this morning on "early today," tax cut grid lock. while senators bicker, millions of americans face money lost from their paycheck. speaking out. ginger white opens up about her alleged affair with presidential hopeful herman cain. and cheating death. amateur video captures a horrific crash at a stunt show amateur video captures a horrific crash at a stunt show in brazil. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning, i'm lynn berry. today we begin with double vision. late last night the senate

rejected dualing partisan plans on a tax break that could have a big impact on the nation's fragile economy because lawmakers on both sides have difing ideas of how to pay for it. nbc's tracie potts joins us with that and more from the senate session. good morning. >> reporter: 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 republican plan. 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. white house in response says job and federal pay cuts republicans are suggesting are, quote, a window dressing, unbalanced. they passed a huge defense

authorization bill, $662 billion, 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 potts in washington, thank you. elsewhere as herman cain weighs his white house aspiration, the he said/she said continues between gop presidential candidate and an atlanta businesswoman who claims she was his mistress in more than a decade. in a newspaper interview cain admitted to providing ginger white for monthly aid for monthly bills and expenses after she asked for help. cain never told his wife, recounting what he called a platonic relationship. in an exclusive interview on msnbc's "last word" white told a different story to lawrence o'donnell. >> did herman cain tell you 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 as it is for people to hear it, you know, it pretty much is what it is. that's what it was. >> herman cain says he will make a decision on the future of his campaign before monday, after a face-to-face discussion with his wife. meanwhile, this year's santa ana winds are wreaking havoc in southern california. they declared emergency after hurricane gusts uprooted trees, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people. nbc's stephanie stanton reports. >> 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: it was enough to

blow this giant tree down onto the pushes at a pasadena gas station and send 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: at least 20 flights were diverted to nearby ontario airport due to dangerous crosswinds. in utah it was much the same scene, wind gusts up to 102 miles an hour were recorded. the high winds toppled ten big rigs on interstate 15. >> we were just sitting there waiting and it sounded like an explosion with my window blowing up. i guess i rock went through the window and got me here in the eye. >> reporter: the high wind warnings and advisories remain in effect for california, utah, nevada, new mexico and wyoming. stephanie stanton, nbc news, los angeles. and now here's a look at

some other stories making news early today in america. a violent robbery was caught on camera inside a florida residential complex. a suspect was recorded brutally beating the president of the homeowners 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 cache of stolen toys. suspects were 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 couple's 17-year-old son were caught stealing baseball cards. finally, a sparkling 89-year tradition continued just south of the white house thursday night. the first family lit the national christmas tree. the president delivered remarks urging the crowd to help others during this holiday season. before lighting the 26-foot tall tree from new jersey.

now here's a look at your national and regional weather with nbc meteorologist todd santos. he has your weather channel forecast. that's always a great sight to see. >> it is. i got to see our tree in the backyard -- >> they turn it off when todd comes in to work. yes, congratulations. that's exciting. >> finally got to see it. it looked great yesterday 37 as far as the trees coming down across the west specifically, the winds easing up for a few areas. especially salt lake city. still, high wind warnings and we'll touch on those coming up especially through the sierra ridgetops. you see the disturbance making across eastern portion of the great lakes with showers, a little light snow mixed in and the southwest, this system is going to get a boost from a disturbance moving down basically through the great basin right now. as that gets going it will enhance rainfall in texas and kind of streak out through the plains, even make its way toward

chicago into late saturday into sunday. there's a look at it for today. travelwise across a good portion of the east looking decent, new york and boston, up through northern and central lower michigan may see a few snow showers. some rain through texas today but we'll get that going into the weekend. as this system blows out through portions of new mexico and oklahoma, we'll see increasing chances for showers and some could be freezing rain, switching to snow through northwest kansas. there's a look at the region. a busy setup across the country. let's check out your local forecast. philadelphia, at least looking for a pretty decent day today. on the cool side this morning, 51 degrees with sunshine by this afternoon. cleveland, may see a few snowflakes mixing in. not expecting a big snow setup. memphis coming in with sun. so, a number of beautiful areas across the country. we'll touch on a few as for some it will be a sleep-in saturday and some a sleep-in sunday. >> sounds fantastic.

coming up on the watch for jobs. more signs of recovery. and can the color of a can make a difference in taste? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, she's a list. and it's not too nice. coming up, a great finish in college football. donovan mcnabb is back on the market. and how did skittles beat the market?

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. 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 pakistanis were unaware their troops were in the area at the time an afghan/u.s. troop contingent was fired upon from across the border. secretary of state hillary clinton clinton has met with

former political prisoner aung san suu kyi. they planned to work together to bring democracy to the country. ticket master is forced to refund $1.50 for every ticket 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 yoko ono thursday during official opening of the museum of liverpool in the city where the beatles formed. in brazil, this is unbelievable. a motorcycle stunt went horribly wrong when a dare devil smashed head-on to an oncoming car and thrown 80 feet. that's tough to watch. amazingly, the rider escaped serious injury. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,020 after losing 25 points yesterday. the s&p was down 2 points. the nasdaq added 5. taking a look at overseas

trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei gained 46 points while in hong kong the hang seng nudged up 38. 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 any 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 strongly in november 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 sarkozy announced germany and france will push for a broad new european treaty. back on the street, financials wednesday's stars gave up some

gains. costco, nordstrom and other retailers rose on strong retail sales. barnes & noble plunged after a quarterly loss. on the upside, yahoo gained on news it may have bidders. us airways jumped on an upgrade and american airlines merger speculation. elsewhere, massachusetts attorney general sued bank of america, jpmorgan chase, citigroup, wells fargo and gmac mortgage for deceptive business practices with mortgages. clearwire cut a deal with majority owner and biggest customer sprint nextel. resolving a battle that threatened clearwire with bankruptcy. and finally, just a month after rolling out classic coke in a holiday white can, coke is switching back to red. seems white cans had drinkers seeing red. some confused it with diet coke while others actually complained coke tastes different in a white can. amazing what the mind can do to you. coming up, a new coach can't help the caps.

the vikings start house cleaning and a last-second thriller in college football. and thursday night nfl football proves eagles are no match for seahawks. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and with it being friday we'll get you set for the beginning of the coming weekend. you're watching "early today." spots again.3q

detergent alone doesn't fully dry your dishes. it leaves spots and residue behind. add finish jet-dry and they dry two times better. and they're shiny. that is shiny.

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." 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 with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. ever since high school marshawn lynch's mom would give him skittles to eat after he scored a touchdown. last night he was a kid in the candy store. to seattle, seahawks and eagles. he could tell lynch was ready to play in the first quarter, ran into a pile, came out of, it rumbled 15 yards to the end zone. that's worth skittles. marshawn got a handful of candy on the sideline. to the second, lynch again, full of sugar ripped off 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 candy man. marshawn lynch. if your team is looking for a quarterback, donovan mcnabb is available.

the vikings waved the six-time pro bowler so he could finish with another team. hockey. two of the best squared off in washington. no, not clinton and reagan. sidney crosby and alex ovechkin. all eyes on them. kunitz stepped up and scored the game winner for pittsburgh. hunter still looking for the first win as caps' coach. penguins won it 2-1. rangers and hurricanes. kurt muller has coached two, and lost both of them. gaborik with a two-on-one to give new york the lead in the third. rangers handed the hurricanes their fifth straight loss 5-3. back to football, great finish between number 23, west virginia and south florida. mountaineers down a touchdown, five minutes to play, garrison punched it out from five yards out and tied it 27-27. west virginia gets the ball back. needing a big play on fourth down. 13 seconds to play. smith hits bailey across the middle getting west virginia into field goal range. betancourt for the game, got it as time expired. west virginia rallied to win it

30-27 and clinched a share of the big east title. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. well, a ho-hum box office weekend and a wildly random potential celebrity couple. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. destined for death in the wild. we'll introduce to you cubs who have been rescued for the holidays. you're watching "early today."

welcome back into "early today." a few of us waking up to slightly warmer temperatures than yesterday. atlanta down towards orlando with 52. cooler spots are in the country as far as what we're setting up for today, notice some showers down toward phoenix, snow in higher elevation, gusty winds across portions of the southwest. even rain back through texas. once we get into late tonight and tomorrow, we'll see a few areas through northwest kansas setting up with freezing rain topped off with snow. if you're watching us on wjhg news channel 7 in panama city, florida, see items recovered from one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century at titanic. that's your early event today. now, here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. if movies are your thing, this weekend is the weekend to avoid long lines. 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. access hollywood live reports former white house gate crasher and recently single tareq salahi has a crush on kate gosselin and he's e-mailed the show asking him for help setting him up. gq is out with its slightly nasty but funny year end list. 25 least influential people alive. former minnesota governor and republican presidential candidate tim pawlenty topped the list for being, quote, an aggressively forgettable fellow. despite something of a comeback year, gwyneth paltrow made it because, quote, is it any wonder we all loved watching her die in "contagion"? that's just mean. and england's princess beatrice made it for proving, quote, the british have just as many embarrassing hillbilly cousins as we do. ouch! kind of below the belt. >> it's a scathing -- i bet it was an awesome collaboration in the room they were coming up with all this stuff.

>> can you imagine? >> that's only what made it to print. this comes to us from ktuu channel 2 in anchorage, alaska where an effort to rescue a trio of bear cubs. alaska's brutal winter would have likely killed the 11-month-olds after a suspected poacher killed their mother. wildlife officials rescued them didn't have the funds or facility to keep them in so they faced possible euthanize. in the spirit of the season, instead of polar express, fedex is making the special delivery to their new home. i'm lynn berry and 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 morning, everyone. it is a little cold out there this morning. 21 in frederick and 28 at the airport. the forecast is a mix of sun and clouds. it will warm up pretty quickly this morning. we will come back and check the forecast. >> approximately 26 degrees.

>> maryland is in the top five. what officials believe is the reason why. >> today, we find out how many americans are still looking for work as lawmakers bickered over how to help them. >> some political heavyweights take the stand in a trial. we have details ahead. >> an earlier accident and some >> an earlier accident and some left

>> good morning, happy friday. >> thank you for joining us. >> another cold day at the cold front. >> there will be some frost on >> there will be some frost on