riding a wave. president obama gets a post-convention boost while mitt romney makes surprising comments on health care. house of cards. explosives reduce a texas tower to rubble within seconds. and cyber snare. why searching for this harry potter star online could be hazardous to your computer's health. very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and much more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with still riding high. days after the democrats' convention ended, a new poll finds president obama enjoying a bounce in popularity. according to a reuters poll of likely voters, 47% favor president obama while 43% prefer his republican rival, mitt romney. nbc's tracie potts has the election latest from washington. tracie, good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. well, it looks like the president did get a bit of a boost. a couple of daily tracking polls released over the weekend give president obama four and five-point leads over mitt romney. perhaps not a big surprise after the democratic convention, but this was. >> come on, man. >> reporter: the only thing more surprising than this -- is the fact that scott van dusen, a big fan of president obama, is a registered republican. team obama insists the president got a big bounce from last week's convention. >> you know what? you guys sound pretty fired up.

>> reporter: he told florida sunday that mitt romney's tax plan doesn't add up. >> you already have deficits. you add $5 trillion of new tax cuts, $2 trillion in new defense spending, and somehow you're going to close the deficit without raising taxes on middle-class families. they did not take their arithmetic course. >> contrary to what the democrats are saying, i'm not going to increase the tax burden on middle-income families. it would absolutely be wrong to do that. >> reporter: romney hits battleground ohio today and wisconsin in a new tv ad. >> here in wisconsin, we're not better off under president obama. >> reporter: on "meet the press" sunday, romney made news saying he'd keep parts of what republicans call obamacare. >> to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. >> reporter: while there are sharp differences over jobs and taxes. >> i don't believe another round of tax cuts for millionaires are going to bring jobs back from overseas. >> reporter: one thing is clear.

it's still a slow recovery. that was evident in friday's jobs numbers. fewer than expected jobs created, and the unemployment rate went down only because many people have given up looking for work. veronica? >> tracie potts in washington. tracie, thank you. sadly, tragedy struck on the campaign trail on sunday when a florida police officer on a motorcycle was killed while escorting the president's motorcade. palm beach county authorities say the officer was struck and killed by a pickup truck while shutting down a portion of i-95 in jupiter sunday afternoon. so far no charges have been filed against the driver. while campaigning in palm beach county sunday, the president said, quote, our thoughts and prayers are with the officer's family. teachers in chicago will be on picket lines this morning. for the first time in 25 years. more than 26,000 teachers and support staff who work for the nation's third largest school district plan to walk off the job after talks failed late last night.

after months of negotiations, the key issues remaining are pay, benefits and job security. the strike will affect at least 400,000 students. chicago mayor rahm emanuel says the strike is unnecessary and unfair to the city's schoolchildren. yesterday one of the year's bloodiest in iraq left at least 92 people dead. a series of bombings and shootings hit more than a dozen cities and left hundreds injured. our english broadcast partner itn reports. >> reporter: as emergency vehicles rush to one incident -- [ gunfire ] there is another explosion. from north to south, iraq has had another deadly day. bombs timed to explode with maximum impact. the attacks began at dawn in the northern city of kirkuk, a car bomb exploded by a group of police recruits waiting to apply for jobs with a state-owned oil

company. at least seven were killed there, but there were many more casualties in attacks around the city. north of baghdad, gunmen killed at least ten soldiers after storming an army outpost. and here in basra, a car bomb was detonated in a popular marketplace. "we suddenly felt the blast," said this eyewitness. "i saw five victims, two of them were dead and three others injured." the attacks have been blamed on the iraqi branch of al qaeda, intent on taking back areas it was forced from before british and american troops withdrew from the country. "the heightened waves of terror and violence are due to a reduction in equipment and intelligence data," says this iraq analyst. "it's encouraged terrorists to use the style of hit and run." the iraqi government is trying to ensure there is security for its people after years of

violence, but since american troops left iraq last year, attacks have once more been stepped up, and death and destruction are once more part of ordinary iraqis' lives. itv news. a court ruling in absentia to give iraq's sunni vice president the death penalty on charges he masterminded death squads. he escaped from iraq in december and is unlikely to return from exile in turkey. here is your first look at some of the other news going on around america. in texas, hundreds of pounds of explosives did their job as an eight-story building came crashing down in just seconds. a former medical tower was imploded and will be replaced with a new medical building and parking garage, but only after they clean up all that debris which, of course, is going to take weeks. also in texas, as we approach tomorrow's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, hundreds of firefighters paid tribute to their comrades lost in the twin

towers. they climbed the stairs of a 55-story building, and they did so twice to honor those who rushed into and climbed the 110-story world trade center buildings 11 years ago tomorrow. finally, a much happier scene in new mexico where they carried out the annual burning of the zizobra known as old man gloom. it is a 50-foot tall marionette meant to symbolize the problems of the past year. it was fueled by notes people write detailing their woes in the hopes that they will literally just burn away. and now for a look at the national weather, we turn to meteorologist todd santos with the weather channel forecast. you just made your way back from mexico. you were there for the festival. >> burning my problems away. >> how was it? >> it was great. >> they're all gone. >> i'm ready for the rest of the year now. at least a few problems this weekend. i'll take you into video of one of the tornadoes that touched

down in the new york city area, this one towards breezy point. it came ashore as a waterspout initially. the national weather service rated this an ef-0 tornado. winds of up to 70 miles per hour. did cause some damage. the width -- i think the widest part of the damage was about 50 yards wide. so by tornado standards, that's actually fairly narrow. kind of a reminder that tornadoes can certainly happen in metropolitan areas. today, much quieter across a huge stretch of the country including off the east coast. you still see that frontal boundary off the coast itself, but channeling some of those showers up towards halifax at this point. southwest, one of the better chance for showers. also towards the northwest corner toward seattle itself and central and southern florida, two of the areas that may deal with some showers and thunderstorms today. fairly quiet across a good stretch of the area. we are watching still along that frontal boundary, that is actually leslie, tropical storm pushing up towards at least newfoundland at this hour, will be there by about this time tomorrow. across the dakotas, talking

about warm conditions running 20-plus conditions average this fi time of year. there's a look at some of the better chance areas for showers. 48 hours from now. denver, quiet today, tomorrow, your next best chance for showers. veronica, coming up, want to take a look at temperatures. for some of us, going to step outside and be downright chilly. >> no, i want some good news. wall street on stimulus watch. expectations for a new iphone. and making a killing on coca-cola? your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a thrilling finish for serena williams. rory mcilroy does it again, and it's back, week one of the nfl. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. jack, you're a little boring.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of the top stories making news this morning.nancia for about $475 million worth of fuel for the afghan national

army. the international coalition can't prove whether the fuel was used by afghan forces, lost, stolen or diverted to insurgents. the afghan taliban is calling england's prince harry a high-value target. and say they will try to arrest or kill him. harry arrived friday to start his second tour of duty as an apache helicopter pilot. in syria, government forces bomb the city of aleppo with explosions, damaging several buildings and a car bombing killing at least 17 people. as rebels targeted the barracks of government soldiers. in cuba, millions remain in the dark after a massive power outage in havana and western parts of the country. no word on what caused the electrical failure. actress emma watson, star of the harry potter series, is being called the most dangerous celebrity to search for online. mcafee software says cyber criminals are using her as bait to steal personal information.

users searching for her have a one in eight chance of landing on a malicious site. and now here's your first look at this morning's dish of "scrambled politics." some interesting numbers have been crunched from the two recent conventions. at the democratic gathering last week, president obama was mentioned by name more than 250 times on just the first night. but for the entire republican convention, mitt romney was mentioned by name only 213 times. that's the entire convention. on nbc's "meet the press," mitt romney denounced the bill that avoided a government default last year. even though his running mate, paul ryan, was one of the backers of the plan, romney called it, quote, a big mistake. paul ryan was campaigning in colorado when he told a radio station that the federal government should not interfere with states that have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. the congressman added he doesn't

personally approve of medical marijuana laws but said that the issue should be left up to the states. okay. and vice president joe biden campaigning in ohio over the weekend ended up with a woman from a biker group on his lap. as two biker dudes watched, biden reportedly told her, quote, i know who runs the show. oh, yes, you do. in florida, president obama met with people in a sports bar and a woman said her son was born in hawaii. so the president then joked, referencing the so-called birther controversy, of course. quote, do you have a birth certificate? a new obama girl video has been released. still got a crush on obama? sounds a lot like the 2008 version because the new singer helped write the original. leah kaufman says the president has created a lot of great challenges. the original obama girl recently said that she's not sure that she still supports him. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." and now here's your first look at how wall street will

kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,306 after adding 14 points friday. the s&p gained 5. the nasdaq was up a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei was down 2 points. but in hong kong, the hang seng rose 25. well, last week's stocks had their best five-day stretch since june. and this week investors are betting on the fed to keep that momentum going. experts are banning friday's weak employment report will be a big motivator for a third round of stimulus to boost the economy. the federal reserve holds its two-day policy meeting this week. elsewhere, the government issues its report on august retail sales friday. word on the street is consumers appear to be spending more money on back-to-school items. wall street will also receive two readings on inflation this week. both are expected to show prices are in check, even though food and fuel prices have been on the rise. over the past two weeks, gas prices shot up another 8 cents to an average $3.84 for a gallon of regular.

expect plenty of buzz around apple ahead of its big event wednesday. expectations are high for the release of its next-generation iphone and possibly a smaller ipad. the government announced it's selling $18 billion in american international group stock. that should decrease its holdings below a majority stake for the first time since aig's $182 billion bailout in 2008. after a big response to its free haircut for kids program last month, jc penney says it plans to make the offer permanent every sunday starting in november. and finally, talk about a wise investment. a predecessor of suntrust bank took $100,000 worth of coca-cola stock in exchange for working on the company's ipo back in 1919. last week the bank cashed in those shares for, get this, nearly $2 billion.

that is billion with a "b." a stellar rookie debut, a tennis pro notches her fourth u.s. open title and a second consecutive golf title. plus a former colt reaches an nfl milestone in new colors. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪

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in sports, it is back to football as most teams took to the gridiron for their first games of the nfl season. here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. the wait is finally over. let's do it. the nfl is back. we'll start in denver where mile high stadium is now peyton's place. manning missed a year because of neck surgery but didn't miss a beat against the steelers. toss to demaryius thomas. watch him go 71 yards. peyton's first touchdown as a bronco, 400th of his career. what a debut for robert griffin iii. found pierre garcon across the middle, 88 yards to the house. a pair of touchdowns and the skins upset the saints 40-32. andrew luck's debut didn't go as well. picked off three times. the bears are expecting big things out of jay cutler and brandon marshall. they got it. chicago beat indy, 41-21. mark sanchez didn't throw a single touchdown in the preseason because apparently he was saving it for the bills. three touchdowns. in fact, the only thing that went wrong was on the sidelines.

rex ryan leveled by scott chandler. popped right back up. jets were all smiles and why not? they won it 48-28. pats and titans. gronkowski picked up where he left off last season. new england up 21-3. but the celebration needs some work. not exactly the kind of spike he had in mind. the pats are happy he can hold on to the ball when it counts. they won it 34-13. from one botched celebration to another, alex smith connecting with vernon davis. touchdown, niners. davis then showed off his hops, or lack thereof. the dunk over the goalpost rejected. this is how you use a goalpost, vernon. david akers, 63 yards away. if it's good, it ties an nfl record. the ball hit the crossbar and went over. 63 yards and a lucky bounce. niners beat the packers. rory mcilroy has done it again. won the bmw championship by two strokes. u.s. open, serena williams put to the test and passed with flying colors. serena rallied, won the next

four and captured her fourth u.s. open title. that's your first look at sports. i'm fred roggin. and now for another look at the weather, here's meteorologist todd santos with the weather channel forecast. you know, todd, when you visit from atlanta, it is mandatory that you bring the sunshine. >> delivered. >> really? >> done. >> let's see. >> yeah, a lot of it, veronica. honestly. veronica's one of the people who doesn't really want to see fall settling in too quickly. many of us will notice it when you first step out the door. 50s around chicago. cooler in central park. even a few areas that actually have frost advisories in place. by the afternoon, some beautiful numbers. we'll still see some showers up towards seattle, down towards phoenix and certain central and southern florida. as we get into tuesday, temperatures starting to warm up a little around new york city. a little bump later in the week. of course, a little cooler down towards billings. for now 90 for you for your monday. veronica. >> you're missing atlanta, 83 degrees. but gorgeous in new york. thank you for that, todd. >> no problem. reports of a huge celebrity

wedding involving two big stars this weekend. plus, hollywood suffers an historically bad weekend at the box office. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge.

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welcome back to "first look." it is time now for some entertainment news. this weekend was hollywood's worst at the box office. since the dark days following the 9/11 attacks. the fright flick "the possession" took the top spot with only $9.5 million. the first time since 2008, no film managed to crack the $10 million mark, believe it or not. now, the weekend after labor

day is typically slow, but this weekend's grosses were down a whopping 20% from last year. the only new movie to make the top ten was "the words," which earned way less than expected. $5 million for third place. it also raises box office questions about bradley cooper who notched his second straight flop. is it his fault, todd? movie's fault? what do you think? >> i'll blame it on the movie. >> okay. what about this movie, speaking of flops? "the cold white of day" which cost $20 million to make. it had a long sit on the studio shelf before being released, earned just $1.8 million for the 13th spot. good actors, too. unfortunately. >> bruce willis. finally according to "people," "green lantern" co-stars ryan reynolds and blake lively were married last night on a plantation outside of charleston, south carolina. he just got divorced like a year ago. >> i know. this is why i think they have special journalists dedicated just to hollywood and entertainment because there's no other way to keep track of this.

>> not me. not me. >> it's crazy. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. mitt romney trailing now in most polls including those in some make-or-break battleground states sits down with david gregory and seems to embrace at least part of president obama's health care reform plan. but doesn't get specific on closing tax loopholes. the question is, what can romney do over the next two months to change the dynamic of this race? more than 4,000 public -- 400,000 public school students in chicago will be without teachers this morning after the city and the union failed to reach an agreement over the weekend on a new deal. the question is, how many days of school will the kids miss while the adults work through their problems? and it looks like peyton manning can still play in the nfl, after all. the quarterback getting in his first game last nightit