december 12th. a lot going on including a wild college basketball brawl between cincinnati and xavier that resulted in the suspension of eight players. that video is coming up. plus, after getting kicked off a flight last week, alec baldwin makes a guest appearance on "snl" as an americans airline pilot to make a heartfelt apology to himself. we'll play you that later in the show. first, let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. a new week of campaigning kicks off with the republican presidential contenders trying to stop the newt gingrich surge. the latest nbc news/marist poll shows newt gingrich topping field in south carolina with 42%. that's up 35 points from last month. mitt romney is a distant second with 23%. gingrich is also leading in florida at 44% support. he's gained 38 points from last month. romney is 15 points behind in the sunshine state. sunshine state not for him. the first debate since gingrich leaped to the front-runner position, the gop field took aim at the former house speaker on everything from his political record to his personal life. mitt romney tried to paint gingrich as a career politician while putting an emphasis on his own private sector experience. but gingrich was quick to respond. >> let's be candid. the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> with regards to the idea that had i beaten ted kennedy i could have been a career politician. that's probably true. if i would have been able to get in the nfl, like i hoped when i was a kishgsd i would have been a football star all my life, too. >> michele bachmann came out swinging against newt gingrich and mitt romney, portraying the two as cut from the same cloth and not that far apart from president obama. >> when you're talking about taking over $100 million and when your office is on the rodeo drive of washington, d.c., which is k street and taking money to influence the outcome of legislation in washington, that's the epitome of the establishment. that's the epitome of a consummate insider. if you look at mitt romney as governor of massachusetts, he's the only governor that put into place socialized medicine. no other governor did. our nominee has to stand on the stage and debate barack obama and be completely different. i led 40,000 americans to washington, d.c. to the capitol to fight obama care. i didn't advocate for it. if you look at newt/romney, they were for obama care principles. if you look at newt/romney they were for cap and trade. if you look at newt/romney they were for illegal immigration problem. if you look at newtromney, they were for the $700 billion bailout. you just heard newt/romney is also with obama on the issue of the payroll extension. so, if you want a difference, michele bachmann is the proven conservative that's not newt/romney. >> you threw a lot out there. >> the debate moment grabbing a lot of headlines comes from a mitt romney exchange with rick perry over health care. >> i'm hearing you say all the right things but i read your first book and it said in there that your mandate in massachusetts, which should be the model for the country, i know it came out of the reprint of the book, but, you know, i'm just saying, you were for individual mandates, my friend. >> you know what, you've raised that before, rick. you're simply wrong. >> it was true then and it's true now. >> rick, i'll tell you what. 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business, but i'll -- >> oh, okay. >> minutes after the debated a romney adviser downplayed the wager offer saying in part, quote, i thought it was a good moment for mitt. rick perry backing down looked weak. $10,000 sounds stronger than 50 cents. okay. but romney's campaign rivals are using the bet to try to show the former governor is out of touch with average americans. the democratic national convention blasted an e-mail an hour after the debate titled "here's what the average american family can buy with $10,000," in an attempt to highlight what they call romney's rich guy moment. rick perry struck a similar theme yesterday. >> i was taken a little aback. driving out to the station this morning, i'm pretty sure i didn't drive by a house that anyone in iowa would even think about that a $10,000 bet was possible, so a little out of touch with the normal iowa citizen. >> a senior arab league official is condemning remarks made by newt gingrich regarding palestinians, calling the former speaker's comments racist and, quote, a cheap attempt to get more votes. gingrich questioned palestinian statehood. >> i believe the youish people have the right to have a state. and i believe that the commitments that were made at a time -- remember, there were -- there was no palestine as a state. part of the ottoman empire. we've had an invented palestinian people who, in fact, are arabs and historically part of the arab community. and they had a chance to go many places. for a variety of political reasons, we have sustained this war against israel now since the 1940s. it's tragic. >> gingrich doubled down on his remarks during saturday's debate saying he was speaking as a historian, who studied middle east issues for years, but rival mitt romney called the comments, quote, a mistake. adding, it could make it more difficult for israelis and palestinians to hold peace talks going guard. >> the fact is the palestinian claim to a right of return is based on a historically false story. somebody had the courage to go back to the 1921 league of nations mandate for a jewish homeland point out the context in which israel came into existence and palestinian did not become a common term until after 1977. >> the last thing netanyahu understood to have is not a person that's historian but someone running for president of the united states. stand up and say things that create extraordinary tumult in his neighborhood. before i made a statement of that nature, i get on the phone to my friend netanyahu and say, would it help if i said this? we're partners. i'm not a bomb-thrower. >> the deputy speaker of israel's parliament weighing in saying gingrich, quote, understand very well the reality we live in in the middle east pp, unquote. now, to president obama's campaign for re-election, where a new cbs news poll is pointing to what could be a difficult road ahead for the president. according to the poll, only 41% of americans believe barack obama deserves to be re-elected. . 75% say the country is headed in the wrong direction. in an interview with "60 minutes" the president discussed the poll's results, defending his campaign promise to take on big problems like the economy while challenging business as usual in washington. >> i didn't overpromise and i didn't underestimate how tough this was going to be. i always believed that this was a long-term project, that reversing a culture here in washington dominated by special interests was going to take more than two years, more than one term. probably takes more than one president. >> the president also weighed in on the current field of republican candidates running for president. >> it doesn't really matter who the nominee is going to be. the core philosophy they're expressing is the same. and the contrast and visions between where i want to take the country and where they say they want to take the country is going to be stark. >> president obama said he believes front-runners newt gingrich and mitt romney will be, quote, going at it for a while. still ahead on "way too elderly," giant, new york football giants, edge archrivals the dallas cowboys by a finger. we'll show you how eli manning led his team in a fourth quarter comeback that ended in this dramatic blocked field goal. and an ugly brawl breaks out in college basketball between cincinnati and xavier. we have that tape and the suspensions handed down by the school. that story and a check on weather when way too elderly comes back. she spoke in court for the first time since the trial began, sobbing she asked the judge for mercy, saying she was ashamed and living a nightmare. the judge was not persuaded. he told leona helmsley her conduct was naked greed and at the apex of a pyramid of wrongdoing. 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[ female announcer ] we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra strong? the pioneers. the aviators. building superhighways in an unknown sky. their safety systems built of brain and heart, transforming strange names from tall tales into pictures on postcards home. and the ones who followed them, who skimmed the edge of space, the edge of heaven, the edge of dreams. and we follow them up there to live by an unbreakable promise, stitched into every uniform of every captain who takes their command: to fly. to serve. well, that's a nice shot. you like that, bill? >> i like that. >> is it -- is it going to snow on that tree any time soon? bill karins here with the weather. >> no, it snows in october. >> we're all done, right? >> that's it. who knows. that's what people are asking. people are wondering where the snow is. good morning. hope you had a wonderful weekend. here's the weather pattern as we go throughout this week. all the cold air is bottled up there in canada. yes, it's chilly out but it's not the arctic cold. until we see that coming down, we're not going to see a lot of snow. right now we have temperature as warm as 40 degrees up near minneapolis. so, temperatures in the midwest are going to be warm enough mostly for rain for the next storm. rain this morning in jacksonville, savannah, south carolina area. atlanta could see showers today. there's not a lot of trouble some travel weather. it's going to be a beautiful afternoon. 44 in boston in december? that's a nice afternoon. 40 in pittsburgh. 47 in d.c. middle of the country, again, today's a dry day. you'll see rain on tuesday and wednesday. mid-40s in new york in december, that's like shorts and t-shirts. >> june 15th. i'm going to the beach when i get home. >> i have a lawn chair and everything. >> we'll warn the kids and everyone else. >> stay away. that's right. all right, bill. thanks. big, big, big football weekend. last night was do or die for the new york giants. facing off last night against the nfc east rivals the dallas cowboys. in arlington, texas. in the fourth quarter after a costly interception by eli manning, tony romo hit a wide open dez bryant. walks right into the end zone. 50-yard touchdown. cowboys take a 12-point lead. now just over five minutes to go here. the giants stage aid comeback behind eli manning. new york drove 80 yards downfield, capping it off with an eight-yard touchdown pass to jake ballard. giant score twice in the final five minutes to take a three-point lead. dallas wouldn't go quietly. romo hits austin down the mild for a 2-yard pass. the cowboys are in field goal range. six seconds left on the clock. dan bailey, up, boom. game-winning field goal! the cowboys won! oops, no, no. what happens is tommy coughlin, giants' coach called calls a time-out right before he got the kickoff. he gets a second attempt. this time watch this. here it goes. going to win again? going to go through? there's the kick. whoa, blocked by jason pierre-paul who got a piece of it with the tip of his fingers. giants win 37-34. a look at nfc east standings. giants/cowboys tied for first, both at 7-6, both play again in the final week of the season. here's another stunning finish at mile high field. tim tebow looking to improve upon his 6-1 record as a starter. broncos are down by ten points, two minutes left in the fourth. tebow scrambles out of the pocket finds thomas in the corner of the end zone. broncos cut the bears lead from three. bears can't convert on the next possession so the broncos get the ball back. tebow hits willies for a 19-yard gain setting up this 59-yard field goal for matt prater. boom, straight through the uprights. broncos send the game to overtime. in overtime the broncos' defense forces a turnover. putting the ball in tebow's hands making the most of it, 16-yard pass to thomas putting broncos in field goal range again. prater drills it through the uprights. a 5 1-yard kick. broncos win again, 13-10. tebow is now 7-1 as a starter, his third come-from-behind win in overtime. after the game he spoke about the victory. >> it was just special. you know if you believe, unbelievable things can be possible. i think it's special we have a team that constantly believes and believes in each other. i don't think it's tebow time. i think it's bronco time and the team steps up as a team. we play for one another. you know, continue to trust one another. and i think that makes all the difference in the world. >> tebow. raiders lost against green bay so broncos are in first place in the afc west with an 8-5 record. the new york jets looking for their third straight win playing at home against chiefs. up 23-3. sanchez finds tomlinson, weaves between defenders for a 19-yard score. sanchez became the first jets' quarterback to throw two touchdowns and run it in for two more. jets win 37-10. the patriots playing away against washington. first quarter, check out big man rob gronkowski, tight end, makes the diving catch, literally drags the defense down the field. hugs the sideline to complete the 49-yard gain. he'd score twice more, setting a new nfl record for most touchdowns by a tight end in a single season. pats win 34-27. he's huge, gronkowski. new england still tops the afc east at 10-3. the jets are now 8-5. what did you say? >> pats will lose to jets in the playoff? >> they will not. wild card spot coming up in the playoff spot. college basketball, four players from cincinnati, four from xavier have been suspended after an ugly on-court brawl saturday night. with only nine seconds left in the game, a crosstown rivals erupted into a pushing match that soon led to punches and even kicks. it started when xavier's holloway did talking to the bench. the bench is cleared. xavier ended up with the worst of it after getting hit in the face by yancy gates. let him with a nasty cut under his eyes. xavier players only caused more problems for the university in their comments to reporters after the game. >> we got disrespected a little bit before the game. guys calling us out. we're a tough team. we're grown men. we got a whole bunch of gangsters be, not thugs but tough guys. we zipped them up. that's our motto, zip them up. >> someone put their hands in your face or do something to you, where we're from we're going to do something back. you don't let that happen. >> tribute to higher education. both coaches were furious. cincinnati's mick cronin took away team jerseys to demonstrate just how serious the consequences are. >> right now i just told my guys, i will decide -- i need -- i'll meet with my a.d. and president and i'm going to decide who's on the team going forward. that's what the university of cincinnati's about. period. i told them the way i feel -- i've never been this embarrassed. i'm hoping president williams doesn't ask me to resign after that. >> three cincinnati players were suspended for six games each. the other five will be benched for between one and four games. the fight prompted the referees to call xavier 76-53 win without finishing the last 9.4 seconds. this is a sad story. baseball's national league mvp ryan braun maintains he did nothing wrong after a report leaked over the weekend that braun tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. if true, he faces a 50-game suspension. espn cited two sources familiar with the case who said braun's positive tests in october was from elevated level of testosterone. a later test indicated testosterone was synthetic. a spokesman for braun said in a statement, there are highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support ryan's complete innocence. people familiar with the situation say the case is still being appealed. coming up, at the top of the hour on "morning joe" romney relates to every man usa offering rick perry a $10,000 bet during this weekend's republican debate. we'll discuss fallout from his country club wager coming up when we come back here we'll huddle around the water cooler where on "saturday night live" alec baldwin refused to let the controversy die. dressing up as an american airlines pilot and apologizing to himself. don't go away. 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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. with his new status as republican front-runner, newt gingrich is seeing his rivals ramp up their attacks but the former house speaker has seen a surge in one area critical to his bid to replace president obama in the white house. fund-raising. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends newt gingrich raised $4 million in the first half of the fourth quarter right as his poll numbers began to rise. that's according to a campaign spokesman who tells "the los angeles times" that total is $1 million more than gingrich raised during the first five months of the campaign. but enough with the real news. let's gather around the water cooler to talk about the mindless trivia you crave and you know it. on the heels of his dust-up with american airlines, actor alec baldwin made a surprise cameo on "saturday night live" dressed as a pilot, offering an apology to himself. >> captain rogers, what's your take on the events of last wednesday? >> it was awful, seth, which is why it was very important for me to come here tonight. and on behalf of everyone at american airlines issue an apology to mr. alec baldwin. >> alec, are you sure this is the right way to handle this? >> yeah, yeah, keep going. >> didn't alec baldwin getting kicked off the plane delay takeoff? >> it did. it was the first time in the history of american airlines that one of our flights was delayed. come on, seth! we're bankrupt. how dare we speak ill of the great alec baldwin and we can't even take off on time. >> it was also reported alec baldwin slammed the bathroom door so loudly you could hear it in the cockpit. >> seth, words with friends can be frustrating. again, i just started playing the game myself, but when you think you're about to play jailers off someone's quiche, then you realize you don't have the "i," let me tell you, that will make you slam the bathroom door, too. >> still ahead on "way too early" why are you still awake? your e-mails and texts are next. everyone have their new blackberry from at&t? it's 4g, so you can do more faster. so, kathryn, post more youtube videos of your baby acting adorable. baby. on it. matt, ignore me and keep updating your fantasy team. huh? jeff, play a game. turbo-boosting now, sir. dennis, check in everywhere you go on foursquare. that's mayor dennis... of the water cooler. you're the best. liz, rock out to pandora. oh, no i'm an only child. and nick, you shouldn't even be here, you can do everything from the golf course. good? good. 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