u.n. ambassador susan rice is heading back to capitol hill today for more. continuing to defend her response to the september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. as a top pick to replace secretary of state hillary clinton, rice faces an uphill battle after she failed to win over her harshest republican critics yesterday. rice had requested a meeting with senators lindsey graham, john mccain and kelly ayotte. >> how did that go? >> it didn't go well. after they accused of ambassador of misleading the country, rice reiterated that she relied on faulty talking points from the intelligence community. but the senators still were not satisfied. >> we are significantly troubled pie ma by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. it is clear that the information that she gave the american people was incorrect. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before.

if you didn't know what happened, just say you don't know what happened. people can push you to give explanations and you can say i don't want to give bad information. >> i'm more troubled today knowing having met with the acting director of the cia and ambassador rice. clearly the impression that was given, the forgiven to the american people, was wrong. ambassador rice said today absolutely it was wrong.forgive american people, was wrong. ambassador rice said today absolutely it was wrong. >> ambassador rice wasn't able to persuade -- >> good morning, mika. go ahead. i know. i'm tired. >> i'm tired. way too early. >> she was able to persuade senator joe lieberman. >> oh, good. is he still in the senate? >> he's retiring. >> okay. >> and won't be able to vote in a potential rice confirmation hearing. >> she said what she believed was true.

and she was under no political influence from the white house. >> i think it wouldn't be fair to disqualify her based on what she said on those sunday morning shows. >> in a statement following her meetings, ambassador rice acknowledged her initial in-saysment was incorrect saying while we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack as is on which the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. we stressed that neither i nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the american people. despite republican threats to block a potential rice nomination, senate democrats remain hopeful that the u.n. ambassador can be confirmed as secretary of state should president obama nominate her. >> and with the clock ticking on the deadline to avoid automatic spending cuts and tax increases, democrats and republicans are now turning to campaign style tactics to win the pr battle with the american public because the american public hasn't had

enough of campaign style pr tactics. today president obama is scheduled to sit down with more than a dozen ceos, including several who are actually supporters of mitt romney. and then it's back to the campaign trail for the president on friday as barack obama attempts to sell his budget plan while speaking at a toy factory outside of philadelphia. yesterday chuck todd asked jay carney if the president was running out the clock ahead of the last minute deal. >> isn't everybody just killing time until the deadline comes? can seems like everybody is just -- >> they're not killing time to me, chuck. >> until the final week and the jet fumes, people get out of school and the holidays come and then everybody will actually hammer it out? >> look, here's a fact. the president has on on the table a proposal that reduces the deficit by $4 trillion. that is substance. so he has not waited for people

to start smelling the jet fumes at national airport. he has actively put forward a plan. >> top republicans are saying president obama should be spending less time politicking out in the public and more time working behind closed doors in washington to try to hammer out a deal. >> rather than sitting down with lawmakers of both parties and working out an agreement, he's back on the campaign trail presumably with the same old talking points that we're quite familiar with. look, we already know the president's a very good campaigner. we congratulate him on his reelection. what we don't know is whether he has the leadership qualities necessary to lead his party to a bipartisan agreement. >> and at least one top republican is now pushing members of his party to can you tell a deal with the president right now. tom cole of oklahoma urged fellow members to accept a plan tell a deal with the president right now. tom cole of oklahoma urged fellow members to accept a plan for taxes.

senate democrats are optimistic that more members of the republican party will be willing to step away from their pledge with grover nornorquist. >> republicans are deciding they no longer want to be married to this pledge. republicans are saying they want a divorce from grover norquist. that alone is a leading indicator that the fiscal deal is within reach. both sides are still far apart. the discussions over the next few weeks will be difficult. but with each new republican disavowingi grover norquist, th chance of a deal rises sharply. >> apparently wall street is not as optimistic. stocks dipped immediately. the dow dipped 9 poi89 points. house republicans have announced their recommendations on who will claire the committees. and they love white old men.

there is not a single woman among the 19 members that speaker skrjohn boehner recommed yesterday. not one woman. although chairs for the ethics and house administration committees have yet to be decided. that would make sense. on the other side of the aisle, house democrats have not ounced their recommendations. politico says maxine waters has been recommended for the financial services committee who was recently cleared of ethics charges. >> bob dole recovering this morning after routine surgery. a spokesperson says the former republican presidential candidate is doing well and plans to leave the hospital today. dole was mentioned on the senate floor yesterday as lawmakers debated a u.n. treaty promoting equal rights for on the disabled.

as a world war ii vet seriously wounded in italy, dole e-mailed are senators from the hospital to ask for their support on that legislation. >> so new cigarette ads will be coming out soon in which the tobacco companies admit they lied about the dangers of smoking. a federal judge ordered the big cigarette companies to pay for a public campaign to accept blame for, quote, deliberately deceiving the american public. the ads will also point out smoking is responsible for 1200 deaths a day. that's more than murder, car crashes and alcohol combined. the judge's decision caps a long running lawsuit filed by the go. . the ads are expected to run across a variety of media platforms for as long as two years. >> do you know how many people actually die exercising every day? >> those are the ones that smoke and eat junk food and have no idea what they're doing to their bodies? yes, they collapse and die. >> i'm thinking maybe somebody should put out ads talking about

how exercise could be fatal. if you own an iphone, this is probably not going to surprise you. apple has reportedly fired the manager who oversaw the widely criticized apple maps service. i drove right into the pond. well, that guy that put me under water is now under water himself. apple had long used google's maps before switching over to their own map service. seemed like a pretty good idea for a company that wants to own the world. the users quickly complained about incorrect addresses, poor driving direction and misplaced landmarks. prompting a rare public apology from apple ceo tim cook. >> the pond was not a mistake. but if you'd like to see it as one, that's okay. in other business news, latest housing numbers, third quarter home prices rose 3.6% from a year ago with most major american cities seeing their

biggest gains in five years. >> great news. >> yes. let's go to geoff cutmore who is live this london wiin london wi latest. it's pun afunny, while we h the doom and gloom around the fiscal cliff driving equity markets lower, we're at serious risk of good news breaking out on the economy running in to the holiday season. so we have the better housing numbers, up 3.6%. then we had a stronger consumer confidence number and we're seeing the best consumer confidence since, what, february 2008. let's put it in context. we're just in 73 territory on the digits. 90 would be where the economy would be if everybody was happy with their lot. and we're still some way away from that 90 figure. but apparently things improving on the fact employment is picking up. so it would appear that things are getting brighter for the u.s. economy, but, boy, we still

need to bang some heads together on this fiscal cliff because until we're going somewhere on on that, these markets are treading water right now. back to you. >> all right, geoff cutmore live in london. thanks. >> what would you do with 500 pll million? >> i would say that's gambling and that when we cover the story, we ought to talk about the draw backs on people being taken advantage of and never get any money. >> t.j., how close did you get to becoming extraordinarily wealthy just this time last week? >> pretty close. one number off. >> are you going to try it again? you were one number off. are you going to try it again? >> it for a half a billion, absolutely. >> see, t.j. has it right. you've got it wrong. >> we never cover the story. >> so $500 million, my friends. $500 million. think about what you could buy with that. >> and then save your money. >> that you could buy. that's how much tonight's power ball drawing will be for. and so far it's the second

highest jackpot in history behind april's $656 million mega prize. the odds for winning are currently 175 million to one. and of course the reason why you don't care about it is because that's just chump change for you and your friends in the south of france. >> raw wake? >> i don't know. >> all right. as always, let us know why you're awake. shoot us an e-mail or tweet us. we'll read the best responses later in the show. still ahead on "way too early," a possible shakeup in the sec as a coach not named nick saban is offered big money to coach for one of alabama's rivals. we'll tell you who next in sports. and tonight, the annual lighting of the rockefeller center christmas tree. lewis is on location hugging the tree. >> look how pretty he is with his furrowed eyebrows and that tiny bone structure. >> did he just do a little

ballet? >> as dweelicate as a bird. we'll also read your e-mails and tweets. in great britt pin, margaret thatcher discovered political power is not forever. the prime minister of the '80s whitt when she finally realized her own party was abandoning her. [ emily jo ] derrell comes into starbucks

with his wife, danielle, almost every weekend. derrell hasn't been able to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ shirley ] things are sometimes a little tight around the house. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since derrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you, too. tweets. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink.

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does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sound) ask your doctor about spiriva. welcome back to "way too early." so as you know, if you look at the google, they list like e-mail traffic all day. and as you know, we are number one at this time of the morning over -- and i can't even believe

this. we're 247 million e-mails sent just in the 30 minute time period and one of the best ones this morning, john tower just read it. can yyou do that again? >> nick writes mika, you're beautiful even at 5:00 a.m. groowwl. >> if he was a pervert -- no, he wasn't. but that is a perfect segue to checking our weather. >> perfect. >> bill karins is out on the plaza this morning. >> even at 5:00 in the morning? like she doesn't normally look good in the morning? >> i don't. thanks, guys. >> he's trying to make you feel bad. >> i'm not trying to cause any trouble at all. >> so 75, 80 today? how warm is it getting in

morning? >> ft. myers florida looks great. as far as the tree lighting ceremony tonight, temperatures will be chilly if anyone planning on coming out here for the great show, about 39 degrees or so. windchills up this morning because of the storm that kicked through the northeast yesterday. so temperatures will be on the cool side all day long throughout much of new england. windchill for the ceremony about 32 degrees. southern new england picked up an inch or two. the store hm has moved out. temperatures this morning hovering right around the freezing mark, so esecondary roads could be an issue. airports will be clear, no problem. it's very chilly across the entire country. all the way from the northern plains even down to texas. florida is one of the only warm spots left in the entire country. so the forecast for today, nice and simple, beautiful day from the rockies all the way to the east coast. it's chilly, but the afternoon will be dry and sunny.

the west coast, though, huge storm. the next three days in a row, you'll get drenched. a lot of heavy rain all the way up to portland and seattle. but once again, beautiful tree behind me. looks like it should be a good show tonight. weather not a problem. >> sounds like there's no place like home for me. time to go to the sunshine state. my good ths. all right. thanks a lot, bill. time for sports and really surprising news coming out of the sec. the new orleans times reporting that arkansas are trying to lure their division rival les miles to pay fayettevil fayetteville. but miles is already the fifth highest paid coach in college football at $3.7 million a year.

but arkansas offer would actually make les the highest paid coach in the land even ahead, yes, of alabama's nick saban who is on his way to winning his third national championship in four years. miles' agent has denied reports of the offer on. the razorbacks have a history of shelling out big money for their football coaches. before he was fired earlier this year for a motorcycle ride gone awry, bobby petrino's contract with arkansas paid him $3.6 million annually. but he bought with that money absolutely no good judgment. over to you, me come. to a little offseason news in major league baseball thousand. espn reports the mets have offered david wright a contract extension that would keep him in queens through the 2020 season and potentially give him the largest contract in franchise history. wright is already due $16 million at the end ever the 2013 season and according to his agent, the third baseman is not close to agreeing to the extension. sources say a dispute over the

amount of so-called deferred money in the contract is holding up negotiations. wright would be 37 years old, the same age a-rod is now, at the end of this proposed go extension. and marvin miller who paved the way for free agency died yesterday after a battle with cancer. miller served as executive director of the major league players association for 16 years starting in 1966 and led a series of strikes and legal battles that ultimately resulted in winning free agency for players in 1975. when miller became the head of the player association, the minimum salary for player was $7,000. today the major league minimum is $480,000. despite leaving and indelible mark on the game, miller has not been voted into the baseball hall of fame yet. marvin miller passed away at his home in manmanhattan.

ef he was 95. coming up at the top of the hour, republicans stand firm at the opposition of susan rice. is this a fight republicans can win? we'll discuss with the morning joe team. and up next, holiday correspondent, lewis, standing by at the rockefeller plaza. he put the mirror down so he can give us a preview of the tree lighting ceremony and teeth whitening ideas. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again.

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wall street stocks soared high early in the day up of course news of the angus t. jones crisis exploded wide open. today the world wakes up trying to figure out what will he do. there's only one person to go to to get the answer to this and the other questions. our pretty boy is sitting undir what will soon be the lit -- he's lit right now, but the lit christmas tree for comcast.dir lit -- he's lit right now, but the lit christmas tree for comcast.

>> i need to got my spot. it's an 80-foot high norway spruce tree. >> i can't see it. >> it's gorgeous. it's got over 30,000 l.e.d. lights on it, over 50 feet in diameter. hails from new jersey. it actually survived the super storm sandy which is amazing. >> so what's going to happen with an gus t. jones? that's all anybody cares about. >> okay. of course angus wants to save his paycheck. so he's apologizing. he apologized to the producers. he said, quote, i apologize if my remarks reflect me showing a indifference and disrespect to my colleagues and lack of appreciation of the

extraordinary opportunity which i have been blessed. i never intended that. >> so let me ask you, has he apologized for throwing jesus under the bus now? because has jesus changed his mind? >> he's just confusioned. he's a teenager that's a little confused. maybe he's still going through puberty. but the other thing is that -- >> you would thougknow. >> charlie sheen says the show is cursed obviously. he left the show and now angus seems to be leaving. >> lewis, we didn't have anytime. we have to go to break. but there's a second question americans are asking. when the hell are we going to take care of this middle east crisis by sending kim kardashian over there to the embattled green zone? >> that's right, kim ckardashia wants to promote her milk shake shops. and they don't want to let her go there. i don't blame them. >> sorry, i got something in my

ear. what does she want to promote? >> milk shake shops. she's going over there, she's going to promote milk shake stores across the middle east and she wants to learn babout te middle east conflict while she's there. >> could her milk shakes save the middle east? mika is walk away. thank you, lewis. still ahead, why the hell are you awake. [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®.

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