this morning on "early today," pole position. an exclusive nbc news survey reveals what americans think of the uphill battle over health care. path of destruction. a tornado slams through a shopping district in eastern texas causing serious damage. and a bottwoman is stranded the air after being stranded on and a bottwoman is stranded the air after being stranded on an opening draw bridge. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >p > hello and good. ir i'm christina brown. > todap today tr pill. despite a relentless pue whittwhiter white housp why nbc nenbc news sho nbc news sh remap remain deeply skepti

tthep the presidentrthe ppe form plan. chuck todd breaks it all day. scenes are familiar now. passionate support. passionate opposition. >> there are differences. for the third straight month, mr. obama's overall job rating has dropped. 41% disapproving. on health care, the president's job rating, while unchanged, still only has 41% approving, 47% disapproving. it's even worse for republicans in congress. just 21% approve how they are handling health care. 6 #% disapprove. >> the public is split over reform efforts. 41% are concerned reforms won't go far enough. >> i'm sorry, sir, i just don't believe you. >> reporter: and the town halls, the country is evenly divided.

43 percent say they have done more hard than good. 42% say they have done more good than harm. and republicans believe they're good. as for the controversial allegations about what's like i to happen, the president has work to do. 55% believe illegal immigrants will get taxpayer money, 50% believe it will pay for abortions. every single statement has been checked independently and proven to be false. the bottom line on health care is when this town hall's madness started three weeks ago, the president's plan was in serious condition. it's still in serious condition politically but it is stable. >> that was nbc's chuck todd reporting. officials in afghanistan are urging voters to head to the polls in tomorrow's presidential vote.

just this morning police exchanged fire with several gunmen who took over a bank in kabul. it comes just a day after insurgents launched a state of tack, including a bombing that killed two u.s. troops. in an effort to counter taliban threats to attack civilians, the government has actually banned media from reporting on election day violence. well, strong storm systems gave birth to violent weather throughout the nation's midsection yesterday. in southeast tx, one tornado caused damage to a shopping center. it tore into a department store roof and tossed around vehicles. several people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. in colorado, cameras captured this funnel cloud that threatened to come down. it did not reach the ground and did not cause any damage. now here's a look at some other stories making news "early today" in america.

one woman in wisconsin is lucky to have some great breaks. take a look at this image. onlookers snapped these photos as the car was perched on top a raised bridge. now, the bridge was actually at a 45-degree angle when they saw the car and lowered it. police are still trying to contact the driver who drove off uninjured. animal protection officials in florida rescued more than 20 mal nourished horses. spca investigators charged their owner with animal cruelty after finding many of the emaciated animals with their ribs showing. 10 were removed on the spot. elsewhere in florida, good samaritans hoped they could rescue an animal. a group of people a beach tried to save a 14-foot baby sperm whale by continue to go pour water over it to keep it hydrated. unfortunately their efforts were

not enough to save the beechd whale who ended up dying by the end of the day. a remarkable reunion in miami brought a wayward dog back to the owner. after it was found it was scanned for an id mike chip who linked it to a woman who lives more than 1,000 miles away in texas. the owner was finally reunited with sunshine weeks after she disappeared in dallas. . now for a look at your national and regional fok, the weather channel forecast. good morning, raphael. i brought sunshine brought big smiles. >> unfortunately we'll start with a big story in the tropics, hurricane bill now a major category 3 storm. you can see looking very impressive on the satellite, packing winds of 125 miles per hour, gusting up to 155. that will continue to the west-northwest. you can see portions of the antilles a few hundred miles away. a stormy scenario across the

central section of the country and a couple stalled out fronts. we're starting things out close to 80 degrees in d.c. 70 in new york city and boston. getting up to 90 in boston. so the heat and humidity continues across the northeast. scattered storms can be expected in new york city, d.c., all the way down to charlotte as well. as we look back towards the great lakes, look for scattered storms in detroit, chicago. temperatures there still in the 80s. 86 with storms in nashville. storms down to the gulf. that's your regional forecast. now here's a look at the weather where you live. for burlington, vermont, still feeling the heat. temperatures in the mid-80s. hartford, 92 degrees, sun and clouds. a few popup storms in the northeast. charleston, 92 degrees with sun and clouds. back to you, christina. >> all right.

thanks, so much, raphael. results help spur a rebound on wall street. and cash for clunkers puts some folks right back to work. plus, some pal. quintin tarantino tells about drug use by a hollywood heavyweight friend. ortiz comes up big in toronto. brett favre unretired, again. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm christina brown. and here are some of your top headlines this morning. president obama held a rare face-to-face meeting with former president bill clinton at the white house tuesday. the two men huddled for over an hour to discuss clinton's recent visit to north korea. the white house says president obama wanted to thank president

clinton in person for securing the release of two american journalists. veteran political columnists robert novak died tuesday after a long battle with brain cancer. in recent years he was perhaps best known for being the first to publish the name of cia operative valerie plame. california authorities now believe a wildfire that has burned more than 88,000 acres in santa barbara county was started in a marijuana field with possible ties to mexican drug cartels. investigators say they located about 30,000 marijuana plants and an ak-47 assault rifle near the origin of the blaze. and in england, two villages were evacuated to safely explode a 500-pound bomb from world war ii. the device was discovered on sunday by people digging up the remains of a world war ii era plane that crashed in the area. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off

the day. the dow opens at 9,217 after gaining 82 points on tuesday. the s&p rose 9. the nasdaq gained 25 points. taking a look at overseas, the nikkei launched 80 points while the hang seng tumbled 352 points. after starting the week with a selloff, wall street rebounded tuesday recovering some losses despite another round of mixed economic data. bargain hunting consumers in second quart cost cutting helped offset revenue growth for retailers reporting results tuesday. better than expected earnings from home depot, target and saks restored consumer spending, sending markets 1% higher across the board. meanwhile, the commerce department recorded an unexpected drop in housing starts. construction of new homes and apartments both fell more than expected last month. but construction of single-family homes showed a

glimmer of growth inching up 1% last month. shares of apple edged higher tuesday on one analyst's predictions for the continued success of the iphone in the ever-growing smartphone market. the positive outlook gave a shot in the arm to the tech sector and sent it 3% higher by the end of the day. after one month from a record recovery from bankruptcy protection, gm is shifting its production into high gear to meet the growing demand by the cash for clunkers program. g.m. plans to bring back 1,300 idle workers in addition to 10,000 employees with an overtime shift as it increases output at nearly all u.s. plants. keep an eye on the world's largest pc maker today. profits down 19% in the latest quarter. despite a better forecast for the rest of the area, hp shares dropped 2% following its after

the bell earnings report. finally, a flower shop in illinois is set up after fielding 150 calls a day for customers who want to buy cars, not carnations. the small town florist has an 800 number that's almost the same as g.m. cash for clunkers information line except it starts with 877 a new and lesser known prefix. g.m. claims there's not much they can do about it. well, brett favre finally makes up his mind and big papi finally wakes up. plus, someone machine's one-man wrecking crew leaves a few calling cards in texas. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. we've got scattered storms in the eastern half of the nation. your regional forecast is coming right up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, if you thought the brett favre saga was over, you should have known better. yesterday, for what seemed like the 150th time the veteran quarterback came out of retirement. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. perhaps he had his fingers crossed. he swore he would never play the nfl again.

brett favre signed a two-year, $25 million deal to play for the vikings. favre practiced for the first time yesterday. he'll likely start friday night when they play preseason game against the chiefs. >> everyone i've talked to, former players, coaches, just people in general, said if you were to go back this is a perfect fit. it really is. >> baseball, rodriguez heading back to the rakers. astros traded the 14-time all-star for a pair of minor leaguers. he'll serves abackup catcher. they could have used him last night against the twins. mower hit not one but two home runs. young gave the twins the lead with a two-run blast. twins came from five runs down and beat the rangers, 9-6. david ortiz not in the original starting lineup but made the most of his late addition. 18th homer of the year, 3 rbis, and 3 runs scored.

martinez capped a three-run eighth with an rbi single down the line. they're now tied with texas for the a.l. wild card. tyingers and mariners. detroit down a run in the eighth. perfect time for the best player to step up and earn his pay. but cabrera ripped a single to center that scored two. tigers took the lead and went on to win 5-3. detroit has won four of their last five. check out this play from the diamondback diamondbacks/phils game. a great reaction by garland to make the play but not enough. phils won the game 5-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. plans are set for the burial of michael jackson. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, finding abe lincoln's signature at a flea market. it's a junk hunters dream come

true. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." we're still tracking hurricane bill, the major hurricane, a category 3 storm. high pressure over the north atlantic has been steering off northwest. take a look at the future path here. high pressure will break down. that will allow bill to take a northerly turn toward the weekend. we won't be dealing with a

direct hit for our part of the woods. for wednesday, temperatures close to 90 degrees once again in the cities of the northeast. 89 degrees in new york city. if you're watching wjar 10 nbc in providence, wheels at work exhibit at the providence children's museum in providence, rhode island. and that's your eastern event of the day. christina? >> all right. thanks so much. now here's an early look at this morning's headlines are entertainment. there's one movie frank sinatra's old vegas pals will probably bet will never get made. you know the one. leonardodicaprio stagger at blue eyes. the producer is fighting with scorsese over the script. she thinks there is too much about night life and mafia friends. meanwhile, drad pit recently told an interviewer that he gave up marijuana when he became a

dad. but his friend and director, quintin tarantino, taltsed to howard stern that not too long ago pitt gave him a big chunk of hashish when they met to talk about their movie "inglourious basterds." she and sean penn are not getting back together. she has filed for divorce. a family spokesman announced michael jackson will be buried at hollywood's forest lawn cemetery on saturday, august 29th on what would have been his 51st birthday. and as private as they may want that ceremony to be, there will still be a lot of people showing up hoping they can say good-bye once again to them. >> i'm sure the headlines are going to continue to come out of this story. >> absolutely. especially since we still don't

know how and why he died, right? this comes from channel 3 in cleveland, ohio, where one man stumble odd a flea market frequenters dream discovery. in a box filled with old papers, the civil war buff found what could be one of president lincoln's last signatures. now, an expert on lincoln's handwriting is, quote, pretty sure it's genuine, almost officially authenticating this find. well, i'm christina brown. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good wednesday morning. it is the middle of the workweek already. we have some early morning patchy fog. all of the rain we saw yesterday is one of the reasons we are seeing the fog early this morning. we will be seeing another chance of rain showers and thunderstorms again later this afternoon. the satellite picture shows that things are trying to clear out of maryland. we will see the sun shine once the sun comes up. we could see some thunderstorms earlier than what we saw yesterday. it will be a hot day. what you saw yesterday is what we will see again today. 73 degrees at bwi airport. 84 degrees in ocean city.

76 degrees in hagerstown. by lunchtime we will be around the mid 80's. after that we will deal with some thunderstorms which can be heavy at times. we will talk more about how long this pattern will last plus de lipitor we can forecast coming up in your forecast. >> -- plus a look at your forecast coming up. >> baltimore city police are investigating what they are calling a hate crime against a fisherman. the details are straight ahead. >> in washington, federal officials are advising businesses on how to prepare for the expected out a break of the swine flu this fall. i will have that story coming up. >> as you head onto the roads this morning, we will have ♪

doctor says i have to lower my cholesterol. here you go, mr. noran. (announcer) trying to lower your cholesterol can be a challenge. but with the help of honey nut cheerios' sweet taste, lowering your cholesterol is a non-challenge. get your free sample online at non-challenge.com this is really good!