a high school kicker lines up for a 67 yard game time field goal. he nails it. the kick for the ages that would have shattered the record in the nfl today. friday, october 19, 2012. from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and savannah guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> welcome to today on friday morning. i am matt lauer. >> i am savannah guthrie. >> how about that kick? >> i know. are you going to out me what i just asked? >> she said home run. >> i knew. i got the spirit of the moment. talk about the spirit of the moment, after all the animosity and negativity we have seen in the campaign, nice for comic relief at last night's al smith fundraising dinner. >> very, very funny. this he both handled it well. we'll have highlights straight ahead. we'll take a look at a poll, two battle ground states will have a big say. >> and also a story we're following for months there is a former teacher, professional cheerleader, who had denied having a sexual relationship with one of her 17-year-old former students. now she has pled guilty in the case and is revealing that she and that student are indeed a couple. coming up they'll open up about the relationship for the first time in an exclusive interview. >> on a match lighter note savannah's big moment in the kitchen all week long taking cooking lessons from the one and only bobby fla leading up to today where they will attempt to prepare us a complete dinner. she is taking this seriously. >> i am taking it very seriously. i was late coming down here because i was inspecting all of my ingredients. i am ready and dressed for the dinner party. are you going to wear that? >> i am going to wear this. sorry. didn't know it was formal. >> it is. it is a classy party. if you want to tweet us, we'll show the tweets people have been sending. usual the #savannahcooks. we'll start with politics and a night of laughs. chuck todd, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. the campaign has gotten heated, been personal, so perhaps it was helpful for both president obama and mitt romney to let out a little humorous steam as there are 18 days to go and it will be a very close election. >> i was actually hoping the president would bring joe biden along this evening because he will laugh at anything. >> 48 hours after the most heated and personal debate yet, president obama and governor romney dial things back only a tad using humor to make subtle political points. >> in the spirit of sesame street the president's remarks tonight are brought to you by the letter o and the number 16 trillion. >> this is the third time that governor romney and i have met recently. some of you may have noticed i have a lot more energy in our second debate. i found really well rested after the nice long nap i had in the first debate. >> as president obama surveys the waldorf banquet room with everyone in white tie and finery, you have to wonder what he is thinking. so little time, so much to redistribute. >> after my foreign trip in 2008 i was attacked as a celebrity because i was so popular with the allies overseas, and i have to say i am impressed with how well governor romney has avoided that problem. >> the president actually was a bit more serious during his up aanswer on the daley show, a stop the campaign is encouraging as a way to see if a stagnant youth vote can be reenergized like 2008. >> do you feel like have you a stronger affirmative case for a second barack obama presidency or a stronger negative case for a mitt romney presidency. >> i think i have got a strong case on both ends. i do think part of the president's job is not only moving forward on things that will work but also preventing things that won't work. >> benghazi also came up. >> i would say even you would admit it was not the optimal response, at least to the american people as far as us all being on the same page. >> here is what i will say. if four americans get killed, it is not optimal. >> right. >> we'll fix it. >> right. all of it. >> all of it. >> dispatching bruce springsteen and bill clinton to ohio and iowa, the obama campaign is pulling out all the stops to lock down the two states plus wisconsin in what the campaign hopes is a midwestern electoral vote firewall. new nbc "wall street journal" poll shows the president still holds onto leads in iowa and wisconsin. he is up 6 points in wisconsin and has an 8-point lead in iowa. this may end up a knock down drag out fight to the finish but for one night in manhattan these two candidates actually had a few nice things to say about each other. >> our president has had fine and gracious moments. don't tell anyone i said so, but our 44th president has many gifts and a beautiful family that would make any man proud. >> i admire him very much as a family man and a loving father and those are two titles that will always matter more than any political ones. >> back to benghazi. there is an associated press report this morning that indicates that the cia may have had some hints this was not sparked by a protest just 24 hours after the attack itself but what's unclear and what my own reporting has been indicating for a while, did the c.i.a. share that information with the white house? when did they finally share that information? that of course has been the big unanswered question. i bet it comes up on monday night at the foreign policy debate. >> indeed. thank you. bring in david gregory, moderator of meet the press. good morning to you. >> hey, savannah. >> we just saw the two poll from the battle grounds that nbc did showing the president with the lead in the key states of iowa and wisconsin and at the same time you have a gallup poll that shows romney up 7 points. can you cut through these? where are we? >> i think the race is much tighter than that tracking poll according to both campaigns actually. they understand this is a tight race at this point, while we're in the teens in terms of number of days left to go. we're also in a stage where both campaigns are very caught up in that perception of who is ahead, and we get into this part of the campaign where they start saying i would rather be us than them. bottom line is we're in a pretty close to a dead heat right now. >> at least as far as our poll is concerned, it appears the debates did not make a big difference. in fact, our pollster put it there were two debates but you can't tell it from the numbers. 95% of those polled said they made up their minds before the debate. are we seeing the impact of early voting in these states? >> there is no question we're seeing that in some states including the states that we're polling. i also think that you had a more tightly contested debate. it was certainly aggressive on both sides. unlike the first debate where the president didn't show up, this was different. they were both in each other's faces. i think that was a negative. a lot of people i am talking to were turned off by them going toe to toe, bickering, interrupting each other, taking on the moderator. it didn't seem to shed a lot of light on where the issues are, just a lot of heat. >> the candidates of course have been working overtime and we saw it during that debate to get the female vote. our poll in iowa and wisconsin demonstrates why the president does well. if you get into the poll it shows a double-digit advantage with women. romney advisers will tell you he is making in roads in the female vote. >> i think there is no question. it is why the president is spending so much time talking on the stump about issues like planned parenthood and mitt romney wants to cut funding throughout the campaign. this is an issue where obama advisers say we have a comfortable lead and want to pad it and make it bigger. i think what's closer to the truth is they're feeling slippage and there is a key part of the obama coalition. he has to get women out there voting in states like like virginia and ohio so make sure they can tilt the balance. >> and looking ahead to monday, it is a debate all about foreign policy. do you think either kanld date holds the advantage there? >> there is still a lot on benghazi. there were miss steps in the last debate about that but more questions about what was known and when with and whether this was a terrorist attack and whether the administration came clean about it. the president's meeting criticized for his talking points on this on jon stewart saying when four americans were killed it is not optimal and that was in stewart's question and this is not going to be an issue that will go away. there is still confusion about how the administration response was both sluggish, sloppy, and incoherent at some times. i think this will be a topic of conversation for sure. >> what's your topic of conversation this weekend on meet the press? >> we'll do it all. we'll talk to david axelrod and rob portman and senator marco rubio as well. >> there are new revelations about the boy scouts of america and widespread allegations of sexual abuse. the organization had fought the release of internal documents and recently lost that fight. nbc's ann thompson is here with more on that. >> good morning, matt. an oregon court ordered the files be made public. they were kept by the boy scouts and involved 1,247 alleged abusers reported to the organization. inside the files are stories that are disturbingly similar to the abuse cases that have marched the catholic church and penn state. >> boy scouts pledge to do their best, to do their duty to god, country, and obey the scout law. in these boxes the so-called perversion files reveal that some of the men responsible for building moral character did anything but. >> the authority to groom kids, build relationships with them and find excuses to hang out with them. >> and then sexually abuse them. the files show there were abuse complaints in 49 states from 1965 to 1985. some accusations were reported to authorities. others were not. >> we saw example after example where the boy scouts chose not to call law enforcement, and you will see in the files over and over again references to this would make the organization look bad if it don't stink, don't stir it. >> earlier this week the boy scouts of america president wayne perry apologized. >> we didn't do the job we should have and we're sorry for that, profoundly sorry. >> he says the boy scouts have kept the files since the 1920s in an effort to try to keep abusers from returning to scouting. he concedes it didn't always work. >> one time the medical community thought that you could be cured of this. it is only in the last two decades that they determined you can't be cured of child abuse. >> today the boy scouts do background checks on volunteers and require mandatory reporting of abuse and training. >> the more everybody knows, the safer our children will be. >> dr. frankspinelli was not safe. he says his scout leader abused him for two years in the late '70s. >> i told my parents and they went to the other assistant scout masters who persuaded my parents not to press charges. >> his case is not included but he hopes the files will make sure abuse is always reported. >> we have to remember that what has happened to these children and myself is a crime. you need to go to the police. >> the boy scouts of america says it will review all its files from 1965 to the present day to see if there are any good faith suspicions of abuse that have not been reported to law enforcement. itlso apologizes again to the young men it says it did not protect. >> ann thompson, thank you very much. >> we want to get a check of the day's other top stories and natalie is at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone. new details this morning on the u.s. secret service prostitution scann scandal. according to a source it reveals one of the agents during the trip admitted to soliciting prostitutes on two prior occasions and similar misconduct was reported on other official trips to romania and china. secret service officials say secret service director mark sullivan was not aware of these incidents when he testified before congress back in may. the white house is expressing confidence in sullivan as the investigation into the scandal is on going. a conflicting portrait of quazi nafis, the 21-year-old bangladesh native charged with trying to blow up the federal reserve bank in new york city. family and friends say he came to the u.s. to study and say he often remarked that muslims don't believe in violence. federal officials say nafis came to become a martyr. today they meet to did you say the young man's case. convicted child sex abuser jerry sandusky is seeking a new trial filing documents thursday attacking the evidence presented against him and how quickly his case proceeded from arrest to trial. sandusky is asking for the charges against him to be thrown out and a new trial and he is currently behind bars awaiting transfer to a state prison where he will begin serving a 30 to 60 year sentence. a large explosion in central beirut where a car bomb ripped through a christian neighborhood. numerous casualties and dozens wounded. although no motive is clear, it comes at a time between rising tension supporting opposite sides in the conflict in neighboring syria. head to wall street and mary thompson at the new york stock exchange for us. good morning. >> good morning to you, natalie. google mistakingly releasing its results around three hours early causing confusion and disappointment in the markets as profits fell 20% and after the bell microsoft followed with a 22% decline in profits as consumers put off new software purchases awaiting the release of window as 8, and the 20th anniversary of black monday, the single largest percentage decline ever. natalie, back to you. >> not a good reminder. mary thompson, thanks so much. a rough night for the bronx bombers as the yankees were defeated by the tigers 8-1 sending the tigers to the world series for the first time since 2006 and heading into tonight's game defending world series champs, the st. louis cardinals, lead the san francisco giants 3-1 for the national league title. a high school football player has kicked his way into the record books. check it out. this is from spokane valley washington nailing a 67 yard field goal bringing his team to a 62-55 victory and beats the current record at 63 yards. they better start signing him up. it is 7:16 now. back over to savannah, matt and al. >> what was the final score? >> 62-55. >> that's a basketball score. >> yeah. >> that's a defensive -- >> what a struggle there. wow. >> over the top with that. >> the yankees didn't get the touchdowns they were hoping to get. >> no. >> one of the local new york newspapers, so tough on the yankees and a thing on the cover that says dear yankees, we don't date losers, signed new york. >> oh, my. >> a tough town. >> the infielder has a lumber jack player. >> final outs. >> really cool. >> mr. roker. >> who knew that paul bunyon played baseball? we have a big low pressure system making its way through the midwest and that is making for a lot of rain in the northeast and the great lakes. the heaviest rain in the northeast over the next 24 hours. we're talking airport delays from boston all the way down to d.c. and anywhere from 1 to 3 inches of rain from syracuse to atlantic city and then out west we have a system making its way into the pacific northwest and that's going to bring more rain and making for a little bit of a wet day in seattle all the way do 7:17 on a friday morning. temperatures are going to be warm today, but about 10 to 15 degrees cooler than yesterday when we smashed temperature records all across the bay area. we were in the 80s in san francisco yesterday. today we're going to take your temperatures down to the low 70s. 81 degrees in livermore. you'll hit 79 in gilroy and 76 degrees in san jose. we've got a cool weekend to get through and then the rain arrives monday into tuesday. hope you have a fantastic weekend. >> all right, al, thank you. coverage of the presidential election can sometimes feel a bit like information overload here, but nbc's ian williams has found a place where the situation is quite the opposite. ian, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. well, that place is china, and it couldn't be more different. while we may think we know a lot about the u.s. candidates, sometimes even more than we want to know, the man about to take over in china is an almost complete mystery, even to his own people. while the u.s. election has reached its final raucous stretch, it's business as usual ahead of china's change of leader. and come rain or shine you'll be hard pressed to find any sign of election fever here. and while there's little we don't know about the u.s. candidates from mitt romney's choice of breakfast to who president obama listens to on his ipod, ping's choice of cereal is a secret, as it just about everything else about what he does and thinks. even how he got the job. >> at the top you don't know what's going on. it's very feudal politics. >> reporter: we discovered to set out what the chinese know themselves about the new leader. you don't know who will be the new leader next month? you don't. >> reporter: in fact, expressing an opinion about communist party leaders can land you in all sorts of trouble. while u.s. voters face a deluge of information on the presidential candidates, the official biography of ping runs three terse pages so we took a beijing taxi, figuring cabbies everywhere have an opinion. but not him. do you think xi jinping has an ipod? >> translator: he doesn't know. >> reporter: when he recently disappeared for two weeks and was rumored to be sick the internet censors even blocked the word back injury from search engines. undeterred we headed to a beijing university. what do we know about xi jinping? >> maybe -- >> yeah. actually nothing, yeah. >> reporter: does he have any children? >> i don't know. >> i don't care. >> reporter: finally we went to see a fortune teller. you don't care about politics, you don't know. he was promptly scolded for talking to us. unlike the u.s. where 130 million voted in the last presidential election, the chinese electorate consists of a small clique at the top of the communist party, and the result isn't in doubt. much has changed in china but not the politics, and figuring out what really goes on at the top is a bit like reading the tea leaves. of course, dealing with china and xi, it will be one of the biggest challenges facts the new u.s. president. >> ian williams, thanks for the story. appreciate it. good to see you. just ahead, should you race out and buy the latest smartphones, iphones and tablets? does it pay to wait? how to decide when it's time to upgrade. and a baby elephant rescued from a well and the amazing reunion with its mother. first, this is "today" on nbc. h is "today" on nbc. tweets are poring in as savannah gets ready to put her cooking skills to the test. >> i just got one i smell something burning. that's someone who works here. anyone on my side? no dinner for you. >> and are justin timberlake and jessica biehl tying the knot tomorrow? that and more after a check of your local news and weather on this friday morning. and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi® card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts. more events. more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with a citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] [ ding! ] losing your chex mix too easily? time to deploy the boring-potato chip decoy bag. then no one will want to steal the deliciousness. [ male announcer ] with a variety of tastes and textures, only chex mix is a bag of interesting. get a free 6-inch sub of your choic