that is a totally feasible prospect as an outcome for this election. isn't this a great country? of s election. isn't this a great country? "first look" is up next. hurricane sandy primed to pack a late october punch for much of east coast into new england. election sprint. romney and president obama crisscross the country trying to reach each voter. >> what is the cure for romnesia? >> well, obama care covers preexisting conditions, so -- >> and pablo sandoval is major league baseball's new mr. october. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc.

right now, hurricane sandy looks to become a menace to folks along the east coast. it's expected to bring high winds and heavy rain, even some snow to some areas. now, early this morning sandy slammed into cubas a strong category 2 hurricane, packing wind of 110 miles per hour. this storm is being blamed for two deaths so far. one in jamaica and one in haiti. so, nbc meteorologist bill karins has been tracking this powerful hurricane this morning. what can you tell us? >> unfortunately, the storm intensified and right now over santiago cuba got nailed in the unfortunate right quadrant at the eye of landfall. jamaica, 75% of the island does not have power and bands over hatedty will cause life threatening flash flooding

through the morning hours. the bahamas during the day today will also take the brunt of this. up to category 2. a major hurricane when it made landfall last night in cuba ask moving to the north at 18 miles an hour, about 440 miles away from miami. the new forecast from the national hurricane center. it parallels the southeast coastline all the way through the outer banks through sunday into monday. that means a glancing blow for areas such as miami, west palm beach, daytona beach, jacksonville, charleston through myrtle beach and back into the carolinas. and then the storm should be captured where it will be appear soared by a big cold front and area of low pressure across the united states. it will become a huge extra tropical storm, a hybrid storm, like a anothnor'easter with hure characteristics and then tuesday through new england and mid-atlantic. looks like a devastating storm.

wind of hurricane, rain, cold air, even snow. i'll break down those details when i come up. to politics now with a less than 300 hours until election day the candidates are campaigning hard in several key states. according to a new "time" magazine poll from battleground ohio it's paying off for president obama. in a survey taken earlier this week of likely and early ohio voters, the president leads governor romney with 49% to 44%. last night katy perry fired up the crowd before the president took the stage in las vegas where he pushed his message and credit sites romney's as backward looking. mitt romney was in iowa with attacks on the president's economic agenda. >> they have been unable to lay out an agenda for what they're going to do to help america. they've been unable to defend and describe what they do to get our economy going again. that's why with a president

that's out of ideas and out of excuses, why on november 6th you're going to make sure to put him out of office. >> in iowa, president obama sat down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with our own brian williams. the president today brian his campaign is doing better than some people had expected. >> folks in your business were writing me off a year ago, saying there's no way i would win. you know, these things go in ebbs and flows. i've been trying to be stead inny term of what i believe in, what i'm fighting for. >> you can see more of inteinten "today" and tonight on "rock center". president obama is weighing in on the richard murdouck's

comments saying even when a rape happens, it's something god intended. on jay leno the president used some language he used in august when scolding todd akin. >> let me make a simple propositi proposition. rape is rape. it is a crime. and so these various distinctions about rape and -- don't make too much sense to me. don't make any sense to me. >> meanwhile mitt romney's campaign says he continues to mourdouck even though he disagree with his xhenlcomment rape. >> this is way outside the norm. this is something you want to see that can't possibly be true. the sad reality, it is all too

true. these men are that close to taking power and to imposing the most draconian, and women's organizations around the country are doing everything we can to defeat these men and i think we will. it is hard for people to really grasp how dire this threat is. >> don't miss "the ed show" weeknights at p.m. eastern on msnbc, the place for politics. here's your first look at some other news going on around america today. we'll begin in philadelphia where an airport date-crasher is now headed to prison. back in march, the 25-year-old man crashed his suv through a gate and then raced down a runway at philadelphia international airport at speeds topping 100 miles per hour. he's been sentenced to 16 months in prison and must pay $92,000

in restitution. over to missouri where one thief armed with an unusual weapon robbed a kansas city restaurant. a suspect dressed in dark clothing, caught on surveillance video, wheeling a a samurai sword. a 260 pound buck will determine if it's among the largest white tail deer ever recorded in the state. florida's mystery monkey has finally been captured. the famous primate has been gathering over 86,000 facebook "likes." yesterday he was spotted, tranquilized and evaluated by a threat. he'll be given a new home at a

local animal facility. what's he been doing for two years? hanging out, getting mcdonald's? for a look at your national weather we turn once again to bill karins. >> you along with a lot of other people are asking, what are the effects? i keep saying historic storm heading for new england and what's going to happen. as far as the storm goes, it's monday, tuesday the worst effects will be felt in the united states. still a couple day as way. we're seeing the radar and now seeing outer rain bands going through bahamas. florida will be brushed by the storm and by florida standards this will be a glancing blow compared to what we're going to deal with in areas of new england, across the midwest we have areas of rain this morning. that's the cold air that eventually will circle all the way around this storm through the mid-atlantic region as the storm goes to the north that could give us even some snow on the backside of this storm come monday into tuesday. as far as what i think is the biggest thing, i would expect all schools in new england and mid-atlantic possibly to be no school monday, tuesday,

generators will be hard to find in the days ahead in those areas. now is the time to prepare and do it before every else does. >> bill, you're tracking it all. coming up, voter fraud in florida. the fbi investigates. also, scientists mixing male and female embryos. is this a good idea? plus, if you are a customer at bank of america, they could be taking a huge hit. details next in business. you're watching "first look "on msnbc. new prilosec otc wildberry

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stories making news this morning. u.s. officials confirm that authorities in tunisia have arrested a man who may be connected to last month's deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. meanwhile, there are reports an egyptian militant also suspected of involvement has been killed in clashes in cairo. the fbi and u.s. postal service are investigating reports of fraudulent letters being sent to florida voters in at least 28 counties questioning their citizenship and their

eligibility to vote. pakistani police say nine people have been arrested in connection with the shooting of the 15-year-old activist who spoke out against the taliban. the main suspect is still at large. scientists in oregon say they've created embryos with genes from one man and two women using a controversial technique that could one day prevent babies from inheriting certain incurable diseases. researchers point out the embryos are not being used to produce children. and some good news for all of us who call earth our home. government scientists say the hole in the ozone layer over the antarctic is the second smallest it's been in the past 20 years, likely thanks to warmer temperature and less chlorine compounds in the atmosphere. now is your morning dish of "scrambled politics."

mitt romney, if you're going after president obama, you might want to wait until the day after he has a chance to fire back on "the late show". >> this goes back to when we were growing up in kenya. we had constant run-ins on the soccer field. he wasn't very good. resented it, you know. >> yesterday trump offered $5 million to the president's favorite charity if he makes his college transcripts public by next week. well, twitter had a field day. "new york" mark's wrote, see trump's $5 million and double it. $10 million to mitt's favorite charity, we know what that is, if he rurnz all tax returns. son of virginia democratic congressman jim moran has retired from his dad's campaign after getting caught in a hidden video camera string.

james o'keefe showed mother ran giving advice on voter i.d. "the washington post" reports the ambassadobama campaign and allies have run more ads than governor romney. finally, look that the picture. try not to focus on president obama during this photo op in florida tuesday. look a little closer. see those two kids on the top row. that little boy used the historic moment to roll the dice to grab a little smoosh from his classmate. don't hate the player. hate the game. nice work. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics.

wall street starts thursday with the dow at 13,077 after losing 25 yesterday. the s&p down four and nasdaq fell eight. today in nikkei rose 100 and hang seng was 76. after the bell best buy spirld after warning of weak earns in same store sales. zynga reversed lower losses. sales rose to the highest level in 2 1/2 years giving home builder stocks a boost. there were no big surprises from the fed's latest policy statement. the central bank vowed to stick with the latest round of stimulus until the job market improves. the government is suing bank of america for $1 billion, claiming countrywide financial unit knowingly sold detective

mortgages to fannie mae and freddie mac, which are now owned by the government. former goldman sachs director gupta was sentenced to two years. american airlines will hire 200 pilots. americans between the ages of 25 and 29 showed the most mobility in 13 years as they strike out on their own to test the job market in big cities. all eyes are going to be on microsoft for its big windows 8 launch in new york this afternoon. and it's a hacker's dream come true. last year's top three most commonly used passwords are still on top this year. incredibly, if the password" is still number one. two and three are the numbers one through six and one through

eight. a few newcomers, jesus, ninja and mustang. what do bob marley, elizabeth taylor and peanuts creator charles schultz have in common? baseball's best pitcher is shelled by the newest mr. october. sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ man ] ring ring... progresso

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pablo sandoval had the game of a lifetime, tying a world sear home run record. take a look. count's 0-2. sandoval hits it into center. back at the wall. good-bye! fly ball into left. back at the wall. he's homered again. wasn't activated until the third week of august. into center. at the wall. another! pablo sandoval with a three-homer game in world series game number one. >> yep, that will do it. sandoval's three homers in a world series game tied the record held by babe ruth, reggie jackson and albert pujols. good company. final score, giants, 8, tigers, 3. game two is tonight with madison baumgardner for the giants and doug fister for the tigers.

even though a full season is not a reality for locked out nhl players the islanders will move 26 miles to the brand new ba barclays center. nfl has embraced pink throughout october for breast cancer awareness month. sunday night refs will throw pink flags from an 8-year-old boy who wrote a letter to roger goodell. diego mardona was one of the greatest soccer players when he helped argentina. these days he looks a little different. he's 51 put still put on a show in a soccer stadium in india yesterday. dancing for the crowd. voted the top soccer player of the 20th century still has mad

soccer skills. for a look at the weather, bill karins continuing to track sandy. >> i had someone ask me, what are the odds if sandy surprises us and heads out to sea, i would say 20%. locked in 80% this storm will make a direct impact and make landfall from the mid-atlantic to northeast. the latest predictions taking the storm parallel into the southeast coast. not a direct impact from carolinas down to florida but from chesapeake up through new england late monday into tuesday is when the storm could move over the top of us. if that does happen, it will be a large storm, like a big nor'easter with hurricane-type rains. not a lot of snow. maybe some in appalachians, pennsylvania in the backside, the northern side, the wind will be intense for a long period of time. near the astronomical high tide psych well a full moon. a lot of problems with storm surge and flooding on coastal areas and winds will be a huge issue too. may not be bad in new england

with power outages but through new jersey and that's where the tre leaves are on the tree and that's where i would be concerned about power outages for axe tendn extended period o you won't believe how rich dely bee parted are. tom cruise is coming up next. [ snoring ] ♪ [ snoring ]

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time for a little entertainment news. tom cruise filed a $50 million lawsuit against "life & style"

and "in touch" magazine claiming they defamed him with headlines that he has abandoned his 6-year-old daughter suri, which the suit maintains is a vicious lie. it's that time again. who are this year's top earnings in celebrities according to forbes. let's go down it. number five, singer bob marley with 17 million. number four, charles schultz, $37 million. number three, elvis at $55 million. number two, king of pop, $145 million. >> i bet most can't guess number one. >> we just told them. number one is elizabeth taylor with $210 million. any guesses why? >> perfume sales a lot. >> good guess. white diamonds, who doesn't like white diamond? she had record-breaking auction of her jewelry, artwork, costumes -- >> all her relatives cashed in, that's the reason. >> i'm sure.

i'm sure she enjoyed plenty of wealth while she was alive. i'm lynn berry. stay tuned. "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. 12 days until election day. if you believe ohio will decide this race, another poll showing the president with an edge there as he does the full nbc circuit with brian williams all the way to jay leno. the question is, which way will the state of ohio tip in the end. with the release of e-mails sent on september 11th this year hours after the attack on embassy in benghazi, the question is how was secretary of state clinton now pushing back hard? the kind of world series performance that will make you an icon. the question is, after big panda's three home runs and