>> it's "way too early" for this. good morning, i'm willie geist. this is "way too early." the show that according to exit polling did well at the primaries a among insomniacs and tweeters. i'm glad you're up with us. shoot me an e-mail at "way too early" or tweet me what you're doing up at this hour. you can do what met at that world peace will be doing and text the word awake followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this wednesday, april 25th. a lot going on today, including president obama explaining the extent of his personal relationship with mitt romney to jimmie fallon. that ought to be interesting. plus, you get one moment in life with the president of the united states and you dump croyo on his pants. a humiliating story to tell your

children for a lifetime. that's later in the show. first let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. live at "30 rock." mitt romney has been declaring what's been known for weeks, he is the republican nominee for president of the united states. with decisive wins in five states, he put the primary process behind him for all intents and purposes. he swept the votes by double digits last night in five states. he rakd up another 133 delegates. it put him 333 shy of the 1144 he'll need officially to become the party's nominee. he won't hit that mark until next month at the earliest. he is wasting no time to roll out his general election message. >> i have a simple message. hold on a little longer. a better america begins tonight. the last few years have been the

best that barack obama can do, but it's not the best america can do. tonight is the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the obama years. and it's the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together. four years ago barack obama dazzled us in front of greek columns with sweeping promises of hope and change, but after we came down to earth, after all the celebration and the parades, what do we have to show for 3 1/2 years of president obama? because he has failed, he will run a campaign of diversions and distractions and distortions. that kind of campaign may have worked at another place and at a different time, but not here and not now. it's still about the economy, and we're not stupid.

early next month romney is set to sit down with rick santorum who of course dropped out of the republican race just over two weeks ago. santorum says he will support the party's nominee. he wasn't exactly ready to offer romney an endorsement on cnn last night. >> do you believe that mitt romney is the right guy? >> i believe he's the better -- obviously i believed i was the better choice. i'm not in this race. >> he's won the race. >> he's won the race. >> is he therefore the right guy? >> absolutely. he's the person that is going to go up against barack obama. it's pretty clear. and we need to win this race. >> if i'm mishearing things, you just endorsed mitt romney. >> if that's what you want to call it, you can call it whatever you want. >> am i wrong? >> look -- >> has he just endorsed mitt romney? >> not at this point, no. >> so it's very clear that he's going to be the republican nominee. i'm going to be for the republican nominee. we're going to do everything we can to defeat barack obama. >> just can't bring himself to

do it. newt gingrich signaling his campaign may be near the end of the line. the former house speaker said monday if he did not win delaware, he's going to move on. he lost delaware by nearly 30 points. president obama heads to the university of iowa today. the last stop on a three state tour through three state college campuses. the president looking to re-energize younger people. after a stop at the university of colorado at boulder, the president headed to the university of north carolina at chapel hill where he made his special appearance on late night with jimmy fallon. he asked the president about his relationship with mitt romney. >> if mitt romney was in the room with you right now, what would you say to him? >> i'd say, hey, mitt. >> good. that was good. that's pretty good. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> do you know mitt romney?

>> i've met him, but we're not friends. he seems like somebody who cares deeply about his family and his wife is lovely. >> especially in a couple of months he'll put out attack ads. >> yeah. it's not the best introduction. >> that's great. >> there are better ways to do it. >> jimmy played to the college crowd taking questions from twitter. he also asked the question about that prostitution scandal surrounding the secret service. >> how mad were you? >> pretty mad. you know, the secret service, these guys are incredible. they protect me. they protect michelle. they protect our girls. they protect our officials around the world. 99.9% of them put their life on the line every day, do a great job. a couple of knuckle heads

shouldn't detract from what they do, but what these guys were thinking, i don't know. that's why they're not there anymore. >> just yesterday the secret service announced two more employees would be separating from the agency. of the 12 employees that are tied to the scandal, six s resigned, two have been dismissed, two are still with the secret service. with packed rooms of soon to be graduates, the president focused on the college loans. he wanted to extend the student loan rate at 3.4%. if congress fails to act by july 1st, that rate would double. he framed it in personal terms explaining how he can relate to students' financial struggles. >> let's get some talking points about this. i didn't just get a policy briefing on this. michelle and i, wie've been in

your shoes. we didn't come from wealthy families, so when we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of debt. when we married, we got poor together. check this out. i'm the president of the united states. we -- we -- [ applause ] >> we -- we only finished paying off our student loans about eight years ago. that wasn't that long ago. mitt romney, meanwhile, also endorsing the idea of cheaper student loans. americans now owe a collective $867 billion in student loan debt. more than car loans or credit card debt. according to a new study from harvard university, president obama has a 12 point lead over romney among college students age 18 to 24. he also holds a 23 point lead among voters in their mid to

late 20s. now to business news where apple is reporting a massive profit. $11.6 billion for the second quarter. that's up 94% year to year from this time last year. apple sold over 35 million iphones and close to 12 million ipads thanks in large part to soaring sales in china. we turn to jeff cut more who's live in london. good morning. >> good morning to you. apple crushed the calls from the street as to what they would deliver on this quarter. these numbers were significantly better than the expectation here. as you pointed out where a lot of that growth came from, the greater china region, pent up demand for the iphone 4s. it still seems apple can sell these at a premium price. that's also allowed them to keep up margins. what you saw in the share price

was a 7% reaction to that after the market closed. i think that has dealt a blow to some of those skeptics who said at $644 a share apple is done, is rolling over, because we've had a retreat from that share price. so some momentum back into the apple story at this point. they've low balled the third quarter estimates which have some scratching their heads and some question marks as to when the iphone 5 appears on the market, whether that call on earnings guidance has something to do with it. strong numbers out of apple. just as a wrapup, let me just mention the fed. we're going to get some guidance on growth from the fed and an update on the latest seven minutes. so we are looking forward to that news from the fed on interest rates later today. that'll guide much of the session. back to you. >> jeff, thanks so much. apple shares up 7%. about 40 bucks a share. jeff cutmore, thanks. by the way, 385,000 iphones sold

per day in that quarter. that's 16,000 iphones sold every hour in the quarter for apple. unbelievable. still ahead on way too early, the nba hands down itsç punishment to a guy who called himself metta world peace. was the penalty stern enough? that story tonight and baseball ahead in sports. plus, it's your one moment with the president of the united states to get one shot at the story you'll always tell your friends and loved ones. a story that will be passed down through the generations. what do you do, you spill yogurt on the guy's pants. that painful story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes back. ♪ singer lisa lopes died

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you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate. welcome back to "way too early." it's 5:44 in the morning. beautiful live picture of washington. let's get a check on the weather from bill karins. >> slow jam the news. a little rack focus with barnacle and willie in the background. >> he wouldn't know what to do. >> record heat middle of the country. three days in the row of record highs in areas like salt lake city. denver yesterday was 88 degrees. all the heat has moved to the west. still a chilly day yesterday in much of new england. that will remain today. slight chance of a shower. some of that heat will try to move towards the east. that will result in a few

thunderstorms. wet weather today from minneapolis all the way down to milwaukee. especially if you're in chicago, st. louis, all of illinois. you'll have to deal with some strong thunderstorms later today. tonight those will head to indianapolis, louisville. not too many tornadoes. maybe one or two. more or less a threat of damaging winds in those cities in the lower portions of the ohio valley. that will be after sunset. probably put out quite a lightening show. forecast, not bad. d.c., new york mid 60s. boston a little cool by your standards. anyone traveling to the west coast looks like some rain for los angeles. that's always making for a fun morning commute. >> chilly and rainy. sports now, meta world peace's flagrant elbow. hard to keep a straight face. ron arquette, elbow to the head. earned him a seven game suspension without pay that will extend into the playoffs. the league handed down the punishment yesterday. commissioner david stearns said world peace's long history of erratic and sometimes violent

behavior on the court factors into length of the suspension. it will cost the player about $360,000 in salary. the lakers have one regular season remaining. the six game suspension will be served through the playoffs or next season should the lakers get knocked out in the first round. they probably won't though. world peace will return for the second round of the playoffs. his website world peace -- arquette remained remorseful for his actions said, i hope he's okay. i look forward to get back on the floor with my teammates and competing for the lakers and the lakers fans. let's go to baseball, the rangers hugh darvish and the yankees pitcher face off. they have matched up in a major league baseball game. expectations for darvish sky

high. looking to shut down the yankee lineup. leading off the first for the rangers, it was a solo shot over the wall in left center. that gave the rangers an early 1-0 lead. the rangers up by one. next batter, eric javez, same thing. two batters later. he gets jeter to strike out. got him. darvish throws eight in the third. ten strikeouts gets the win. rangers shut out the yanks 2-0. nationals on the road in san diego. orlando hudson at the plate. gonzalez gets the swing at the breaking ball. he left after six scoreless. the nationals' offense comes life. he singles up the middle. scores a couple of runs. rangers pick up the 3-1 win. gonzalez gets his second win. he's gone 20 straight innings without giving up a run. jose reyes returned to city

field in new york for the first time since signing a big contract with division rivalries miami in the off season. it was all love of course. mets fans gave a standing ovation for his first at bat. reyes responds with a smile. must have been a lot of traffic, barn nickel. earlier in the game johan santana sends it to left center. we're tied in the eighth. a shot the pitcher can't handle. they score. that will be your game winner. mets and re he is return with a 2-1 win. travis zajac beats one past scott clem mon son for the game winner. devils force a desies sief game seven setting up what should be a great couple days in the nhl. three game sevens in the next two days. capitals and bruins play tonight and on thursday the senators take on the rangers at the

gardens and the devils head back to florida to wrap up their series. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe." mitt romney sweeps five states and settles in as he turns his attack on president obama. we'll discuss where this race goes from here with our "morning joe" crew. when we come back we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch president obama test out his media jamming skills with jimmy fallon. ♪ [ female announcer ] the vertical chair-climb. it's not an olympic sport, but it takes real effort and it takes a diaper that fits their every move. pampers cruisers with 3-way fit adapt at the waist, legs, and bottom for up to 12 hours of protection and all the freedom to play like a real champion.

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we told you at the top of the show president obama will complete the final leg of his three state tour today of college campuses visiting the university of iowa after spending yesterday in boulder and chapel hill, north carolina. this, of course, all about winning the youth vote. something president obama did by a 34 point margin in 2008. tell your friends that 48.5% of citizens age 18 to 24 actually voted in 2008. this represented a bump of 1.8% from the 2004 election and 12.4 from 2000. it brought out the highest percentage of voters since 1992 when 48.6% of those made their

way to the polls. let's huddle up around the water cooler to watch president obama to achieve what charles goodwin tells us is a presidential first. he slow jammed the news. >> now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young people. >> oh, yeah. you should listen to the president. they call him the presie of the united stesie. >> there are some in congress that disagree. they say keeping the interest rate low isn't the way to help our students. they say we should be doing everything we can to pay down the national debt. well, so long as it doesn't include taxing billionaires. they say we just have to make this rate increase work. frankly, i don't buy it.

>> mmmmm. the barackness monster ain't buying it. >> the reason it's so important to keep down costs is so we keep college affordable. >> and the president knows his stuff, y'all. that's why they call him the potse, which means person on top -- what is it? >> potus stands for president of the united states. >> he's the potus with the mostest. >> there you go, slow jamming the news with jimmy fallon. a painful story out of colorado where the president was. the slow jam was in north carolina. this was in colorado. excited young girl spoiled her one moment with the president with a little yogurt. during an unscheduled stop at a college bar, an enthusiastic woman spilled her froze zen

yogurt on the president while he went to shake her hand. he wiped himself off with a towel. the woman apologized and said, oh, my gosh, i'm he embarrassed. the president assured her, getting yogurt on the president, that's a good story. >> i was shaking hands with folks outside. a yuck woman got very excited and spilled yogurt on me. more hazardously, she spilled yogurt on the secret service. the agent just stood there just looking at her. >> boy, that's a tough way to have your one meeting with the president. still ahead on "way too early." why you're awake. "morning joe" just minutes away. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation.

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♪ i don't wanna be right [ record scratch ] what?! it's not bad for you. it just tastes that way. [ female announcer ] honey nut cheerios cereal -- heart-healthy, whole grain oats. you can't go wrong loving it. t there. heart-healthy, whole grain oats. - one serving of cheese is the size of four dice. one serving of cereal, a baseball. and one serving of fruit, a tennis ball. - you know, both parties agree. our kids can be healthier... the more you know. number one story right now on msnbc.com according to you internet users, winning all five gop primaries mitt romney declares victory as the party's gop nominee. he hasn't officially done so. we'll talk much more about that

this morning on "morning joe." we did ask you what you're doing up at this hour. our producer has answers. >> i want to say for the record we got some hockey highlights in today. >> many of them, didn't we? just one? >> just one. frank in fort wayne, indiana. i awakened realizing i forgot to set out the garbage, so i did. now i can't get back to sleep. >> excellent, you leave the garbage open inside your own home, that causes you to wake up. we'll take that. >> i have deb. she says i'm up getting ready to run for the illinois marathon birth place of bill geist. >> do i love champagne, illinois. my parents met there at the university of illinois and i used to go met there at the university of hill ill i used to go to basketball camp every summer. >> we're up to see if barnicle is wearing his gym socks to work. >> it's like clockwork. nothing like a pair of loafers