and neck and neck in the iowa polls, with the caucuses just ten days away now. hillary clinton and her supporters turned their attacks on bernie sanders up a few notches. and on the republican side, front-runner donald trump, tries to seal the deal in iowa. but not at the conservative national review gets its way. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, everyone. it is friday, january 22nd. i'm shiba russell. we want to begin with that monster winter storm taking aim at the east coast right now. more than 85 million americans, roughly one in four, could be impacted in at least 20 states.

winter weather advisories have been posted from arkansas to new york city. states of emergency have been declared in maryland, virginia, pennsylvania, north carolina, tennessee, and washington, d.c., where the federal government says its offices will close at noon today. yesterday d.c.'s mayor apologized for being unprepared for that one inch of snow that crippled the city. and says the district is prepared for what's to come. >> we're preparing for a blizzard. you know i've lived in d.c. most of my life. and i don't know that i have lived through a forecast like this. it's an extremely large storm. we're working very hard not only to be responsive to the predictions, but also be nimble enough to respond to any changes. >> so let's get to the predictions and bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, what's the time line here? >> it's begun. we already picked up five inches in little rock, arkansas. horrible driving conditions between little rock and memphis

this morning and now the worst of the storm is starting to arrive in virginia and north carolina. what happened just a couple hours ago, last night we went into our blizzard warning in washington, d.c. now we're under a blizzard warning in philadelphia, trenton, new york city is under a blizzard warning along with all of long island. so you go i-95, from new york all the way down through d.c., into fredricksburg, all under blizzard warnings. that means we can expect zero visibility at times during this storm. also wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. considerable blowing and drifting of the snow at the peak of the storm. that will be later tonight and then all day saturday. warnings go all the way back to little rock and memphis as i mentioned and they cover all of kentucky, areas of north carolina, the latest snowfall predictions have gotten a little bit worse overnight in areas right around new york city. still expecting possibly a foot in kentucky, the bull's-eye still at the roanoke to d.c. area. and here's the snow fall prediction right around new york city now up to a foot. philadelphia at 19, baltimore, d.c., somewhere almost close to two feet of snow and we take you down to roanoke, virginia, who also is expecting almost two

feet of snow. that's where we find nbc's jay gray who will shortly be watching the snowflakes flying. jay? >> yeah, in fact, within the last five minutes here we've seen the first of the flakes. very few and far between, but we know that's going to change dramatically. we do have some snow, though, for the first time falling right now. virginia in a state of emergency. national guard's been called in. 500 troops on the ground. more could be moved if necessary here. they've had crewed out on the road since yesterday when they started this state of emergency trying to get things as prepared as possible though they're warning everyone stay off these roadways. once this snow really starts to fall, unless you have absolutely have to be out. heeding that warning a lot of people in this area have gone out, made sure that they have provisions that will last for at least a week. there's a big concern with the blizzard, and whiteout conditions, with the brutal winds that are expected here, that they may be without power

for four, five days in some areas. the emergency management team locally preparing for as much as 30 inches of snow, they say, in some areas. the general thought, though, bill as you talk about, between a foot and two feet here in the roanoke area. should be what they are saying is going to be a very difficult weekend. a lot of people just making sure that they're ready, bill. >> yeah the bottom line in the virginia area is stay at home if you can today. i want to take everyone to the southern portion of this storm because this is a different story down here. charlotte to columbia, to greenville. this is where we're going to have a huge problem with ice. we are expecting the possibility in that area of upwards, and you can look at the color table on here, this is getting up to about an inch of ice in areas of red. the blue is up to a half an inch of ice. power outages, shiba, are going to be a big story in the carolinas. that's happening today. d.c., new york, later today, tomorrow. but in the carolinas, the worst of the storm is today. >> when you're dealing with ice you could see power outages for

weeks. >> the power outage map, it wouldn't surprise me hundreds of thousands of people, maybe a million or so. this is breaking overnight, a terror attack in somalia has reportedly left at least 20 people dead. it happened at a seafront hotel and restaurant in mogadishu. the nation's capital. the islamic extremist group al shab an, which has links to al qaeda, is claiming responsibility. according to the ap, a suicide car bomber rammed into the gates of the hotel last night when somali special forces arrived, blasts of gunfire could be heard. security forces reportedly took control of the restaurant just before dawn. also breaking overnight, north korea has arrested an american college student over what they're describing as, quote, a hostile act. north korean state media reports that authorities detained virginia university student otto fredrick warmbier. the reports say he was under investigation for plotting to undermine the north korean government. it also claims that he has links

to the u.s. government. the u.s. state department has yet to comment on those reports. to politics now and the democratic primary has begun to take on the knockdown, dragout feel of the republican race. last night on the trail both candidates were met by crowds of hundreds. bernie sanders was in wolfboro, new hampshire. and hillary clinton hosted pop singer demi lovado in iowa city. her final stop during a busy day. but throughout her appearances thursday she sought to put daylight between herself and the man she still calls an esteemed senator. >> we have a disagreement in the campaign over health care. now, look, it was called hillary care before it was called obamacare. right? i worked hard back in '93 and '94 to get us to our universal health care. i'll tell you, i'm not interested in ideas that sound good on paper, but will never make it in the real world.

i care about -- and that gets us to the choice that you have to make in this caucus. now senator sanders and i share many of the same goals. but we have different records and different ideas about how to drive progress. we're not just picking a president. we're also choosing a commander in chief. i'm the only candidate on either side with the experience and judgment to keep us safe at home, and strong in the world. now senator sanders doesn't talk very much about foreign policy. but when he does, it raises concerns, because sometimes it can sound like he hasn't really thought it through. for example, he suggested we invite iranian troops in to syria. that is like asking the arsonist to be the firefighter. as bad as things are in syria, and they are more iranian troops are only going to make it worse. >> bernie sanders outlined their differences on everything from

where their fund-raising comes from to social security plans. he even took a page from donald trump citing the latest poll numbers. >> when you come within a week or two weeks or two and a half weeks of an election suddenly you start hearing a lot of strange things being said. and one of the things that my opponent, secretary clinton is saying, is that bernie sanders is unelectable. he just cannot defeat a republican candidate in a general election. so it gives me some pleasure to give you some facts to suggest that that might not just be the case. and here is my favorite. with my good, good friend donald trump. secretary clinton defeats mr. trump by nine points, we beat him by 23 points. >> also earlier in the day, a new ad from bernie sanders ruffled the feathers of at least

one clinton supporter. here's part of it. ♪ ♪ let us be together i've got some real estate here ♪ ♪ >> this ad right here has half a million views so far. after being released yesterday morning, clinton supporter david roth was apparently among them and told the associated press the ad was a quote significant slight to the democratic base

and added, from this ad it seems black lives don't matter much to bernie sanders. well the sanders campaign responded defending sanders' civil rights records. but also saying 25 years ago, it was author david brock a mudslinging right wing extremist who tried to destroy anita hill. and yesterday senator sanders seemed to walk back comments where he panned clinton's endorsements from the human rights campaign and planned parenthood. >> we're taking on not only wall street, and the economic establishment, we're taking on the political establishment. so i have friends and supporters in the human rights fund in planned parenthood, but you know what? hillary clinton has been around there for a very, very long time. and some of these groups are, in fact, part of the establishment. >> planned parenthood does so much on the front lines to provide women and men health care. often low-income people. people who don't have any

alternative. and of course we know that planned parenthood has been under attack constantly from the republicans, both in congress and in many states. and the human rights campaign has been in the forefront of making sure that lgbt americans are not discriminated against. they help to lead the battle for marriage ee cult. i really don't understand what he means by that. he's been elected to office a lot longer than i have. i was in the senate for eight wonderful years, representing new york. he's been in the congress for 25. and so i'll let your viewers make their own judgment. >> what i said in response to a question about endorsements is i think -- what i meant to say anyhow, is that sometimes the grass roots are asking, how does it happen? if somebody has 100% voting record in support of your issue and doesn't get endorsed? and that sometimes the leadership of an organization may look at the world a little bit different than the grass

roots. but in terms of those organizations, i know the clinton people will try to spin these things. i am a fierce supporter of planned parenthood, and gay rights in this country. >> and they're not part of the establishment? >> no, they aren't. they are standing up and fighting the important fights that have to be fought. okay. >> let's switch to the republican race now. in just ten days iowa voters will officially weigh in on donald trump who was packing a strong punch against ted cruz in las vegas yesterday as he seeks a first round knockout for the republican nomination. >> i heard he was a great debater. but i beat him in the last debate. i don't even do it. i don't even do it. he's a great debater. you know the problem is, he's a great debater, but he talks. when he talks he talks like he's debating. he can't talk. so he can debate but he can't talk. you got to be able to talk also in life, folks. guys like ted cruz will never make a deal because he's a strident guy, no you cannot have that.

you know, he -- his new line of attack is that i've become establishment. oh, give me a break. and you know what? there's a point at which, let's get to be a little establishment. we got to get things done, folks. okay? believe me, don't worry. we're going to make such great deals. but at a certain point you can't be so strident. you can't not get along. we've got to get along with people. >> let's turn to business now, where the word of the day, thursday, was relief. u.s. stocks climbed after a week's long thrashing that sent shockwaves and stocks tumbling around the world. wiping out trillions of market value in just three fast weeks. cnbc's louisa boyson joins us live with london from more. it is friday, so we are happy about this news. what sparked the uptick? >> so happy it's friday. unbelievable. i mean following the financial markets these days is monday volatile, over and over again. it's just an issue of whether

it's up or down. yesterday we saw this rally, the ecb essentially opening the door for more stimulus to come in march. now it's not sure how they would go about doing that, if they'll do it but they said that they're going to be reviewing the monetary policy stance in march due to weaker inflation forecasts for an example, due to volatile markets so we're going to be looking very, very closely come march at what the ecb will be doing. currently they're buying up some 60 billion euros worth of bonds per month. that could be increased or they might even cut the deposit rate, as well. when looking at the price of oil, that's another thing today, flying higher by 4.5%. that particular sector, a lot of the old stocks rallying, and it seems that we went through some very important levels on the way down, according to a number of our guests. so that's why maybe some short positions are being closed out. we're just seeing the price of oil currently around $30 per barrel and change for both brent and nymex. sh lump burger putting in a corporate the oil field services group cut another 10,000 jobs.

which means 26% of their original workforce is gone since november of '14 because of the price of oil dropping. >> louisa, thank you so much live from london. we are keeping our fingers crossed for another up day. still ahead here on "way too early" we continue to track this major winter storm that forecasters predict will make travel in the mid-atlantic literally impossible tomorrow. plus senator marco rubio sitting down with jimmy fallon. he's talking about the dream job that second on his list. and of course, those infamous boots. every day you read headlines about businesses

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time for sports. in the nba, the starting all-star lineups have been announced. no surprise here, in the west, kobe bryant making his 18th and final all-star lineup, after receiving the most votes among all players with nearly 1.9 million. he'll start alongside steph curry, russell westbrook, kevin

durant and kawhi leonard. the east will be lebron james, paul george carmelo anthony and dwyane wade. while the grizzlies took care of the nuggets on the court rocky the nuggets mascot settled a score in the stands. take a look while rocky was having some fun with silly string a fan behind him watch for the shot there, wearing a memphis jersey, dumped a cup of water on the unsuspecting mascot. well after that fan left for the concession stand, there's an ambush waiting on his return. fans in the surrounding section -- oh! >> fantastic. >> oh, my gosh! just covered this guy in silly string. >> that is really -- >> that is classic. bill that's what we're going to do to you after this winter storm. >> i mean that's what all of our reporters are going to look like. >> indeed especially in washington, d.c. >> so many areas including d.c.

here's the predicted power outage map. this pinkish shade, that's the likely area. charlotte to roanoke up to washington, d.c. we could see power outages scattered from memphis to nashville to new york. just reports we have six inches of snow inry little rock, of all places. this storm is overachieving in a few spots. a shield of snow moving on interstate 40 from north asheville to greensboro to winston-salem. raleigh shortly is going to get a burst of snow and further to the south that icy mess. so there's a lot of problems that are starting to form out there already. d.c., by the way, we're going to wait for you to probably about midafternoon. that's when the snow will arrive in your area. new york city still looking at the timing of tomorrow morning. so shiba, the storm has begun. the impacts are going to be felt greatly and will only get worse from here. >> everybody needs to keep it safe this weekend. thank you, bill. still ahead here, one member of the duck dynasty family picking a republican candidate for president. and a second one answering the call of another front-runner. we'll have that story when "way too early" comes right back.

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i've been asked to say a question over and over again. so are you going to boycott the

oscars? i'm like what the -- because you know, there's been a whiteout at the oscars, you know, no black people nominated. and i'm just like you know what they never invited my black [ bleep ] anyway so yeah. >> marlon wayans talking about the oscars. really able to make a joke out of anything as you can see there. okay so this year's oscars may be more interesting for who won't be attending, rather than who will. will smith now says he will be joining his wife, jada pinkett smith and director spike lee who have all said they're shunning this year's ceremony because of the lack of diversity. and oscar nominee mark ruffalo says he agrees with the boycott calling the lack of diversity reflective of deeper injustices in america though he later tweeted he would be attending the oscars in support of the victims of the crimes investigated in miss movie "spotlight." senator marco rubio brought his campaign to new york city last night appearing with jimmy fallon on "the tonight show." they got to some of the toughest political issues right away. >> you can pay for that one,

yeah. >> where did you get those? >> i just -- thank you very much. >> you like my boots? >> i do. can i keep them? i need a backup pair. can you believe that your boots -- >> i need one in iowa, one in new hampshire. >> why is that a big deal? >> i love these boots by the way. and made a big deal that you had heels on your boots. who cares. these are great boots, by the way. this are florsheim. >> i only wear them on weekends. nights mostly. >> say if you don't win the nomination, would you consider being vice president? >> no. no, that's not what i'm thinking about. i either -- i want to be like commissioner of the nfl. which is more powerful than president sometimes. you can like suspend people. >> yes, of course. yeah but the president is obviously -- >> no, that's my first choice. second, second is -- >> i love -- you're a dreamer, man. this is really fun.

yeah. >> i think jimmy's boots are shinier. what do you think? okay, finally this morning we talked a lot this year about invisible primaries. one to win over sheldon addleson, another for chuck norris. the latest the duck dynasty family except in this case there's a split decision. >> qualification for president of the united states are rather narrow. is he or she godly? does he or she love us? can he or she do the job? and finally, would they kill a duck and put him in a pot and make him a good duck gumbo? i've looked at the candidates, ted cruz is my man. >> the man i have the honor of introducing is not afraid to tell it like it is, he's not very politically correct, he's very bold, he loves his country, and he firmly stands behind the second amendment. i'm not talking about my father, okay?

phil's not here. he had to cruise on back to louisiana. so he's unfortunately missing this event. >> that's willie robertson there endorsing trump. so here's the official leader board for high profile duck endorsements. the duck primary, if you will. you saw phil robertson, the father of the clan here, endorsing ted cruz. then you got willie endorsing trump. still waiting for the endorsements of at least three other prominent ducks in this primary, including scrooge mcduck and howard the duck. remember him? that will do it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe" on this friday, states of emergency are now in effect for d.c. and five states. the federal government is closing early today, as a major winter storm threatens to paralyze the district. now on the east coast. and with bernie sanders and donald trump dominating the latest polls from iowa just ten days before the caucuses, hillary clinton turns up the dial on sanders.

plus michigan governor rick snyder joins the table to discuss the flint water crisis. that has some calling for his resignation. that and much more coming up next on "morning joe." y on your medicare part d prescriptions, walgreens says, carpe med diem. seize the day to get more out of life and medicare part d. just switch to walgreens for savings that'll be the highlight of your day. now preview the cost of your copay before you fill. you can even get one-dollar copays on select plans. to help pay for her kids' ice time. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time. and 2% back at the grocery store. even before she got 3% back on gas, all with no hoops to jump through. katie used her bankamericard cash rewards credit card

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