your taxpayer dollars at work story. but not exactly the way anyone expected. handy to have that little honey around when you need a hand, right? "first look" is up next. it's tuesday, december 15th, and right now, on "first look," tonight, a wild west showdown between ted cruz and donald trump, as the republican presidential candidates square off in las vegas. on the helds of president obama's latest public strategy session in the war on terror, public opinion is shifting toward's more aggressive strategy. then the incredible scene as a man denies a police officer and drives directly into the lobby of a hotel. but the reason why he did it may shock you. plus, bill cosby fights back, suing seven women who are suing him. the biggest hollywood premiere in years and the stars were all there. that and a whole new way to serve coffee. "first look" starts right now.

and good morning everyone. thanks for being with us. i'm shannon mulaire. tonight's the night. high stakes in las vegas. the latest gop slug match. the candidates are all looking up at donald trump. who takes center stage. a new poll finds him at 41% nationally. nearly tripling second place ted cruz. and more good news for trump, his personal physician, dr. harold bornstein now says trump would be, quote, the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency, calling his health astonishingly excellent. things got heated last night at a rally in vegas. black lives matters protesters interrupted trump's speech several times, prompting furious reaction from the crowd. on one occasion a person yelled expletives while calling for a person to be lit on fire. also heard, a nazi era salute. [ bleep ]

aside from the commotion, the front-runner talked about tonight's showdown. >> i'll be honest, i think tomorrow night, i think it's going to be big. and they're all coming after me. i heard today i'm watching i'm saying, man, this is like crazy. who's going to attack trump first? will it be this one? you know, he's taken down seven so far. you know if you look, so far everyone that's attacked me has gone right down the tubes, so that's a good one. >> but if there's a crack in the armor for the front-runner it's in iowa, where senator ted cruz is picking up steam. for that we go to nbc's kasie hunt. >> reporter: trump is still leading in national polls. but in iowa, a new des moines register poll shows cruz beating trump by 10 percentage points. >> cruz crew, time to rock! >> reporter: what's behind the cruz surge? a sophisticated ground game in iowa. maggie wright and her husband drove up to des moines from texas. >> long drive? >> yes, 13 1/2 hours.

>> reporter: they're joining dozens of volunteers so dedicated they're paying their own way to bunk in a dorm called camp cruz. >> you are actually in determine beds. >> yes. my husband says let's bunk 'em. >> oh, fantastic. >> reporter: this is where camp cruz becomes the strike force getting equipped with tablets that show them just which doors to knock on and what to say as they try to convince iowa voters to pick ted cruz. >> can ted cruz count on your support in the caucus? >> yes. >> reporter: but not everyone is sold. and there are signs trump's attacks are hitting home. >> there's something about his persona that comes across to me that i haven't bought yet. >> reporter: the gop establishment never saw it coming. the republican nomination fight now between two outsiders who've made few friends inside the party. >> trump and cruz could be a disaster for the republican party. it's going to be difficult potentially for the party to win over mainstream voters in swing states. >> that was kasie hunt

reporting. countries across the middle east are uniting against terrorism. saudi arabia is now leading a 34 nation military alliance. with a joint operation center in their capital city. iran is not one of the participating countries. and for america's part, there seems to be an uptick on people willing to put boots on the ground to fight isis. according to a new ap/gfk poll 42% of americans favor deploying u.s. troops. that's risen from 31% over the past year. in fact, recent attacks have vaulted terrorism and national security to become the american public's top concern, helping to drive president obama's job rating to 43%, that's the lowest in more than a year. yesterday president obama met his national security team at the pentagon. then delivered an address to reassure the american people that successful actions are being taken. and later today in minnesota, hillary clinton will give a key foreign policy speech on terrorism. it will focus on how to defend the u.s., and deal with

radicalization here at home. a california police officer will not face criminal charges after shooting an unarmed suspected drunk driver following a thash on thanksgiving night. we should warn you that the following video may be disturbing to some viewers. dash cam footage released by the county d.a. shows five-year police veteran patrick feaster in a high speed chase with alleged drunk driver andrew thomas. now thomas car careens out of control, flips over, throwing his wife from the car. she was pronounced dead at the scene. as thomas tries to get out of the vehicle, officer feaster approaches, and appears to shoot thomas in the neck before reholstering his weapon. the county district attorney mike ramsey found that officer feaster did not intentionally fire his gun, and that although the shooting was not justified, it was not criminal. ramsey also said that officer feaster was in such disbelief that he only notified his commanding officer of the

shooting after the gunshot wound was found. according to news, thomas had a blood alcohol level of 0.15. one forthright texan landed himself in prison after he rammed his truck through an oklahoma hotel lobby. surveillance video shows 62-year-old john edward parsley talking with a police officer outside the hotel before driving his truck right through the seine trance, slamming it into the front desk, where two employees had to dive out of the way. parsley then calmly walks away with his hands raised. according to the incident report obtained by the local newspaper, parsley was annoyed that his credit card was declined twice, and was forced to pay the hotel in cash. and he drove into the hotel because the police officer quote thought he was bluffing and he wanted to prove he wasn't. parsley has been charged with two felony counts of assault and battery, and is being held on $1 million bond. top army commander has ordered that sergeant bergdahl will face a court-martial.

bergdahl, who was captured by the taliban in 2009 after he left his post in afghanistan has been charged with desertion and endangering the troops. his attorney said in a statement he hopes the case would not go in this direction and will continue the defense of the sergeant. just last week, bergdahl told the popular serial podcast that he wanted to track taliban insurgents, and viewed himself as a super soldier. he faces possible life sentence if convicted. the el nino churning in the pacific continues to make it a tale of two forecasts. wintry storms in the west and springtime temps in the east. with the beginning of winter just a week away, nbc's dylan dreyer explains what the heck is going on. >> a december heat wave has set more than 1,000 record high temperatures across the northeast and midwest. out west it's another story.

winter is in full effect, treacherous roads, and packed slopes. but ski resorts back east are seeing green, and not the good kind. >> we really need the temperatures to change or at least become a little more seasonal so that we can get a product out and get the facility open. >> reporter: by this time last year, upstate new york was already buried by snow storms. up to six feet of snow fell in parts of western new york. what a difference a year makes with no snow so far this december. buffalo broke a 116-year-old record. last year's bone-chilling temperatures have given to this. record temperatures reaching new highs. 70 in philadelphia and 72 in baltimore. it's like weather whiplash, thanks in part to el nino. >> what we're seeing this year is a near-record setting el nino pattern over the pacific ocean, which is transporting very warm air across the entire united states. >> reporter: with el nino

reaching its peak the country can expect several more weeks of mild temps in the midwest and northeast and storms out west but as we approach february a more typical winter should return. >> all right. let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning you to, landon. >> shannon, good morning to you, as well. seattle becomes the first city in america to allow uber and lyft drivers the right to unionize. the city council approving a bill letting on demand and freelance drivers collectively bargain on issues such as pay and working conditions. seattle's mayor says while he supports the idea, he won't sign the bill on concerns over the cost of implementing the measure. investors taking a bite out of apple's stock. the company briefly losing more than $100 billion in market value before recovering on monday. the move follows an analyst's report predicting annual sales of the iphone will fall for the first time next year. a top u.s. airlines are getting us to our destinations on time. the government says 87% of flights arrived on time in

october, the third best month ever. delta, hawaiian and alaska air had the best ratings while spirit was the only one below 80%. however, customer complaints are still rising up 32%. shannon, i guess everyone wants more leg room. >> i would appreciate it. >> go bill cosby goes after seven of his accusers in an attempt to reclaim his reputation. plus a showdown between customer and drive-thru worker gets ugly. we've got the details next. you're watching "first look."

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welcome back to "first look" on this tuesday morning. everyone wants to talk about this incredibly warm december we've been having. it was 71 in buffalo yesterday. only the second time, this was the second warmest they've ever been in december. their records go back to the 1800s. and they were 16 degrees warmer than phoenix. so a cold front is moving in. it's going to cool off areas that were very warm yesterday. buffalo is down in the 40s, which is still warmer than it should be. but at least it feels a little

bit more like the season. 62 of 63 at this hour in new york. a windy day in areas of new england as that cold front goes through. temperatures will get cooler but not exactly cold. all the attention will focus on the storm now over colorado. it's snowing in denver. salt lake city has six inches of snow on the ground. so it's definitely winter in the rockies. and this is going to spread today out here into the central plains. areas like rapid city to fargo will have snow eventually. and areas could see as much as six to eight inches of snow. so we will get some significant snow there in the northern plains. that's the travel trouble spot. but in the southeast, gorgeous, shannon, and it's not like it's getting cooler in the eastern half of the country. but it's not cold. >> no, it's not at all. ten days from christmas. >> yeah, and there's no snow in sight, either. >> all right, bill, thank you. bill cosby is striking back against some who have accused him of sexual misconduct. he filed a lawsuit against seven of his 50 accusers yesterday. cosby has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has never been criminally charged. the 78-year-old comedian is

suing them for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and derailing an upcoming television opportunity. in response the accusers' lawyer replied in part, scores of women come forward with acuations of sexual assault and abuse, singles out seven it sounds a bit like retaliation to me. legendary baseball player pete rose des moiness banned from life from major league baseball. he was banned back in 1989 for betting on games he played in and managed for the cincinnati reds. the mlb commissioner concluded that the all-time hits leader had not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life. rose is giving a press conference in las vegas later this morning. and check out the shocking video at a tim horton's drive-thru in detroit showing a customer and an employee throwing coffee at each other. it began when an employee threw a hot cup of coffee at the customer. after they had refused to toss out the customer's old cup of coffee. well that's when it escalated. the customer returned and they

began yelling and throwing coffee at each other. tim horton's released this statement, we were aware of the incident in october, and the franchisee has taken the appropriate steps to address the matter. virgin billionaire richard branson weighs in on donald trump, and is president obama looking forward to some alone time? "scrambled politics" is next. this holiday, i can count on my going off list.again, and knowing right when my packages arrive. so that's two things. introducing real time delivery notifications.

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politics" now. senate minority leader harry reid says there's been a lot of progress on a deal to avoid a government shutdown but nothing final yet. a short-term funding measure expires at midnight tomorrow 73 six-term iowa governor terry branstad is now the longest serving governor in american history at 20 years 11 months and 4 days. that breaks the record set back in the 18th century set by former new york governor george clinton. speaking of which, a new pew poll finds 74% of americans say they've given a lot or some thought to the candidates for president. that is higher than the last two campaigns. businessman richard branson spoke to msnbc's kate snow about his fellow billionaire donald trump. after saying he tries to avoid getting involved in party politics, he cracked and branson called trump's recent statements frightening, and worrying. >> if he really believes them, he shouldn't be in the white house. i'm going to say, you know,

they're completely preposterous and very dangerous, and you know, very potentially very damaging. so, so certainly, you know, you know, certainly worrying if he, if he believes half the statements he makes. >> all right. from "the new york times." leading a nation takes years off life studies suggest. that conclusion from a british medical journal studying according to the "times," now the largest statistical study of its kind examining elections held in 17 countries from 1722 to 2015 has found that elected heads of government lived 2.7 fewer years, and experienced a 23% greater risk of premature death than the defeated office seekers. an upside to losing, i suppose. 'twas the week before christmas and the first lady visited young patients at the children's national health system in d.c. she read a story with sonny by her side. little doggie.

jimmy fallon thinks he might be looking forward to leaving office. >> i saw that last week president obama said that his favorite movie this year was the martian. right? after seeing the film about a man stranded alone on a distant planet obama said, working on the sequel. but don't bring me home. don't bring me home. i don't want to come home. >> and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." political analyst and best-selling author ellis henican is here. good morning to you. >> happy debate day. >> happy debate day. we're in the morn of debate day. what are you expecting tonight? >> a big fight between donald trump and ted cruz. >> is that what it's going to come down to? >> but you know what? it might be a one-way fight. trump has already called cruz a maniac. right? which is a pretty good way to get the conversation started, i would say. but the question is, and this is what i'm going to be watching for tonight, does cruz take the bait on the trash talk?

does he come back at donald so far he keeps saying about how much he likes donald. he doesn't understand what all the criticism, and he admires donald, even if maybe he does disagree a little bit with that ban the muslims theory. >> he's been a little light handed on the comments towards trump in the past. >> he's the one candidate who's tried to cozy up to donald. all the others have taken these attempts to slam him, ted cruz has really kind of held back from that. but tonight really might be the night. i'm, frankly, i'm kind of excited about it. >> is trump actually worried about ted cruz? we've seen this poll in iowa that he's trailing him. >> yeah, he's worried. think about it, since donald got up and run, he has not had the experience of not dominating everything, right? this is a guy who's been in the lead nationally and in most of the important states, he's been on top. so we haven't had the experience yet, shannon, of donald being behind. or think about how often he cites the polls, i'm leading the polls. i'm killing in the polls. what happens if he's not? >> but he has been, and that

recent national poll, he's more than triple cruz. >> yeah. no. he's way up still in the nationals. but you know what? what is this nation but a collection of states? they start picking him off one at a time. >> one by one. let me ask you this, this pew poll that we mentioned 74% of americans say that they've thought at least a little bit about the candidate here's. that's more than the past two elections. what does that say to you? >> i feel as if i think of almost nothing else. listen, i would like to see that it has to do with serious concerns about trade policy, our tax future. >> sure. >> nah. >> not so high brow? >> it's a lot of fun. it's a lot of fun. >> we might get down to business a little more on the debate. >> cruz and trump, keep your eyes on them. >> ellis, thank you very much. just ahead, the power of the force. last night the star wars premiere was a star-studded event and we've got the highlights, next.

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leading the news in the daily beast, flint mayor declares state of emergency. the michigan city's worsening water crisis is due to rising levels of lead in unfiltered tap water. mayor karen weaver requested federal aid. fema delivered about 28,000 liters of bottled water. and new york girl 8, badly burned in 2013 arson fire gets trip to disney world. sapphire terry suffered burns over 75% of her body in the schenectady fire two years ago. the all-expenses paid trip is sponsored by baking memories for kids, a nonprofit group for children with life threatening and terminal illnesses. sapphire went viral on social media earlier this month when she asked for christmas cards.

she got about 18,000 cards and letters, and 400 packages. well the force has taken over. stars lit up the red carpet last night in the premiere of "star wars" the force awakens from harrison ford and r2d2 to the brainchild of "star wars" himself george lucas. our fans came out like a creatively dressed yoda who was joseph gordon levitt in there. carrie fisher and billy katherine lord made a mommy/daughter date of the event getting ready in the star wars robes and then later laughing it up at the -- laughing up a storm at the premiere. ♪ the other side >> following adele's radio city music hall concert that aired last night on nbc, the british mega voice announced her 2016

north american tour starting in july she'll perform 56 nights from new york to l.a. and everywhere in between. >> cha-ching. >> i'm shannon mulaire and this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook. "way too early" starts right now. i'll be honest, i think tomorrow night, i think it's going to be big. oh. ooh. and they're all coming after me. i heard today i'm watching i'm saying, man, this is like crazy. who's going to attack trump first? will it be this one? >> new polls show donald trump will go into tonight's fifth republican presidential debate stronger than ever, but will he be the one taking the hits? and president obama tries to show more urgency in the fight against isis. talking more about the strategy, and sending his defense secretary to the middle east after a national security meeting at the pentagon.

plus, court-martial. the army brings down the hammer on the army sergeant who was captured by the taliban while walking off his post. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2 can 30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning, it's tuesday, december the 15th. i'm louis burgdorf. we are just hours from the fifth and final republican debate of 2015, and the candidates are gathering just as the polls show the most lopsided race yet. "the washington post"/abc news poll finds donald trump with a 23-point lead, a new high to ted cruz's 15%. ben carson ties with marco rubio at 12% while jeb bush and chris chris east are at 5% and 4% each. this aftermp