of the polls? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm willie geist. this is "way too early," the show that will start to smoke unfiltered camels openly on this show if it leads to the kind of numbers herman cain is getting from his smoking campaign. i'm glad you're up with us. shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc.com or tweet me and let me know what you're doing up this hour or do what mark block does and text your response to 622639. the next 30 minutes will be the cram session for this wednesday, october 26th. a lot to tell you about including single digits approval numbers now from congress in a new poll. how much lower can that body go? plus, international reaction, as i said, to herman cain's smoking ad. it's coming in from around the

globe. the star of that ad basks in his new found celebrity. wait for the smile. wait for the smile. there it is. details later in the show. first though, let's get to the news live at. . 5:30 a.m. dozens of police officers clashing with protesters supporting the occupy wall street movement in oakland, california, last night. riot police gave repeated warnings, they say, to the crowd before firing at least five rounds of tear gas on protesters. oakland interim police chief howard jordan defended the use of tear gas saying we had to deploy gas to stop people from throwing rocks and bottles at police. protesters were attempting to retake their encampment outside of the oakland city hall which had been cleared out before dawn yesterday by police resulting in the arrest of 97 people. the violence in oakland comes as the latest report from the congressional budget office reafirms the rally cry of occupy wall street protesters.

we are the 99%. the new report finds between 1979 and 2007, the top 1% of americans with the highest incomes have seen their incomes grow by 275%. meanwhile, the 60% middle income workers saw their incomes rise by just 40%. the report goes on to cite the rapid growth of celebrity salaries, the increasing size of the financial services industry, and changes in executive compensation. across bay from the protesters, a dramatically different scene. president obama was attending an expensive dnc fund-raiser in san francisco. the price, $7500 a plate to be in the presence of that man. the event was one of several fundraisers scheduled on the president's western tour. in an interview jay leno, the president acknowledged that americans are frustrated with the economy and with washington's work on solving the country's problems.

>> people are hurting. they've been hurting for a while. and people were having a tough time even before the crisis. incomes, wages were all flat. costs of everything from college to health care to, you know, gas to food all of it was going up. and so people were feeling a lot of pressure even before this crisis. and, so, every day i wake up saying to myself, look, you can't expect folks to feel satisfied right now. i'm very proud of the work that we've done over the last two, three years. but they're exactly right. we have more work to do. >> more from the president on leno in just a bit. we're getting a fresh look at americans' view of president obama, congress and much more thanks to a poll from "new york times" and cbs. americans split on the job that president obama is doing. 46% approve. 46% disapprove. that's in sharp contrast to congress, get a load of this

number. 9%, single digits, 9% approve of the united states congress and 84% disapprove. when asked if they trust the government to do the right thing, 10% of americans say always or most of the time. 89% say some or none of the time do they trust the government to do what is right. 74% of americans meanwhile think the country is on the wrong track. that's consistent with polling we've seen. mrnz are striking back at the president's claims of a do-nothing congress. the chamber is ready to get to work on job creation and says the problem lies in the senate. >> the president says we can't afford to wait. guess what? i agree with the president. we've got 15 bills that sitting over in the united states senate, 15 bills that are part of our plan for america's job creators. after we finish this week, there will be 16 bills sitting over in the united states senate waiting

for action. it's time for the senate to work with the house and to work with the president to help find common ground to move our economy forward and get the american people back to work. the fight in washington over finding jobs continues. the president unveiled the latest executive action. he says this is the new route he's going. a proposal targeting student loan relief. the administration says could help more than seven million people with their student loans. in europe, leaders failed to find a consensus on an overall financial rescue plan that would stop their expanding debt crisis, agreeing only on a proposed $110 billion euro banking system. stimulus which would prevent a complete collapse of the european financial system should greece default. let's take a look at the markets as we get all up in your business. we have a reporter live in london. good morning, steve. >> reporter: very good day. let's be clear. we want three things from the euro zone ministers. we want a recap deal on the

banks. we think we're going to get that. we want to know how much the losses are going to be for private sector on the greek bond holdings. we haven't got that one. we want to know how much the rescue fund, the efsf bailout fund, how much firepower it's going to have and how they're going to do it. so one out of three is just not enough for the markets at the moment. >> steve, here in the states the dow is down 207 points yesterday. and the number that jumps out at you, amazon, quarterly profits down 73%. netflix also down 35%. but that amazon number is just shocking. what happened? >> reporter: yeah. i mean amazon among other companies i would suggest disappointed. amazon was investing a lot in their tablet technology, kindle and what have you. so there is a lot of investment in there. numbers were not so great. netflix are losing customers left, right and center. i would say perhaps the third part of this is important as well and that is 3m. it is a dow component.

very disappointing miss from them. sent their shares down. plus the fact that the consumer confidence data was the worst in 2 1/2 years. i think that conspired together and the european news to create a down beat session. that said, the market is still up heavily for the month. >> all right. we'll see if things change today. steve sedgwick, thanks so much. businessman herman cain now leading the republican presidential field, inching past mitt romney in the latest cbs/"new york times" poll. the national poll shows cain is 25%. that's up 20% from about a month ago. romney remains steady at 21%. but look down the list there. in fifth place, rick perry falling 17 points from the last poll. he's down at 6%, trailing newt gingrich and ron paul. herman cain on top, rick perry now down 17 points from the last poll sitting in fifth place, at least according to this poll. even among tea party supporters,

perry is just at 7%, if you can believe it. herman cain tops this group with 32%. mitt romney gets 18% support from tea party republicans. herman cain remaining strong even in the new round of polls. there is still some hope for perry. the poll shows that 80% of republican primary voters say it is too early to make up their mind on the candidate. cain's surge comes as republicans reached an all time high of 78% according to gallup tracking polls. this is up from 21% since last april. perry trying to make a comeback in this race unveiling his economic plan for a flat tax yesterday in south carolina. he's calling it establishes an optional 20% flat tax, reduces the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, preserved home mortgage and charitable deductions, allows younger workers to opt out of social security and cap spending at 18% of gdp.

perry also says his plan will make filing taxes easier for many americans. >> the size of the current code is more than 72,000 pages. the best representation of my plan is this postcard. this is the size of what we're talking about right here. taxpayers will be able to fill this out and file their taxes on that. >> grover norquist is praising perry's flat tax plan calling it "a good place to be." the ob administration saying that the plan would shift a greater share of tax as way from the wealthiest americans and on to the backs of the middle class. last night perry appeared on fox news to talk about his tax plan. the conversation shifted to his rivalry with mitt romney. perry taking a jab at the former massachusetts governor accusing him of flip-flopping. >> i think in his own words he says, listen, you know, i need to say whatever i need to say for whatever office i'm running

for. how do you change at the age of 50 or 60 positions on life, positions on guns? positions on traditional marriage? i mean those aren't minor issues, bill. so to change those at age of 50 or 60 tells you all you need to know about that. >> the republican candidates continue to duke it out. president obama told jay leno last night he's going to keep his distance for now. >> have you been watching the gop debates? >> i'm going to wait until everybody's voted off the island. >> really? >> once they narrow it down to one or two, i'll start paying attention. >> still ahead here on "way too early," game six of the world series back in st. louis. do or die time for the cardinals. tony la russa answering questions about that bull pen mix-up in game five. what happened? that's ahead in sports. plus, president obama tells

leno about the unscheduled visit he made to a southern california chicken and waffles joint. and the problem with getting hot sauce on your tie before a big fund-raiser. that clip and a check on weather when "way too early" comes back. [ female announcer ] so you think your kids are getting enough vegetables?

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5:44 in the morning.

this is a live picture of the plaz why outside our building at 30 rock. let's get a check the weather from bill karins. >> you are ready for win thor? >> no, sir. >> denver doesn't have a choice and new england, heads up. >> snow? >> patience. >> okay. >> we'll get there. let's talk about denver first. winter storm warning. expecting a foot of snow. we upped the snowfall totals. the storm looking more dynamic. interstate 80 closed coming out of wyoming near cheyenne. colorado springs, you're turning over to snow currently, too. you'll pick up six to ten inches yourself. i-95, very difficult travel day. chains recommended in most locations. this is the first big snowfall of the year in the colorado rockies and out into the front range. it looks like a foot of snow for many areas. now let's totally change gears and go to the tropics. all eyes are on cancun, mexico rina is going to be a category 2 or 3 when it passes closest to

cancun tomorrow. and that looks like when the most damage will occur. then it's going to weaken. right now we're thinking possibly a category one near cube yachlt by t cuba. if it gets near florida, it will be a tropical storm or a weak system. florida looks good. we're going to get significant damage down there in the yuca n yucatan. now also we have travel trouble today. airport delays are possible. low clouds and rain. we have light rain and a cold rain from buffalo to albany to pittsburgh. and it's an umbrella day. the big surprise happens thursday night as the cold air and the storm out in colorado moves across the country. right now it's looking like accumulating snow is possible. poconos, catskills, birkshires and central new england the high in massachusetts and new hampshire. i think the big cities won't see snowflakes. we'll have some fall foliage pictures with a beautiful leaves with snow. >> wow. >> so you're telling me summer is over. is that what you're getting at here? >> jean shorts, they're gone. >> i'm starting to come to terms with that fact. bill, thanks.

he's a bad man says mike barnicle. time for sports now. game six of the world series is tonight. the rangers could close it out against the cardinals in st. louis. colby lewis on the mound for texas. garcia for the cards. they both pitched great in game two. we'll see how they go tonight. for st. louis fans, still questions over the miscommunication between tony la russa and the bull pen that perhaps could have cost the cardinals a crucial game five win. la russa complained after the game that the bull pen coach couldn't hear over the phone which pitch eer la russa wantedn the game. yesterday he had a press conference and tried his best to explain what happened. >> well, what happened was that twice the bull pen didn't hear what i said. they didn't get mot. they didn't hear mot. and i called back. i said mot, they heard lynn. they were yelling at me as i went out.

i didn't hear them. it wasn't mot. i saw lynn and said what you are doing here? >> they don't sound a lot like each other. i don't know. game six is tonight at 8:00. forecast in st. louis at game time still, bill karins, 50 degrees and some light rain. >> they're going to play. >> bill says they're going to play. chicago cubs have not been to the world series since 1945. they haven't won one in 103 years. 1908 was the yearment yesterday they unveiled their new president of baseball operations, former boston red sox general manager and wonder kind theo epstein. yesterday's press conference he spoke about the sox. >> i wouldn't trade my time with red sox. i think it is time to move on. they're in great hands. they have a terrific feature laid out in front of them. i was ready for the next big challenge. and this is certainly the ultimate challenge. the last couple weeks have been interesting. i was telling -- we had a front

office meeting yesterday. i got to meet the whole front office. i was telling them that i felt like that guy in the movie "office space" with just the red stapler who just keeps -- when i was at fenway park, you just keep showing up to work and it was if someone forgot to tell me i didn't work there anymore. i did end up in the basement with a cubicle and stapler. i knew it was time to go to chicago. >> people in chicago excited to see theo. they finished fifth in the nl central 11 games under .500. at the top of the hour on "morning joe," rick perry plum et cetera in a new national poll falling behind newt gingrich and ron paul. we'll sort out the new numbers with our "morning joe" crew. and we'll huddle around the water cooler where the campaign manager starring in that herman cain smoking ad begins to bask in his celebrity. hey buddy, wattaya lookin' a-oooh.

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a plan unveiled by president obama aims to help americans struggling to repay their student loans. you want to sound smart today, tell your friends in 2011, outstanding student loan debt will pass $1 trillion for the

first time in history. americans owe more money for student loans than they do on credit cards. rising education costs, inflation and more people going back to school for training as they are unable to find jobs. enough of the real news. let's huddle up around the water cooler and go back to burbank. president obama sat down with jay leno. among the topics, the president's impromptu visit the other day to a southern california racicot's chicken and waffles. there he is right there. leno and the president talking a little wings and waffles on "the tonight show." >> now, i think you order the country boy special. what is that? >> wings and waffles. with hot sauce. >> so fried chicken wings, waffles with syrup and hot sauce. now is michelle -- >> originally, it was a way to, you know, be out there and say hi to everybody. but once we got in the car, it smelled pretty good.

so, i mean, i'm eating the wings. i have the hot sauce on there and the fancy presidential limousine smelling like chicken. we were actually going to a fund-raiser with will smith and jada and i didn't realize it was so close. so suddenly we pull up and my sleeves were rolled up. i have a spot on my tie. and, you know, my fingers -- i'm looking for one of the wet ones. getting chicken out of my teeth. but outstanding chicken. >> how about that? the star of herman cain's smoking ad now becoming a star. let's put it out there. he runs the campaign. his name is mark block. he is now referring to himself in the third person as he did yesterday on fox news. >> i tell you, in walking to a a veterans bar in iowa and they're sitting around smoking and, you

know, we are resonating with them. and i'm not the only one that's smoking in america, for god sake. it's just that i'm a smoker and a lot of people on the staff said just let block be block. that's what it was all about. >> just let block be block. that's not a thing. we're not going with that, mark block. by the way he says we're huge with old guy who's smoke in bars. it wasn't mark block's smoking that got xeeven he could bare all excited last night. it was that great about eight second slow motion smile to sting out of this ad. there it is. herman cain. it is just so slow to come across his face. last night he challenged herman cain to a slow smiling contest. >> the best part of cain's ad might not even be the unexpected smoking. no. the best part is the eight seconds it takes for herman cain to smile.

here's a little taste. go. ♪ >> wow. that is a slow smile. that was in real time. herman cain was slowed down. still ahead, why are you awake? your preoccupied tweets and texts and e-mails are just ahead. the postal service is critical to our economy-- delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think.

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