that it's time for him to go. it is 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning, everyone. it is monday, march 7th. i'm alex witt. the nation is mourning its former first lady nancy reagan. partner in love and politics to one of the most influential figures ever to hold the american presidency. died yesterday of congestive heart failure at the age of 94. nancy reagan's grace and insight shaped the life and career of her husband, ever since they met in hollywood. she was a young actress, getting small parts. he was climbing back from personal and professional disappointments. >> we met each other out here on the west coast through mervin,

who i remember every night in my prayers. i was having a little difficulty, because there were other nancy daviss. and i was getting the mail of one of them. and mervin said that he knew ronnie, who was then president of the guild, and that he could solve my problem, he hoped. and ronnie had never met me, but i certainly knew who he was, and i thought that was a dandy idea. and so ronnie called me, and we went out for dinner. he says he solved my problem by changing my name. >> together they scaled the heights of american power, waging a successful challenge to the three-term governor of california. growing the republican party by rallying the emerging conservative movement, and leading the political revolution that shaped the modern era. as president, reagan challenged the evil empire from the west wing. nancy reagan harnessed the power

of the east wing to tackle the scourge of drugs and encourage kids to just say no. in the white house she was a glamorous figure in front of the cameras and steadfast adviser behind the scenes at the center of several major decisions on staffing and public relations. as well as restoring her husband's image after the iran/contra scandal rocked his presidency. nancy reagan set herself apart in her post-white house career leading the battle against the alzheimer's disease. which slowly claimed her husband. she will be buried at the reagan library, on the spot where she kissed him good-bye for the last time in 2004. the library says there will be an opportunity for members of the public to pay their respects prior to the funeral service. she is survived by her children patty, ron, and stepson michael. in a statement the president and first lady michelle obama said our former first lady redefined the role in her time here. we remain grateful for nancy reagan's life, thankful for her guidan guidance, and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are

together again. mrs. reagan's death brought the closing chapter of a powerful love story. it began in hollywood, continued in the white house, and endured all the way to the end. here's nbc's harry smith. >> reporter: nancy reagan was a contract actress when she met the dashing head of the screen actors guild, ronald reagan. as they sat down to dinner each claimed to have an early call the next day. an old actor's excuse in case things didn't go well. no such insurance was needed. march 4th marked 64 years since their wedding day. when you look at pictures of nancy and ronald reagan, from their days in california, to their time in the white house, they so often look like lovestruck kids. soul mates. the love of each other's life. this is a letter from the president to mrs. reagan. pulled from an nbc special. mrs. reagan reads -- >> dear first lady, as president of the united states, it's my honor and privilege to cite you

for service above and beyond the call of duty, and that you have made one man, me, the most happy man in the world for 29 years. >> reporter: they were inseparable. steadfast. especially in times of trial. through the assassination attempt. her breast cancer. >> i'll say welcome home. >> reporter: alzheimer's disease. through sickness and health, till death do us part, that was ronnie and nancy. some years after the president's death, mrs. reagan told "vanity fair," i miss ronnie a lot. an awful lot. people say it gets better. no, it does not. their love explained best by the president himself, who wrote to mrs. reagan, "i'm not whole without you. you are life itself to me." that is a love story. >> and that was nbc's harry smith reporting. well, let's turn to the presidential race and last night hillary clinton and bernie sanders clashed over and over during the latest democratic debate. it was held in flint, michigan, the site of the water crisis

that both candidates have been highlighting out on the campaign trail. the two found common ground on that issue, but once the discussion moved to the topic of the economy, particularly international trade, ooh the knives came out. >> we're going to stop this kind of job exporting and we're going to start importing and growing jobs again. in our country. >> senator, i am very glad, anderson, that secretary clinton has discovered religion on this issue. but it's a little bit too late. secretary clinton supported virtually every one of these disastrous trade agreements. >> well, well i'll tell you something else that senator sanders was against. he was against the auto bailout. we just had the best year that the auto industry has had in a long time. i voted to save the auto industry. he voted against the money that ended up saving the auto industry. >> oh. >> i think that is a pretty big difference.

>> well, i -- if you are talking about the wall street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy -- >> you know. >> excuse me, i'm talking. >> if you're going to talk, tell the whole story, senator sanders. >> let me tell my story. you tell yours. >> i will. >> your story is for voting for every disastrous trade agreement and voting for corporate america. did i vote against the wall street bailout? when billionaires on wall street destroyed this economy, they went to congress and they said, oh, please, we'll be good boys, bail us out. you know what i said? i said let the billionaires themselves bail out wall street. shouldn't be the middle class of this country. >> okay. >> wait a minute. can i finish? you'll have your turn. >> bernie sanders won another three states over the weekend. last night he won the democratic caucuses in maine with 64%,

compared to clinton's 36%. on saturday, he also won nebraska and kansas. hillary clinton, however, continues to dominate in the delegate count after winning louisiana on saturday, clinton has 1100 delegates, sanders has 492. on tuesday, there will be 188 delegates up for grabs in michigan and mississippi. and according to an nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist poll, clinton leads sanders among likely michigan primary voters by 17 points, 57% to 40%. but sanders says his campaign is closing the gap. >> we're still fairly early in the process. i mean, maybe 18, 19 states that have voted. we think we have an excellent chance to do well out on the west coast, in california, state of washington, oregon. we think we have an excellent chance to do well in large states like new york. we think we're going to surprise people here in michigan. so i think that time is on our side. >> over the weekend, "the washington post" released an

analysis of the classified information on hillary clinton's personal e-mail server. by their count, clinton sent 104 e-mails later marked classified by the state department. clinton has said that she neither sent nor received material marked classified at the time, and over the weekend said they are close to putting the chapter behind them. >> i think we're getting closer and closer to wrapping this up. i also know that there were reports today about the hundreds of officials and the thousand e-mails that they were sending back and forth that have been looked at, and classified retro actively. this really raises serious questions about this whole process, i think. colin powell summed it up well when he was told that some of his e-mails from more than ten years ago were going to be retro actively classified. he called it an absurdity. the delegate race in the republican presidential contest

got tighter. on saturday donald trump added victories in kentucky and louisiana. edging out ted cruz by narrow margins while cruz posted double digit wins in kansas and maine. marco rubio handily won yesterday's contest in puerto rico with 74% of the vote, and claiming all 23 of its delegates. donald trump still leads the overall count with 392. cruz took the most delegates this weekend, 78 to trump's 61 and he now has 305 delegates. rubio has 135. john kasich with 35. as the delegate leaders trump and cruz are calling on marco rubio to drop out, and getting tough with each other. >> i want to congratulate ted on maine, and on kansas, and he should do well in maine, because it's very close to canada. let's face it. i mean -- >> both marco rubio and john kasich, they love this country. they're not doing this for themselves. they're stepping forward sacrificially to serve this country and to try to lead it. i believe this process will continue naturally, that we will

continue to unify and come together and i welcome the supporters for every other candidate. >> marco rubio had a very, very bad night. and personally i'd call for him to droch out of the race. i think it's time now he drop out of the race. i don't think tonight he can get up and rant and rave, he did great, he comes in third. he comes in fourth. every time he comes in third or fourth he says you've got to be able to win. i would love to take on ted one-on-one. that would be so much fun. because ted can't win new york. he can't win new jersey. he can't win pennsylvania. he can't win california. i want ted one-on-one. >> i can't tell you how many media outlets i hear, you know, have this great expose on donald, on different aspects of his business dealings or his past. but they said you know what, we're going to hold it until june or july. >> you're saying reporters have told you that? >> absolutely. >> from which organizations? >> you know, look, i'm not going to out media outlets but i can tell you there is so much there -- >> well, mitt romney continued his attack on donald trump this

weekend, calling the candidate anything but presidential on "meet the press." while marco rubio, ted cruz and john kasich have all said they will support the eventual nominee, romney is not making that promise. >> is donald trump becoming president worse in your mind than hillary clinton becoming president? >> both of them are pretty darn bad. as lindsey graham said a poison or a bullet and i'm going to be voting but i'll vote for someone who is on the ballot that i think is a real conservative and who would make us proud and i might write in a name if i can't find such a person. >> over the weekend ted cruz warned about the consequences of attempts to parachute in a candidate for a brokered convention in cleveland, calling it illegitimate and wrong. >> any time you hear people talking about a brokered convention, i think that is the fevered talk of the washington establishment. the washington establishment is in a panic, and their favored candidates, the ones that they want to win, are not getting the votes. but if a bunch of washington dealmakers try to step in in a

brokered convention and steal the nomination i think we will have a manifest uprising. >> and donald trump has come under scrutiny for his approach to torture if elected. he responded over the weekend to claims that troops would not follow some of his campaign promises as president, because they would be illegal under international law. >> we have an enemy, the middle east, that's chopping off heads and drowning people in massive steel cages. okay? we have an enemy that doesn't play by the laws. you could say laws and they're laughing. they're laughing at us right now. i would like to strengthen the laws so that we can better compete. you know, it's very tough to beat enemies that don't have any -- that don't have any restrictions, all right? we have these massive restrictions. now, i will always abide by the law, but i would like to have the law expanded. >> why do you think we don't have those -- why do you think we don't have waterboarding -- >> because i think we're weak. i think we've become very weak and ineffective. i think that's why we're not beating isis. it's that mentality. when the isis people chop off the heads and they then go back to their homes and they talk,

and they hear we're talking about waterboarding like it's the worst thing in the world and they just drowned 100 people and chopped off 50 heads, they must think we are a little bit on the weak side. >> the worry was that if america does that, then our soldiers -- american hostages will be treated even worse. that's the argument. what do you think -- >> they do that anyway. they're killing our soldiers when they capture them. i mean they're doing that anyway. we are playing by rules but they have no rules. it's very hard to win -- >> isn't that what separates us from the savages? >> no, i don't think so. we have to beat the savages. >> and therefore throw all rules out. >> we have to beat the safages. >> by being savages. >> no, well look you have to play the game the way they're playing the game. >> after announcing last august that he had been diagnosed with melano melanoma, former president jimmy carter said he no longer needs cancer treatment. he made the announcement yesterday at the south georgia church where he often teaches sunday school. the 91-year-old said doctors will continue to monitor his health and he will resume treatments if the cancer returns.

still ahead for you on "way too early," it's official, peyton manning is going out on top. plus kill karens says more than 15 million people are at risk of severe weather today. we're talking thunderstorms, hail and possible tornadoes. look at the forecast when "way too early" comes right back. alzheimer's means... so i asked about adding once-daily namenda xr to her current treatment for moderate to severe alzheimer's.

it works differently. when added to another alzheimer's treatment, it may improve overall function and cognition. and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. (announcer) namenda xr doesn't change how the disease progresses. it shouldn't be taken by anyone allergic to memantine, or who's had a bad reaction to namenda xr or its ingredients. before starting treatment, tell their doctor if they have, or ever had a seizure disorder, difficulty passing urine, liver, kidney, or bladder problems, and about medications they're taking. certain medications, changes in diet, or medical conditions may affect the amount of namenda xr in the body and may increase side effects. the most common side effects are headache, diarrhea, and dizziness. all my life, he's protected me. ask their doctor about once-daily namenda xr and learn about a free trial offer at namenedaxr.com.

at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. it's a fact. kind of like grandkids equals free tech support. oh, look at you, so great to see you! none of this works. come on in. trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief i love to take pictures that engage people. and to connect us with the wonderment of nature. the detail on this surface book is amazing. with the tiger image, the saliva coming off and you got this turning.

that's why i need this kind of resolution and computing power. being able to use a pen like this. on the screen directly with the image. it just gives me a different relationship to it. and i can't do that on my mac. this is brilliant for me. ♪ it is time now for sports. by the time the dust settles today peyton manning will have rode off into the sunset. the 39-year-old quarterback informed the broncos that he is retiring. after 18 years in the nfl, and a final hoist of the lombardi trophy, manning's expected to officially announce the news this afternoon. manning boasts a storied career that includes a record five mvp awards, two championship titles, and a slew of accolades. and he'll retire as the only quarterback in league history to lead two franchises to super bowl victories. let's turn now to the nba where in los angeles the warriors

continue to make history. except this time it is not something to celebrate. golden state drops to 55-6 after a 112-95 blowout loss to the now 13-51 lakers. in terms of winning percentage it is the biggest regular season upset in nba history. how'd the lakers do it? kobe bryant chalked it up to that right there the power of the socks, telling reporters after the win it's got to be the socks. he was referring to these kobe theme socks worn by the lakers. whatever works, right? on the college court three teams punched their tickets to the big dance yesterday in fort myers florida gulf coast university heads to the ncaa tournament after wrapping up the atlantic sun conference title last night. they blocked the potential game tying shot with four seconds left in overtime to beat stetson. in louis creek, north carolina, unc-asheville downs winthrop 77-68 westerning their first ncaa tourney appearance since 2012. and in st. louis, northern iowa

and evansville tied in the final seconds of the missouri valley conference tournament championship. whoo! >> to make it to the tournament -- >> whoa! that buzzer beat to the second around northern iowa into march madness. happy guys right there. in new york city on saturday an historic night for yale university. yale wins the ivy league championship on the road against columbia, 71-55. the big head line, the team earned its first ncaa tournament bid since 1962. okay, like that was during the kennedy administration. president kennedy, of course, probably didn't like that because he was a harvard man from cambridge. anyway, let's get a check on weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> you know one of those teams will be the cinderella. >> i know. it's so fun. i love march madness. it's awesome. >> it's fun. root for the little guy. >> yep. >> the weather over the weekend was really nasty in california. had the big storm go through saturday night into sunday.

that storm's going to cause problems. this is not that storm. this is another storm going through california. the wet weather is appreciated, snowing at the high elevations. this will pass through los angeles as we go throughout your morning rush hour, so one of the -- you don't get many wet, rainy rush hours in l.a. but you're going to get one today. the storm that was in california is coming out into the middle of the country. and it's going to stall over texas, and we're going to have a lot of problems with it. slight risk of severe storms. 15 million people. the coverage today will not be that great. yes we have a large area that could see the storm. but the amount of people that will see them will be small. tomorrow, the concentration of the storms gets a lot greater. we already have an enhanced risk of severe storms, including san antonio, houston and victoria, texas and along with it because the storm is going to stall out, we are going to see an epic rain event here. possibility of 7 to 10 inches of rain from little rock all the way down to areas of louisiana, so flooding this week and possibility of a few tornadoes, and spring fever on the east coast. >> okay. so we got kind of a mixed back. >> 75 in d.c. on wednesday.

>> wow. okay. then really is springlike. okay. thanks, bill. appreciate that. still ahead, john kasich just got a big endorsement emphasis and we're going to emphasize big there, okay, yeah? plus mitt romney's return to the political stage meant the return to the "snl" stage and this happened. >> i mean everyone loves me. racists, ugly racists, people who didn't even know they were racists. people whose eyes are like this. as i was saying, everyone loves me. i even got this fat piece of crap behind me now. isn't that right, chris? >> yes, sir, thank you, sir, please, sir, may i have another? it takes a lot of work... to run this business. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... d sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost® to get the nutrition that i'm missing. boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones

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now let's get a check on the other headlines. for that we head to the control room. louis burgdorf, take it away. >> republican presidential front-runner donald trump appears to have befriended another patriot. we don't mean someone who simply loves their country. before addressing the media after a day of primaries, trump dined with new england patriots' head coach bill belichick. his girlfriend linda holliday posted the photos of their group at trump's mara lago club on her instagram page. patriots quarterback tom brady who displayed a make america great again hat in his locker this season said he's also, quote, good friends with trump. let's go to former governor of california arnold

schwarzenegger, he's backing ohio governor john kasich's bid for president. the action movie star formerly endorsed his longtime friend yesterday at a chilly outdoor rally in columbus. telling a crowd of nearly 1,000 that kasich, quote, kicks some serious butt during his time in congress. >> and let me tell you something, when he did then went to washington, he kicked some serious butt. he was an action hero when he went to washington. this is the land of opportunity. it is the greatest nation in the world. no matter what anyone says out there. we need john kasich to now take charge and be at the white house, and this is why i endorse john kasich, our great governor. to be our republican nominee. >> he's an action hero. now you may remember the governator has also been topped as the next host of celebrity apprentice taking donald trump's

old spot. we'll see how that goes. one of the highlights of "saturday night live," jason sedakis reprising his role as mitt romney. >> if you vote for dnld trump, and i hate to use a curse word on television, but if you vote for him you're a sucker. oh, forgive me joseph smith. >> wow. you are pretty riled up. >> yeah, gosh darn right i am. that's why on thurs, last thursday, i rolled up my $1,000, monogrammed sleeves, i took a couple shots of nonalcoholic kahlua, i did ten women's push-ups and then i went out there and i gave the most aggressive, passionate well measured anti-trump speech i could. >> and do you think your speech changed the minds of any trump supporters? >> i do not. >> do you think any trump supporters even watched? >> not on purpose, no. >> do you think your speech hurt trump at all? >> hmm, honestly, i would assume it probably helped him. >> all right. is there anything you would like to say directly to donald trump?

>> yes, yes, there is. donald, you're duplicitous, you're reckless, and if you become the republican nominee, know this, i would make a great vice president. >> great to see him back in that role, alex. >> i know. i mean, i wish "saturday night live" was on just every night of the week. but it's a great way to start a monday morning. >> it is. >> thank you very much for the clip from that louis burgdorf. that does it for me and "way too early." coming up on "morning joe" the state of the race for president after another round of contests over the weekend. plus, presidential historians john meachum and michael beschloss among the many guests here to remember nancy reagan. the woman, the wife, and the warrior against drugs, alzheimer's, and just about anything or anyone that threatened her husband's legacy. "morning joe" just moments away. constipated?

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