deck. the dynamic ted cruz seems to be taking in stride. 5:30 on the east code, 2:30 out west and this is "way too early." ♪ she's a maniac, maniac and she's dancing like she's never danced before ♪ ♪ she's a maniac, maniac on the floor ♪ ♪ and she's dancinging like she's never danced before ♪ >> good morning, it's mob december the 14th. i'm louis bergdorf. senator ted cruz leads donald trump 31% to 21% in the new "des moines register"/bloomberg politics poll. cruz surging 21 points since august into the lead. ben carson has collapsed 15 points to third place at 13%. marco rubio is at 10% and jeb bush is at 6%. the new fox news poll shows cruz

and trump statistically tied with cruz ahead by just two points, 28-26%. rubio in third at 13% and carson down at 10%. both polls were conducted in the first days of the fallout from trump's proposal to ban muslims from entering the united states. three of the four polls taken in iowa this month have shown craze head and more worrisome for trump, cruz also leads as a second choice candidate for those supporting others. pivotal in the iowa caucus system. speaking in iowa friday, trump preempted the poll with an attack on cruz. >> well look he's from texas, to the best of my knowledge there's a lot of oil in texas, right, so he gets a lot of money from the oil companies and he's totally against ethanol and everything else you're talking about. if ted cruz is against ethanol, how does he win in iowa? because that's very anti-iowa. i don't know how he wins in

iowa. i do like ted cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of cuba, in all fairness. it's true. not a lot come out, but i like him, nevertheless. >> cruz has not taken the bait sticking with the plan he outlined about carson and trump at a secretly recorded fund-raiser last week as trump continued his attacks. >> my approach much to the frustration of the media has been to bear hug both of them and smother them with love. because i think, look, people run as who they are. i believe that gravity will bring both of those campaigns down and i think the lion's share of their supporters come to us. >> i don't think he's qualified to be president. >> why not? >> because i don't think he has the right temperament. i don't think he's got the right judgment. >> what's wrong with his temp ermt. >> look at the way he dealt with the senate, he goes in there frankly like a little bit of a maniac.

you're never going to get things done that way. you can't walk into the senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people. he'll never get anything done, and that's the problem with ted. >> cruz responded with a tweet "in honor of my friend donald trump and good-hearted maniacs everywhere," linking to the theme song from the 1983 movie "flashdance." this has a new national poll from nbc news/"wall street journal" shows ted cruz rising fast nationally. donald trump still holds the lead at 27%, a new high for him in this poll but cruz is just five points behind at 22%, after gaining 12 points since late october. marco rubio is in third at 15% and another major dropoff for ben carson falling 18 points to 11%, after leading just six weeks ago. and the poll also found that narrowing down the 14 candidate field to the five top contenders does not help the republican

establishment, and that scenario trump leads at 30%, cruz at 24%, and rubio at 21%, ben carson still attracts 13% and jeb bush down at 9%. this weekend, carson threatened to bolt from the party next fall if leaders orchestrated a brokered convention and trump voiced his support. >> i watched what ben said, i agreed with him 100%. i wrote him a little note it was excellent. frankly, he may be right. i haven't seen it yet. i've been hearing about these closed door meetings and i don't like that. that wasn't the deal i made. i signed a pledge a double deal. there was supposed to be honorable so we'll find out, if it's that way they're going to have problems, but i hope it's not going to be that way. >> the final republican debate of the year takes place tomorrow night and nine candidates have made the prime time stage, donald trump is still in the center, with new jersey governor chris christie back in the main event after polling in new

hampshire, restored his standings, and this weekend's iowa polls gave senator rand paul the boost that he needed to make it in but former arkansas governor mike huckabee did not make the cut and will be joining the three candidates in the undercard debate that includes fellow former iowa caucus winner rick santorum. the u.n. climate summit comes to a close with nearly 200 countries reaching an historic agreement over how to fight climate change. there was thundering aplauz after france's foreign minister announced the deal after two weeks of negotiations. here are the big takeaways, first, nations will look to limit global warming to well below two degrees celsius, that's about 3.6 degrees fahrenheit. second, $100 billion will be funneled to developing nations to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and third, this deal is designed to evolve. countries will have to resubmit pledges by 20 to, and then a similar review will take place every five years. secretary of state john kerry

called the deal a victory for the planet and future generations. >> it will reduce our dependency on foreign fuel, it will increase our security. it will provide for our envishment, cleaner air, healthier, healthier people, there are all kinds of pluses and in the end, it's going to be a job creator. >> the pact has gotten mixed reviews back in the u.s. with some republican voices voicing serious concerns that the plan has no mechanism for congressional approval and even democrats are split. hillary clinton released a statement applauding the agreement calling it an historic step forward but senator bernie sanders slammed the proposal saying it doesn't do enough to tackle climate change. let's turn overseas to syria, dozens of people, including children, were killed after air strikes hit at least two damascus suburbs, according to the syrian observatory for human rights, 45 civilians were killed in the strikes. the areas hit were largely controlled by rebel forces. at this point it's unclear whose

war planes carried out the attacks. amateur video appears to show some damage but the video hasn't been verified by nbc news. there are multiple reports that say one of the air strikes hit a school, killing the principal. mourners gathered in paris yesterday to mark the one-month anniversary since the terror attack in that city that left 130 people dead. people congregated in front of the bataclan concert hall in the eastern part of paris where 90 of those 130 lost their lives. candles, flowers and photos line the street outside the venue there. the fbi finished searching a lake with clues following the san bernardino attack. divers began searching the lake thursday and wrapped up on saturday. the lake is about three miles away from the scene of the shooting. officials have not commented on what possible evidence was actually recovered but the divers were believed to be looking for hard drives or other electronic evidence.

meanwhile nbc news spoke to one of the first responders to the san bernardino shooting, sergeant andy capps, who recalled chasing the shooter's suv right after the attack. >> once they were shooting at me, i knew in my mind how this, i knew how it was going to end. i envisioned they're going to stop, and who are they are, whoever is in that car is going to stop, get out with rifles and start shooting at the police cars, and so if that's going to be how this ends then i'm going to get my rifle out and run around behind my car, take cover and return fire. and that is what happened. >> officials continue to question enrique marquez, the man who bought two of the guns that were subsequently used in the attack. a federal hate crimes investigation is under way after two mosques were vandalized over the weekend in southern california. worshippers arrived to hawthorne mosque sunday to find the name "jesus" spraypainted on the gate along with graffiti on the outside wall. another muslim building was

spray painted in the same town overnight on saturday. the vandalism days after officials arested 23-year-old carl james dile for allegedly setting fire to a mosque in coachella friday. cases of harassment have been reported since at tacks in paris and san bernardino, california. one of the elections we've been watching closely is in france, and the big winner in the regional elections in france yesterday, not the far right national front. the once french group had secured a stunning victory in the first round elections last week boosted by fears of immigration in the wake of the paris terror attacks but failed to win a single region in the second round of voting yesterday, instead interior ministry results showed a swing to the center left with the conservative republicans of former president nicolas sarkozy taking seven of the country's 13 regions and the socialist party of president francois hollande winning five.

voter turnout is up by 10% from the first round particularly in the regions the national front could have won suggesting many mobilized deliberately to defeat the party. it was a monumental weekend for women in saudi arabia. at least 17 women were elected to municipal councils in a nationwide election this is weekend. the first in which women were allowed to cast votes and run for office. only a fraction of local council seats went to women, it was a milestone nonetheless as few had been expected to win. voter turnout among the 130,000 women registered to vote was exceptionally high with nearly 81% turning out to cast ballots. now still ahead on "way too early" a look at what stories are driving the day in business and highlights from sunday night football. plus the nba's highlight of the night, never turn your pack on oklahoma city's russell westbrook because he might just get creative. and we'll talk about some extreme weather, snowstorms, tornadoes and perfectly good spring weather in the middle of

december in new york. let's see what's in store for next week when "way too early" comes right back. 40% of the streetlights in detroit, at one point, did not work. you had some blocks and you had major thoroughfares and corridors that were just totally pitch black. those things had to change. we wanted to restore our lighting system in the city. you can have the greatest dreams in the world, but unless you can finance those dreams, it doesn't happen.

at the time that the bankruptcy filing was done, the public lighting authority had a hard time of finding a bank. citi did not run away from the table like some other bankers did. citi had the strength to help us go to the credit markets and raise the money. it's a brighter day in detroit. people can see better when they're out doing their tasks, young people are moving back in town, the kids are feeling safer while they walk to school. and folks are making investments and the community is moving forward. 40% of the lights were out, but they're not out for long.they're coming back. tcount on someone's kid mistaking me for santa. i'm so sorry. come on sweetie. it's okay. and knowing right when my packages arrive. introducing real-time delivery notifications. one more reason this is our season.

so wi got a job!ews? i'll be programming at ge. oh i got a job too, at zazzies. (friends gasp) the app where you put fruit hats on animals? i love that! guys, i'll be writing code that helps machines communicate. (interrupting) i just zazzied you. (phone vibrates) look at it! (friends giggle) i can do dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs... you name it. i'm going to transform the way the world works. (proudly) i programmed that hat. and i can do casaba melons. i'll be helping turbines power cities.

i put a turbine on a cat. (friends ooh and ahh) i can make hospitals run more efficiently... this isn't a competition! welcome back to "way too early." let's turn to business where the markets are seeing a fresh spike of volatility ahead of a highly anticipated fed meeting this week. cnbc's nancy holgrave joins us live from london for more. is an interest rate hike this week a done deal? >> reporter: well, that seems to be the market expectation, without a doubt the biggest event for investors this week going into a quiet holiday period and more than just the equity side where we've seen stocks really moving to the downside, a huge falloff in wall street, then we're going to asian market dip as well today. european equities going back up but the big mover today continues to be oil and oil is down another 1%, this after crude dropped about 11% just last week.

its biggest fall for the year. now this might be good news for all these holiday travelers out there who see that lower price trickle town to lower fuel prices at the pump. however, it is not good news for the stock market, given the weight that energy stocks have for the s&p 500, that's expected to cause continued weakness in the main stock markets. however, it's not just the fed and oil prices in focus this week. we're also getting news out of apple, because apple has signed an exclusive deal with taylor swift to stream a special video of film showcasing her 1989 concert tour around the world. some of the highlights, back stage features and other up close features of a special guest that swift often features in her tour. the film will now be available from next sunday. it also marks more of a friendship between apple and swift because you may remember they had a bit of a rift earlier on in the year over royalties and then came to an agreement on that. taylor swift continuing her partnership with apple and

appears to be a win/win for both parties at this stage. back to you. >> apple and taylor swift, thanks so much. time for sports. we begin with the texans hosting the patriots on sunday night football. the injury-plagued pats coming off of back-to-back losses, but tight end rob gronkowski was back in action last night and i think that seemed to make all the difference. let's go to the first quarter, game tied at 0-0, tom brady rolls to the right lets it fly, wide open grochk for the 45-yard pass, rumbles to the 7 yard line to set up new england's first scoring chance of the evening. brady punches it from n from the 2 yard line with a pass to the end zone for martin to put the pats up early. they wouldn't look back from there. second quarter pats lead 10-6 and brady to gronkowski again, the fade from the 1 yard line puts new england up 17-6, they go on to win it by a final score of 27-6. here's brady after the game on

what it means to have gronk back in the line-up. >> offense football always trust and anticipation. certainly there's nobody i trust more than gronk so he's just a great player, a great teammate, blocking, you know, pass protecting, obviously in the pass game, short intermediate deep, takes advantage of good matchups, so he's a great player. in other nfl news it looks like the afc north leading bengals will be without a quarterback, andy dalton for the remainder of the season. team sources telling espn a fractured thumb on dalton's throwing hand will likely keep him on the sideline for the rest of the year. the injury happened during yesterday's game against the steelers. dalton made an early exit after injuring his hand while trying to make a tackle following an interception. as for a possible return date, sources tell espn there's still a chance he'll be back in time for the playoffs. i'm sure many fans are praying for that. let's turn now to college football and the heisman trophy presentation in new york city on

saturday night. >> the winner of this year's heisman trophy is derrick henry. >> alabama's derrick henry becomes the second member of the crimson tide to win the award joining mark ingram, fellow running back who took the hardware in 2009. henry broke the all-time sec rushing record this season and not done yet. alabama plays michigan state in the national semifinal on new year's eve, looking forward to that game. finally let's show what you may have been the play of the night in the nba, less than a second remaining in the first half of the thunder/jazz game, when russell westbrook inbounds the ball off the back of utah rodney hood. he catches it, and then drains the jumper before time expires. take a look at that replay. oh my god. boom! now the lesson? always keep your head on a swivel when the ball is in russell westbrook's hands. okc wins it 104-98.

let's get a check on your weather with raphael miranda. what have you got for us? this weekend was incredible in new york. >> did you like it? >> yes. >> 70s, shorts and flip-flops. this pattern seems to be locked in place but christmas in the northeast, a few exceptions but white christmas do not count on it here in the northeast. we had some snow over the weekend in kansas, we have video of that, we haven't been able to enjoy any snow in the northeast. look at our friends out west, it has been cold in some parts of the country namely out west, the rockies, so there is snow going on in parts of the country, just not in the eastern half and that trend will continue. we're stuck in this pattern, thankfully or thanks to el nino for the most part. satellite and radar picture another snowstorm brewing in the rockies today. watch out for travel delays there and a rainstorm moving across the great lakes into the northeast later on today that's not going to cool things down all that much. today's high in new york city 64

degrees, showers from chicago, temperatures in the 50s through the great lakes into the ohio valley, 80s in places like tampa and miami and snow and cold temperatures in salt lake city, 33 for your high for today. now tomorrow we're drying out in the northeast, the warmth remains low 60s. we should only be in the 40s this time of year in places like new york city, philadelphia and d.c. 62 in d.c. tomorrow, a little cooler in chicago, 43 and we've got a snowstorm on our hands from denver through the dakotas and the plains, watch out for travel delays there. it cools down a little bit, but again, not to where we should be by wednesday here in the northeast, 52, and again it looks like we're going to have a cooldown coming this weekend, louis, but the longer term forecast looks like we'll warm up again as we head into christmas weekend, so temperatures in the 60s possibly. >> listen i'll take it, 60s and sun, i'm happy. some people might be upset about the white christmas thing, i'm wok it. >> good. all right, up next more from will ferrell's "snl" return as george w. bush, taking on the

republican presidential field, even brother jeb, when "way too early" comes back in a moment. opportunity is everything you make of it. this winter, take advantage of our season's best offers on the latest generation of cadillacs. the 2016 cadillac srx. get this low-mileage lease from around $339 per month, or purchase with 0% apr financing. count on being slammed this hwith orders. we're getting slammed with orders. and my customers knowing right when their packages arrive. totally slammed! introducing real-time delivery notifications. one more reason

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and then you got this knucklehead. with the hair. and the 100-foot wall. bring that picture back. next.

jeb. oh, boy. poor jeb. you got to admit it's a pretty good plot twist that i turned out to be the smart one. >> mo are from will ferrell reprising his role as george w. bush on "saturday night live." we've told you on this show, just how much money jeb bush has spent on ads and how little he has to show for it in the polls. well the ad wizards at "saturday night live" had a couple ideas of their own. >> according to a new report jeb bush's campaign on the super pack supporting him have spent more than $30 million on ads for him, and from the looks of those ads, it seems like things aren't going great for jeb. ♪ in the arms of the angel far away from here ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> poor jeb. angela merkel made an appearance on "weekend update" as well celebrating her surprise win as "time" magazine's person of the

year. >> donald trump was critical of you winning the title, says you're ruining germany. >> oh yeah i guess he prefers our earlier stuff, woof. you know, the only thing he and i see eye to eye on is air shapes, because we have the same stylist. >> the same styleist? >> yes, we just walk in, where you have three seconds, go! >> and finally, on what would have been his 100th birth day, many celebrated the life of the legendary frank sinatra saturday. tributes in his hometown of hoboken, new jersey and just across the hudson river in new york city where saneatra's was celebrated pat patsie's restaurant, his favorite restaurant. the owner still remembers the first time he ate there. >> in 1947 two people walked through the front door, one of them was tommy dorsey and this whoert fella with him, said to my father, patsy you got to

fatten up the skinny kid, that was frank sinatra, the first time we met him in 1947. >> love the sintatra story. >> donald trump now tries to beat back a surging ted cruz a look at how their once warm relationship just turned a little bit chilly at least for one of them. plus the story behind the new republican article titled requesting the drug smuggling case that brought anguish to marco rubio's family." this morning the lead writer of that report joins the discussion, that and much more coming up next on "morning joe." ♪ i hear a call, of the need to get up ♪ antlers on reindeer, gifts tied with laces ♪ polar bear noses, colorful faces ♪ ♪ candy canes wrapped up to the top, ♪ ♪ how many ways can you snap, crackle, pop? ♪ ♪ snowmen with buttons, snowflakes with icing ♪ ♪ candy corn feathers, sure look enticing ♪

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i made a big decision. i'm entering the race for president of the united states of america. thank you. i'm telling you, i can beat these guys. dr. ben carson. i can barely hear him when he talks. i tell you something, that's not going to work when you have to go to china, or azerbajian where

you have to talk loudly so they brain surgeon and i got news for him. running the country is not brain courage ri. next. cruz and rubio, rubio and cruz, sounds like a miami law firm. if you've been injured on the job call rubio cruz. next, jeb, oh boy. poor jeb. you got to admit it's a pretty good plot twist i turned out to be the smart one. of course, i wish you would asked me about the exclamation point on his name. i don't like the taste of broccoli. it doesn't get any