smoking joe frazier has died. the question is would ali have been ali without smoking joe? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm willie geist and this is "way too early," the show that touches your heart inappropriately each and every morning. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail or tweet me and let me know what you're doing up at this ungodly hour. or do what you're we'll read the best responses later in the show. it's tuesday, november 8th, one year until the 2012 president election. there's a lot going on today including nbc polls ha that show how president obama is stacking up in head-to-head match-ups

with this motley crew of republican candidates. plus monday night football and a game the dream team eagles simply had to have, could not lose. highlights of a tight game between philly and chicago. that's later in sports. first let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. facing new charges of sexual harassment, republican presidential contender herman cain is vowing to set the lord straight in a news conference this afternoon in phoenix, arizona, that in response to a fourth woman who claims the former head of the national restaurant association made unwanted sexual advances toward her after a dinner together in 1997. the alleged victim, sharon bialek came forward with her story yesterday in new york city alongside the well known attorney gloria allred. cain attempted to make light of the accusations during an appearance last night on abc's jimmy kimmel live. >> so how was your day?

>> well, all things considered, i'm still alive. it got off to somewhat of a rough start. we had a little surprise to show up on tv. >> did you watch that? were you watching? >> we watched it because we didn't even know that this whole thing about woman number four was going to come out. so that was a surprise. >> good morning. >> and at least it wasn't one of the many that have the first name anonymous. so this one actually had a name and a face. so we watched to see what it was and who it was, and we are dealing with it. >> have you considered hiring gloria allred as your attorney? >> you almost made me say something that my handlers say you should not say. let me put it to you this way. i can't think of anything i would hire her today, okay? i can't think of a thing. >> cain's latest accuser worked at the restaurant group's

education foundation until shortly before the alleged incident occurred. ms. bialek says she met cain that night for help finding a new job. the cain campaign denies her story altogether. abc news has nod independently confirmed bialek's account. she says she never filed a claim against cain because she didn't work at the restaurant association at the time adding that she decided to speak yesterday in solidarity with the other women who accused mr. cain of harassment. >> i'm coming forward to give a face and a voice to those women who cannot or for whatever reasons do not wish to come forward, and on behalf of all women who are sexually harassed in the work places but do not come out of fear of retaliation or public humiliation. i want you, mr. cain, to come clean, just admit what you did, admit you were inappropriate to people.

>> following that press conference, bialek's credibility has come under fire as you might expect with several newspapers pointing out the chicago woman has an extensive legal record and filed for bankruptcy twice. the cain campaign actually pointing that out and questioning her motives in statement saying, after attacking cain through anonymous accuse accusers, his opponents promised a woman with a long history of severe financial difficulties to falsely accuse the peculiar front-runner of events occurring over a decade ago for which there is no record nor even a complaint filed. speaking last night to cnn, bialek addressed the concerns surrounding her story. >> obviously the cynics and there will be many out there will say why have you waited 14 years to come out with these claims? are you making any money from this? >> piers, that was never my intention from the start and it is not my intention.

i'm all about doing the right thing, about justice being served. there's going to be a lot of backlash. i'm going to have to suffer through that. i'm sure i'm going to be portrayed as different things. i'm willing to handle it. i'm a tough girl. >> those attacks on her have already begun as pundits speculate what the accusations will mean for the future of cain's campaign, the former godfather's pizza ceo behinded kimmel that recent allegations actually have helped him. >> the day of the firestorm we had the highest fund-raising day online in the history of this campaign and it has not stopped. >> you think the other candidates will follow suit and hire bim to charge them with sexual harassment? >> if they're smart, they will. >> despite the claims and reports of sexual harassment the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll conducted after the initial report but before the accusations made yesterday

by bialek finds herman cain still within the margin of error of mitt romney. polls show cain unchanged from a month ago, right there at 27%, trailing the former massachusetts governor by one point. romney has picked up five points since october. in third, newt gingrich is up 5% in the last month followed by ron paul and texas governor rick perry. in a general match-up cain doesn't farewell, trailing the president by 15 points. mitt romney does a little better than cain, but still trails the president by six percentage points. mr. obama may win out against the republican field. but that's where the good news ends for the president. the poll finding his approval ratings unchanged dating back to august with 51% of americans disapproving of the way he's conducting his job as president. 44% with that number still holding steady and actually not such a bad number givie given te

economy we're in. the poll shows 73% of americans still think we're on the wrong track as a country. in his first fund-raiser in two weeks, president obama attend add private resepgsz last night in washington. dnc officials estimate the night would bring in $800,000. that followed an afternoon announcement where the president unveiled executive actions targeting the nation's servicemen and women. the programs which include customized job search assistant and online job bank, aimed at pressuring republicans to pass the next part of the americans jobs act which provides tax credits to businesses hiring veterans. the president once again urged congress to move forward on his jobs proposals. >> we ask our men and women in uniform to leave their families and their jobs and risk their lives to fight for our country. if last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home. there's no good reason to oppose

this bill, not one. our veterans did their jobs. it's time for congress to do theirs. >> the senate which as you know blocked both the full jobs bill and two parts of it so far is set to vote on the veterans piece this week. a member of president obama's inner circle is stepping back from some white house duties. "wall street journal" reports bill daley turned over day today of the west wing to bill rouse. he's come under fire for 4is management style and ineffectual relationship with congress. senior white house officials tells the journal daley's new role has yet to be defined. daley joined the obama administration ten months ago and said he will stay at the white house through the 2012 election oovps. we turn to the global economy and a critical vote in the italian parliament, one which could determine if prime minister silvio berlusconi

remains in office. for more we bring in steve sedgwick live in london. >> reporter: once again the cred cal spotlight is on berlusconi. last night g-20 england was singled out and the imf said we're going to take a look at the books and see how you're getting on. this week is a key vote. not strictly speaking a confidence vote, but it is a vote which could determine whether he remains prime minister or not. italy isn't one of the small peripheral nations. it's the third largest economy. the size of the debt load is $2.6 trillion u.s. dollars. they have the second largest debt-to-gdp ratio, 120%. italians have promised a lot in terms of reform. the question marks remain over the stewardship of the economy. if berlusconi were to fail in this vote today, the question

remains about who would replace him. many are talking about a technocrat government led potentially by former european union commissioner monte. it's the fear of the alternative that kept berlusconi in place for so long. it's a critical vote for the future of italy and the eurozone as a whole. >> berlusconi has pledged he will fight on. we'll see what happens in parliament. steve, we appreciate it. michael jackson's doctor found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in an l.a. courtroom yesterday. after six weeks of testimony, the jury took just a day and a half to determine that conrad murray had injected jackson with a fatal dose of the drug propofol. he was immediately taken into custody and will face sentencing on november 29th. murray's defense team has vowed to appeal the conviction. outside the courtroom, jackson's fans burst out in celebration. murray was the king of pop's personal physician with a reported salary of $150,000 a

month at the time of jackson's death in june of 2009. still ahead on "way too early," michael vick was the headliner in last night's monday night football game. but it was the kid from santa claus, indiana and vanderbilt university getting it done on the other side of the ball. highlights ahead in sports. the man forever linked to mohammed ali for the three classic fights in the 1970s. a look back at the remarkable and sometimes sad life of smoking joe frazier when "way too early" comes back. to all americans i say the next four years are going to be difficult and challenging years for us all. the election may have been a close one, but i think that

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that's one world trade down at the site of ground zero. let's get a check of your weather from nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> beautiful weather on the east coast once again today. the middle of the country is where the trouble is. if you're in the dallas ft. worth area, areas of louisiana, east texas all the way down to houston, be prepared today for strong storms to roll through your area. right now they're out in west central texas, approaching wichita falls shortly in the dallas ft. worth area, probably

in the heart of morning rush hour. strong gusty winds is possible. just a solid shield of rain in oklahoma city. this area in yellow is under a slight risk of isolated tornadoes, more likely damaging wind and damaging hail. st. louis, little rock, ft. worth and shreveport. on the back side of the storm, there's snow, pueblo, colorado getting snow this morning. then we'll see a narrow band of snow through iowa, kansas and up through wisconsin tonight into tomorrow morning. the east coast, it is absolutely gorgeous. we couldn't ask for anything better. in the middle of the country they couldn't ask for anything worse. >> tough travel day it looks like, bill. boxing legend smokin' joe frazier died yesterday at the age of 67. he was best known as the rival of mohammed ali in and out of the ring. nbc's lester holt remembers frazier's life. >> reporter: he was one of the most feared and respected heavyweights of his or any era.

born and raised in south carolina, joe frazier won a gold meddle in the '64 olympics. in 1970 smoke injoe became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and the first to beat mohammed ali knocking him down in the historic fight of the century in madison square garden in 1971. that was the first of three epic battles between frazier and ali. ali would beat smokin' joe in a rematch three years later. the 14-round fight known as the thriller in manila. ali defeated frazier when the fight was stopped by the referee. after that battle frazier would step into the ring only two more times, but would never recapture his heavyweight title. bitter for many years about the way ali treated him, traysier had only recently forgiven ali for his brutal taunts over the

years. in the end smokin' joe finished his professional boxing career with 32 wins, four losses and one draw. after retirement frazier battled financial problems eventually opening a jim in philadelphia. smokin' joe will always be remembered as one of the greats, a true bruiser. >> as lester said ali was relentless in his taunting of frazier calling him an uncle tom. in april 2009, joe frazier joined us on "morning joe" and talked about his relationship with ali. >> our relationship should have been like two lovers. number one, we fought together and we touched each other and he hugged me all night in one fight back in the '70s. >> like two lovers, joe frazier passing away yesterday at 67. we turn to football now, the monday night game between the bears and eagles.

philadelphia trying to win its third straight game after starting the season 1-4. second quarter, jay cutler dunks it outside to matt forte. he's stripped. brian role picks it up and runs 22 yards. philly tie it is game at 10. third quarter, vick hands off to lesean mccoy. 33 yards to the end zone. eagles are up 24-17, take a lead in the fourth quarter n. the fourth the bears come back behind cutler. van difficult to van difficult. you don't say that too often. cutler to earl bennett. nice catch. both feet down. bears put ten points on the board and come behind to win it 30-24. the fourth time this season philly has blown a lead in the fourth quarter. the bears improve to 5-3. in that tough nfc north behind the packers and the lions, a once promising season it looks bleak, tied with the led skins

at 3-5 in the bottom of the nfc east. three games behind the giants. coming up on "morning joe," the heat is turned up on herman cain as one of his accusers shows her face and tells her story. how bad is this for the man at the top of the republican polls? we'd huddle around the water cooler to watch mark zuckerberg talking about how surreal it is to talk about facebook idea in his dorm and now to be a billionaire and one of the most powerful people on the planet. that and more when "way too early" comes back. ae . colshtira rfwr ae .

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president obama announced yesterday new initiatives designed to help veterans find work. they've been particularly haarde hit by the jobs crisis in the country they've spent the last decade fighting to defend. if you want to sound smart, tell your friends the unemployment rate for post 9/11 vet vance was 12.1% in october compared to 9% for the country at large, pointing out a slight uptick from last month's september rate of 11.7%. there are a bunch of rhett vance groups chipping away at this

including iava. you can check out your websites to see what you can do to help. let's watch some more of herman cain on jimmy kimmel last night, laughing auft the controversy in spite of the fact a woman had got public in a press conference describing an aggressive unwanted physical advance by him. >> because people keep asking you about this, there's no way to move forward. tiger woods tried not to talk about things, and that didn't work out well. >> you see, when i made the statement that i'm done talking about this, i was talking about the firestorm last week. i wasn't talking about this new firestorm that we discovered today. but, no, we are going to talk about this one, and i am going to talk about it at a press conference. >> and if there are future fire storms, will you talk about them? >> i will talk about any and all future fire storms. here is one thing people don't know about herman cain, i'm in

it it to win it. i'm not going to be discouraged by -- i almost said something else. >> you told a reporter or maybe some reporters, you said when people get on the cain train they don't get off. >> that's right. >> do you regreat that choice of words, a. >> no. >> b, what does that mean exactly? >> i don't regret that choice of words because when people believe in herman cain and his message, they know that it is sincere. >> have you ever smoked pot? >> no. >> you have never smoked pot? >> no. >> even as the owner of a pizza chain, you thought i've got to get to the bottom of what my customer base is really thinking? i i'd march tint white house and say get me the ufo files. i want to know what's going on with these ufos.

the president gets to look at that sort of thing. does that interest you at all? >> yes. but that's not the first thing that i would want to look at. >> third? >> maybe fourth or fifth. the first thing i want to know is where's the money? where's the money? >> is it possible maybe the ufos took the money? >> the ufos could have taken the money. >> herman cain has a press conference today where he'll address all this. why are you awake? your searing tweets, texts and e-mails just moments away. ♪ [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?

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is where's the money? e-mails just moments away. it's mind blowing from my perspective. more than half a billion people use facebook every day. and i just think that's crazy. it's growing every day. if you just look back seven years from when we were getting started, there would have been no way that we would have -- >> annoying people in your dorm room? >> the