captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> we are live in times square, a million people have gathered for the biggest celebration of the year. in two hours, all eyes will be on that famous crystal ball right there as it makes its way down one times square and officially issues in a new year. good evening, i'm carson daly and welcome to new year's eve in new york city. 47 to be specific, perfect weather for a night like tonight, we have a great show for you tonight. it all begins with the headliner of the year, drake. he'll perform in times square in just a little bit. also tonight we'll go to the top

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning, everyone. welcome to a very special edition of "today" on this friday morning. that is new york city's empire state building, lit up, as you can see, in the "today" show colors of red, orange and yellow. it's a spectacular way to kick off a really big morning for us

[captioning made possible by nbc universal] >> from manchester, new hampshire, this is a special edition of "the chris matthews show." today -- >> chris: mitt romney does ok with republican voters but they're just not that crazy about him. they'll spend some time with him but aren't ready for marriage. do they want more time or wish someone else had come along? is mitt the luckiest man in the america? can you win the presidency without breaking a sweat? in a year like this with rivals like there, maybe you can. will ron paul's liberty-loving fans drive him to run third party? even if that means barack obama wins? has paul got what ralph nader had? with us today, "new york magazine"'s john heilemann, nbc news' andrea mitchell, the "washington post"'s nia-malika henderson and "the huffington post"'s howard fineman. if mitt romney wins in new hampshire, this would be the first time a republican has ever won the first two, iowa and new hampshire. but he still can't win those who call themselves very conservative. just 14% of them v

[captioning made possible by nbc universal] okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> and good evening tonight from florida. the next battleground state in this already-wild gop primary campaign, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. the storyline tonight is all about tomorrow's vote in the first in the south primary in south carolina. specifically, a late last-minute surge by newt gingrich that could, at minimum, delay the best-laid plans of the romney campaign. we have it all covered for you tonight. we are going to begin with nbc's peter alexander in north charleston this evening to start our coverage. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. hours before the first votes are cast in this state the romney campaign is trying to limit expectations here. governor romney telling nbc news a short time ago it's always been a, quote, uphill battle in this state. this as newt gingrich appears to have much of the momentum. after a stormy week, undoubtedly the toughest of his entire campaign, mitt romney tried to rally supporters ahead of tomorrow's primary. >> thank you, governor. wow, here co

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. it would have stretched from canada to texas, and all along the countryside in between, and it still might someday, but for now, president obama has said no to a massive oil pipeline project, a $7 billion job that would create a lot of jobs in this country. the president says he has his reasons. he feels rushed into a decision by congress, and there are questions about a lot of things, including the environment, and his decision now to put this on hold has angered a lot of people from canada on south clear to congress and washington, and as of today, you can be sure, as the campaign season enters the home stretch, we'll be hearing a lot more about this long stretch of pipe. it's where we begin tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell in washington. andrea, good evening. >> good evening, brian. this sure was a no win situation for the president. on one side, environmentalists fighting the pipeline which would have added to an existing pipeline and run from canada all the way to the gulf of m

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello, everybody. so glad you're with us for booze day tuesday. >> january 24th. >> big day. >> especially out in hollywood and all things the movies. >> yes. everything kind of stops around 8:35, 8:36 when they make the big announcement for oscars. i can only imagine if you're somebody who either made a movie or was in a movie, how agonizing that must be watching those names pop up. >> you hear people say i was asleep, my phone rang -- >> no. >> liar! >> that is not true. one of the big shockers to everybody on this deal, we'll go through all the names but how about melissa mccarthy for "bridesmaids." >> best supporting actress nomination. >> do you remember what she did in that movie? >> yes, i do. >> all kinds of wacky things. do you remember there was a scene of her on the sink? there it is. >> she was having a rough night. i think that was oscar worthy. >> she's very, very funny. everybody loves her who meets her. everyone. >> it's hardly meryl streep and "the iron lady" but they're not in the sam

captions paid for by captions paid for by nbc-universal television captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. the next contest in the wild run for the nomination in the gop is in florida. there have been two televised debates there. tonight there is fresh evidence voters are making up their minds. the trend lines are moving away from newt gingrich, who won the last primary, and toward mitt romney. romney is now getting a lot of help from members of the republican party who think newt gingrich as the nominee going up against president obama in the fall is a bad idea. it's getting rough once again in florida tonight. it's where we begin on this friday evening with nbc's peter alexander from the campaign trail. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. tonight mitt romney's campaign feels very strongly that they have the momentum back in this race ahead of florida's vote four days from now. this is the biggest prize yet with both front runners crisscrossing the state trying to touch all four corners. >> i thought it was a delightful debate. i love

captions paid for by nbc-universal television captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. while our focus in prime time will be the president's state of the union address before a joint session of congress, to be fair, the attention has not been on the president. not for months. it's been on the gop race and the republican candidates. and one of them, mitt romney, chose today to release his tax returns from the year 2010. he did it to help stop the questions about his wealth, but in releasing his taxes, he reveals what most americans will regard as unimaginable wealth, and vast investments after a successful career in business, much of it spent buying and selling companies. the numbers in these returns will likely get talked about for the rest of the way in this campaign. it's against this backdrop that we begin tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: mitt romney wasn't talking about his taxes today, but the numbers tell the story. for 2010, the romneys paid $3 million in taxes on an adjusted gross income of $21.6 million, an effective rate of 13.9%. that

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> call her the unreal housewife of palm beach county. diamonds, flashy sports car, pricey condo. she had it all. but she wanted one thing more. >> i am positive. >> suddenly she is at the center of an undercover sting, on trial in a deadly plot. >> she's like poison candy. attractive on the outside, but deadly on the inside. >> was it a heinous crime or a half baked hoax? >> the plot hoped to capture the attention of someone in reality tv. >> a twisted tale of love gone wrong and a wife gone wild. the ballad of mike and dalia. >> thanks for joining us, i'm lester holt. their lives appeared to be picture perfect. a young couple with flourishing careers, a luxury condo, and a baby on the way. then it all came apart. an investigation would reveal that nothing about this young husband and wife was what it seemed, and the final chapter in this case would take nearly everyone by surprise. here is dennis murphy. ♪ >> palm beach county, florida, can be a bad place to live if you suffer from the "i want me some of that." the cars, the place on th

the ultimate results for the net neutrality rules and the a touch of the conditions to the nbc universal comcast merger raised a lot of -- they raised objections. they felt some of the conditions on the merger went outside of what they should concern themselves with and they were just unhappy with dennett neutrality rules they think it is an over reach. so what this is trying to do e essentially is on the one hand ostensibly bring transparency to what the fcc does. gives them more reporting requirements but more importantly what is going to visit it harder to pass new regulations because they are going to require the cost-benefit analysis of any potential regulation. but cloud of are quite a bit in terms of action going forward. >> i'm going to let my colleagues deal with this. >> mr. kirby? >> some folks on the other side say why are you treating them different than the other of mr. deficiencies and the congress and the house have looked of legislation basically that will apply to all administrative agencies. it's one of many independent agencies and so some folks feel they are being tr

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello, very good morning to you.'m veronica de la cruz. today we begin with next stop new hampshire. the going is about to get stuff as mitt romney looks to widen the paper-thin lead he beat rick santorum by in iowa. michele bachmann has dropped out while texas governor rick perry says he is staying in. nbc's brian mooar has details now from washington. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. romney won iowa but his competitors are pointing out the glass was three-quarters empty. mitt romney's campaigning on home turf with a win in iowa under his belt, the endorsement of john mccain in his pocket, and a runaway lead in the polls. >> do you think we can do a little better here in new hampshire? yeah. >> reporter: even though romney beat rick santorum by only eight votes in iowa, it's a win. >> with romney, ron paul and rick santorum in the top tier as the three serious contenders coming out of iowa is almost -- it's the perfect scenario for the former massachusetts governor. >> reporter: santorum have-h virtua

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> hey, everybody. welcome, welcome. it's winesday, wednesday. january 4th. only three more days to see that tree out there. they're going to take it down. >> that's sunday when that comes down. >> i like it, too. when new year's over, it's over. >> by the way, you guys have been clogging up our e-mail boxes. >> thank you for that. >> and we love it. with all of your photos from our cutest pet contest. people are sending in -- i guess we got 5,000. we just opened it yesterday. >> the problem is the word "pet." >> yes. we're making it cats and dogs. >> for legal purposes. >> not that that's not a pet. somebody loves their alligator very, very much. >> some of these entries are so cute. i don't know how we're going to choose or who does. >> oh, my god. are you kidding? >> that's haley. we've also got -- >> rex. >> how do you choose between a cat and a dog. you really can't. >> sandy. i'm kind of into sandy. smokey. >> oh, my gosh.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello, everybody. yes, you made it to friday. january 27th. less than two weeks away from our big trip to the bahamas. >> can't can not wait to giddy-up and get in the sunshine. >> you love your sunshine. >> i do. >> is that the 9th, you guys? >> somewhere around there. >> somewhere. >> we are chewing gum not because we're rude but because we hear that it has benefits. these are mental benefits to chewing gum. they say let's pretend you're taking a test. if you chew gum prior to the test and not while you're taking it -- >> right before. >> take the gum out and take the test apparently it increases the blood flow to your brain. >> mm-hmm. >> and makes you smarter. >> especially the older you get. let's see. >> okay. when i chew gum, i really chew it. >> you get in. >> i get in! >> she gets involved. ten seconds to look at these. hoda, you show me that one and i show you this one. right? okay. >> wait. >> oh, separately. all right. i'm going to go. >> one, two, three. >> wait! first of all, don't count out loud while i'm trying to

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hey, everybody, it's thirstday thursday. it's january 5. we're delighted you're here with us. i don't know whether it's colder outside or in this studio. >> it's quite nippy, if you know what i mean. the pictures keep pouring in. pictures of your pets you're sending us. >> the people who keep love them are sending them in. >> you're madly in love with your pets. >> lucky looks like bambino. >> mica from alaska. >> she's pretty. >> she is pretty, for a cat. i'm kidding. i like cats. lulu from iowa. what kind is she? >> look at charlie. >> aren't we equal opportunity? >> lilly is so ugly she is adorable. look at the fat on her arm. >> okay. >> she is so cute. keep sending your pictures in. we are going to pick -- >> please, don't get your hopes up so high. you break our hearts. you want to take it out on us personally. we don't do the picking. take it out on the people who should remain nameless joanne lamarka. and tammy. that's who you take it out on, okay? the people who deserve it. >> a man had a bad day yesterday. >> i'm n

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captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> i'm sorry. >> yeah. >> our little creatures popping out at you on booze day tuesday, january 17th. >> a whole new graphic look for the "today" show. very sweet. >> we're so glad you're with us today. >> it's funny, i don't know if you're a jon stewart fan, if you've ever seen his program, at the end of his show he does this thing called -- it's like his moment of zen where you're supposed to take a breath and chill out, but he often uses it for hilarity. apparently, he must have been watching our program. >> oh, dear. >> he used one moment that you had, a hula hooping moment i'm sure you recall very well, as his moment of zen. >> here it is, your moment of zen. >> all right. she always shows off. this is her hidden talent. that and sucking in one nostril. >> at the same time. get a close-up! >> what else? >> i'm sorry. i can't help it if i'm multitalented. >> you really could have hula hooped forever. if given a hula hoop and a period of time, you could have continued on through. >> i felt bad for bobby. >> never got her segment. >> i

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello, everybody. it is booze day tuesday. this is wrong, it is january 3, 2012. like you, we are back in the swing of things today. >> you have to write 2012. >> did they sew you into this one? let's hear about your holiday. was it amazing? >> it was great. jay and i ended up going to puerto rico. before that, my sister did this surprise thing from dubai where she was surprising my mom and hannah coming in and celebrating. i took mom and hannah down to the laundry room. hala snuck up to my apartment and was on the couch like she had been there all day long. my mom made the best cornish hens. the pictures didn't work, i took them. that is hala and jay behind my christmas bush. we had a really fun christmas. my mom and i got pedicures at this place. jay and i packed up our stuff. >> you took your thongs down to puerto rico. >> yes, we did. we hung out on the beach. we did nothing, absolutely nothing. >> i bet you did something. >> that was new year's eve. in bed by 10:30. >> today you and i are both getting our roots done. you

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hey, everybody. >> so glad you're with us for winesday wednesday, january 18th. >> welcome. no matter where you are in the country i bet you're not getting hit as hard as the people on the west coast. >> especially in seattle. >> oh, my gosh. they got smacked with this storm. and they are expecting up to half a foot of snow in seattle. they say that's usually the amount they get in an entire season. >> you know what? seattle has the reputation for being, you know, wet all the time. and having spent almost two months there, some of the most beautiful weather i ever had. absolutely gorgeous. very hilly. and like san francisco. so it creates all kinds of hazards. >> they closed some schools. a lot of flight cancellations. looking at snow it makes me want a little here. we haven't had any snow here. >> hoda! >> i'm just saying. >> you don't commute like i do. have a heart for all of us that come in from the suburbs. >> a lot of people go to meals and you have your phone with you. and sometimes you can help but take a peek at it, at inappropri

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> yes! hoda woman we made it. it's fun day monday, the first fun day monday of the new year, january 2nd. first live show of 2012. >> time to practice writing 2012. on your checks. >> i just got used to the 11. i like the 2012. i like alliteration. it's important. >> 2012? i like it, too. >> don't you love the way barbara walters says 2020. the only person i know who says 20. >> today is the first day really of your new year's resolution, second day, i guess. everybody makes the usuals. usually it's working out, exercising. >> we have the top ten list. >> go. >> the number ten one is to help people. you think we have our priorities screwed up in our country? here is worse to me, spend more time with the family, which should be first. sorry. why am i yelling? i just finished spending time with my family. >> number eight, get out of debt. seven, learn something new. >> this is for you. number six is to organize yourself so you can reach your goals. >> here is what i'm going to stop with right now. i honestly didn't

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hey, everybody, welcome, it's wines-day wednesday, one of our favorite days of the week. january 11th and we're so glad you're with us today. hi, hodi. >> hi. >> we have a busy day. >> we sure do. >> we are going to see "sister act" with your good friend. >> we're going again. because it's a big hit on broadway. >> i didn't see the first one. i missed it. >> you're going to love it. my dear friend cara lee carmela is in the role right now -- >> mother superior. >> and cara lee is on our show today, singing our "everyone has a story." stick with that. amazing tribute to this incredible mother. so please stay tuned. don't just hang around for the cute puppies and cats. >> that's all we care about, because the contest is over, so stop trying to send in your pictures. >> it's too late. >> but anyway, we're going to start the voting tomorrow. >> right. >> and on the 16th, i think that's the date that we're going to announce the winner. here's the deal. the five winners -- >> oh, my. >> it may be pearl, we don't know. five winners come to n

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> yes! we've made it to wines day wednesday, half of the week. already wednesday, january 25, 2012. just two weeks and a day away from our big trip to the bahamas. just thinking about going to the bahamas, ocean breeze. >> come on the thursday. it's the 9th. >> pack your thongs and come see us. >> here's the reason you should come. january is not generally a great month according to one of these surveys. this is the deal. most couples, when they split up, split up in the month of january. >> because? >> it's a let down -- ♪ don't take your love away from me ♪ >> you have a ton of christmas bills. overwhelmed with debt. there's nothing to look forward to. it's cold. >> you've already ruined your resolutions. >> i just had a piece of cheese. >> oh, yeah that was yours. >> i wasn't supposed to have cheese. i had the cheese. thank you. >> the average couple in britain argue eight minutes out of the day. they spend eight minutes out of their 24-hour day arguing. in the month of january. >> about

captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello, good morning, i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with by a nose at the wire. mitt romney has won the iowa caucus in a nail-biter defeating a last minute surge by rick santorum with eight votes to go. nbc's tracie potts is live from des moines. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. this was certainly a nail-biter. just hours ago we learned the results. mitt romney claiming victory here after what we believe to be the closest caucus in history, so close we had to wait until every last vote was counted. >> congratulations to governor mitt romney, winner of the 2012 iowa caucuses. >> reporter: hours after the candidates spoke, they call it, mitt romney wins by just eight votes. >> this is a campaign night where america wins. >> reporter: senator john mccain is expected to endorse romney in new hampshire. it's a big win for rick santorum, he got 25% after polling in single digits just a few weeks ago. >> we will be in new hampshire. we'll leave tomorrow. we'll spend our time there. with your help and god's grace, we'll have

nbc's republican presidential debate. it's moderated by brian williams live from the university of florida tampa bay and it begins at 9:00 m. eastern on this nbc station. >>> arizona congress won gabriel rah give fords is resigning from congress. since then giffords has been in rehab learning to speak and walk again, but that job is not complete, and she will step down to focus on her recovery. nbc's jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: it was just over a year ago that the gunshots rang out in tucson. six people killed, a dozen injured, including arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords shot in the head at point range. >> they don't remember much from that horrible day, but i will never forget the trust you leave in me to be your voice. >> reporter: a voice rarely heard since the attack, a voice that this weekend announced after five years in congress, her public career would be put on hold. >> i will step down this week. >> reporter: in the youtube video, giffords says she needs to focus on her continuing recovery and do what's right for arizona. news of her decision spread quickly. president obama released a statement