continues to physically embarrass all comers as jimmy fallon becomes the latest victim in her fitness crusade. a challenge of pushups and hula hoops in the halls of the white house. the question is, has the first lady's let's move campaign inspired you to put down the clicker and get outside? only watching me, so the answer is clearly no. it's "way too early" for this. well, good morning. i'm mike barnicle in for willie geist. this is, believe me, "way too early." the show that does 30 minutes of water aerobics at the senior center every wednesday and friday. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. shoot us an e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc.com or tweet us @willie geist 1 and let us know why you're awake right now or you can do what justin tuck

does and text the word awake followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. boy, it's loud in here. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this wednesday, be february 8th. there's a lot going on today, including new indications that the obama administration may be ready to soften its stance on the recent contraceptive ruling that has catholics up in arms. plus, the new york football giants take manhattan with a tickertape parade worthy of super bowl champs. a full recap of that event ahead in sports. but first, let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. with a three for three sweep in colorado, missouri and minnesota last night, rick santorum has just altered the republican race for president, raising new questions about mitt romney's ability to attract conservative

voters. in colorado, the vote was too close to call until after midnight when santorum finally pushed ahead of romney by less than 4,000 votes. newt gingrich and ron paul trailed the two frontrunners. in minnesota, santorum's lead was overwhelming. the senator topped his republican competition by double digits. for the first time in the 2012 primary season, mitt romney placed third in the caucuses. and in missouri, santorum's lead over mitt romney jumped to 30 percentage points. ron paul followed in a distant third. newt gingrich was not on the ballot in that state. but the missouri primary last night was nonbinding with no delegates at stake. colorado and missouri didn't officially award delegates either. those caucuses are just an initial step in determining support for a candidate. rick santorum's appeal with

missouri's base of evangelical and tea party supporters likely pushed him to victory there. last night, he thanked his supporters before focusing on president obama. >> there's probably another person who maybe is listening to your cheers here tonight also, and that might be at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, you better start listening to the voice of the people. then again, i wouldn't be surprised if he isn't listening. why would you think he would be listening now? has he ever listened to the voice of america before? i don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama. >> mitt romney spent primary night in colorado after congratulating rick santorum, romney struck a populace tone, citing his father as an example of the american dream. >> my father never graduated from college. he apprenticed as a plaster

carpenter and he could take a handful of nails, stick them in his mouth and then, you know, spit them out pointy end forward. on his honeymoon he put aluminum paint in the trunk of the car and sold it along the way to pay for the gas and the hotels. a lot of reasons why my father could have given up and set his sights lower but my dad believed in america and in the america he believed in, a plaster guy could work out to become head of a car company and sold aluminum paint out of his car could end up being governor in one of the states he sold that aluminum paint. in dad's america, small businesses, entrepreneurs, these were encouraged and respected. the spirit of enterprise and innovation and daring propelled our standard of living and economy past that of every nation on the planet. i refuse to believe that america is just another place on the map with a flag. we stand for freedom and hope and opportunity.

>> joining us on the phone from washington, right now, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin co-author of the book "game change," actually he wrote the whole thing. john heilemann didn't do much at all in ha book but get a copy for halperin. these results last night, thank you very much for getting up to join us. we appreciate it. >> mike, all good. i'll keep my voice low. >> thank you very much. you know the situation here. thank you. last night's results, what does this say? mitt romney, is he actually in some trouble do you think going forward? >> he is now potentially in trouble. if he had a better night last night, i would think not just the perception, but the reality is he would move forward. his campaign is right. he did not compete in these states very hard, didn't campaign in them, didn't run tv, didn't use their methods to go negative on santorum. all of that will happen in the upcoming states. but this gives santorum a chance. i'll tell you, everybody had made mistakes in writing people

off. i made a mistake in not seeing santorum's possibilities on these three contests. people will write off gingrich now. i wouldn't do it. i still think that there's a lot of volatility here. santorum has a chance now in the upcoming contest to be a big factor, but romney still has the upper hand and when he applies his resource in the upcoming states does he duplicate what he did to gingrich in florida. >> what about this theory that for weeks, you and others have been telling us, and we've been seeing the actual results in some states, of romney's inability as we clearly saw last night, to really touch and move, move evangelicals and conservatives, some conservat e conservatives, move them enough to get out and vote for him. the results last night, what about this theory that, perhaps, you know, rick santorum doesn't get the nomination, but the votes last night, energizes that element of the republican party enough that does provide mitt

romney with some difficulty down the road? >> well, i think there's two things to say about that. one is look, we were all saying after florida and after nevada, he was unifying the party, energizing the base, winning big states with conservative electorates. he spent money, went negative on his opposition, he campaigned hard and won those states. he didn't do it in the three states last night. the other thing to say about it is, we still have two conservative alternatives to romney in this race and as we've said all along that helps romney. with ron paul and newt gingrich and santorum all in the race, and all of them are going forward now, romney still has a chance to win these upcoming states, applying his resources and having the opposition divided. he's still an overwhelming frontrunner, mike, without question, but he has to fight again, he faces another extent shall test again after losing south carolina, if he does not win both michigan and arizona, he will be in trouble. >> all right.

well i just basically want to know why you're really not here to help me in person, but i sort of understand. >> i'm with you in spirit, mike. >> thank you, buddy. appreciate it. >> talk to you later. the white house is indicating it may be open to a compromise with catholic leaders over controversial aspects of the health care law dealing with birth control. the obama administration is reportedly seeking ways to make the law more acceptable to religious leaders. the provision requires religious institutions to offer access to contraception to women as part of their insurance coverage. with the election fast approaching, the issue is already become a major point of discussion on the senate floor. >> no one in the united states, no one, should ever be compelled by their government to choose between violating their religious beliefs and being penalized for refusing. yet, that's precisely what this mandate would do. >> and we are not going quietly

into the night on this one. we will be here, we will fight back, we will fight for women and their families and health care. and we will fight to keep politics out of the equation. >> presidential candidate and evangelical favorite rick santorum also spoke about the hhs mandate in his victory speech last night. >> i never thought as a first generation american, whose parents and grandparents loved freedom and came here because they didn't want the government telling them what to believe and how to believe it, that we had a first amendment that actually stood for freedom of conscience, that we would have a president of the united states who would roll over that and impose his secular values on the people of this country. >> health insurers are already required to cover contraception in 28 states.

opponents of gay marriage in california are vowing to appeal a court ruling yesterday that declared the state's ban on same sex weddings unconstitutional. the panel's 2-1 decision overturns proposition 8, a measure passed by voters in 2008 that confined marriage to a man and a woman. the justice's decision read in part and we're quoting now, proposition 8 serves no purpose and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dig myty of gay men and lesbians in california. the court, however, did not address the larger question of whether there is a constitutional right for gay couples to marry under federal law. that issue will likely be decided by the supreme court. and the resignation of a top official at the nation's leading cancer advocacy group is renewing questions about what role politics may have played in the back and forth decision to defend planned parenthood. karen handel has stepped down

from the susan g. komen for the cure foundation. handel, who opposes abortion, was a leading proponents of a plan to withdraw grants from planned parenthood, a decision that was ultimately reversed after fierce backlash from the public. the komen foundation hopes to re-establish ties with women outraged by the controversy, the foundation is now facing criticism from anti-abortion donors who say they'll withhold contributions to the organization. still ahead on "way too early," thousands of fans line the streets of manhattan to honor the eli manning and super bowl champion new york football giants. well, almost everyone was there for the giants. full outtakes from the parade and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. ♪

the showdown escalated and state police and national guard troops were called. on the night of february 8th, for reasons still unclear, authorities opened fire. hello, how can i deliver world-class service for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ?

if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

oh, man. i just left there about ten minutes ago. that's the way i feel. that's times square, midtown manhattan. todd santos, let me tell you, i'm here to tell you. >> all right. >> this is the best winter since 1914 when i was 10 years old. >> wow. >> heat a big -- that's a good time scale. >> huge. >> using that historical perspective, mike, today for the most part decent across a good stretch of the northeast but we will dealing with a chance of?

snowflakes to get into d.c. this morning, later this morning, continuing through this afternoon. hopefully that doesn't affect your thought on the winter in general. it's a quick say one to three inch storm, a few areas may be picking up a little more than that. you see some of that heading towards pittsburgh, 32 degrees there right now. part is it's a quick moving system and the other is temperatures are borderline. places like d.c. under an inch worth of snowfall able to accumulate there, make for some slick travel north and west of the area. toward toos philly, one to two inches of snowfall later tonight, few snowflakes mixing in tonight, otherwise this evening a chance for a few rain drops. coming up a few areas that may see some slightly better snowfall. >> so the system is the complete opposite of me, a quick moving system. i am not a quick moving system today. thanks very much, todd. in sports, the new york football giants have finally resting this morning after three days of celebrations following their super bowl win.

fans packed into lower manhattan yesterday for a tickertape parade to watch big blue mark their second championship in four years. mayor mike bloomberg presented the team with ceremonial keys to the city. the super bowl mvp eli manning joked about the team's pension for late game rallies, eight fourth quarter comebacks this season. >> in the super bowl we got off to a 9-0 lead, said coach, this tize easy, we got to make it tougher. we got to lose the lead and make a fourth quarter comeback. sure enough we did and made it possible. >> i got to tell you no matter which team you root for, these guys over here are eagle fans, you cannot root against eli manning. he's a great young guy. so stop it over there. but for many, the party lasted well into the afternoon, drawing comparison to the big easy from running back brandon jacobs. >> nothing like the new york brewery. if new york had a mardi gras

every year it would be crazy. they have a problem on their hands. >> my problem, i had a mardi gras last night. the revelers included a young woman unsure about exactly who she was there to see. >> what was it like to be at this --? >> amazing. >> who do you like to see? >> sanchez! >> eli. >> wrong team, girl. >> she wanted to see mark sanchez and watch him kick a home run or something. just a refresher, mark sanchez on the left, eli manning, he's on the right. okay. there we go. some say eli manning's two super bowl rings make him a future hall of famer, i would be among those, not so if you ask kurt warner, used to play for the arizona cardinals and new york giants, super bowl winning quarterback too, and a former teammate of eli's back in 2004. >> he's had two great playoff runs, or his team has had two

great playoff runs. but i also look at the rest of his career. i mean he's an 82% quarterback rating throughout his career. you know, he's had five of his eight seasons where he's thrown 16 interceptions or more. to me, those aren't hall of fame numbers and by that i mean, every time you step on the field, you're a game changer, you're a difference maker. i don't believe eli manning has been that guy until this year. >> here's the deal. kurt warner is a hall of fame quarterback. will be in the hall of fame. so is eli manning. shut up kurt. >> coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," rick santorum sweeps his way through minnesota, colorado and missouri as mitt romney fails to capitalize on his momentum. we'll break down what it means for the republican race just ahead. when we come back here we'll huddle around the water cooler where michele obama continues her campaign to get comedians in shape. jimmy fallon was next on her hit list and it wasn't pretty.

"way too early" will be right back. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done. there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] now there's a mileage card that offers special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? ♪ [ male announcer ] the new united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit.

nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious.

mitt romney, he's looking to rebound from the arizona and michigan primaries later this month after losing to rick santorum in three states last night. if you want to sound smart today tell your friends minnesota and colorado are the first states of this election cycle where mitt

romney lost, after coming in first four years ago. in 2008, romney won in minnesota by 19 percentage points and colorado, he won by 41 points. but, enough with the real news. let's gather around the water cooler to talk about jimmy fallon's fierce fitness competition at the white house with first lady michele obama. the late night host was challenged to pushups, a tug of war, and dodgeball to help promote the first lady's let's move campaign. let's see who won. >> mrs. obama, it is so exciting to be here at the white house. >> oh, jimmy, thanks so much for coming. we are so excited you came all the way here to raise awareness for the let's move initiative. are you ready for a little competition? >> almost. i'll be right back. ♪

>> no way, jimmy. >> got you. >> much better. so, we're going to start with the stair race. are you ready to do this? >> i was born ready. ♪ ♪ now i'm back on my feet just a man and his will to survive ♪ ♪ it's the eye of the tiger it's the thrill of the fight and he's watching us all with the eye ♪ >> are you all right, jimmy? >> what? definitely. what's next? >> potato sack race. >> we're all tied up. potato sack race for all the marbles. >> good luck. you're gonna need it.

♪ [ applause ] ♪ >> hey, how great is michele obama, by the way? great. and while the president's wife was potato sack racing with fallon, the president was shooting an extreme marshmallow cannon at the white house science fair with an arizona 8th grader. check this out. >> so this is an air what? >> it's an air cannon. >> air cannon. >> uh-huh. >> okay. what would we use it for? >> i use it for shooting

marshmallows. >> shooting marshmallows. >> can we demonstrate? is it not safe to shoot a marshmallow here. >> i have 30 psi -- 170 -- >> would it like hit the wall up there? >> yeah. >> would it stick? >> i don't know. >> let's try it. is it fully operational? >> yeah. >> let's try it out. >> okay. this is great. do you have it? is that good? okay. here we go. >> oh! let's look at -- let's go look at the marshmallow and see what happened? >> look at that. the marshmallow cannon i think was aimed at mitch mcconnell up in the senate. but president obama picks it up, recovers the marshmallow. is he going to toast it? what are they going to do with it? gives it back to the kid. science fair at the white house. can't beat that.

still ahead on "way too early," why are you awake? why am i awake? your tweets, texts and e-mails are next and "morning joe" is now just moments away. [ male announcer ] the draw of the past is a powerful thing. but we couldn't simply repeat history. we had to create it. introducing the 2013 lexus gs, with leading-edge safety technology, like available blind spot monitor... [ tires screech ] ...night view... and heads-up display. [ engine revving ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. ♪[music plays]

♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing.

we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i come to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪