call and record it. >> well, first of al a lot of checks -- there are a lot of times that i sign for him on many things. this morning on "early today," 22 days to go. new polls and controversy from both campaigns over tuesday's debate. we'll have details ahead. malala to england. the 14-year-old targeted for assassination by the taliban is flown to england this rning. history-making feat. the slowest shuttle trip ever. the fastest human trip ever. and the first man to break the sound barrier does it again 65 years later. >> this is "early today" for monday, october 15th, 2012. a very good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. a day before president obama and mitt romney meet for the second of three debates, brand-new poll

numbers show the candidates locked in a virtual dead heat. according to a new "washington post" abc news poll of likely voters, 49% favor president obama compared to 46% who back governor romney. those numbers are basically where they were two weeks ago and within the polls' margi of error. but that doesn't mean mitt romney didn't get a big boost. republicans' enthusiasm for their candidate has soared to 59% now, including an 11-point gain in just the past two weeks. both the romney and obama campaigns are expressing concern about the moderator of tuesday's second presidential debate. candy crowley will be hosting the debate, and she suggested that she'll play a larger role than agreed to by the candidates. according to "time" magazine's mark halperin, the two campaigns have raised objection saying the moderator's participation should be much more limited than she's

leading people to believe. crowley has suggested she'll ask follow-up questions, which is not part of the agreed upon format. as the candidates get in their final cram session before tomorrow night's debate, aides say president obama will be more aggressive, and mitt romney's camp says he'll be ready. for details, we go now to nbc's tracy potts. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. aides say that the president has seen the tape of the last debate, that he was disappointed and that he doesn't plan to make the same mistakes again. president obama taking a break from his weekend debate prep in williamsburg, virginia. >> it is going great. >> reporter: advisers say expect a more aggressive president obama to challenge mitt romney tomorrow night. >> he's got to be more energetic. i think you'll see somebody who's very passionate about the choice that our country faces. >> we saw governor romney sort of serially walk away from his own proposals and certainly the

president's going to be willing to challenge him on it. >> the president can change his style, he can change his tactics. he can't change his record and he can't change his policies. >> reporter: mitt romney's doing debate prep on the road. saturday he was in ohio. >> i need you to get other people who voted for barack obama to come join our team. we need ohio. >> reporter: maybe not. >> he can probably win the esidency without ohio, but i wouldn't want to take the risk. no republican has. >> reporter: romney's done 34 events in ohio since the republican convention, 11 since his last debacht his campaign says they've signed up thousands of volunteers there. polls show president obama's lead in ohio narrowed to just over one point on average, but reuters reports the president's got a big advantage, 18 points among early voters. and expect more star power on the campaign trail. the boss, bruce springsteen, expected to be campaigning for the president, performing at a campaign appearance in ohio and

iowa on thursday. >> tracy, thank you. a reminder, our coverage of the second presidential debate begins tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern right here on nbc. this is one of the most talked about stories on the planet. fearless felix baumgartner is back after the ultimate leap of faith. on sunday, he became the first sky diver to break the sound barrier, plummeting through the sky at super sonic speeds, reaching 833 miles an hour, or mach 1.24. baumgartner then made a remarkably smooth landing on his feet in the new mexico desert. that feat came 65 years to the day after chuck jaeger became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, and sunday jaeger did it again. but now that he's 89, the man known for having the right stuff was merely a passenger onboard an f-15 jet that raced across

california's mojavi desert. absolutely amazing. now here's a look at some other stories across america. a car plowing into a scrap metal business. luckily it happened in the middle of the night, so no one was around, kpeptd for the driver, who could be seen getting out of the car several minutes after the impact. in california, it is finally home sweet home for space shuttle endeavor. we've sped up this video of what was a long, winding and two-mile-per-hour journey through the streets of l.a. this weekend. after soaring above the earth dozens of times, its final trek was to a museum where it's going to go on display later this month. to new york, it's not as big as that shuttle, but this pumpkin is still pretty great, right? it's weighing in at 1,300 pounds and the grower says it's all thanks to hard work, no funny

business. a map discovered buried in the vault of a historical vote shows george washington's encampment at valley forge, pennsylvania, could have changed this country's history forever if it had fallen into the hands of the british. the map was rediscovered two years ago during a routine inventory after being donated to the society in the 1940s. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's bill karins with a weather channel forecast. good morning to you. >> good morning. the shuttle going into l.a., it was actually so hot and it was moving so slowly -- >> did you see how quickly it was moving in our video? >> it was in our video. but there were over 30 people treated for heat exhaustion because there were people in the sun waiting all day for the shuttle. if you were in the middle of the country, you dealt with this powerful storm. watching football games from the midwest on saturday and so many of them just got drenched. that storm system lingered yesterday through portions of illinois, wisconsin, and michigan, and now it's finally on the move. the cold front is headed from

the eastern seaboard and there will be a little bit of rain with it. not as bad as what we saw over the weekend. oklahoma city picked up two to three inches of rain. now you're in a nice mild dry pattern. up the east coast, it is warm this morning ahead of the front and that will spark some showers and storms eventually. this is central alabama. this is montgomery. we can see a few showers and storms here. further to the sourth, it looks like new orleans is doing okay, but baton rouge, maybe a rumble of showers and thunder or two. another spot where we could have minor problems with the airports is in atlanta. there's a shield of light rain heading your way. if you're leaving the door in atlanta soon, you may have to deal with a little wet weather. the carolinas, virginia, the mid-atlantic, that's where the front will spark showers and storms. that's a look at your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. behind the front, there's not a lot of cold air with this system. unlike the last couple fronts.

notice how beautiful a day it's going to be in memphis today. 76 and sunny. oklahoma city back up into the mid 80s today, so not a lot of cold air to deal with this week. little bit of wet weather on the east coast for our monday. then pretty dry the west of t week. >> we need some l.a. sunshine. >> eventually. not today. >> all right. the father of former u.s. ambassador to libya chris stevens speaks out. what caused a u.s. nuclear sub to collide with one of our destroyers? your early morning headlines are straight ahead. from land to water with a push of a button. guess what. you may actually be able to afford james bond's latest gadget. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. the pakistani teenage girl shot in the head by the taliban last week for promoting education for girls and criticizing the group in a blog is being flown to great britain this morning. doctors believe malala yousafzai will need prolonged care as she

recovers. tomorrow, vice president joe biden will attend the funeral of former pennsylvania senator arlen specter, who died sunday from complications of nonhodge kins lymphoma at the age of 82. the two were close and often traveled on amtrak together when they were senators. the pentagon is investigating what caused the collision of a nuclear sub and a naval cruiser during a training exercise off the east coast this weekend. no one was injured and both ships were able to return to port. the damage is being evaluated. the father of christopher stevens, the u.s. ambassador killed last month in libya, said it would be abhorrent for his son's death to be politicized. last month the mom of a navy seal asked the president to stop mentioning his name on the campaign trail. a fireworks display went hey haywire and shot into the crowd. the cause is being investigated.

15 people have died due to an injectable steroid. you can read about it online at nbcnews.com. just go to the health section. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,328 after adding two points friday. the s&p was down four. the nasdaq lost five. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei gained 43 points, while in hong kong, the hang seng nudged up 11. stocks turned in their worst performance since early june last week, but a few factors could turn things around this week. today new retail sales figures should be positive after consumer sentiment sparked to a five-year high on friday. key earnings are on deck from heavyweights like ge, part owner of this network, as well as

coca-cola, mcdonald's, and microsoft. japan's soft bank has reportedly agreed to acquire a majority stake in sprint nextel for $20 billion. the boost to social security benefits could be among the lowest in decades, around 1%, or an estimated $12 to $24 for the typical retiree collecting an average of $1,237 a month. sunland is expanding an ongoing recall of nut butter to include raw and roasted peanuts. amazon kindle owners could see a drop in ebook price and possibly even refunds on past purchases if a judge approves legal settlements of pubbishers accused of fixing prices. apple has not confirmed the existence of an ipad mini, but according to rumors, the device will come in 16 different configurations for around $300 to $650.

itunes has competition with the announcement of a new streaming music service. xbox music will eventually be available on all windows-based devices. finally, if you have 007 envy, check out this four-wheeler called the quad ski that goes from land to water with the press of a button. soon it can be yours for about $40,000 big ones. right. more playoff baseball and a lengthy record for the nfl history books. plus, a not ready for primetime appearance by an olympic gold medalist. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and the weather is not quite as fast. it looks like we're going to have a break from our big chill. i think you're going to like the warmth. that forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

well, a very good morning to you. in sports, first to houston for sunday night football. reigning mvp aaron rodgers set a career high with six touchdown passes, leading the packers past the previously unbeaten houston texans 42-24. here's an early look at all of sunday's nfl scores. with houston's loss, the atlanta falcons remain the only undefeated team in the nfl with

a 23-20 victory over the oakland raiders. in baltimore, jacoby jones tied an nfl record with a 108-yard kickoff return, helping the ravens beat the cowboys 31-29. college football now. alabama and florida top the bcs standings. both 6-0. the crimson tide and gators don't play each other this season, but would meet in the s.e.c. championship game if both remain undefeated. over to baseball. the tigers took a 2-0 series lead over the yankees. a solid performance by pitcher anibal sanchez. an admitted missed call at second base notched them a 3-0 victory yesterday. in san francisco, the cardinals hit two homers in a 6-4 victory over the giants, taking game one of the n.l. championship series. "saturday night live" had some fun with paul ryan's exaggerated marathon time. they got a little help from the world's fastest man, usain bolt.

check this out. >> please tell him who won the 100 meters. >> i did. >> you did? >> and where did i finish. >> you didn't finish. you weren't even there. >> thank you, usain. >> no problem. coming up next, liam takes down ben. and brad pitt analyzes women. your entertainment headlines straight ahead. plus, queen for a day. a mississippi college student makes history at ole miss. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this monday. what you need to know heading out the door is grab the umbrella. areas of maryland, delaware, virginia, through north carolina. we also have some showers and storms heading for atlanta early today. you'll clear out for a nice afternoon. the mid-atlantic is where those showers will linger during the day today. middle of the country looked gorgeous. no problems actually the next two days. look at kansas city today, 80. if you're watching us on nbc 10 in providence, rhode island, learn how the people, land, and animals of africa are interconnected as you watch exotic species in action at fabric of africa at the roger williams park zoo. that's your "early today" event of the day. here now is a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment news. at the box office, ben affleck's "argo" put up a good flight, but it just couldn't dethrone "taken 2." the liam neeson thriller pulled in $22.5 million in its second

weekend, while "argo" opened in second place with $20.1 million. "sinister" debuted in third with $18.3 million. the kevin james comedy "here comes the boom" -- >> what happened? >> what? >> i thought it would be hysterical. >> really? >> i did. >> it came in fifth, a weak $12 million. >> i liked the clips. >> there you go. the "sydney morning herald" reporting that russell crowe and his wife of nine years have separated. the report says crowe's busy film schedule is partly to blame but that the split is amicable. they have two sons. what does brad pitt have in common with marilyn monroe and nicole kidman? bill karins? >> i don't know. >> what does brad pitt have in common with bill karins? >> yeah, right. >> well, brad pitt is following in all of those women's footsteps as the new face of chanel number 5. pitt is also the first man ever to represent the iconic perfume.

he's reportedly being paid -- get this -- seven million bucks for his efforts. well deserved. this now comes to us from wmc action news 5 in memphis, tennessee, where in nearby oxford, history has come full circle. this weekend, the university of mississippi crowned its first ever african-american homecoming queen. the selection of courtney pearson comes 50 years after ole miss first allowed black students to be admitted, which at the time, led to race riots. pearson credits a diverse group of supporters in winning the vote. i'm veronica de la cruz, this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

4:28 on your monday morning. a look at your nation's capital. 66 degrees this morning. feels pretty good, a little breeze blowing. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome this monday, october 15th, 2012. prince william county fire investigators trying to figure out what started a three alarm fire at a storage facility. firefighters called to the 7900 block of sudley road in manassas. at least four s there caught fire. no one was hurt in that blaze. a developing story this morning. the search under way for two

virginia hikers missing in montana. neal peckens of herndon and jason hiser left for glacier national park in montana last week. both men are veterinarians. yesterday 50 rangers searched the hiking trails. they found tracks in the area and a fire ring. rangers say it may be evidence of the missing men. they also have the hikers' park permits, which will help them narrow the search area. >> we know they have a back country permit, and that showed where they will be hiking. we at least have the general area. perhaps the weather is playing something with this. we're not sure what's going on, but we'll continue to do what we can. >> park rangers say the men have gone off trail due to the high winds and snow. today several religious groups will call on metro to donate the money received from a controversial advertising campaign. the coalition, which includes representatives from christian, jewish, and muslim groups wants metro to