>> good tuesday morning. merry christmas eve. right now on "first look," another change to the new health care law as the obama administration extends a key enrollment deadline. two astronauts aboard the space station gear up for a christmas eve spacewalk. target suffers blowback from its massive data breach, plus a holiday shopping bust for retailers. the end of an era for san francisco's famed candlestick park and santa's helpers making a difference for sick children. >> good morning. all right. so if you are up early to do some last-minute shopping you've got a couple hours left, but it's also the last day to get health insurance under obama care if

you want coverage to start january 1st. nbc's danielle leigh is live in washington. all right, danielle, it feels like deja vu here. weren't we just talking about this deadline yesterday? >> yeah, betty. it's a bit of deadline day take two this time. the administration says they're trying to create a cushion and the idea to let anyone who tried to sign up for insurance yesterday but didn't get a chance to, to do that today. this man is among the more than 1 million americans likely breathing a sigh of relief. >> are you married? >> yes. >> reporter: caught in yesterday's scramble to get her father-in-law insurance she has today to finish the job. >> it's better for him to be covered and safe and not worry about it. >> reporter: this morning the website is advertising the one-day extension. so many not everyone who tried could get through. >> wanted to make sure people who were trying to sign up today

are were actually able to and get covered. >> reporter: republicans attacked the last-minute change. >> another demonstration the plan was not ready for prime time. there's going to be problem after problem. >> reporter: health industry consultants warning of problems to come. >> the insurance companies need two or three weeks to process a normal number of enrollments and they will have a week to process an extraordinary number of enrollments with errors. >> reporter: errors that could spell headaches for consumers and insurers are warning keep your paperwork. and even as the sign-up surge, a new poll out today shows that 62% of americans still oppose this health care law. the next deadline is december 31st, that's when premiums are due and insurers in many cases are giving consumers a bit of extra time, betty, letting them pay by january 10th. >> all right. danielle, thanks so much for the update. we do appreciate it. moving to drama taking place 200 miles above the earth. in a few hours astronauts will embark on a christmas eve spacewalk. it's an emergency mission to

replace a critical cooling pump on the international space station. americans rick and mike hope to finish the job they started over the weekend, but adding to the already understandable fear is real concern over the aging space suits. astronauts spent much of monday inspecting them. nasa will broadcast the entire event live this morning on its website. all right. the fallout following target's massive data breach is widening. at least a dozen customers across the country have filed federal lawsuits, some are accusing target of negligence in failing to protect their card data. the heist is connected to more than 40 million debit and credit card accounts. target has issued an apology and is working with the justice department and secret service. a consumer perception survey says targets that dropped steeply on its scale. meanwhile chase is easing. its restrictions on customers victims of the target fraud. they can withdraw up to $250 a

day in cash and spend up to $1,000 a day on purchases. gay rights advocates are hailing a pair of court rulings. in utah a judge is ordering same-sex marriages to continue. the state's voter approved ban on unions was struck down last week. state officials requested a stay while they appeal nearly 700 gay couples there have obtained marriage licenses in just the past two days. and in ohio there is a smaller victory. monday a judge invalidated part of that state's ban on same-sex marriage. while not a sweeping repeal, it now requires the state to recognize marriages on death certificates. speaking of deaths at least 11 deaths are now being blamed on a storm system that generated flooding, freezing rain and snow over the weekend. as of last night, an estimated 250,000 people in michigan were still without power as utility crews work around the clock to repair frozen power lines. meanwhile, flooding in central

indiana has led to road closures, car rescues and evacuation orders. let's get the latest on this holiday forecast with meteorologist dylan dreyer. i don't know, after listening to that i'm not sure i want to hear what you have to say. >> i actually have much better news. >> good. thankfully. >> the whole storm system that made such as mess of so many areas through the weekend, even into yesterday is now finally moving offshore. we do still have some lighter showers this morning across the coast of the carolinas and also into eastern virginia, but it's exiting and we will see an end to the rain and some increasing sunshine. now where they're used to getting a lot of snow through the great lakes, the lake-effect snow machine is on. that northwest wind will cross over the warmer waters of lake ontario and erie, lake michigan and we will see some snow out that way. as much as about three to six inches right at the immediate shores of the great lakes, but most areas away from the shores themselves will see about one to three inches. not too much snow. we are looking at a bigger storm system back through parts of the upper midwest and northern

plains. not for that much snow, about three to six inches, but it's a blowing snow that's going to reduce visibility especially later on tonight. so if you're out and about for christmas eve trying to get back home could be tricky in that area. we're looking at bitter cold windchill with windchill warnings and advisories in effect. it's going to feel like 30 to 40 below, only warming up to 11 degrees in minneapolis today. tomorrow we we're back in the 20s for christmas day. on the east coast it's going to be much more seasonable, what you would expect around christmastime. we'll lose the record-breaking 70s and we will see the 30s instead. >> well, that's more like it, though, right? >> that's what i would expect. >> we're not going to complain. >> santa has a heavy coat so he needs some cold weather. >> let's get the latest in sports from my friend richard lui who is not wearing a heavy coat at the moment. >> no. i'm going west where it's going to be 60, 70 degrees. >> nice and warm. >> yeah. you know, you have to do what you have to do. a very good day before christmas to you. the 49ers clinching the playoffs, talking about the west. it did not come easy. in the fourth, niners lead by

ten. atlanta putting together two strong scoring runs in response. san francisco then up by just three. atlanta, ready to score here, but fumble. goes 89 yards to seal that win. 34-24. that was a last of a stadium record 36 monday night football games at candlestick. they're going to be tearing her down after this season. auburn head coach was named college coach of the year by the ap. he had an unbelievable iron bowl victory as you might remember against alabama. his tigers now in the championship game against florida state. that's going to be a good one. so the heat prevail in an overtime thriller. atlanta has the lead in the fourth when lebron james drains a three pointer, later, dunk, knee in the face of paul millsap. maybe need a little ice after that. then to overtime, atlanta leads again, but michael beasley nails two free throws. nine seconds left, heat win it.

121-119. the knicks get a bittersweet victory over orlando. in the third, carmelo anthony hustling, sprains his ankle, out the rest of the game. orlando cuts a once 25-point deficit to just a few. but can't get it done. knicks 103-98. questions about melo playing on christmas day. ted ligety took first place in the giant slalom at the rock fest. the olympic skiing hopeful christmas prize, betty, over $100,000. >> that's a merry christmas. >> that's right. pay to know him right now. the american is third overall in the world cup. take you to hockey, phoenix and buffalo, tied in overtime, the puck flies up in the air, watch that right there, where does it land, my friends? >> oh, my goodness. right in his pants. >> the goaltender's pants. he does not know that, gets back in and crosses into the phoenix bowl, that's a goal. so yes. >> that is one way to score. never seen anything like this. >> he was not happy. buffalo wins it 2-1 because of

that. >> high school dunk contest. watch this. teenager grayson allen leaping over two 6'8" men and he wasn't even the best. >> that's incredible. >> he didn't win the contest. >> really? this guy didn't win? >> no. not to worry, nine schools have offers out to him. >> i would say so. >> and he chose that little known school called duke. >> one to watch definitely. >> t.o. expresses had his love/hate relationship with philly fans. here he is reminiscing in this carl's junior commercial. >> i had a love/hate relationship with philly. i love the food. >> t.o., you suck, t.o. >> but the fans hated me. >> hey, t.o. >> oh. yes -- >> pretty bad when the kids are harassing you. >> when you're in philly, you know how it works. >> tough town. tough ton. >> thank you. merry christmas to you too. just ahead, edward snowden

says mission accomplished, a christmas meeting to tell you about of the pope and details on a real life bad santa in florida. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. >> hi i'm specialist elliott from kabul, afghanistan. i just want to take this time to say merry christmas to my family and friends. i love you guys and miss you guys. i will be home soon and want to take this special time to say is i love you jonathan. happy one-year anniversary. i'll be home soon. i love you. i will be home. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues

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chief beaden, cat fee knicks afghanistan. i want to say merry christmas to my wife bridget, my kids, and i'm from southern california. my friends down south i want to say merry christmas, san diego. all right. some stories making news this morning. welcome back, everybody. edward snowden says his mission has already been accomplished. the nsa leaker telling "the

washington post" he has already won. he says that's because journalists are telling the stories of the government's bulk collection of data. snowden says that he doesn't want to change society, he just wanted people to have a say in how they're governed. pregnant women who eat nuts or peanut butter don't appear to be raising the risk of nut allergies for their children. researchers say kids whose moms ate nuts five times a month during pregnancy were less likely to have allergies. pope francis paid a visit to the home of his predecessor pope benedict xvi. the two exchanged christmas greetings and prayed together. in massachusetts a fireman makes a daring rescue to save a dog named crosby. check this out, the 5-year-old golden retriever fell through the ice at a remote stretch of the charles river so firefighter dave tied a rope around his chest and actually jumped right in pulling crosby to safety.

it was not easy as you can see. another fireman joined and police had to use gps to find crosby's exact location. that is one lucky dog. a mcdonald's employee site is bashing of all things fast food. one post labels a meal with a cheeseburger and fries a mcdonald's staple as you know the unhealthy choice. at its shareholder meeting in may, mcdonald's ceo said, quote, we don't sell junk food. and santa claus is coming to town to rob your bank, that is. this kriss kringle in central florida donned a white beard, red hat and sunglasses and escaped with the cash. he's on the naughty list this year and no comment from mrs. claus. now your first look at business we turn cnbc's jackie dean ge his. >> good morning to you, betty. the futures are higher after

stocks celebrated with more holiday cheer on monday. the markets close early for the holiday, 1:00 p.m. eastern time. target's general counsel met with several state attorneys general on monday to address their concerns over the retailer's massive data breach. target now facing at least 15 class-action suits and congress wants the ftc to investigate the incident. holiday sales continue to slide. retail watcher shopper track saying that sales fell 3% last week and store traffic plunged 21%. this past weekend was expected to be among the busiest shopping days of the season. betty, back to you and happy holidays. >> happy holiday. all right. here is your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. christmas came early for federal workers and members of the military. they'll receive a 1% pay raise. as a result of the recently passed bipartisan budget. president obama ordered change to take effect in the new year. a big change to the way fema views climate change. the agency will now factor

rising sea levels into insurance programs. it will now allow communities to apply for grants to do things like raise homes and businesses above the flood plain. dave johnson was sworn in monday as the fourth secretary of homeland security. he'll now oversee the third largest federal department in the government with some 240,000 employees. and in the wake of the changing federal deadline consumers are urged to check with their local exchanges as many as five states and the district of columbia are flexing their deadlines for coverage starting january 1st. that is your morning dish of scrambled politics. joining me in the studio for our first look at politics this morning is news day columnist and political analyst ellis hengann. good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you? >> i am great. i think a lot of people, though, are feeling like it's groundhog day because that deadline keeps getting moved to tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. what is this doing? is it really helping anything? >> you know, it turns out that

we americans like to put things off to the last minute. >> you think? >> i'll bet when you were in school you crammed for the exams the last night. >> procrastinator right here. >> it turns out there's 300 million of us just like that. yes. huge crowds over the last few days at the different exchanges. there is a little bit of queuing. you have to learn that word. queuing. >> yes. where you get in line and they stack you up and wait. >> like they've been doing at macy's all weekend. this is the electronic version. listen, if you got started we'll give you until midnight tonight. >> you at least have to get started. >> you got to get it. and all that means by the way, is that your coverage can start on january 1. if you miss this deadline, it will pick up later. >> does it also mean that some of these gop members are right, that this thing is crumbling, not ready for prime time? >> i don't think we know the answer to that yet. i mean, i think what it does, it does allow the administration to pump up the numbers. they want to be able to say as many people as possible signed up for two reasons.

one, it helps the pr and also it creates these insurance pools that the obama administration hopes will be more balanced including some healthy young people and not just the aging sickly. >> well, you mentioned pump up the numbers. let's talk about some numbers because president obama's approval ratings, not doing so well. a new cnn poll has him ending the year with an all-time low of 41% approving him and the question really is, can he bounce back from 56% who disapprove of him? >> well, you know, yes. i mean 11 months which is how long there is until the midterms and another couple years left in s his term, that's lots of time in politics but it does get tougher as the president gets into the second term, the elections are out there. i really think a lot of it goes back to the very first thing we're talking about today. if health care keeps getting better and it is getting better, if it keeps getting better he probably can accomplish some other stuff. if had not he's going to be in the quick sand.

>> a tough one. all right, ellis. we always appreciate your insight. thanks for coming in. >> merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas to you as well. >> coming up richard lui and dylan dreyer here for first buzz and what caught our eyes today and details on holiday heros making a big difference in florida. >> ps 1 from kabul, afghanistan. like to wish my family and friends in new york and virginia a merry christmas and happy new year. love you guys. see you soon. for my frequent heartburn. because you can't beat zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. ♪ ♪ turn to roc® retinol correxion®. one week, fine lines appear to fade.

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i'm sergeant thomas bailey from kabul, afghanistan. i would like to say

merry christmas and happy new year to my family, my mom and dad, nieces, aubrey and hanna, i love you guys and miss you and i will be home soon. on this christmas eve, we want to tell you about a group of santa's helpers who are making a huge difference by bringing smiles to sick children. nbc's mark potter has the story. >> reporter: for a child, there's probably no worse time to be in the hospital, away from home than over the holidays, unless -- the hospital and other caring folks bring the holidays here. >> oh, my gosh. who is that? it's santa claus. >> reporter: at children's hospital in saint petersburg florida, he came from the sky, disguised as a window washer. bringing cheer and a wave to children who could use a smile. >> that is so cool. >> reporter: at the children's hospital in orlando, there were four of them. two santas and two elves,

scaling the walls washing the windows and making new friends. for the kids it's a magical moment. >> hi. >> reporter: for the man from the window washing company playing santa for a day. >> actually i feel like a little bit of a rock star right now. >> reporter: it is so rewarding to make this kind of difference. >> they're very happy to see us and trust me, i'm happy to see them too. they're wonderful. >> hello. >> reporter: around the country children's hospitals and local window washing companies are joining together to help raise children's spirits. we first met them earlier this year dressed as superheroes and now, as santa and his elves, this time of year. >> it will get kids who are laying in their bed not feeling well, to kind of forget for a minute and just sit up and be excited and have something fun happening in their -- right in their room. >> reporter: 6-year-old giovanni who got a new wheelchair couldn't get to the window fast

enough where he got a personal wave and four hellos, straight from the north pole. >> what do you think about this, giovanni? >> i like it. >> you like it. >> reporter: in fact, everyone likes it. >> santa's cleaning your window. look at that. >> reporter: this many people would give their time to make children feel better. mark potter, nbc news, orlando. >> makes all of us feel better just watching that great story. if that put a smile on your face wait until you see what we're buzzing about it today. i'm going to start with you, richard. >> yeah, today.com, what they've done was com piled some of the photos here, guys, of what they have today's baby of the week on the show with kathie lee and hoda. these are some of the kids they have posted on their website. you take a look at them, go to the site. on this one they have one his name is little braden anthony, born april 13th helping his parents light up the holidays. that's the first one. you go down further, joaquin,

born in sacramento, california. all sorts of fun little kids. >> these are so cute. >> goes on and on. >> the facial expressions are precious. >> there's like 15 of them. >> they're moving slowly. >> we can scroll faster in real life. >> the website doesn't scroll that slow. >> one more. i want to show you this guy, there he is. >> irresistible. >> i don't know. >> how do they get him to sit like that. >> this looks professional. >> you have -- speaking of kids, you a cute one. >> so cute. around the holidays, obviously we want to see babies in -- dressed up in different holiday attire but in a hospital in southern california, the newborns are wrapped up in these plush little red stockings and that's how they're presented to their families. >> that's a great stocking stuffer. >> what a stocking stuffer. >> i get gum. >> when they get older they're saying i have to share my gifts with christmas. >> that's true. from the cute to the weird. you have to check this out. >> this couple in sweden have been collecting all these christmas trinkets. they have 6,000 of them. >> there's a problem. >> yeah. she pretty much says she's addicted to christmas.

>> look at that. >> comparing it to an alcohol addiction. >> takes a month to unpack all this stuff. can you imagine? >> i would never pack it up. with all those. >> keep it out all the time. >> anyway, if that makes her happy, there you go. it's one way to have a merry christmas. have a great christmas eve, everybody. thanks for watching. >> babies and dolls, lots of them. we're aig. and we're here. to help secure retirements and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us.

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♪ most of america's energy comes from right here at home. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. ♪ good morning. welcome to a special holiday edition of "morning joe." how are you all doing today? feeling good? happy holidays. it's so fantastic. >> the whole specter of the christmas album. it's unbelievable. in fact we got it playing at home right now. it's not a merry christmas for phil. >> no. >> but man, have you heard phil specter's christmas album >> mike barnacle,