after losing her republican primary, alaska's republican lisa murkowski launched a write-in campaign to get through the seat. she's now being called the apparent winner. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the latest. tracie, good morning. >> lynn. good morning. it was a hard-fought win. it's difficult to win these national elections as a write-in candidate, but it appears this morning that is exactly what lisa murkowski has done. for the first time since strom thurman won as a democrat in 1954. this is a big tea party loss. she put a lot of money and support with the tea party to get involved with the opponent's campaign, joe miller. they won the primary, but it looks now like lisa murkowski may have won the general election. here's part of what she said during her victory speech last night. >> alaskans knew exactly what they were doing, and they showed their intent with every let er that they put down on that ballot. >> back here another hard-fought win. we now know that representative nancy pelosi will be the minority leader in the house for the democrats. she won that election among her colleagues yesterday. a new nbc "wall street journal" poll shows that almost half of the country, 48%, feel positively about the republicans taking over congress, at least the house of representatives in january, and they are positive about the resulting divided government. when that new congress meets in january, they'll have a lot of issues to deal with, but before that, the old congress is looking at "don't ask, don't tell" on their heavy agenda. this is something that harry reid says they will probably deal with after the thanksgiving break. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington. tracie, as always, thank you. two years to go before the 2012 presidential election. things are already getting interesting. once again, sarah palin is involved. in an abc news interview the tea party favorite says she's seriously considering a white house pan. palin who has been busy filming a tv sears and watching her daughter on "dancing with the stars" says she's trying to figure out if jumping into the race would be good for the country and her family. when asked whether she thinks she will beat president obama, palin said, quote, i believe so. well, a mixed verdict in the case of a former guantanamo detainee, the first to be tried in a civilian court. is reunited the debate over how terror suspects should be prosecuted. yesterday a new york juror acquitted ahmed ghailani on all but one of over 280 charges against him for the deadly bombings of two u.s. embassies in 1998 that left 224 people dead, including 12 americans. he now faces 20 years to life in prison for conspiracy. several lawmakers reacted, saying the decision shows why civilian courts should not be trusted to handle cases with al qaeda terrorists. still supportive of civilian trials, gahailani will serve a lengthy sentence and has fewer arguments for appealing his conviction. in trial the main a witness against him was disallowed by the judge because investigators found out about him after the suspect was abusively and coercively questioned. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. an illinois woman is in a maximum security prison following a con front tigs with a hooter's restaurant skurd guard who happened to be an off-duty cop. she is allegedly disputing her bill when things escalated after the cop reportedly used a racist slur. he later grabbed the woman and shook her, testifying she spat on him. she has filed a civil suit against hooter's and the cop. a texas man is protesting about the level of force used against him after he was pulled over for speeding. dash cam video shows the end of a seven-mile chase where a deputy tackles the man off of his motorcycle. the police department defends the officer's actions claiming they were consistent with their use of force policy. california animal control was called in after someone saw a snake under the hood of a car. it took rescuers about 40 minutes to remove the 10-foot-long red-tailed boa constrictor. no one knows how it got there, but the critter is now up for adoption. and in washington state, workers are busy cleaning up a sea of salmon that spilled across the highway following an overnight semi truck accident. it's not clear what they'll do with the salmon, but there are suggestions that some of them may be salvageable. i don't know who's suggesting that. and now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. i'd like to know. >> it might be the people who live down the block from me. the grizzly. >> there you go, bill, getting in that zinger early on. i like it. >> well, lynn, yesterday was an incredibly windy day in new england. it was just an amazing morning with thunderstorms. in the afternoon as the storms left the winds were howling from philadelph philadelphia, through no, all the way up through northern new england. today it will be a little relaxing. it's a little cold in the middle of the country. denver at 28, minneapolis at 29. this is the beginning of what should be a colder period. as we head toward thanksgiving week it looks like an outbreak of cold air is really going to head down here through the northern plains. there's a big storm in the pacific northwest today. there's not much here in the northeast. the storms from yesterday are now heading up toward the hudson bay. we have one little light area of rain through the tennessee valley. it's very light. a lot of places aren't even reporting any rainfall this morning but from southern illinois through the ohio river, louisville has a chance for showers this morning and also showers down here into alabama, but this will all be dissipating during the day. the forecast for most areas, it looks dry, it looks sunny. and actually temperatures are very typical for this time of year. so a light fall jacket is probably in order. that's a look at your thursday forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. temperatures today in oklahoma, a little cold for you. 54 degrees today. arizona is beautiful. about 80 today in phoenix. tampa should be 78 degrees. florida is looking okay. cleveland, ohio, a little cloudy, 45. we'll be back with your friday forecast, lynn. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. also coming up target tanks off, new home construction since and gm gets ready to hit the road. plus bristol palin's dance rue dean goes beyond the water cooler. coming up here, one of the worst soccer plays you will every see and an nhl goalie scores on himself. you're watching "early today." good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. ? the first case of cholera linked to the outbreak in haiti has reached the united states in florida. the case involves a woman who recently visited her family in a region of the heart of haiti's epidemic. she is expected to make a full recovery. there's been no sign of a missing pilot of an air force f-22 fighter jet that crashed in alaska during a training exercise. rescue aircraft have spotted the wreckage and are continuing the search for the pilot who was equipped with survival gear and trained to survive in an arctic environment. an american convicted in the death of his wife while scuba diving on his honeymoon will be deported to alabama after officials promise not to impose the death penalty if he is convicted in the u.s. dave a watson was released from prison last week after serve an 18-month sentence for the 2003 manslaughter of his wife. and argentinian firefighters are being hailed as heroes after rescuing a 3-year-old girl who fell 75 feet down an abandoned well. crews spent more than six hours trying to pull little vanessa to safety. when the operation was finally over, she was taken to a local hospital where doctors say she was shocked but otherwise unharmeded. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,007 after falling 15 points yesterday. the s&p is up a fraction. the nasdaq added 6. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei climbed 201 points, while in hong kong the hang seng gained 422. get ready to hear every painful car pun you can think of because the talk on wall street today is going to be on gm all day. they're rolling out their new stock at the high end with shares at $33 a piece. down the road we'll find out how mush cash the automaker brings in. experts currently estimate $23 billion, which should drive down the government's stake by nearly half and make it the largest ipo in u.s. history. overseas this morning it's been announced ford will end its run as mazda's biggest shareholder with plans to slash its 11% stake down to 3.5%. on the street investors will keep an eye on weekly jobless claims today and any new developments out of europe. worries that a bailout could be the only cure for ierlland's troubling debt had investors on edge yesterday. also weighing down markets the government reported the construction of new homes stood at 12% hitting an 18-month low. financial struggles on o wednesday with the fed stepping up its efforts to keep tabs on 19 of the world's biggest banks with a fresh round of stress tests. however, they did have a bright spot. target forecast its best same-store sales in three years. earnings from limited brands could extend the upbeat pace. victoria's secret and bath & bodyworks reported impressive earnings after their shares send the stock up nearly 5%. and finally want to do your part to beat the global economy? how about gifting a gold and diamond encrusted coin to the taj mahal this year. the french-made coin weighs in at a whopping two pounds. you'd better act fast. only 29 will be sold for the bargain price of 125,000 big ones. don't hold your breath. coming up, the heat eclipse the suns and the spurs continue to make noise, and a stock of gas of mammoth proportions. plus, on the eyes is a goalie's dream come true and his worst nightmare all in one. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead typical fall-like weather in most of the country by a big storm in the pacific northwest. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports all season the miami heat have been waiting for one of their three super stars to produce. and the wait is finally over. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. so far miami's big three has been more like the big two. lebron james and dwyane wade have both had huge games this season and finally last night chris bosh finally joined the fun. chris bosh with a jumper here, a jumper there, a jumper everywhere. he did most of his damage away from the basket. he had 22 by the half and finished with a season-high 35. of course what's a miami high light without lebron james. the steal, the lay-in, the foul. the heat won, 123-96. on here, third quarter, chill pause, the alley-oop. dallas came back, had a chance in the final seconds. they held on to win it, 99-97. the hornets and spurs have only one loss. tony parker and eva longoria announced they're getting a divorce, but it didn't affect his scores. spurs won it 103-94. he doesn't get a lot of penalties but maybe he should. he stepped out of the penalty box. even when crosby is penalized he figures out a way to make it work to his advantage. crazy goal between the red wings and blues. a harmless shot on the net. the goalie made the save, it went up and he swatted it into his own net. one more look. he tried to bat the puck out of midair but batted it in for a red wing goal. that was the beginning of a bad night for the blues. they lost it, 7-3. finally they call soccer the beautiful game. nothing beautiful about this. watch closely. it's being called the miss of the century. uzbekistan gave the ball away. the 18-year-old striker took it and looking here. wide open net. i'll kick that. oh. kicked it right into the post. he couldn't believe he missed it. frankly i'm no and frankly neither could anyone else. i'm no soccer player, but even i would have made that. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. well, what might be next for george clooney? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, in a matter of only days, now everyone wants to be like kate. you're watching "early today." well, good thursday morning to you. you're going to see a windy day in northern new england but the rest of the region looks pretty nice. middle of the country you're looking okay. a little colder than we like around minneapolis and chicago. we're also going to be a little cool in montana the next couple of days. that's where cold air is on its way. denver, fantastic weather. no problems. sunny and 65. texas looks good on your friday. traveling on the earn seaboard the next two days, no problems. well, if you're watching us on wnbc 4, new york, new york, one campaign drive is turns cans into sculptures. you can contribute, too, at canstruction at the world financial center. >> that's cantastic. here's your morning's entertainment. a day after the holiday reporter said steven sotoburg was in talk to bring the '60s tv spy sears "man from uncle" to the big screen, reporters say clooney is talks to him about playing the lead, agent na powian solo. elsewhere you knew it was just a matter of time before the tv museum series "glee" took on michael jackson's "thriller," and they report it will happen in the post super bowl episode. finally, you thought you were upset when bristol palin advanced to the finals of "dancing with the stars?" 67-year-old was so enraged with palin's routine he took out his shot gun and blew away his television. next he threatened his wife with the gun. eventually he had to be coached out of his house by police after an all-night standoff with the s.w.a.t. team. he was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and bail was set at $1,500. now, people do realize this is a dancing competition, right? i mean the stakes aren't that high. >> i'm going go with a guess that he may not have been a of right of mind before the show. >> you think? >> possibly. we hope. >> maybe a little pregame cocktail or something. well, this comes to us from wnbc new york where the diamond district is abuzz with the new royal blue trend. jewelers are rags to keep up the demand for the replica of the royal engagement ring that now sits on the finger of prince william's bride-to-be. one store in new york sold 30 in 24 hourses. there are even reports that the national sapphire's website crashed. feeling like a princess isn't cheap. copies of the sapphire stunner can cast over $100,000. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today in hd. >> good morning, everyone picked we are off to a quiet start on this thursday. it is a little chilly out there. we don't expect any trouble on their way to work or school this morning. 41 degrees in frederick. a mixture of sunshine and clouds separate we have a 30% chance for some rain showers of this afternoon. highs only in the low 50's. we will check the forecast for the upcoming weekend in just a few minutes. >> thank you. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. >> a curfew remains in effect as over 100 people take advantage of a shelter overnight following a huge storm. details are next. >> general motors continues to make good on the government bailout. the stocks sell today. >> the cleanup continues along northern parkway. northern parkway. we will check on [ male announcer ] with new breakfast melts. try the sunrise subway melt®, or the melt-tastic breakfast b.m.t. on flatbread. they're melted goodness made irresistibly delicious, get yours starting at 7am. subway. build your better breakfast. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today in hd. >> good thursday morning. i am mindy basara. >> and i am stan stovall. thank you for joining us this morning. >> tony pann has a quick look at today's forecast. good morning. >> it is much calmer this morning. >> the wind was gusting over 40 yesterday.