on. tax cut gridlock. while senators bicker, millions of americans face money lost from their paycheck. speaking out -- ginger white opens up about her alleged affair with herman cain in an msnbc exclusive. and cheating death -- amateur video captures a horrific crash at a stunt show in brazil. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry, those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and we begin this morning with double vision. late last night, the senate rejected dueling partisan plans on a payroll tax break that could have a big impact in the nation's fragile economy.

all because lawmakers on both sides have differing ideas of how to pay for it. nbc's tracie potts joins with us more. tracie, good morning. >> lynn, good morning, democrats want to tax millionaires, republicans want to cut the pay of federal workers. neither of those plans passed the senate last night. the democratic plan came nine votes short of what it needed to move forward. only 20 senators voted for the republican plan, and so now, with just a few weeks left, the negotiation begins in earnest. republicans say they're concerned that allowing yet another payroll tax cut, extending it into next year could bankrupt social security faster. the white house in response says that those job cuts and federal pay cuts that republicans are suggesting are quote window dressing unbalanced approach. they also voted on defense. and passed a huge defense authorization bill, $662 billion.

it came short of what president obama wanted, short of what they actually passed for this year. reflecting the fact that the wars in iraq and afghanistan are winding down. president obama has threatened a veto. lynn? >> tracie, thanks so much. elsewhere as herman cain weighs his white house aspirations, the he said/she said continues between the gop presidential candidate ant an atlanta businesswoman, who claims she was his mistress for more than a decade. in a newspaper interview, cain admitted to providing ginger white with financial aid, for monthly bills and expenses after she asked him for help. cain said he never told his wife that he had befriended the georgia woman, recounting what he called a purely platonic relationship. however, in an exclusive interview last night on msnbc's the "last word" white told a different story to lawrence o'donnell. >> did herman cain that he loved you? >> never. nor did i tell him that i loved

him. it wasn't a love affair. it was a sexual affair. as hard as that is for me to say and as hard it is for people to hear it, you know, it pretty much is what it is. and that's what it was. before the commercial break, you asked me, you know, what would i say to mrs. cain. and you are the first person that's asked that question. so it really took me aback. because i am not a cold-hearted person. i'm a mother of two kids. and of course my heart bleeds for this woman because i am a woman and being in a situation like this cannot be fun. and i am deeply, deeply sorry. if i have caused any hurt to her, to his kids, to his family. that was not my intention. >> well herman cain says he's going to make a decision on the

future of his campaign before monday after a face-to-face discussion with his wife. and be sure to lean forward with "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell, week nights at 10:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. meanwhile, this year's santa ana winds are wreaking havoc in southern california. the mayor of los angeles has declared a state of emergency in l.a. county, after hurricane-force gusts uprooted trees, damaged structures and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of residents. nbc's stephanie stanton has more. >> reporter: the santa ana winds blasted through southern california with hurricane-force winds. blowing down trees and power lines. first light revealed a trail of debris everywhere. >> it looked like a tornado had hit. literally. >> reporter: enough to blow this giant tree down onto the pumps at a pasadena gas station and sent this tree crashing through a house in nearby san marino. at one point, the powerful winds left some 300,000 los

angeles-area residents without power. los angeles international airport was also dark for about an hour. >> once we landed, we just came in the airport, not even five minutes and everything went black. >> reporter: 20 flights were diverted to nearby ontario airport. in utah, it was much the same scene. wind gusts up to 102 miles per hour were recorded. the winds toppled ten big rigs on interstate 15. >> we were sitting there waiting and it sounded lying an explosion with my window blown up. i guess a rock had went through my window and got me right here in the eye. >> reporter: the high wind warnings and advisories remain in effect for parts of california, utah, nevada, arizona, new mexico and wyoming. stephanie stanton, nbc news, los angeles. just a mess there. all right here's your "first look" at other news in america today. a violent robbery was caught on camera inside a florida residential complex. a suspect was recorded brutally beating the president of the home owners association who came

to the area to address a noise complaint. after striking his victim on the ground and rummaging through his pockets, the thief escaped with an iphone. no arrest has been made. police discovered a catch of stolen toy belonging to a trio of thieves in pennsylvania. the suspects went on a stealing binge across three states, filling their van with an estimated $50,000 in stolen goods. the crime spree came to an end when the engaged couple and the woman's 17-year-old son were caught stealing baseball cards. and finally, a sparkling 89-year-old tradition continued just south of the white house thursday night. the first family lit the national christmas tree. looking great there. the president delivered remarks urging the crowd to help others during this holiday season, before lighting the 26-foot tall tree from new jersey. well now for look at the national weather, let's check in with meteorologist todd santos, he has your weather channel forecast.

i don't mean to do the whole d.c./new york rivalry. >> i finally got to see the 30 rock tree, it is pretty spectacular. they shut it off early in the morning. i still have -- fine, save energy, hey, it was just for me. >> save energy, exactly. >> we talked about the winds yesterday, especially with the high wind warnings, we still have some of those in effect today. we'll talk about those areas through california, we've seen some of those drop down out of utah. so improving conditions there. here's a look at least at the satellite radar composite. a few separate disturbances, one closer towards the great lakes. that will bring a little light snow in towards detroit. they're not expecting real accumulation there. you're taking a look at the wind warnings, we have a number of these throughout the west. now it's limited towards the sierra. a few towards the bay area and towards los angeles, we could still see gusts up to 60 miles per hour. kind of an unconventional santa ana event. especially yesterday, a lot of the areas were dealing with a northerly set-up. today more of the northeast.

today getting back to standard santa ana areas, there's a look at the current wind gusts. not so strong. 16 miles per hour down towards vegas, but will see some of the winds increasing later today. maybe have another santa ana event setting up late saturday. so keep it in mind especially across areas of the west that are prone to that. especially outside the mountains. here's a look at also some winter storm warnings in pink. some of the winter weather advisories in white through northern arizona, snow today. we want to mention winter storm watches, northwest kansas, panhandle of texas, may see a few areas starting off with freezing rain, slick surfaces in the roads, topped off through western kansas with snowfall. so be careful travelwise into the start of the weekend. that's where the snow is right now in northern arizona, the rain in texas we'll see a few areas, much-needed rain, up to almost locally two inches, in a few areas a little bit more than that. back to detroit, i mentioned the snow around an inch or so,

possible. especially north of town into northern reaches of the adirondacks. but the eastern coast of d.c., coming in quiet. we'll take a closer look at temperatures across the rest of the country. a few of us waking up warmer than yesterday. also coming up on the watch for jobs, more signs of recovery and can the color of the can make a difference in taste? your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. coming up, a great finish in college football. donovan mcnabb back on the market and how did skittles beat the eagles? you're watching "first look" on msnbc. i have astigmatism.

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according to "the wall street journal." u.s. officials spoke with pakistani officials and got the

green light ahead of last saturday's nato air strike that killed 24 pakistani soldiers. u.s. officials say the pakistani were unaware their troops were in the area at the time. and afghan/u.s. troop contingent was fired upon from across the border. secretary of state hillary clinton has met with nobel peace prize winner, aung san suu kyi during her historic trip to myanmar. the two pledged to work together to bring democracy there. forced to rend $1.50 for every ticket order placed on its website between october 1999 and october 2011 due to a proposed class action settlement that says the company profited from undeclared processing fees. england's queen elizabeth met with john lennon widow, yoko ono, thursday in liverpool. and in brazil, this is tough to watch. a motorcycle stunt went horribly

wrong when this daredevil smashed head-on into an oncoming car and was thrown 80 feet. but as amazing as the video is, it's also amazing that the rider escaped serious injuries. luckily. that's just tough for you. now here's your first look at wall street. the dow opens at 12,020, after losing 25 points yesterday. the s&p was down two points, but the nasdaq added five. taking a look at overseas trading, in tokyo,ed nikkei gained 46 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng nudged up 38 points. well wall street followed wednesday's lift-off with a day of caution thursday. ahead of today's november job numbers. expectations are that roughly 120,000 jobs were added. a number analysts think must be hit for a rally to continue. but caution set in thursday on last week's data showing new unemployment claims rose. other data fit the latest stronger-than-expected trend.

manufacturing rose and new factory orders were up. in euro news, wednesday's move by the world's big banks had the desired effect on spanish and french bond auctions with yields falling. also addressing the debt crisis, french president, nicolas sarkozy, announced germany and france will push for broad new european treaty. on the street financials wednesday stars gave up some gains. costco, in orderstrom and other row tailors rose on strong november sales. barnes & noble plunged. yahoo gained on news it may have bidders. u.s. airways jumped on an upgrade and merger speculation. and sued bank of america, jp morgan chase, wellsing foro. for deceptive business practices. clear wire cut a deal with its majority owner, resolving a battle that threatened clear wire with bankruptcy. and finally you've seen these,

right? it's just a month after they rolled out the classic coke in a holiday white can. now they're switching back to red. it seems white cans had drinkers seeing red. some confused it with diet coke, he admit i did this, once, while others actually complained coke tasted different in a white can. amazing the tricks your mind can play on you. coming up, a new coach can't help the caps, the vikings start house-cleaning and a second thriller in college football. plus, thursday night nfl football proved eagles are no match for the seahawks. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead, you're watching "first look" on msnbc. congratulations.

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for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you."

and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. welcome back to "first look." and in sports, the already-miserable season of the philadelphia eagles took a turn for the worse last night as they were clawed by the seattle seahawks, here's nbc's fred roggin. >> good morning. ever since high school, marshawn lynch's mom would give him skittles to eat after he scored a touchdown. last night against the eagles, marshawn was a kid in a candy store. could you tell lynch was ready to play in the first quarter. ran into a pile, kept the wheels turning, came out of it, rumbled 15 yards to the end zone. that's worth some skittles. marshawn gone a handful of candy on the sideline. to the second, it's lynch again. a sweet run untouched. 40 yards down the line. eagles didn't know what hit them. seattle went on to win it 31-14,

thanks to the candyman, marshawn lynch. if your team is looking for a quarterback, donovan mcnabb is available. the vikings waived him. hockey, two of the best squared off in washington -- no, not clinton and reagan, sidney crosby and alex ovechkin. all eyes on them. chris kunitz stepped up and scored the game winner for pittsburgh. dale hunter still looking for the first win. rangers and the hurricanes, kirk mueller has coached two games and lost both of them. rangers handed the hurricane warning theirs fifth straight loss. in football, great finish between west virginia and south florida. mountaineers down a touchdown, five minutes to play. dustin garrison punched it in from five yards out, tied it 27-27. west virginia gets the ball back, needing a big play, 1 seconds to play, gino smith heads stedman bailey across the middle, that got west virginia into field goal range.

tyler betancourt got it as time expired and west virginia rallied to win it 30-27. that's your first look at sports, have a great weekend. now for another look at the weather, here's meteorologist todd santos, good morning once again. >> you know earlier i mentioned some of the diceyer spots today. want to talk about some of the nicer ones, considering boston through new york, raleigh, back towards atlanta. clear skies, high pressure in control. on the back side we're bringing some of the moisture up into texas, setting the stage for showers. temperaturewise, a few areas on the warmer side, compared to yesterday, 52 in orlando, but notice back towards denver. minneapolis, that's where a lot of the cold air is heading or is in place. that's going to set up when we start to bring in some showers back through western kansas especially later tonight, set the stage for freezing rain, some of it switching to snow, up towards omaha, but not for today. that's the good news for today, as far as friday travels. dallas, san antonio, a chance for showers, we so badly need the rain that it works in our

favor. there's a look to the east coast, saturday, sunshine, almost wall to wall. a few clouds down to new orleans. with temperatures in the 70s. notice where the snow will be falling, back towards des moines, omaha, the good stripe of a solid three to six inches towards chicago, you're on the rainy side of things. and especially by late saturday afternoon. sunday, along the mississippi river we'll start to see the increasing chances for showers. so be ready for that. friday across portions of alaska we don't have too much in the way of any real daylight, barrow coming in a negative 8. a lot of 8 0s across the hawaiian islands. >> todd thanks so much. a ho-hum box office weekend and a wildly random potentially celebrity couple. and she's on the list, and it's not nice. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. and last night on late knight with jimmy fallon, jimmy alluded to a possible sign of things to come at the white house. >> some good news, it is the holiday season over at the white house. the theme for this year's christmas is, shine, give, share. well, rumors the theme for next year's white house christmas will be clean, pack, move. hey, listen to this, you guys, congress just lifted a ban on producing and exporting horse meat. or as taco bell put it, there was a ban on that? what? what do you think's in the burger? that's right. congress voted to allow the production of horse meat.

the vote got kind of awkward, when they were -- all opposed, say nay? >> tonight jimmy welcomes actress, myia rudolph, from nbc's "up all night" "late night with jimmy fallon" on your local nbc station. time for your first look at entertainment news, if movies are your thing, thisses is the weekend to avoid long lines and play some catch-up. on what's considered the slowest box office weekend of the year and no new openings, disney's "the muppets" is expected to finish number one. and elsewhere, access hollywood live reports former white house gate-crasher and the recently single tariq salahi has a crush on kate gosselin and has emailed the show asking for help setting him up. "gq" is out with its slightly nasty but very funny year-end list, the 25 least influential people alive.

well former minnesota governor tim pawlenty topped the list for being a quote aggressively forgettable fellow. gwynneth paltrow made it because is it any wonder we all loved watching her die in "contagion." princess beatrice made it for proving quote the british have just as many embarrassing hill billy cousins as we do. they were brutal. >> scathing. >> i would have love to have heard the discussion around the table. how about this person, how about that person. >> a lot of mean girls in that room, i would imagine. a lot of ex-head chirleaders, i would think. >> poor princess beatrice, she can't catch a break. >> didn't it go to charity? >> look at you, todd, trying to be sweet and nice. that's my job. stay tuned, "way too early" is next.

with some more good-looking poll numbers coming out for him, newt gingrich comes out and says it -- quote i'm going to be the nominee. the question is -- is there any chance he might be right? herman cain, meanwhile, sounding more and more like the emperor wearing no clothes, if you'll forgive the expression. talking like there's nothing to worry about, even as his candidacy evaporates. the question is, how much longer can the cain train keep this up. and president obama hosts a christmas party at his place. the question is how did it go when he took the mike and started carolling, with due respect to the president, it's "way too early" for this. ♪ ♪ good morning, i'm willie geist and this is way too early, the show that's prone to drinking with the ladle directly from the