suffering through the past couple weeks that, speech from her renewed my faith in political speeches. democrat and republican. best new thing in the world best new thing in the world today. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." tarnished image, fbi files not everyonism pressed with apple's co-founder. historic hall, authorities seize 15 tons of pure powder meth. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with a campaign crossroad. in washington gop presidential hopeful mitt romney will deliver a speech to 10,000 members of the conservative political action conference. with rick santorum's three victories, leaving a hint republicans aren't enthusiastic about romney, his performance today would be critical. for more on that and the on-going fight over health care coverage for birth control, brian moare joins us from washington. good morning. >> reporter: romney's supporters have been urging him to step up his game, today, is his chance. before the gop presidential hopefuls address a big gathering of conservatives here in washington, former candidate rick perry set the tone. >> if it's halftime in america, i'm fearful of what the final score will be if we let this president start the second half as a quarterback! >> reporter: it is a critical

chance for rick santorum to build on his big primary season wins earlier this week and make the case he is the conservative candidate who can win. a chance for newt gingrich to rally supporters. but it may be mitt romney who has the most ridding on his cpac appearance. >> it's an incredible opportunity for him to speak to conservatives to the issues they care about. >> he's struggling with conservatives, expected to explain his times as massachusetts governor. the candidates may attack each other, the president and administration's contraceptive policies will be targets. the president is not ready to sound off. >> come on, guys. >> his republican rivals are. >> this attack on religious freedom can not stand. >> reporter: it could be a key barometer for santorum in

particular. when it comes to the controversy over contraception, at church-owned organizations, john kerry is urging president obama to work out a compromise. last night on "the ed show" terry o'neill, the president of the national organization for women said she thinks the mandate and battle should be about women's health. >> it's striking to me how many male politicians are willing to use women's health as a political football. i would like to have a meeting with senator kerry and find out what he's thinking about. my understanding in fact is that catholic bishops have been in the capitol, meeting with elected officials, they have not been meeting with the heads of women's organizations. i think that any senator who intends to support any kind of legislation for example, to restrict women's access to birth control in their health insurance plans needs first to

meet with the women's organizations. it's -- and what they need to understand? is that it's not just women who will not support them at the polls, it's women and men. birth control is a fundamental part of a woman's health care and men rely on birth control as much as women do, to prevent pregnancy. each night ed schultz and his guests debate and discuss the most important issues affecting americans. watch "the ed show" at 8:00 eastern only on msnbc, the place for politics. elsewhere for the first time since the partial meltdown of the three mile island nuclear plant in 1979, the government has approved a license for a nuclear power facility. by a 4-to-1 vote, nut clear regulatory commission okayed a plan to build new reactors in georgia. it would be built on an existing

site. would have the $14 billion reactors operating as soon as 2016. two other nuclear plants in south carolina are also being considered for approval in the next few months. overseas, following the deadly soccer riot in egypt, the muslim brotherhood is flexing muscle calling their military to surrender their power to a new civilian government. the group, once outlawed in egypt, controlled 50% of the seats in the parliament. they want one of their leaders named prime minister to form a new government until waiting until the june deadline for generals now in charge to hand over power. more than 70 people died in the soccer riot which the muslim brotherhood said showed the military had failed to provide leadership, security and economic stability. here is the first look at some of the other news going on around america today. really dramatic video, inside a georgia walmart, showing a young

girl fighting off a man trying to abduct her. the 7-year-old made every kick count, hitting him until he let her go, the man fled but police nabbed him after the incident. the suspect, who was out on parole for voluntary manslaughter conviction, now faces an attempted kidnapping charge. a brief car chase turned in a very long standoff in a los angeles residential neighborhood after the driver abandoned the vehicle, police chased the car thief up a roof. the ordeal ended when the suspect surrendered after being hit with bean bag projectiles. passengers on los angeles bound flight from chicago now know what it's like to travel with hollywood royalty. 42 statues arrived on the flight. the passengers got to take home their own oscars, little chocolate versions. since you don't get peanuts,

that is a good thing. now for a look at the weather, todd santos has the forecast. >> you didn't have to work for it, just handed to you, that works out well. >> good flight to be on. >> flights, we could see a few issues toward the southwestern great lakes, tomorrow snow spreading through the eastern big cities. initially, you can see activity moving down through the great lakes in the form of snow fall, stay on the wide view to see some of the rain the southern piece of the system, that is going to make its way off the east coast, a coastal low will provide two to four inches around boston. i want to show this considering the snow that we're dealing with initially is along a frontal boundary as that pushes to the south will bring in cooler air and that will be noticing through a large swath of the country. at least we are dealing across the southeast, rain today, spotty rain as it works through portions of mississippi, alabama maybe a few isolated thunderstorms here and there,

not a great set-up for severe weather, the northern edge of that getting a little bit of cool air, maybe a few snow flakes just south of st. louis. as far as the real snow, system-snow, once it sweeps through, windy in chicago, may see snow showers by this afternoon. northwest indiana best chance for heavier snow fall, then you deal with the fetch across the lake and that drives lake effect snow. just two counties in the light blue color, winter weather advisories later tonight and early tomorrow morning, a few outside west virginia in the purple are winter storm watches, potential for accumulation there as well. current temperatures right now you see where the cool air is bottled up toward fargo, we start to see more winter-like temperatures across the northwest great lakes, mild on the east coast. saturday you start to see some of the cool air spilling back toward western portions of new

york, we will get snow going portions of northern ohio, once you get at least the fetch across the lakes, sunday, still cooler air locked in then even down toward boston. lynn, we'll talk about the west coast system and what some of us can expect and find sunshine amidst the cooler temperatures. job numbers sparkle, guys are morrow man particular than women? business headlines are straight ahead. coming up lakers versus celts, a goal from center ice and dance party at pebble beach. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to first look rr i'm lynn berry. syrian forces killed dozens of people during the attack on the city of homs. troops are using long range weapons outside the city,

snipers shoot from roof tops inside. the u.s. is working to form a group of nations to address the crackdown by syrian president assad. newly released fbi files paint a less than flattering picture of steve jobs. former colleagues called him arrogant and questioned his honesty, stating he will "twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals." a top aide to arizona congress woman gabby giffords is running for her seat. ron barber was injured in the same shooting that nearly took giffords life last year. the marine corps is apologizing for a photograph of a sniper team taken in afghanistan in 2010 poezising i front of a nazi flag. they will not be disciplined

because they thought ss stood for sniper scouts. authorities made a historic drug bust, seizing 15 tons of pure methamphetamine, equal to half of all the meth seizures in the world in 2009. now here is the first look how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,890 after adding six points yesterday. s and p. up a point, nasdaq gained 11. in tokyo, the nikkei fell 5 points, the hang seng dropped 226. thursday's upbeat unemployment report could help stocks continue higher today. the number of people seeking unemployment fell near a four-year low last week, a sign strong hiring may continue in the coming months. in europe, an agreement on debt restructuring moves to the greek parliament which must pass unpopular budget cuts before financial ministers sign off on

a bail out deal. exports from china fell in january, biggest decline since 2008 crisis. a new sign of weak global demand and slowing chinese economy. more than a million tassamo coffee makers are being recalled after dozens -- call of duty is selling well, overall retail sales of video games fell 34% in january, because of the lack of new game titles. it's an end of an era for eastman kodak as they stop making digital cameras and pocket video cameras. $25 billion mortgage settlement will mean better refinancing and checks up to

$2,000 for those of you that lost their homes. new studies on dating show single men don't want to date a lot of women, they are more romantic than women. the surveys found that as in the past, although most women prefer a man with a job, more than a third said if they were really interested, unemployment wouldn't matter. the lakers blocked the celtics in overtime, the warriors overtake the nugget, one lucky way to score plus the shot that had this golfer busting moves in pebble beach. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to first look, i'm lynn berry. fred rogan has the reason you have to play until the buzzer. rivalry week, pats-giants in the super bowl. last night, lakers and celtics, rivalry like none other. check out how they started the game off the tip, garnett hike, to rondo, we're off and running. lakers with fancy ball movement, kobe to pau gasol, harlem globetrotters would have been proud. lakers trailed by two. kobe off the mark, pau gasol forced overtime. fast forward to the end of ot,

paul pierce for the win, no, allen to the win, rejected by gausol. lakers held on. the nuggets continue to struggle, lost the fifth straight. golden state rode the hot hand of stephan curry, the warriors won it. jets and caps, dustin bufflin, the shot from the red line took a wild bounce, a goal from that distance ought to be a three pointer. jets won 3-2. peeble beach pro-am, tiger woods the favorite, ken duke had the shot of the day. on the par 4, 16th, up, on line hit the green and in the hole for an eagle! look at duke's reaction. that is either dancing or he's got something in his pants. get down with your bad self, ken! there is a cabbage patch, nice.

luckily duke's game is better than his dancing. that is the first look at sports, have a great weekend i'm fred rogan. >> another look at the weather, here is todd santos, has the weather channel forecast. >> fred getting the dig in there. >> i couldn't top that. >> own the moves. >> go for it, if you can slit a -- hit a shot like that. staying off the golf course in chicago unless you're out early, late this afternoon some of the snow showers moving in, maybe one to three inches. not huge by chicago standards but to the east, gary, indiana could get more with the lakes getting involved. across the northwest, the fetch from the southwest, warm flow toward puget sound, even some of these areas in northern california, mount shasta get light snow and rain down toward the bay area. did i mention temperatures, where we're headed the next couple days across the great

lakes. the west coast, temperatures in the 50s, 56 in l.a., later this afternoon finish off the week, not as beautiful as yesterday, by maybe a couple degrees cooler, 77, still full sunshine, showers up in los angeles, better chances for the flight delays especially late this afternoon closer toward the great lakes and from dallas, spreading eastward with some of the showers in the southeast, atlanta on the cloudy side of things. sunshine in the north, tomorrow or through today, tonight you start to see cooler temperatures, new york city potential for one to three inches worth of snow for saturday, the good news it shows up for the weekend, especially if you were hoping for the snow. if not it came on the weekend. lynn? todd, thanks so much. coming up, who would you pick to play princess diana in a movie? a tear-jerker story from previous tear-jerkers is set to make other films cry at the box office. first look at entertainment straight ahead.

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a company in new york selling perfume that smells like roast beef. yeah the perfume is called "gingrich." some tv news, just announced the show "house" will end after the current season. yeah, things are bad when the show "house "is being foreclosed on. that is not good. this saturday is the drawing for one of the biggest powerball jackpots in history means one

lucky winner could be worth $300 million. or as mitt romney calls that, middle class. middle class. >> jimmy welcomes dwayne johnson, the star of the new drama "smash" katherine mcphee and neil brennan. that is at 12: 35, 11:35 central on your local nbc station. entertainment news, that sound you may hear frequently will be the sound of husbands and boyfriends being dragged to the movie theater. that is because expectations are very high for the romantic drama "the vow" starting channing tatum and rachel mcadams, a true story about a newlywed who loses her memory after a car crash. for the guys, there is a weekend's clever counter

programming, denzel washington-ryan reynolds action drama "safehouse" will take second with 25 million or more. 3-d release of star war's "phantom menace" will take in 25 million. "mystery island" will grab 15 million. big casting news out there, australian naomi watts will play princess diana in a film about the last two years of her life. always a lot of pressure when you play a huge, iconic figure. >> someone who was loved that much. >> she said as much, too. michelle williams played marilyn monroe did an unbelievable job. is your wife going to drag you to the romantic drama "the vow"? >> i have an excuse this weekend, i'm working at the

weather channel. >> not 24 hours, todd. >> there is some room i could probably get dragged off. >> i'm lynn berry, stay tuned, way too early with willie geisz starts right now. democrats have gathered against president obama and hss ruling that dominated this week. will they change course? if you thought the president's democratic fraeiend were rallying against him, what do you think the tone was at c pac? they show up to hit president obama the question is can the cpac crowd fall in