levi and how does katie couric figure into it? it's "way too early" forhis. good morning. i'm willie geist and this is "way too early" voted most likely to host a cable news show at 5:30. must have been fate. glad you're up with us. shoot me an e-mail on waytooearly@msnbc.com and let me know why you're awake this hour or do what carl paladino does. we'll read your responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes is the cram session for this thursday, the last day of september the 30th. a lot going on today including president obama facing tough questions at a backyard barbecue in iowa. plus another devastating blow to america's future as snooki gets a book deal. what kind of wisdom can we ex-is s. pekt from the poughkeepsie

poof? first the news live at 5:30 a.m. the race for governor in new york is getting personal. republican candidate carl paladino is accusing andrew cuomo of being unfaithful to his wife years ago. he made the claims minutes after angrily declaring that his 10-year-old daughter from his own affair ten years ago was off limits to the press. politico quotes him as saying has anybody asked andrew cuomo about his paramours when he was married or asked him why his wife left him or threw him out of the house? has anyone ever done that? why are they in truding on my life? he offered no support for that and last night he nearly came to blows with a new york post reporter who confronted paladino about his allegation. >> do you have any evidence for the charge you made? it's a simple question.

>> of course i do. you'll get it at an appropriate time. you're not entitled to it. at the appropriate time you'll get it. you're his stalking horse. you're his stalking horse. >> what's the evidence. >> you're his birddog. >> you're going to take me out? how are you going to do it? >> watch. >> that's new york post political reporter ed dicker. reportedly it was so heated that his aides had to move between the two men and escort him away. the latest marist poll shows cuomo leading him by almost 20 points. 52 to 33%. he said the support for his allegations against mr. cuomo will come in dew time. things getting personal in the california gubernatorial race where meg whitman is accused of knowingly employing an illegal immigrant. during a tearful news conference with gloria allred her former housekeeper claims the candidate

was alerted about her immigration status in 23 but did not fire her until last year. in a statement, whitman, who has specifically campaigned to hold those employing illegal immigrants responsible dismisses the claims as politically motivated. she inisted she only found out about the status last year at which point she said she immediately fired her. a senior adviser also notes that gloria allred is apersonal friend of her democratic opponent jerry brown and once donated to his campaign. the latest times/cnn report has brown leading whitman 52 to 43. yet another backyard visit yesterday president obama defended his policies to a small group of iowa neighbors concerned about the economy. the event echoed the president's cnbc town hall last week in which one of the residents said she was exhausted from having to defend him. one man who described him as a small business owner criticized obama's plans to let bush-era tax cuts expire on a certain

percentage of the country. here's the president's response. >> your taxes haven't gone up in this administration. your taxes have gone down in this administration. i just think the notion that, well, these are democrats so your taxes must have gone up. that's just not true. taxes have gone councdown for ye small business person and 95% of working families. >> he also took a question from a woman who described at length her fears the united states health care system will soon resemble that of great britain. >> there was a lot of misinformation about the health care debate. i just want to communicate that the -- if you're happy with what you got, nobody is changing it. but i understand why people are concerned, because this is a very personal thing and nothing is scarier than when you don't have health care. congress is free now to head home to campaign for the midterm elections today after voting overnight to adjourn a week earlier than initially planned.

their last major legislative action before shutting down was passing a stop-gap spending measure to keep the government running for the next two months. it now heads to president obama's desk for signing. congress will return november 15th. that's a month and a half away. house democrats also followed the senate's lead agreeing to postpone a vote on the volatile issue of the expiring bush-era tax cuts until after the elections. john boehner said arkansas jurng without acting on tax cuts would be, quote, irresponsible. 39 democrats, many of whom who are in tight elections back home, broke ranks to vote against adjourning believing they should stay in session to tackle the tax session. in the end speaker pelosi who rarely votes on day-to-day regulations had to cast the vote to adjourn. yesterday house democratic leaders muscled through legislation to provide $7.4 billion to rescue workers and

others who got sick after being exposed to toxic fumes in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. this now goes back to the senate where it faces an uncertain future. yesterday's vote was 268-160 with 17 republicans joining democrats after months of a partisan battle. congressman anthony wiener ranted against republicans back in july for voting against this measure. >> it's republicans wrapping their arms around republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes. it is a shame, a shame. if you believe this is a bad idea to provide health care, then vote no. but don't give me the cowardly view that, oh, if it was a different procedure -- the gentleman will observe regular order and sit down! >> republicans argued democrats used a rule change to make it harder to pass the bill the first time in order to avoid letting republicans offer amendments but they finally took

care of that business. good for them for finally doing it. this morning's "new york times" reports that pakistan closed a vital transit link for nato forces today in apparent retaliation for attack by coalition helicopters on a pakistani security post hours earlier. according to a pakistani official, trucks and oil tankers for nato and american troops fighting in afghanistan were stopped just north of the pakistani city of peshawar and it was unclear when the post would reopen. "the times" says the closure of a crossing is very rare and signaled a downturn in the military relationship between pakistan and the united states, which is delicate, to say the least. newly released footage from a test the fbi conducted shows the potentially devastating power of the times square bomb discovered inside an suv last may. had the explosive not failed, law enforcement officials say it would have killed dozens of people. meanwhile prosecutors say feisal shahzad who pleaded guilty in the botched bombing planned to

detonate a second bomb two weeks later. he faces sentencing next week for the attempted bombing. they want to give him life in prison. let's get an early look in the markets as we get all up in your business. good morning, carolyn. >> good morning to you, willie. yesterday we saw the house passing quite a controversial bill that will put even more pressure on china to let its currency revalue at a faster pace. now, the bill passed quite easily with 348 votes to 79 and essentially allows the u.s. to levy tariffs on countries with fundamentally undervalued currencies. if the bill is signed by congress and by president obama -- which is unclear at this point -- it is expected to affect some $300 billion in goods coming from china this year alone. now, the chinese commerce ministry hit back at the bill right away. in a statement, it said, quote,

china has never undervalued its currency in order to gain a competitive advantage. the u.s. cannot use its trade deficit with china as an excuse to adopt trade protectionist measures. so, willie, i guess there's no end in sight at this point on this trade dispute. on this note i'll send it back to you. >> thanks so much. that's a big story out of the financial world. still ahead on "way too early," lawrence o'donnell gives up his strategy for the lee vif johnston interview. he ripped off the questions verbatim from another famous interview and not ashamed to admit it. give you five bucks to guess which country in the world is number one in math and science. the story and how they're pulling it off. introducing our quattron quadpixel technology.

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cool shot of the capitol this morning at 5:43 p a.m. a check of your weather from nbc meteorologist bill karins. way too much green behind you, my friend. >> green, red. colors of the rainbow this morning. d.c. is not the place to be driving this morning. flash flood warnings for the entire metro area. you saw those pictures. fast moving clouds. we have tropical downpours in the area. not only that, we're under a tornado watch from philadelphia southwards down through baltimore and washington, d.c. we've already had a couple of tornadoes overnight eastern north carolina. norfolk and virginia beach are the areas of greater concern. the radar, all the green is the rain. the yellows and the reds are more thunderstorms that are moving through. d.c. to philadelphia is the worst of the drive, but new york city is about to get nailed. we're going to see the first bans of heavy rain pulling up through the tri-state area here during the next hour right as we start the heart of the rush

hour. there's the area in maroon. flash flood warnings throughout the d.c. area. through philly and new york. it will be a rough day. this will be about a 24-hour event of heavy rain, gusty winds. new york city under a high wind warning. could see winds gusting to 50 miles per hour at times. the airports are going to be a mess. there's really no way around it. the morning commute will be hard enough. >> if you're traveling to d.c. from farther north get on the acela, is that your suggestion? >> trains will do well unless the tracks flood or a tree falls on them. not on the train. if they fall on the track and delay it. >> ugly day. let's turn to some sports now. fans in florida lining up at the door for free tickets to the rays 'final home game in st. pete's yesterday. of course we reported that a few of the rays players were fed up and voiced that publicly at the lack of attendance at their games despite recent success as a team. the rays organization gave away 20,000 free seats to fans.

that's one way to fill up the building. don't charge them to come. to the game itself. in the seventh the score tied at nothing. the orioles' felix pa. 36,000 fans watched them lose the final home game. the yankees needed that because they also lost. rays up a half game on the yankees. wild ending between the mariners and the rangers. tie game two outs, man on first. nelson cruz strikes out. should send it to extra innings but gets away from the catcher. cruz hustles down the first base line and the throw from the catcher goes into right field. moreland who had been on first base races all the way around. the play at the plate he's safe. game over. rangers win 6-5. that is the mariners' season. funny moment in chicago. ortiz of the red sox laying down a bunt. this is a big man who should not be budgeting for base hits.

no surprise he was thrown out by a mile. everyone including the pitcher, the manager for the other team, ozzie guillen, laughing, doing their impression of david ortiz. then gesturing david had to use a wheelchair to get to first base. the two teams have nothing to play for having some fun. white sox win the game 5-2. here's how the playoff picture looks right now. american league rays and yankees still battling for a.l. east. rays up by a half game. they play today. the yankees do not play today so they'll get that half game settled in kansas city. the twins won the central. rangers have taken the west. in the nl, phillies ran away with the east and the reds as we told you yesterday won in the central. the west still up for grabs. giants up two games on fading padres and they will meet on friday for a three-game series to ends the season that will decide the whole thing. padres trail the braves by a game and a half in the wild card. braves have a three-game series coming up against the phillies.

nbc has been looking all week for solutions to our country's education crisis. it turns out the best place to start may be finland, whose schools are ranked number one in the world. nbc news education correspondent raheema ellis traveled to helsinki to learn about this. >> reporter: finland population 5 million, about the size of the atlanta metro area. but don't let size fool you. it's a global success. home to cell phone jind nokia, the finns are known for the love of coffee, state-supported health care and the best education system in the world. this 15-year-old is a typical student. he balances school work with play. but school time is very focused and it shows. internationally, finnish students rank number one overall in science and math. u.s. kids rank 17th in science and 24th in math.

can you say what percentage of your students drop out of school? >> in our school, nobody. >> reporter: nationwide, the high school dropout rate is 2% versus 25% in the u.s. but it wasn't always this way. 40 years ago, finland was a poor nation dependent on agriculture. its leaders envisioned a brighter future in technology. the nation decided the way to get there was with a better educated workforce. it took a generation to do it. finland's blue print included a tough national curriculum, masters degrees for all teachers, with up to three teachers per class. two focus on instruction. the third works with students who are struggling. the result, there's no such thing as a failing school in finland. officials say finland has a collective national will to educate all students and a plan to succeed. there's a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom and continuity. >> i can be a better teacher

when i teach them longer -- for a longer period. >> reporter: many students stay with the same teacher for several years. >> use english as much as possible. >> reporter: the average student speaks four languages, including english. and finland spends about $3,000 less per pupil than american schools do. so how do they achieve more? education experts credit involved parents. do you push your son? >> perhaps sometimes, yeah, to be honest, yes. >> reporter: equally important, they say, is the finnish culture that values education. >> teaching has been always and is still is a kind of appreciate yated profession. >> a report out this months says 47% of america's teachers come from the bottom third of college graduates. finnish teachers come from the top 10%. just like doctors and lawyers, finland's best and brightest are chosen to teach. ra rhema ellis.

>> she said it took a generation to fix the system. we're just getting started. let's hope that's where we are a generation from now. congress packs its bags and leaves washington for campaign season. but do the people on the hill take care of important legislation for 9/11 responders before they left? let's hope so. we'll huddle around the watercooler to watch lawrence o'donnell explain his line of questioning to lee rye johnston. he gets a major assist from katie couric. [ female announcer ] olay professional pro-x. sold out online in 17 minutes. beauty editors are raving. the clinical results are astounding. olay professional pro-x. read all about it at olayprofessional.com.

as you know, the saying goes, knowledge is power. and the more knowledge a student has, the more earning power he or she will have. tell your friends that college graduates earn an astounding 96% more than high school dropouts and 53% more than high school graduates. that's according to the national center for education statistics which said the pattern of higher earnings corresponding to higher education has held steady over the last decade. all right. enough of the real news. let's huddle up around the watercooler. now just 282 hours until the official release of my book, "american freak show."

the sands are just slipping through the hourglass so quickly. you can wait until october 12th or preorder on amazon. i bring this up in part -- yes, joe, you can buy more than one as long as you do it one at a time. i bring this up because they're giving out book deals to anybody with a pulse at this point. snooki. snooki. no, not him. no, snooki got a book deal. can you believe this? yeah, that snooki. simon and schuster's gallery books announcing publishing a novel by snooki. it's going to be called "a shore thing" revolving around a girl looking for love on the boardwalk. coming up in january of this year. but, you know what, a lot of people who shouldn't write books write books so why shouldn't she? and i include myself in that. here's the statement from her. i'm pumped to announce to my

fans a project that i've been working on for some time. this book will have you falling in love at the shore. it's a shore thing. i love it when snooki puts out statements. let's go back to the new sitcom lawrence and levi. levi johnston, lawrence o'donnell getting together for a hard-hitting interview. we're kicking ourselves for not seeing what lawrence had to explain last night, which is that he ripped off this interview word for word, the questions verbatim from another famous interview. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories? >> oh, i think it should be taught as an accepted principle. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories? >> whew. you're kind of getting over my head on these things here. yeah, i don't really know how to answer that question. >> the united states is deeply unpopular in pakistan. >> do you think the pakistan government is protecting al qaeda within its borders?

>> i don't believe that new president zardari has that mission at all. >> whew. like i said, i don't watch a whole lot of tv. >> lawrence said he went into his office when he knew he had levi johnston figuring out what to ask him. he took katie couric's questions, cut them, pasted them into his script and read them verbatim to levi johns johnston. that's "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. still ahead on "way too early," why are you awake? troubling texts and e-mails ahead. [ female announcer ] does your volume pass the afternoon test? or does it flop by 4 o'clock? get ready for a revolution. the new pantene. flat to volume system. we discovered fine hair has up to 50% less protein. so we customized a pro-v system that in test, outlasts the flop. the results? volume that lasts long past 4 o'clock.

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helping you get to a happier place. have a nice trip. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. the number one story on msnbc.com is a terrible one. a kid from my hometown of ridgewood, new jersey, an 18-year-old freshman at rutgers university jumped to his death after he was secretly taped having sex in his dorm room. it was then posted on facebook. he was so embarrassed apparently that he jumped to his death. an awful, awful story topping the list of stories on msnbc come.