this morning on "early today," battling for votes. he became president campaigning for change. now a new nbc news "wall street journal" poll shows voters want changes. seeing d, a colom by-an bullfight turns deadly. seeing d, a colom by-an bullfight turns deadly. and looking at lake tahoe. captionpaid for by nbc-universal television hello and good wednesday morning to you. today we begin with desperate measures. president obama heads to the nation's heartland today where he will no doubt rake republicans over the coals. but they aren't the only ones the in the hot seat. the president turned up the hat on his own party members yesterday. nbc tracie potts has more for us in washington. good morning to you, tracie.

>> veronica, good morning. we're now starting to hear a tough love message from president obama, aimed not at republicans, but aimed at his own party. he said buck up and he called republicans -- rath democrats irresponsible if they're sitting on their hands complaining. he said it's inexcusable to sit on the delines. we heard some of this in wisconsin yesterday at a huge college rally, trying to fight what polls and pundits say is apathy. he told students we can't let the country fall backwards because we didn't care enoughto fight. he's doing this four-state swing through several states around the country trying to drum up support because polls are showing that democrats cod be in trouble as we head into november's elections. in fact, we have a new nbc "wall treet journal" poll take a look at this. republicans now have a

three-point lead over democrats, but that's down from a nine-point lead just last month. and looking at this question, who should control congress? 46% now prefer republicans. 43% prefer democrats. it is a big challenge as mocrats and president obama head into november. he's on the campaign trail and so is president clinton, who according to our latest poll is now the most popular democrat out there. veronica. >> interesting information. thankou so much, tracie potts live for us this morning in washington. in a fresh line of division within the democratic party, 47 democrats have broken rank with the presidents oer bush tax cuts and extensions. they're calling for a 5% maximum rate on investmet income. that rate expires at the end of the year. while presidnt obama wants to extend the 15% rate for middle and income level homes, he wants to end it for 20% earners.

a vote on tax breaks is unlikely before congress adjourns this week to campaign ahead of mierm elections. intelligence officials in europe have reportedly uncovered a plot to carry out what's bing called moon by style attacks in england, france and germany. apparently this has been on the radar of european officials r some time, where multiple threats in france before just yesterday the eiffel tower was evacuated following a bomb strike. some recent missile strikes in unmanned drones in pakistan were aimed at the planners of the suspected plots in europe. deste yesterday's reports, threat levels in the targeted country have not been raised. >> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. the u.s. navy is investigating an unauthorized exercised that took place over california's lake tahoe. two navy helicopters were seen hovering and dipping temporarily

in the waters, resulting in an estimated $50,000 to $500,000 in damages. while the helicopters are back in rvice, both pilots have been grounded until the end of the investigation. > stunning video shows for the first time a school of blue whales swimming off the california coastline. biologists say new weather patterns and cooler waters brging in an abundance of krill coulde luring in the whales. one phillies fan ditch today foam finger going all out to show support for his home team. a custom phillie paint job, seats and all the bells and whistles on this vintage ride this took eight months to complete, but the fighting phillies fan hopes that it will be a world series charm. and in new york, if you can't find jo ramoen's place,

look up. the street sign has been stolen four times since 2003, forcing city oicials to reinstall the placard 20 feet above street level. given how many times the sign has been stolen and given i new height, perhaps a gps is still your best bet when it comes to finding joey ramone, andy that we mean the street, not the person. bill karins, were you a big ramones fan? >> i was no actually. maybe at some pont or another, i'll go back through that stage. that sign won't last past halloween, though, by the way. let's talk about what's happening in the tropics. yesterday, we have our tropical depression form. we have tropical moisture and there's a stream of it heading up the eastern seaboard. it's getting soggy down in south florida. miami will be drenched all day today and into tomorrow. the eastern coast of florida will see t heavy rain. it's going to rain all day long

in the carolinas. especially the coastal areas. eventually tonight and tomorrow, it's going to work its way up the eastern seaboard. this is a stationary front in this tropical entity. it's not really a storm yet. it may never be. it's going to follow thi front. if you're right on i-95 towards the coast, that's who is going to get drerched from this system. you can look at the radar this morning. the storm is down by havanna, currently over cuba heading into the florida straights. miami is getting drenched, soon up into the beaches around melbourne. then all the rain will head up into the carolinas. over the last couple of days, wilmington and areas have seen ton of rain. serious flooding concerns into thursday and friday. notice our computers are pinpointing new jersey for very heavy rain up here into southern new england,too. the forecast for today, middle of the country. fantastic. much of the east is okay. if you're right along the coast, you're ing to see heavy rain in the next few days here is a look at the weather outside your window.

in the ohio valley, tennessee valley, gorgeous weather conditions. chicago, 74. sunny. memphis, 81. that's fantastic. you've heard about the heat wave out in the west. phoenix has been very hot, too. today, 106. thursday's forecast coming right up. >> i know. you know, i'm still shaking my head over that 113 in los angeles. >> yeah. and it can't gotten much cooler out there, either. >> thanks, bill. gold sparkles and getting a beer in tough times. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, who came outn top, so to speak, chootsing the worst dressed man in show business? three teams punched their tickets to the postseason had a rough ride for a rough rider. you're watching "early today."

>> good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz.

here are some of your top headlines this morning. former president jimmy carter is expected to resume his book tour today after spending the night in a cleveland, ohio, hospital with an upset stomach. medical officials say the decision to admit him was purely precautionary, and carter, who received a call from president oba, was fully alert and resting comfortay. an appeals court is allowing funding of embryonic stem cell research to continue pending a full appeal. yesterday the obama administration was handed a victory regarding t funding. tomorrow's scheduled execution for albert brown was put on hold to determine whether the state's new injection procedures removed a prolonged and painful death. this could prevent further

executions in california until early next year due to nationwide sortages of a key drug needed for injections. in co llombia, spectators jumped into a bull ring and several peopleere georged by the bull. >> and now here's a look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow take a look at overseas trading in tokyo, the nikkei add 63 points while the hang seng climbed 268. wall street was off to a rocky start, but a laterally helped wall street close mostly higher yesterday. there was an early sell-off, despite a somewhat upbeat report on housing prices. invstors reacted to an industry survey that found ceos aren't exactly optimistic about a

short-term recovery in sales or staffing. uncertainty in stocks drove the price of gold to a fresh high, about $1300 an ounce for the first time will. strong earnings from wall greens easily beat analyst estimates. another corrate deal adding to investment optimist, endo pharmaceutical shot up after news it will pay $1.2 billion to buy qualitest pharmaceuticals. monsanto fell. tech stokes struggled, dragged down by news from research in motion that its playbook tablet won't be on the marketntil early next year. the in, times is reporting that the obama administration is pushing for a deal to unload its stake of aig before noveer's midterm elections. keep an eye on hewlett packard. hp got a boost on after hours

trade after a forecast delivered by its interim ceo. finally, you know times are tough when you have to barter for beer. one bar owner has revived the long lost barte system to help locals beat the economic blue peps now he's trading cold ones for fire word and potatoeses. the yanks and braves drink champagne. what has gotten into the kool-aid? your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. in weather, heavy tropical rains moving up the east coast and the heat continues out west. your wednesday forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, regardless of who wins the rcefor the american league east title, one thing is for sure. both the yankees and the rays are going to the playoffs. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. eva longoria called out reds fans after less than 13,000 showed up to thursday'sgame. close to 18,000 watched the rays clench a playoff game.

the fans who were there witneed a historic game for the franchise. carlos pena gave the rays a 3-0 lead. then in the fifth, carl crawford, who will likely be on a different team next year, his his 17th of the season. tampa led it, 5-0. david smith struck out 8 for his 19th victory. the rays clenched the season spot with a 5-0 win over the orioles. the yankees are back in the playoffs. c.c. sabathia. the yan have qualified for the playoffs a remarkable 15th time in 16 years. to the red, carlos hit one deep and unfortunately for him, drew stubs was there. a home run grabbing grab kept the game close. jay bruce clenched the n.l. central.

the walk-off homer, the reds advance, 3-2. the braves are doing everything they can to lock up the wild card. braves beat the marlins, 3-2. they have a game and a half lead in the wild card race. finally, the president's race in washington, d.c. took an unexpected turn. teddy roosevelt's glasses flopping around. maybe that's why he didn't see this. the kool-aid man came out of nowhere and took the president out. thomas jefferson won the race, but it was the kool-aid man who made the biggest splash. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. fans of one hit show are worriethat too many stars will ruin the fun. your early morng entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, loved ones are reunited in a happy home coming in rhode island. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to this wednesday morning. tropical depression 16 is going to drench south florida today. you see all the rain bands from miami up to po st. lucie. tropical storm warnings are in effect just in case it does become a tropical storm. now, that moisture is going to move up the est coast. the mid-atlantic a new england tonight and tomorrow is going to get drenched.

some areas could seeas much as 7 inches of rain. that will include d.c., to boston eastward looks to be heavy amounts. the rest of the country is very quiet. if you're watchingus on wrc 4 in washington, d.c., get ready for the holiday season. learn about the history of holiday displays. that's your early morning event of the day. >> get ready for the holiday season? can i just say no. >> we're close. >> 86 days until christmas. >> sometimeshe stores don't even wait for the holiday decoratns to go away. they already go with christmas. that is just crazy. oh, my goodness. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. justin timberlake might be starring in th new movie "the social network." of facebook, justin timberlake says don't care about my friend's feelings. they can call me and tell me. in an interview with

"rolling stone" president obama says his ipod has about 2,000 songs on it, including stevie wonder, bob dillon and the rolling stones. an online poll has named russell brand as the worst dressed man in showbis, followed in second place by teen heart throb justin beber. cfirmation that gweneth paltro will be the latest sta on the show, they're worried too many stars will prove to be the show's undoing. justin said, quote, i have a girlfriend who is far prettier than i should have. what a cute couple they are. congratulations to them >> they call that marrying up, right? >> no. he's funny. he's a funny guy. i would say it's equal. >> okay. good. this comes from cranson, rhode island, where anxious family and friends could hardly wait for a special reunion.

members of the national army guard returned with hugs and kisses after a year long deployment to guantanamo bay. we sometimes tend to overlook those serving elsewhere. that was n the case when it comes to the friends and families of 170 members of the 115th military police company. welcome home. i'm veronica de la cruz, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

our time right now is 4:28. we have 61 degrees. a little cooler than it was yesterday on this 29th day of september. good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to news 4 for this wednesday, september 29th, a you just mentioned. we re following breaking news out of northwest washington where crews are battling a fire at an eight-story apartment building on 16th street columbia heights neighborhood. we do have a news crew on the scene. we'll bring you an update as sn as we have it. right now form president jimmy carter is still at a cleveland hospital, enclose doctors say it is purely precaution year. president carter began experiencinging stomach pains when he was flying to cleveland to promote his new book yesterday. today he is expected to be here in washington and hold a book signing at politics and pros.

police are looking for uspects after deadly shooting yesterday. it left several cars riddled with bullets and one flipped over after a jah. jackie benson reports. >> reporter: detectives investigating served a search warrant in the 1200 block of girard street. a police crane towed a tan-colored sedan. the home is one block from where a man was taken into custody not long after the shooting. his status is not known. earlier, around 12:30 p.m., chaos enveloped u street northwest, one of the busiest commercial areas in the c