri set off a firestorm of controversy on sunday about abortions in the case of rape. todd aiken, the primary winning gop senate candidate in missouri told an interview sunday he opposes abortion even in the case of rape because, quote, if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. aiken added if the rape does result in a pregnancy, quote, the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child. democrats and others responded angrily, including aiken's opponent, senator claire mccass kill who called the remarks ignorant. he said he misspoke. he said his remarks don't talk about his guilt nor the victim. the incident was first

reported by politico which had them reprimand the 30 lawmakers on the privately funded trip. republican congressman kevin yoder of kansas was naked during the swim. a spokesman for house majority leader eric cantor confirmed the report's okay our ra si. here's a look at some other stories making news early in america. in boston, old iron side, the naegs's oldest warship was back, if only for a day. for the first time in 15 years the "u.s.s. constitution" set sail to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its victory in the battle of 1812. nearly 300 were on board for sunday's historic but brief voyage. and st. louis, they just rolled with it. more than 800 people tried to break a world record for the largest number of people doing, what? somersaults. unfortunately they didn't quite

pull it off falling about 100 people short but, good news, they did raise thousands for charity. and in florida they did break the record they were going for. surfing up a 36 foot long cuban sandwich. several restaurants joined forces to build the gut busting hero full of cuban pork, ham, sala salami, cheese, pickles. the leftovers were donated to a local food bank. finally, in california, one gentleman who never leaves one morsel of food behind. joey, the competitive eater from his numerous wins at the coney island hot dog eating contest. chet nut brought his "a" game downing 266 appetizers in just ten minutes. and, yes, that too shattered a world record. congratulations. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins for a weather channel forecast. hungry? >> i consumed a lot of food this

last weekend. i just made me skip the breakfast. >> between the cuban sandwich and the other. i know. too early for this, isn't it? >> it was for me. good morning, everyone. around the west the big story this week, it was the fires. most of them continue to burn in rural areas. for the most part only a couple small towns had to be evacuated. we're not seeing any relief. we're still seeing a couple of dry base thunderstorms. there's not enough moisture around in the atmosphere for when the pop-up storms do occur for the rain to hit the ground. sometimes if they evaporate, they still have the lightening. you don't get the benefit of the rain but you get the punishment of the lightening which can start more fires. that's what we're dealing with out there. still very warm. 90s widespread. the interior sections are by the kostist coastal areas, excuse me, the only hot stuff this morning is down here in the desert. there's not a lot on the map. big division. cool canadian beautiful air

through the northern plains and we still have that hot air sitting over the top of nevada with this area of high pressure. the stationary front is the boundary between the two air masses. i don't see it changing much during this week. forecast fortoday, 96 in boise. we don't like that thunderstorm icon. we don't need anymore fires to start out here. very warm in the desert southwest. nice day in los angeles. 84 and mostly sunny. the coast line today. monterey, areas like that could be a little on the cool side. we'll take a look at tuesday. hopefully we'll try to get some changeable weather for the west. >> 84 degrees in los angeles, george gourge day. >> no problems there. >> focus on home sales, oil rising and if you own a 1968 ford gt 40, have we got news for

you. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, a surprising lack of box office punch from whitney houston's last performance. a new bronze bomber, andrew's luck runs out and a 19th inning marathon in st. louis. you're watching "early today." >> announcer: "early today" is brought to you by advil. make the switch to advil now.

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning. hundreds of homes in idaho are under mandatory evacuation order because of a 130-square mile wildfire northeast of boise. in northern california, about 3500 homes are threatened by a fire that's destroyed four homes and consumed 19 square mile. in london, julian assange spoke from the balcony of the ecuadorian embassy where he's been holed up to avoid extradition to sweden.

assange claims he's the victim of a witch hunt over his website, wikileaks. hollywood director tony scott has died after jumping from a los angeles bridge in what's being investigated as a suicide. he directed such blockbusters as "top gun," "days of thunder" and "beverly cops ii." doctors in brazil say a 24-year-old construction worker is in good condition after having a six-foot rod removed from his skill. skull. it fell from a building in construction. curiosity fired its laser for the first time, using the beam to break apart a rock called coronation. it was hit with 30 laser pulses during a ten-second period. here's an outlook at wall street.

dow opens at 13275 after gaining 25 points. the nasdaq was up. the nasdaq rose 14. in tokyo, the nikkei added eight point. in hong kong, the hang seng lost 11. low volume has helped markets move higher this week. this week we'll see if the trend continues. rebounding housing market will be one item on investor's agenda with updated data on existing new home sales. second quarter earning season is winding down and several big names report, including best buy, lowe's, hewlett-packard and american eagle. on the deal front aetna has agreed to buy coventry health care, making it one of the largest providers of government financed health care. oil prices rose for a fifth straight day as they pointed to pockets of health in the u.s. economy. gas prices in the u.s. are up five cents in the past week to a national average of $3.72 for a gallon of regular, which is up

14 cent from the same time last year. platinum prices rose for a third straight day as supply worries lingered in the wake of violence at a major mine in south africa. american airlines flight attendants have conceded to a new contract to avoid deeper cuts in the cash-strapped bankruptcy plan. north california producer is recalling romaine lettuce over fears about possible ecoli contamination. finally, a 196 ford gt-40 has set a new record for any american auto at an auction in california this weekend. the powder blue classic used as camera car in steve mcqueen's 1970 film "le man's" fetched a whopping $11 million. the reds walk off, double dingers for one d'back and the pirates have to work for the "w". a messy pit stop at michigan international speedway.

your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. a quiet weather week across the country but we have to watch the tropics. that's coming up next. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. if you're just waking up. this is "early today."

in sports ichiro hit two homers and a japanese teammate added his own gem, giving the yanks a win against their biggest rivals. here's mario solis. >> good morning. yankees' ichiro suzuki isn't known for his power but yesterday was a different story. yanks and sox in the bronx, fourth inning and ichiro flexes his muscle. a bomb into the second deck. new york up 3-0. then in the sixth inning ichiro takes josh beckett deep again, another solo into right. two home runs for ichiro. he now has seven. yanks win 7-1-1.4-1. if you think baseball is a slow and long game, cards and pirates played a six-hour, seven minutes marathon. alvarez gives pittsburgh the lead in the 19th inning. pirates win 6-3. cubs tied in ninth. ryan hanigan not having it.

reds get out of the inning. in the bottom of the ninth, hanigan gets it done with ms. bat, single to deep center, in comes winning run. ryan hanigan is your hero. you know what that means, a shaving cream pie to the face. reds walk off, 5-4 win. houston has a new manager but new manager. d'backs aaron hill with a home run. astro loses under their interim manager. 8-1 the final. nascar at michigan. mike martin leading and lap 65 this happens. bobby labonte gets loose. martin misses him but goes flying into the pits. here's a view from the pit crew. martin skids by, t-bones the wall. no one is hurt. it could have been a lot worse. greg biffle takes the checkered flag. andrew luck made a touchdown on his first nfl past last week. they brought him back down to earth. ike taylor with the pick six. 49 yard the other way.

that was the first of two interceptions for luck. steelers win 26-24. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. when is a winner not such a big winner at the box office. your early morning entertainment headline straight ahead. immigrants prepare for a lot when preparing for citizenship but we'll tell you about one new citizen whose biggest challenge was getting to her swearing in. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." hope you had a wonderful weekend. we did cool it off slightly in the northwest this weekend. still remains hot in the inner mountain west. the fire danger is the biggest concern with any lightening storms we do get, it will be relatively dry in most areas. even the monsoonal flow is a little weaker than it was last week at this time. tomorrow we will increase the chances of thunderstorms in areas like phoenix. in the 70s in the northwest. slightly cooler tomorrow around southern california. overall, not a lot of changeable weather out there. if you're watching us on knsd nfc 7 in san diego, california. celebrate the year of the dragon. at nighttime zoo, china celebration at the san diego zoo. that's your pacific event of the day. >> nice. year of the dragons. thanks, bill. >> i think last year was the rabbit. >> was it? >> i believe so. >> i think you're right.

now here's an early look at this morning's headlines. the box office winner lost a little, not winning by as much as expected. "expendables" man handled the competition with a weaker than expected opening. possibly jeopardizing a third installment. "the bourne legacy" managed second place with $17 million. the stop motion animation "paranorma" with $14 million. whitney houston's "sparkle" rounded out the top five with a soft $12 million opening. the "odd live of timothy green" debuting with $10 million. in seventh place.

this comes to us from news 5 in bristol, virginia, a chinese immigrant nearly lost her dream of becoming a u.s. citizen because her car broke down. amanda was stranded 40 miles from the naturalization ceremony. she begged for a ride and no one would help. finally one couple said yes. after getting her to the swearing-in just in time, they stuck around to watch the moment they made possible as americans helping a new fellow american. >> who's got a better story than? >> i know. quite a feel good. perfect for monday mornings. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

a three-week-old in england is keeping her spirits high. the donkey was born prematurely and underdeveloped front legs. veterinarians were able to save primrose from a life of bow legs by fitting her with pink casts. she can drink milk from her mom without any problems and she seems to enjoy hopping around stables. a competition in finland phone frustration is put to good use. mobile phone throwing contests, they tried to hurl their phones the longest. they were judged on aesthetics and creativity and a junior competition as well, with a straight face, organizers say the contest promotes recycling. right. in germany racers take out

the trash in style. at the garbage can world cup about 60 drivers raced modified garbage cans with wheels. it started from a 39-foot long ramp turning to a nearly quarter mile track rolling on just two wheels. drivers concentrate on keeping their feet and can from dragging across the asphalt. that just looks painful almost. >> that could be my new favorite dumb race. the bed race was always my top -- >> they have to get those on the autoban. they're in germany. time for an early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day right here on nbc. the pew center will release a new report breaking down hispanic enrollment on college campuses. the report will reveal that hispanics are now the largest minority group on two and four year college campuses and they make up nearly a quarter of public elementary students. bp will ramp up clean-up

efforts from gulf oil disaster, assigning 200 workers to mississippi's barrier islands. full-fledged clean-up was suspended in late march during bird nesting season. and finally, happy birthday to nbc's al roker, who turns 58 years old today. happy birthday, al. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments and 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's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. a live update on the progress of 62-year-old endurance swimmer diana nyad who's making another attempt to swim from cuba to florida. and the jonas brothers will make a special announcement live this morning on the plaza. now, keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and 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. stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a terrific monday.