america, it turns out, 2012 is going to be a contender after all. i live for days like this in politics. i've got to tell you. i mean, liberals think the best thing in the world right now is that newt gingrich is back in contention, but everything about today's news, best new thing in the world. all right. that does it for us t from new . . gop shake-up. one candidate bows out and another gets slammed from charges from his ex-wife. reno inferno. a massive wildfire sends thousands of nevada residents fleeing for their lives. and up, up and away. the u.s. air force conducts the country's first orbital launch of the year. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

and we begin with a wild republican ride. a series of shakeups made for a memorable day on the gop campaign trail on thursdayment we learned that romney did not win the iowa caucuses, rick perry dropped out and endorsed newt gingrich and gingrich's ex-wife gave a scathing tell all interview. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington covering all those topics. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. good morning, everyone. that had an impact on what we saw last night. there were four candidates on the stage. the one person who was not there had the biggest influence on how this debate started. newt gingrich's wife of 18 years told abc he cheated on her while publicly promoting family values. >> he was asking to have an open marriage. i refused. >> reporter: gingrich admits being unfaithful but chided cnn

for making it question number one. >> today an exwife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. let me be quite clear, the story is false. >> reporter: this hours after rick perry dropped out and endorsed gingrich. rick santorum questions whether his past can cause him the election. >> i love him. but he has that worrysome moment that something's going to pop and we can't afford that in a nominee. >> mitt romney says he'll wait until april to release his tax returns. >> obviously i pay all full taxes. i'm honest in my dealings with people. people understand that. >> reporter: ron paul says he has no intention of releasing his. >> nobody is challenging me because i don't have any conflict of interests. >> reporter: romney still

leading with gingrich ten points behind. but gingrich is gaining support and romney is slipping. and there are now some other polls that show gingrich actually in the lead by a few points. he also released his tax returns, lynn. he earned $3 million and paid almost a million in taxes. >> tracie potts there in washington. thank you. the former first lady of south carolina, jenny sanford, who has been through a divorce from a politician husband who had a mistress, sanford talked with chris matthews on "hard ball" about the statements of newt gingrich's ex-wife. sanford was asked about the effect it would have on the primary. take a listen. >> you know, i think it will have an impact for some people. i don't know how much of an impa impact. for the most part, people knew that gingrich was on his third wife. i think seeing one of his wives speaking about an unflattering manner has got to have an impact in some respect. it does call into question his character certainly on the

personal side. i encourage people to look at both sides. the personal side f you overcome somebody's moral failings, you also have look at where they stand ideologically and how much does the rhetoric match the reality? in my mind, gingrich falls short on both fronts. i'm going to watch the race very carefully. i think this race has been very long on rhetoric and sensation and short on substance. we have some good candidates running. i think all of them could booea obama. >> don't miss "hard ball" at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern on msnbc. u.s. officials tell nbc news that six marines were killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan thursday. the troops died when their nato chopper went down and held in a province in southern afghanistan. officials say there were no signs of enemy activity at the time of the crash which still under investigation. it was the deadliest crash in afghanistan since august when 30

american troops died after a helicopter was parentally shut down. we do have confirmation this morning that senior al qaeda leader was killed in a recent u.s. drone strike if pakistan. the unmanned drone strike on january 10th hit a compound near the border with afghanistan. the target of the attack was an operations planner. a senior u.s. official says "his death reduces al qaeda's thinning bench of another operative devoted to plotting for the death of innocent civilians." here's your first look at the other news going on around america today. firefighters in reno, nevada, are starting to take control of a massive wildfire. but not before it destroys more than 20 homes and forced 10,000 people to leave the area. vice president joe biden was forced to abruptly end an appearance at a local high school interrupting his remarks upon hearing flames were headed towards the campus.

the fire may to be blame for one death. a new jersey man says it's a miracle he is still alive. you can see why. it is just unbelievable. he was driving by a construction site when a steal beam smashed into his roof. it ripped the roof right off. it was being lifted by a train when it accidentally swung into traffic. if you can believe it, the victim walked away with just a broken thumb. in southern california, another case of delivery people behaving badly. people, there are camera everywhere. this time a man watched as a camera caught a postal worker carelessly tossing a package over his fence. in that box, an anti-cuckoo clock that was shipped ais kro the country. what is wrong with cuckoo clocks, bill? the postal service is now investigating. and at one school in northern california, you won't have to call another country to get tech support. the school is turning to one of

its own students. in fact, many of them, some of them just 10 years old, all trying to fix aging computers. teachers say the kids often know more about the equipment than they do. and now for a look at your national weather, we turn to bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. good morning you to, bill. >> we're excited about the snowment we're a little giddy. >> yeah. i'm saying, you know, it's nice to wake up and see a wlil snlitw on the ground. >> at least it's on the weekend. but for chicago and other areas, that's where we have concern today. people have to get home in the snow from school and from work. right now the snow is coming down over iowa. this will track, as we mentioned, from iowa this morning all the way through southern new england and off the coast of new jersey as we go throughout the day tomorrow. one of the first little mini snowstorms that we've had that's done the journey across the country. we're going to track it starting this morning. des moines, it doesn't look like a lot for you. the quad city areas is where we'll end up with three to six inches of snow out of this.

chicago, your morning commute is dry. as we go through the morning hours, this will start to fill in. and then by noon, you'll start to get the accumulating snows, probably a couple inches on the ground for that evening commute in chicago. here's the storm path. it takes a trip down here right along the ohio river and off the mid-atlantic coast. areas in white are under winter weather advisories. that's from central new jersey and much of the areas of iowa, illinois, southern wisconsin and ohio. and usually a winter storm warning means we're expecting high snow totals. even in pittsburgh area now is under a winter storm warning. how much snow are we talking about? this is not a blockbuster vent. this is not a huge bliz ar zard anything like that. this is going to be a big deal. five inches or so in chicago. indianapolis, looks like to your north you'll get the higher totals. cleveland, should be about 5. pittsburgh is a tough forecast. you're going to mix in with sleet and freezing rain.

by the time we get to new york, philadelphia, looks like three to six inches. 6:00 p.m. higher in the mountainous areas in new jersey and central pennsylvania. southern new england gets a little bit. northern new england, you're too dry. cold sayer working in. yesterday was brutal in the northern plains. today is a little bit better. again, we have to deal with the snow out there. it there be a fluffy snow, too, in areas like chicago. that is the stuff that is fun to walk in. and that will be the case all day to day. >> all right, bill, thanks so much. google falls short, big blue stands tall and there is no shortage of volunteers for one quality test in florida. you'll see why. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, the bruins score bunches. the heat burn the lakers and penn state has reason to smile. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ kyle ] my bad.

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welcome back to "first

look." rescue workers again suspended their search of the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of italy. 21 people are still missing and 11 confirmed dead. a new audio tape showed the ship's officers initially reported oreport ed reported only an electrical problem. mega upload was shut down and made several arrests for violating piracy laws. they attacked the website of the u.s. justice department. ironically, scientists say they need more time to decide about time. the leap second to be exact. they'll do three more year study on whether to stop adding a second to world clocks to watch the earth's movement. a 60-year-old tradition may be over. since 1949, a mystery man had left a half bottle of cognac and three red roses as a birthday tribute at the baltimore grave of edgar allen poe.

but for the third year in a row the poe toaster did not show up. finally, at cape ka and a half val, florida, a delta rocket was launched carrying a military satellite expected to improve communications with unmanned drone missiles and provide weather information. and now here's your first look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,623 after adding 45 points. the s&p 500 was up six points. the nasdaq gained 18. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei rose 126 points. hong kong, the hang seng nudged up 167. we'll find out how a day of late day earnings impact the market. google fell well short of market expectation onz net income and net revenue. at one point after hours, google shares plunged 10%. on the upside, ibm easily beat earnings estimates.

big blue also promised 10% growth in 2012. elsewhere in late trade, tech titans intel and microsoft both delivered decent reports. they say stocks are both higher. a 12% rise in profit in american express helped it surpass earnings estimates. overseas, swedish retailer ikea reported a healthy jump in profit and revenue. earlier in the day, stocks were steady thanks in part to the biggest drop in weekly unemployment claims since 2008. inle investors also rows morgue an stanley shares. southwest airlines also topped estimates despite higher fuel costs. general motors is once again the top selling automaker overtaking toyota by selling nine million vehicles last year. rupert murdoch's media empire will pay a million dollars in

damages to 37 high profile victims of phone and e-mail hacking and is now defunct news tabloid. jude law and his assistant are among those receiving settlements. and finally, the florida department of law enforcement is raising eyebrows for shelling out $300 on jim beam mixers and doritos to get employees tipsy to test a breathalyzer. all right, coming up, a tragedy in freestyle skiing. yet another college basketball upset and a shootout goal in hockey are just going to have to see to believe. plus, lebron and the heat breakaway from the outmatched l.a. lakers. your first look at sports is straight ahead.

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in sports, on paper the matchup between the lakers and heat promised to be a good one. it couldn't have been more one sided. >> good morning, it was the marquee game of the night. lakers and heat. unfortunately the heat were the only team that showed up. maybe it was traveling across country, maybe it was the time difference. the lakers simply didn't have it. lebron james and company took advantage. they were up by 24. james had a game high 31. final score, much closer than it really was. heat won it 98-87. hornets and rockettes, kevin

martin came out of the game firing. he finished with 32. this one went to ot. martin on the break. missed the lay-up. that's the difference. rockets won it 90-88 in o.t. sat news out of utah. a freestyle skier sarah bird pass add way. the gold medalist sustained an irreversible brain injury last year. sarah burke, just 29 years old. hockey, the penguins are struggling without sidney cross by. they put it together against the first place rangers. malkin has seven goals in the last four games. penguins knock off the rangers 4-1. bruins and devils tied at one in the third. at the blink of an eye, boston took the game over. two goals in 35 seconds. nathan horton and gregory campbell with the honorsment bruins scored four unanswered to beat the devils. phoenix, red wings todd bertuzzi put his own spin on the shootout. made mike smith dizzy with a spinning back hand.

detroit won in a shootout 3-2. how about an upset? illinois and penn state tied 592. how about ten seconds to play? the teardrop that made happy valley cry tears of joy. it's been a rough year for penn state but they're smiling now. they beat illinois 54-52. that's your first look at sports. have a terrific weekend. >> and now for another quick look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. there it is. there's the snow. >> a little bit of snow. just a little bit to play. i'm going to buy my boy his first sled today. i'll let you know how that goes over the weekend. probably won't go well. good morning, everyone. as far as the snow totals go, it will be enough to be annoying for those getting home from work today in illinois, southern wisconsin and northern michigan. in general, a swath of about two to four inches. a few spots could get a little more than that near the quad cities. chicago is forecasting five inches.

indianapolis, they're going to have more snow to your north. you'll get a wintry mix out of this starting off with snow and sleet and freezing rain. cleveland is going to get a little more than detroit. detroit, you're on the cold side of the storm. only two inches or so. pittsburgh, tough forecast for you. you start as snow and then mix in with sleet and freezing rain. eventually later today, the snow will move in through all areas of central pennsylvania. will not be fun traveling on the pennsylvania turnpike. and then new york to philadelphia, it still looks like new york city has a chance of getting more snow than philly. we could mix in with freezing rain in the philadelphia area. two to three inches for philadelphia. i think northern new jersey, mountainous areas of the poconos could pick up close to six inches out of this. southern new england, the heavy precipitation will be south of you. you still pick up three to six. and again, areas in new jersey, now d.c. doesn't look like a lot for you. possibly maybe an inch or so. most of the snow will be to the north of you. so the forecast for today, eventually the snow will move into areas like pittsburgh late in the day. everyone on the east coast,

you're dry today. it will be a chilly day with the wind blowing out there. as far as the snow goes, as we mentioned, mostly iowa into illinois. we're warm today in areas of texas. the west coast got pounded yesterday. freezing rain in seattle. today we're warmer. we're doing the melting to try to recover. over the weekend, of course on saturday seven watching south carolina and voting. rain showers in the forecast. but nothing that should be bad enough to really keep people home. >> all right. thanks so much. coming up, who is america's favorite actor? plus, will sales return to the screen as a gun toting vampire? i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize, improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life.

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welcome back to "first look"ment time now for a little entertainment news. no lovey-dovey teen vampires this weekend at the box office. the number one fillsome about vampires at war. "underworld," the fourth installment makes kate beckham sales after she skipped the third film. it should do well with higher 3-d and imax prices. "red tales," the true story of pilots in the program should earn about $15 million. the 9/11 drama extremely loud and incredibly close starring tom hafrpgs and sandra bullock goes nationwide will likely take between $10 and $12 million. haywire starring former mixed martial arts fighter is not expected to cross the ten million mark. and finally, a new poll shows

that johnny depp is america's favorite actor. i was kind of surprised by that one. clint eastwood and denzel washington tied for second. sandra bullock, the only woman in the top ten. >> why is he always shafted? come on. finally, in new york city in harlem, the president was heard like we've never heard him before. ♪ i so no love with you >> not bad. not bad. even hit the high note. yes, that was the leader of the free world offering his rendition of al green's "let's stay together." the president was headlining a campaign fund-raiser at the apollo theater with more than a few acts were booed off the stage but not last night. no word if he'll try out for nbc's "the voice." shameless plug there. we apologize. shameless plug. >> he was smart. he knew he hit the note and he

stopped right there. >> did you see that? he was a little pat on the back. >> yeah, it's like the seinfeld episode. >> walk away. be happy. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. a destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to tract decent people to run for public office, and i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on the topic like that. >> and that was just the first minute of last night's debate. newt attacke