holiday season is in full swing today, thursday, december 1st, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a thursday morning and isn't she beautiful? take a look at the rockefeller center christmas tree as we have stepped out to the channel gardens on this chilly thursday morning to admire her in all her glory. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie and mr. al roker. ann is on assignment. you guys did the honors last night lighting that tree with 250,000 of your closest friends. >> exactly. >> absolutely. >> we slept right under the tree to get here in time for the show this morning. it is beautiful. al, you've done this so many years. this was my first time. it was absolutely amazing. >> you never get tired of that thrill when the lights go on for the first time. >> it's beautiful. if you look back here, savannah, if you could do this for one second, you're kind of looking just like one of the angels here. >> oh, matt, what's come over you? >> it's the cold apparently. >> i know. i'm suspicious. >> by the way, how about the good news on wall street? >> wow. >> things definitely looking brighter. >> 490 points on wednesday, good news from the central banks as they take action to alleviate some of the fallout from the european debt crisis. some good jobs numbers. here in the united states and of course holiday shopping sales going pretty well. jim cramer is going to stop by the studio in a couple minutes to talk about the state of the economy. >> okay. if you do have a little extra money to spend these holidays or let's say a lot of extra money, we have an idea for you. elizabeth taylor's beautiful collection of dazzling jewels, memorabilia, wedding dresses, outfits, it's all going up for auction at christie's. and i'm going to walk down the block in a few minutes and check out this collection. >> kind of funny when you say wedding dresses. >> exactly. >> i wasn't going to say it. holiday spirit, al. >> we have a lot to get to. let's head inside to natalie morales standing by at the news desk with a look at the headlines. good morning, everyone. the worst santa ana winds in years are wreaking havoc in southern california today with gusts of up to 80 miles per hour possible in some areas today and tomorrow. more than a quarter of a million customers are without power there today. and firefighters battle the braise near the occidental college campus sparked by the winds. high wind warnings and advise ris are in effect in six straits across the west including new mexico, nevada and arizona. on wall street the dow industrials opened lower then drifted back towards positive territory again as investors cashed in on profits from wednesday's nearly 500-point rally. that was the dow's best performance in more than two years. also cooling the mood, new numbers out this morning showing an uptick in claims for unemployment benefits last week. we'll have much more on the economy coming up in this half hour. penn state's new president is promising to raise ethics at the school to a new level. he told students at a town hall meeting last night that everyone on campus must do what's moral, not just what's legal. school officials have been criticized for failing to do more to alert authorities to the alleged child sex abuse by former defensive coach jerry sandusky. meanwhile, the first civil suit in the case was filed on wednesday. the world's top selling drug of all time will now be available in a generic version. pfizer lost u.s. patent protection over the cholesterol drug lipitor on wednesday. in an 11th hour decision last night the u.s. food and drug administration granted indian company ranbaxy the approval to sell a generic version. it generated nearly $8 billion in u.s. sales in the last year alone. and the nominations are in for music's biggest night as british singer adele swept up six grammy nods and kanye west snapped up a total of seven. other nominees include foo fighters, rihanna, and who else, lady gaga. this will be the third year in a row gaga has gotten a nomination for album of the year. this guy is going to need a bigger boat. a tourist caught this great white shark circling his fishing boat off the coast of north carolina. the great white apparently even slammed the boat with its tail at one point. he said he knew something was fishy when everything was biting at first and then suddenly nothing was biting the bait at all. that is huge! i'd be running as fast as i could away from that. they need a bigger boat. back out to savannah and al. >> classic we're going to need a bigger boat situation. natalie, thank you so much. how about a check of the weather? >> all righty. out west we've been having big problems with the santa ana winds and we're going to continue that for the second day. low pressure in the southwest. high pressure up in the northwest. between the two, you see those lines? that's the pressure gradient. winds squeezed through there so noon friday. gusts of 60 miles per hour in the canyons and passes all the way down to san diego where they got wind advisories and it goes as far north as san jose and san francisco with wind advisories until thursday, until this afternoon at 6:00 with wind gusts of 60 miles to 50 miles per hour. airport delays are going to be extensive along the coast and then we've got mountain snows in the rockies, anywhere from another 4 to 6 inches of snow, including denver. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck of you heard it from al roker. very gusty winds pump through the san francisco bay all across the bay area. we have winds sustained at 23 miles per hour right now. in fairfield, 22 miles per hour. and the winds will be relentless at least until this afternoon. we should start to drop off later this evening. and your temperatures result of high pressure warming us up going to bring nurnls into the 70s later on today. 71 in san jose. test weather. matt? >> thank you very much. it was a banner day on wall street. the dow soared on wednesday closing up 490 points, the largest single-day gain since march of 2009. jim cramer is the host of cnbc's "mad money." jim, good to see you. good morning. let's go through the laundry list. up 490 points, closes over 12,000, the nasdaq and the s&p both up about 4%. why were investors so happy? >> we were joyous about three things. first around 5:00 in the morning china cut its interest rates, the equivalent of letting the banks lend more. second we come in and there is coordinated action by many of the great powers to be able to help europe. and then we're hiring, matt. we got a survey that showed real hiring. >> when you talk about this coordinated effort by central banks to help europe, this was not a fix of the debt crisis. they didn't do anything to alleviate the crisis. what they did, and this comes from a guy at the bank of japan, the step is meant to buy time for european countries to proceed with their fiscal and economic reform. so not a fix but a good sign. >> totally true. what happened is there were some major banks in europe that apparently were far worse off than we thought. that's why this emergency action. why? because they own a lot of this debt issued by these countries. unless we fix the debt problem with these major countries we're just going to go right back down. >> the other reason you talked about, the job picture here in the united states, private companies created about 100,000 more jobs than the analysts had expected in the month of november. but it makes you think, are these temporary seasonal holiday jobs? are they going to stick around after the first of the year? >> entirely possible some of them are. matt, look, i'm not going to look through some of this news. we definitely have more people being employed. we'll know more tomorrow when we get the payroll numbers. >> what is the next -- you just beat me. what is the next big indicator you want to see that is going to tell you whether this economy is moving in the right direction or is going to face more volatility? >> two things. we've got to see how many people were hired from the labor department. but second we're going to get another read on how christmas sales -- holiday sales are. this is the most important thing of all. because retail is what dominates this country. if it's as strong as it was last week, i'll tell you that our country is much better. >> it would signal the fact that consumer confidence is on the rise if they're out there spending this holiday season. >> that can offset how bad it is in europe. >> all right. jim cramer, thank you very much. good to see you. a reminder you can catch jim on "mad money" week nights 6:00 and 11:00 eastern time on cnbc. it's now nine minutes after the hour. here is savannah. thanks. now to politics and the presidential race. the republican front-runners are now trading jabs as herman cain tries to rally support in the states to stay in the race. chuck todd is nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. despite all the talk about herman cain reassessing his campaign following the latest allegations of infidelity, cain's showing no signs he's about to drop out of the race. and unless his family is pressuring him to do it, there may not be much incentive for him to get out. >> these stupid people are ruining america. >> reporter: with his fading campaign in fading campaign in jeopardy herman cain is defiant oddly choosing to campaign in ohio wednesday, a state whose primary is seven months away. cain told supporters the allegations were a conspiracy. >> they're attacking my character, my reputation, and my name in order to try and bring me down. >> reporter: cain told fox news he'll decide whether to stay in the race by next week, acknowledging the accusations of infidelity and sexual harassment have taken their toll. >> it is constantly weighing on me and my family, especially my family, because it continues to stir in the news. >> reporter: later, in new hampshire, cain spoke about his wife, gloria. >> i have talked to my wife many times since monday about this situation. i have not talked to her face to face. that's what i said. we have had many lengthy conversations. this is another reason why i am not going to make a decision until after we talk face to face. >> reporter: still, cain's acting like he's staying in the race. the campaign unveiled this new tv ad set to debut friday in iowa. >> if you make me america's ceo we the people will take this country back. >> reporter: in iowa, another former top tier candidate, michele bachmann, attracted unwanted attention with these comments on iran. >> you may have heard that there is a break-in at the british embassy and the british had to pull their people out. that's exactly what i would do. we wouldn't have an american embassy in iran. i wouldn't allow that to be there. >> reporter: bachmann's campaign tells nbc news she is fully aware there is no american embassy in iran, that she meant the british did the right thing shutting theirs. meanwhile, the race between current cofront-runners mitt romney and newt gingrich is heating up. romney is up with his first serious tv ad, reintroducing himself to new hampshire voters. >> i spent my life in the private sector. i've competed with companies around the world. i've learned something about how it is that economies grow. >> reporter: gingrich, who refers to romney as a great manager, says his own conservative credentials make him better equipped to take on president obama. >> i think the person who is able to debate obama and draw a sharp and defined contrast has an enormous advantage. i don't think you go to the middle. you bring the middle to you. >> reporter: republican power brokers seem increasingly comfortable if it's these two candidates making it into the finals for the republican nomination. >> mitt romney understands business and job creation. newt gingrich understands government. those are two very important strengths. >> now the gingrich resurgence campaign is having growing pains. they let a few things slip through the cracks which can happen with little staff. he failed to file for the missouri primary, a nonbinding primary, only a thousand dollars filing fee. every other candidate is on it. he doesn't have a full delegate slate in new hampshire. none of them are fatal blunders but symbolic of an organizational issue potentially. meanwhile, take a look at this moment from president obama on the noncampaign campaign trail in scranton, pennsylvania yesterday, working a rope line. a woman put a scare into the secret service when she was a little too enthusiastic trying to get his attention, grabbing at his bicep. the president kept smiling and did eventually loosen her grip. savannah? >> all right. nbc's chuck todd with the political headlines from washington. thanks. it is now 7:13. here's matt. thank you. vice president joe biden is wrapping up his final visit to iraq before the u.s. military withdrawal at the end of this year. ann traveled to baghdad with the vice president and sat down with him for an exclusive interview. >> reporter: how secure can iraq really be when you, as a vice president, still must arrive under the cloak of darkness, under heavy security? >> there still are concerns here in iraq but if you take a look at it, ann, violence is down to an all-time low, all the way back to 2002. we're in a situation where it's been that way for the last year and a half, but there are still the one-off jobs that can occur. >> there was one just this morning. >> yes. >> car bomb with casualties. >> right. and, you know, also there are car bombs in europe. there are car bombs throughout the middle east. there's car bombs -- i mean, it is -- but the idea that there is a sufficient capacity to bring down this government, to fundamentally alter this democratic process that's under way, that no longer exists. >> reporter: do you worry that in the rush to fulfill a campaign promise, the obama administration is pulling out of iraq too soon? >> this is no rush, ann. eight years. this is no rush. over 4,500 dead, 30,000 wounded. this is no rush. it's three years since we took office almost. we've done this in a way that no one thought could be done. 144,000 troops when we took office. now in a position with highly trained iraqi military, training their police force. this is no rush. >> in a war that was started to protect the world from weapons of mass destruction that were never found, can the united states claim victory? >> we're not claiming victory. what we're claiming here is that we've done the job our administration set out to do, to end the war we did not start, to end it in a responsible way, to bring americans home, to end the le bleeding both financially and physically that this war has caused, and to leave in place the prospect of a trained military, a trained security force, under democratic institutions, where the disparate parties are, for the first time, in generations, actually working together. it's not done yet, but there is real hope. >> reporter: what is to prevent iran from moving in as the u.s. moves out? >> there is no possibility of them having the capacity without the world reacting -- not just the united states -- the world reacting -- if all of a sudden iran was to move across its border and invade any other countries in the region. >> you said in your senate farewell speech, quote, personal relationships is the one thing that unlocks the true potential of this place. >> i believe that. >> reporter: has president obama done enough? has he been effective in creating the personal relationships required to lead this country? >> he has tried very, very hard. he's tried repeatedly with the speaker. he has tried with the leaders in the united states senate. he meets regularly with the leadership of both. i think most of my republican colleagues would say and have said that i have strong personal relationships with them. and yet nothing has moved. and the reason is, this is not your father's republican party. the republican party is sort of trying to find its soul. so i don't think it's personal relationships. i think it's the ability to get a consensus in the republican party through the republican leadership. >> you have not yet closed the door on 2016. are you ready to do that today? are you running for president? >> i am never ready to close the door on anything. that is a foolish thing to do. i learned a long time ago. my dad had an expression. he said, joe, remember, never argue with your wife about anything that is going to happen more than a year from now, and don't make decisions about anything that is going to happen more than a year from now. i am intent on re-electing barack obama president of the united states of america. the rest will take care of itself. >> reporter: when you look in your son's face, a young man who served in this country, served for the united states in its war in iraq, and you go back to him representing all of the thousands of young men and women who have risked their lives, died, lost their friends, what do you say? >> first of all, i say, i'm so damn proud of you. i am so incredibly proud of him and these kids, and i say it mattered. they straightened out a situation that they inherited. they did it in a way that this is in my view the greatest generation. this isn't the x generation. this is the exceptional generation. they are amazing. you know, when bo came home after a year, obviously there was an overwhelming sense of joy and relief, but there was this -- all i could think of was those fallen angels whose parents were in dover to recover their child. i'm sorry. this -- anyway, i say to them, be proud of what you did for your country, be proud of the example you showed the world, and, most of all, be proud of how you protected your fellow soldiers. >> that's ann's exclusive interview with vice president joe biden. you can see more of that interview tonight on "nightly news." it's 19 after the hour. here's savannah. >> thanks. secretary of state hillary clinton is on her historic trip to the southeast asian nation of myanmar, a country in the midst of dramatic change after years of isolation. nbc's ian williams is there this morning. ian, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. hillary clinton is the highest ranking u.s. visitor to myanmar for 50 years, coming here to judge for herself the progress of reforms that are bringing unexpected change after two decades of repressive military rule. until just a few weeks ago, this would have been inconceivable, a u.s. secretary of state in myanmar, meeting leaders of what had been regarded as a pariah state all in the surreal and isolated new capital, built from scratch in the middle of nowhere, and with so few people its vast eight-lane highways are almost deserted. until recently it was largely off limits to westerners. it's a world away from the old capital of yangon, a city of dilapidated, colonial era buildings and stunning pogodas where the reforms and clinton's visit are generating enormous hope. >> we are welcome and we are happy to see her. and i hope that it is a good visit for change in burma. >> reporter: until recently, this would have been almost unheard of -- portraits of pro democracy leader aung san suu kyi openly on display. censorship has been eased. political prisoners have been released and restrictions on protests have been lifted. the changes are all the more remarkable when you consider it's only been a year since aung san suu kyi was released from house arrest where she spent 15 of the last 22 years. although not everybody is convinced about the sincerity of the government. this man was a political prisoner for 17 of the last 21 years. >> there had been some