cram session for this thursday, december 22nd. there is a lot going on today including the 2012 republican nomination starting to look a whole lot more like the real world where people stop being polite and start being real. jon huntsman gives us via david letterman one more reason to believe he's still got a shot to win the nomination. let's get to the news. there's a new level of attacks in the republican race for president as two of the top contenders train their fire almost exclusively on each other. mitt romney is defending negative television advertisement against newt gingrich while questioning whether the former speaker will be able to handle the scrutiny of a general election. >> i know the speaker wants to say we shouldn't have negativity, if you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's going to come from obama's hell's kitchen is going to be a lot hotter. we have to show as a republican party and a candidate we can stand up from the barrage that will come from the obama world. >> what do you have in response to that, could you handle the heat in the kitchen in an election against obama? >> he's kidding, of course. look, i'll tell you what, he wants to test the heat, i'll meet him anywhere in iowa next week one-on-one, 90 minutes, no moderator. he wants to try out the kitchen, i'll be glad to debate him anywhere. we'll bring his ads and he can defend him. and we'll bring "the washington post" to say his ad is full of lies. i'm happy. i'll go in the kitchen. would me like to play in the kitchen? i don't think so. i think he wants to hide over he here. as gingrich defended him civil, his campaign is taking another hit. if you try going to newtgingrich.com and put into your web broudser this morning you're likely to be redirected to a number of sites mocking the former speaker. it might take you to tiffany and company's jewelry store website or the mortgage giant freddie mac's home page, information on greek cruises from a greece travel site or maybe to a global warming ad that gingrich shot with nancy pelosi a few years ago. a liberal super pact called american bridge is claiming responsibility for the prank. they bought the site and programmed it to redirect it to all these different unflattering websites. mitt romney is taking another veil swipe at newt gingrich's history of marital infidelity. in a campaign ad released yesterday, romney's wife plays up the former massachusetts governor's family life. >> you can never predict what kind of tough decisions are going to come in front of a president's desk, but if you can trust they will do the right thing and maybe the hard thing and maybe not the popular thing. and if you really want to know how a person will operate, look at how they've lived their life. and i think that's why it's so important to understand the character of a person. to me that makes a huge difference. maybe some voters it doesn't, but for me it makes a huge difference. >> with the iowa caucuses less than two weeks away, it appears ron paul is gaining support in the houck eye state. the latest iowa state university poll shows paul topping the republican presidential field with 28% support. newt gingrich trails paul by three points, still within the margin of error. mitt romney is in third, ten points behind paul. rick perry is in fourth place with 11% support, michele bachmann and rick santorum round the top six. ron paul is facing new scrutiny as report that racist newsletters were sent under his name in early 1990s. he got testy during an interview with cnn. >> i didn't write them. i disavow them, that's it. >> but you made money off of them. >> i was still practicing medicine, that's probably why i wasn't a very good publisher. >> there are reports that you made almost a million dlarps off of them in 1993. >> i'd like to see that money. >> so you read them, but you didn't do anything about it at the time. >> i never read that stuff. i never read it. i was probably aware of it ten years after it was written, and it's been going on 20 years that people have pestered me about this. cnn does it every single time. >> is it legitimate? is it a legitimate question that something to ask -- >> and when you get the answer, it's legitimate that you take the answers i give. >> these things are pretty incendiary. >> because of people like you. >> no, no, no. come on. some of the stuff was very incendiary, saying that in 1993 the israelis were responsible for the bombing of the world trade center, that kind of stuff. >> good-bye. >> now, that man is making some in the republican establishment nervous. what if ron paul ends up winning in iowa? not much. according to the state's republican governor terry bran stead. he's telling his party to focus on how the other candidates fare. people are going to look at who comes in second and who comes in third. if mitt romney comes in a strong second, it definitely helps him going into new hampshire and the other states. now, just a quick note. mitt romney came in a strong second in 2008, second to mike huckabee. neither ended up winning the nomination. president obama is stepping up public pressure on house republicans today with a plan to meet with average americans whose paychecks will take a $1,000 hit next year if congress can't agree on a deal to extend the payroll tax cuts. behi behind the scenes the president is urging john boehner to reconsider the senate's bipartisan plan to extend the breaks for two months. in a ten-minute phone call the president told the house speaker that the senate bill was, quote, the only option. but as of this morning, the speaker is still dug in, echoing his push for a year-long solution. that position is drawing fire from all sides of the political spectrum, with both the white house and senate republicans taking aim at the house. >> the uncertainty that we have to eliminate is the uncertainty that americans have right now about whether or not the taxes are going to go up on january 1st. there's a bipartisan compromise available to make sure that doesn't happen. just take it. >> are republicans getting killed right now in public opinion? there's no question. are we bon a bad path as relates to -- both republicans an democrats agreed this is going to happen. probably the best thing to happen now is just to get it over with. in other news, federal officials say new changes coming to the nation's airlines will save an average of six lives every year. it's part of an effort to crack down on pilot fatigue, something investigators say contributed to a devastating crash of a passenger plane in upstate new york not very long ago. nbc's tom costello reports. >> reporter: it was nearly three years ago that 50 people died when a regional airline crashed on approach to buffalo. pilot error was cited as the cause, but the crash highlighted long distance commuting, gruelling work schedules and pilot fatigue, b factors thought to have contributed to crashes going back decades. now the rules are changing. >> this is a big deal today. it's a big deal because for 25 years people have been talking about this and haven't done a dang thing about it. >> reporter: the new faa rules set a maximum duty day for pilots of nine to 14 hours depending on when and where they're flying. maximum flying time would be nine to ten hours. pilots get a minimum of ten hours rest time between flights, that's two hours more than current rules with an opportunity for eight hours of interrupted sleep and at least 30 consecutive hours of time off per week. something else, regardless of how far they've commuted on their own, pilots will be required to state they are fit to fly, a statement that veteran pilot john cox welcomes. >> jet airplanes move very quickly. a successful pilot must always be ahead of the airplane. when you're fatigued, that's harder to do. >> reporter: the airline industry initially opposed an early draft of the rules but says it supports changes that are science based and will improve safety. it's the families of the buffalo crash victims getting the credit. beverly eckerd, a 9/11 widow died in the crash. her sister was in washington. >> i think our efforts really went a long way to pushing this through, not just for ourselves, but for everyone who flies and in the memory of all those people who died. >> that was nbc's tom costello reporting. airlines have two years to adapt to the new rules, and transportation secretary ray lahood is now turning his attention to cargo airlines as well, hoping they will voluntarily follow these new rules. the arab league is expected to send a delegation of observers into syria this morning a day after government forces there allegedly killed more than 100 people. this is video of another recent turmoil that came in the streets of syria. activists are calling the resents violence, quote, an organized massacre. they say troops loyal to president assad fired rockets and bombs into a valley where civilians fled from a village before soldiers moved in. the white house says it is deeply disturbed by the reports. human rights group calls these the bloodiest in the nine-month crackdown against opposition protesters. in iraq this morning a wave of violence killed at least 57 people in the capital. health officials say an additional 200 people were wounded. the coordinated attacks make up the worst violence to hit bagdad in months, coming amid a fresh political crisis in the country where the shia led government is accusing the sunni vice president of running a hit squad to target officials. hundred dreesds of european banks get a massive $639 billion loan in an effort to bring badly needed relief to the struggling financial system. let's take an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business this morning. cnbc's geoff cutmore is life in london for us. what's going on, geoff? >> reporter: good morning to you. we had the rally very early on when the results were released yesterday. i talked about it on the show. what do you know? in the afternoon it fizzled out. people scratched their head and say if they've taken all that money, they must be in really bad shape. well, this morning, cooler heads have prevailed. i think we had another look at this. the one thing it does do is it gives the banks a little time going into next year. as a result of that, i don't know whether it's the banks or whether santa has finally turned up. but we're up about 1% across these european markets right now. i guess we'll get that carried forward into your u.s. trading day if it stays like this. back to you. >> geoff, a quick question. you were talking about the banks. i know recently bank of america settled claims that paid out $335 million on charges that countrywide financial unit was actually looking at race and ethnicity in terms of its loans. can you tell us more about that? >> reporter: this is an unbelievable story. obviously the prosecutors have gone through the books and they've had a look at the state of the loan book that country wide put together. what they found doesn't make pretty reading. at least 200,000 minority applicants for mortgages were forced to pay much higher rates than their white equivalents. if you look at the example of hispanic borrowers in 2007, there were examples of them being charged by country wide employees in excess of $500 more in arrangement fees than white applicants. well, finally, the regulators caught up with this story and bank of america will have to pay that significant fine here since it has taken over ownership of that countrywide financial unit. back to you. >> thanks. it's really unbelievable. i was reading the report and it said there was an african mayor dan family making $100,000 that paid more in rates than a white family making $30,000. thank you for that information. we appreciate it. still ahead on "way too early," sports ill straetd reveals the best moment of 2011. fans made the choice. you might be surprised who is on the cover. even for the leader of the free world, you can't escape holiday shopping. we'll show you what president obama picked up for the first family. that story and a check on the weather when "way too early" comes right back. this afternoon gas see was charged with murdering robert peace. after hearing remains of more bodies were found at his house, he was ordered held without bond. in a hearing gacy confessed and will be examined by a psychiatrist. 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[ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. that tree is looking gorgeous. no snow yet. in fact, it's not even close to snow warmth. we'll get a check from nbc meteorologist bill karins. how are you doing? >> we're looking at 55 degrees that rink is not just a puddle. it's slightly ridiculous once again. good morning. a lot to get to. tornado watch has been issued in areas of louisiana and mississippi. keep an eye to the sky, make sure you pay attention to your local meteorologist in that area because we could see possible tornadoes. also in colorado, that's where a white christmas is guaranteed. denver picking up a couple inches last night. about six inches on the ground by tend of the storm. same for colorado springs down to pueblo all heading for new mexico. we're at 53 degrees to start your morning in boston. temperatures are going to stay in the 50s throughout the morning and then drop off. all that heavy rain an storms will stay in the southeast. we're not looking at a white christmas in new england, but we could see a little snow tomorrow morning on the back side of a little rain. we'll talk about that tomorrow morning. >> looking forward to it. thanks so much, bill. this year "sports illustrated" let the fans decide the best moment of 2011, 15 nominees including the packers 35-21 win over the steelers in the super bowl. there was david freese's epic 11th inning walk off home run in the world series. there was rory mcelroy's stunning win at the u.s. open and abby woman back's world cup goal. the fan favorite was a sentimental moment from college football where there was the return of the rutgers football play eric la grand one year after he was paralyzed from the neck down in a game against army, he came back. in late october, the 21-year-old led the scarlet nights onto the field at rutgers stadium. the players surrounding his motorized wheelchair moved out on the field and the former defensive tackle brought the entire stadium and the entire country to its feet. la grange returned to the field, earned 29.3% of the first place votes for the "sports illustrated" cover. fans from 178 countries took part in the voting. this story is amazing, a dutch soccer match was suspended after just 36 minutes following a very bizarre incident that took place on the field. check this out. it started out when a drunk fan ran out in the stands, ran out of the seats and attacked the visiting goalie. the goalie fought back kicking if guy several times until security guards could haul him away. the crazy part gives the goalie a red card for violence. he was clearly furious and had to be restrained by the other players. his coach then pulled the entire team off the field to protest the ref's call. it's not exactly clear when the game or if the game will be rescheduled. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," new polling points to a changing race in iowa while newt and mitt fight over who is the front-runner, a third candidate is now sneaking into contention. when we come back here we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch jon huntsman rock out on the piano with "late night" host david letterman. it worked for bill clinton with the saxophone. ♪ [ female announcer ] you use the healing power of touch every day. the healing power of touch can be even more powerful. with precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving cream works quickly to activate sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals fast for relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. selling fishcakes from the back of his truck, and in 1942, of course, they were sent away. after the war, as a japanese coming back from camp, he started a little store on main street in seattle. of course they needed some money, and bank of america was the only bank who would talk to my father. and we've stayed with bank of america. we have four stores now, three in the pacific northwest and one in oregon. my parents would not believe how popular it is now. now, at the top of the show rereported government forces in security loyal to bash had allegedly killed more than 100 civilians in a bloody crackdown. if you want to sound smart, tell your friends according to human rights groups, as many as 10,000 soldiers have already defected from the syrian army refusing to kill their fellow comrades. enough with the real news, let's gather around the water cooler to talk about the mindless trivia you craze. with his wife michelle and daughters already in hawaii for the holidays, president barack obama snuck out of the white house yesterday for holiday shopping. the first dog beau accompanied the president, their first stop was pet smart in alexandria, virginia, where the president treated him to a new chew toy. then he headed to best buy. with the helm of a few best buy employees he purchased two itunes $50 gift cards, the simms and "just dance" for the wii. >> in case you're wondering, "just dance" for the wii, the girls beat me every time on these various dance games. and you guys will never get a picture of me doing it because i get graded f every time. >> i don't know if we'll ever get a picture of you dancing, mr. president, judging from the president's entrance on the "ellen show," he can dance. or as jamie foxx said. >> come on, man. i saw you on "ellen." [ laughter ]. >> that definitely was not the black side in you right there. >> i'll let you tell it. a former ambassador to china, former governor to utah and successful businessman, great resume. jon huntsman showed off a new talent last night that might just win him the nomination. >> is it possible for you to run over and do something at the organ with paul. >> what do you think? >> run right over there. >> let's go. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> oh, my goodness. ♪ ♪ go, johnny, go, go ♪ go, johnny, go, go ♪ go, johnny, go, go ♪ johnny be good >> i love seeing jon huntsman play "johnny be good." i love that david letterman called it the organ. that's great, that's great. still ahead on "way too early," why are you awake. your insightful tweets and e-mails are next. "morning joe" is now just moments away. [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] build your own unique memories with persona beads. now at zales, the diamond store. when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks. campbell's chunky. it's amazing what soup can do. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. 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