administrators everywhere. we are going to break down the plan straight ahead. would you let this man coach your kid? rutger's head basketball coach, mike rice is in serious hot water after these images emerge. throwing basketballs at their head, their feet. why he hasn't been fired is ahead in sports. before we get to that, the top story at a:00 a.m. mark sanford one step closer to trying to reclaim his former congressional seat. he defeated curtis bostic. the biggest, most significant surprise of the evening, the person standing next to him on stage, his former mistress and now fiance was there with him along with his mother and their sons. he spoke of forgiveness on his road to redemption. >> i want to thank my god.

you know, i used to cringe when somebody said i want to thank my god. it was getting uncomfortable. once you really receive god's grace and seen it reflected in others, you cannot stop and stop for a moment and publicliage knowledge that grace and the difference he's made in my life and the difference he making in so many lives across this state and that nation and this campaign. god may be a god of second chances, voters are a little less forgiving. coming up on "morning joe," a live interview with mark sanford. with us right now, the chief white house correspondent from politico, mike allen. thanks for getting up early today. as we look ahead to the showdown with elisabeth colbert, it could be a close contest. >> mark sanford could lose this.

south carolina is such a republican state. he's in the tank with women. he's running against a woman complicates things. not a single member of the south carolina delegation in congress supported him. that's seven republicans. nobody had come out for him. he's casting himself as a candidate of redemption. figures in south carolina are not so sure. >> stick around. we have another story for you. not to get ahead of ourselves, the 2016 race. hillary clinton delivered her first speech since leaving the state department. she was honoring her former chief of staff at a leadership award. it's an organization she created as first lady in 1997. she laid out her map for women. >> maps can tell us as much about ourselves as about the

world around us. now you can look at a map of the world and see nothing but problems as far as the eye can perceive. that is especially true for those of us committed to the trug l for women and girls. it's not what we see. when we look at the map, we do see progress because we know people who are making that progress against the most extraordinary odds every day, everywhere. we see the opportunities that are there to be seized. we see, we hear those vital voices. >> it's worth noting that dozens of people held signs saying ready for hillary outside the kennedy center. it's where the event was held. a superpac supporting clinton is back as well. vice president biden, mike, a

potential candidate was on hand. clinton congratulated him for what he's done on his work for violence against women act. what are we left with on who takes the lead on the democratic side. biden or clinton in. >> what we saw with the footage you just showed is secretary clinton is to be a mobile political rally wherever she goes. people are excited. a standing ovation for her inside the kennedy center. we already saw vice president biden who is probably going to build up his own organization and possibly run in 2016 already being overshadowed. he embraced it. he said there's no woman like hillary clinton. that's something both sides can agree on. >> thanks. we are going see you shortly on "morning joe." >> happy early morning. north and south korea making headlines. they share more than a name after the last symbol of any

real relationship broke apart early this a.m. north korea is allowing workers to jointly run industrial park along the border. the blockade represents a level of brinkmanship from pyongyang. the north has repeatedly threatened south korea and the u.s. with war. something secretary of state john kerry addressed yesterday during a news conference in washington. take a look. >> the bottom line is very simply that what kim jong un is doing is provocative, reckless and the united states will not accept the dprk as a nuclear state and i reiterate, again, the united states will do what is necessary to defend ourselves and defend our allies, korea and japan. >> a sec american destroyer has

been deployed off the korean peninsu peninsula. the ships are poised to respond to missile threats. the controversy over the jon stewart of egypt spilled over twitter. it sparked an international feud on the social media sight. youssef is free on bail for a segment poking fun and morsi. the u.s. embassy tweeted this link that brings you to jon stewarts defense of youssef from earlier this week. >> for someone who spent time in jail yourself, you seem eager to send others there for the same non-crimes. they are emerging stronger and more emerged. sending them to prison is lowering the quality of prison yard athletics.

>> that tweet caught the attention of egyptian officials who responded tweeting it's appropriate for a dim lotmatic mission to engage in such political propaganda. egypt is taking its toll on a leader source of revenue. "the new york times" reports since the fall of hosni mubarak, tourism is down significantly impacting 3 million people working in 70 related industries. president obama travels to colorado for stronger gun control laws in america. they responded to last year's aurora shooting requiring background checks. it's a significant component to what the president is urging congress to adopt. with them expected to vote at some point next week. the nra is pushing for a different proposal including a plan to put armed security

personnel in every u.s. school. utah got a jump on the idea in december when hundreds of educators showed up for an armed teacher program. there's some of the pictures. state records for carrying concealed weapons are closed. it's hard to know how many teachers are armed in the classroom, something that's been legal there for 12 years. congressman of arkansas who is heading up the nra task force defended the proposals. >> it's a comprehensive plan of layers security, the presence of an armed security personnel in a school adds a layer of security and diminishes response time that is beneficial to the overall security. >> one of the nation's leading teacher unions slammed the report writing today's nra proposal will fail to keep our children safe. it's designed to assist gun

manufacturers. it will simply lead to more violence. that's the quote. later in the day, mr. hutchinson, who is planning to run for governor in arkansas made some concessions on universal background checks. >> i'm open to expanding background checks if you can do it in a way that does not infringe upon an individual and make it hard for an individual to transfer to a friend or a neighbor, somebody that if you are in montana and have a casual sale, we don't want to infringe upon those rights, either. >> the gun lobby responded saying he was not speaking for the nra. we are going to debut the first ever "morning joe" poll at the top of the hour. it will show compelling new numbers when it comes to the debate over guns here in america. clean up continues in arkansas where thousands of barrels of crude oil spilled from a pipeline into nearby

neighborhoods. we were the first to show this yesterday morning. arkansas's attorney general opened an investigation into the case. the department of transportation issued an order presenting the company from restarting the pegasus pipeline until they are satisfied with repairs. nearly two dozen families have been evacuated as they work to remove the oil from their properties. many never realized there was a pipeline near their homes. >> if we wanted to, we couldn't go back. if we wanted to stay in our home, we could nlt. i was there ten minutes max grabbing items. my head began to hurt from the fumes. i wouldn't dare take my children into that. >> exxon will pay for the clean up. the age of the pipeline does not determine the integrity. the company is up to code when it comes to checking it. exxon was fined three years ago for not inspecting another section of the pipeline

frequently enough. let us know why you are awake at this hour. seriously, why are you up? tweet me@peter alexander. still ahead, texas rangers pitcher, yu darvish looking to make history. the final out just one battle between you and history. we'll show you how it ends in sports. the diving video. i missed this. louie giving it another go for the reality show "splash" this time. that and a quick look at weather when we come back. ♪ if loving you is wrong

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you can see the scaffolding is getting bigger on the washington monument. we'll check on the weather now. nbc meteorologist bill karins. we didn't get a chance to catch up on your brackets. you may have louisville, but that's it. >> i had louisville winning it. that's about it. indiana let me down. >> go blue. no doubt. >> as far as today, we are watching the heavy rain in the deep south. it's a good soaking rain. now need them in april. it's a drenching rain right now. southern louisiana heading into mobile and pensacola. driving i-10, it's by far the worst drive in the country. how much rain? one to two inches. a good soaking. not today for atlanta. we could get as much as two inches of rain across north florida. it looks like the rain is going to come up the mid-atlantic. it could be a soaking friday.

again, it's three days from now. it's cold. we can't get rid of this. it doesn't totally go away until next week. the windchills this morning are in the 20s in northern portions of the country. i apologize to those around syracuse that got ten inches of lake-effect snow yesterday. it's a slap in the face. the most snow they have ever gotten in april and syracuse is a very snowy place. 52 and sunny, how much can you complain. >> half of syracuse is on their way to florida for the final four. thanks so much. the 2013 baseball season a few days old. it started off where the last one finished. rangers facing the astros with yu darvish on the hill. he gets dustin maxwell. that's strike three. fifth inning, still without a hit. max well, again. here is the breaking ball.

watch it. yep. he's staring. he stayed perfect into the final frame. two outs now. we are in the ninth inning. the last batter between darvish and a perfect game. >> five previous no-hitters in ranger history. yu darvish looking for number six and the second perfect game. gonzalez, base hit. gonzalez back through the records. no-hitter and perfect game are gone. >> you have to love the guys with their hands on their head. to make it worse, it's like a newman through his legs. a single out to go. had he completed it, it would be been the earliest perfect game. his final line not bad.

8 2/3. rangers skunk the astros, 7-nil. cy young winner, blue jays down one, dickey serves up a 2-1 bomb. dickey giving up four runs, taking a loss. the indians beat the jays, 4-1. from the cardinals diamondbacks, here is a warning for anyone. goes deep. the ball hits a woman right in the noggin. her male companion doesn't dive in front. the cardinals get the win. 6-1. it doesn't help they were playing it 18 more times for his friends to identify him. to college basketball we go. tom per netty is re-evaluating his decision after footage of

rice abusing his players. if you didn't see this, take a look at your screen. espn aired this video of rice shoving his players and throwing basketballs at them. he berated the players using homophobic slurs. they decided not to fire rice at that time. instead, he suspended the coach for three games, fined him $50,000 and ordered him anger management classes. public outrage caused him to revisit whether to let rice go. new jersey governor, chris christie among those to voice his opinion. he's deeply disturbed by the conduct displayed and condemns this behavior. lebron james tweeted if my son played for rutgers or a coach like that, he would have explaining to do and i'm going

to whoop on him afterwards. come on. when they move to the big ten, they don't put him in the leaders division. more good news to share. kevin ware out of the hospital after the horrible injury. the sophomore who played high school ball in atlanta plans to be back in atlanta for the final four. that's saturday. ware told the new york daily news he will return to basketball calling his injury and i quote, a minor setback for a major comeback. good to see him doing so well. coming up on "morning joe," an exclusive interview with mark sanford. we'll ask bt his plan after winning the republican run off for congress. when we come back, we'll huddle up around the water cooler to see what happens when a very large man and a tall man join

forces in a reality tv diving contest. yes, this really happens. "way too early" is back in a moment. ♪ >> i have seen the promiseland. i may not get there with you but i want you to know the night that we as a people will get to the promiseland. [ male announcer ] book ahead and save up to 20 percent at doubletree.com, so you can sit back, relax and enjoy. doubletree by hilton. where the little things mean everything. [ dennis ] allstate wants everyone to be protected on the road. whether you're an allstate customer or not. all you have to do is call. [ female announcer ] call and sign up for good hands roadside assistance today. [ dennis ] are you in good hands?

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thanks for waking up way too early. let's gather around the water cooler to bring clarity to the tonight show hosting dilemma. a deal is reportedly done. the hollywood reporter is out with a piece saying jimmy fallon signed on to take over the tonight show from current host, jay leno. obviously a lot of questions unanswered like when fallon actually takes over and what nbc is going to do with leno who had a contract with the network until september of next year. also, who replaces fall lan? "saturday night live" seth meyer is a front-runner.

i missed this partner dive. we have louie anderson and kareem abdull jamar. nothing says tandem like these two. >> one, two,. >> louie and kareem. >> honestly, who comes up with this stuff. the timing was a bit off. you have to love the leotards. i think kareem only counted to two. they got a 5.75 out of ten. it was enough to keep them on the show for another week. louie, sweet lou, well played. for you, meeting celebrities you would think is not a big deal for michelle obama. during a workshop about the new

jackie robinson movie, mrs. obama introduced a special guest. >> i want to thank harrison ford. i wanted to say that for awhile. harson ford, you think you trip because i'm here? i'm tripping out because he's here. >> first lady is tripping. he plays ricky in the film, which chronicles jackie robinson and his journey to becoming the first african-american major leaguer in 1947. mrs. obama saw the film with her husband. jackie robinson's wife was there sharing personal stories as well. why are you awake? we keep asking this question. it still doesn't make sense to us. your tweets, texts and e-mails are next. "morning joe" is moments away. [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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