Story of survival today, monday, november 4th, 2013. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Im matt lauer. Good morning. Im Savannah Guthrie along side al roker and Natalie Morales. Welcome to the 4th day of no shave november which we like to call 50 shades of grey. Very light, isnt it . Very manl. A little depressing. Were not doing this just to have fun. Were doing this to raise awareness and draw attention to Mens Health Issues during this month of november, testicular cancer and prostate cancer. Well be filling you in. And our entire crew. Yes. Good cause. Coming up, the men behind one of the most talked about books in the country. Double down. Why they say the president s advisors had to stage an intervention in last Years Campaign and why there were pitfalls that led to mitt romney and a running mate with Chris Christie as a running mate. Theyre the one that wrote game change. Well hear from them in their first interview. Lets get right to todays top stories. New information about the shooter in the deadly attack at los angeles airport. Miguel almaguer is at l. A. X. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning. This is where it all happened inside terminal three. Police say the suspect walked through the front door with a rifle and five magazine clips and opened fire. 23yearold paul ciancia walked inside the terminal with this Assault Rifle, plenty of ammo, a plan to kill and a note for police. In that note, he indicated his anger and his malice, i would say, toward the tsa officers. Reporter according to a federal criminal complaint, ciancia fired multiple rounds at point blank range at officer gerardo hernandez. Investigators said ciancia proceeded up an escalator, but when hernandez appeared to move, he returned to shoot him again. Police say he shoots tony grigsby and brian ludmer. Once he was past security, police say he made his way down the long corridor. According to some reports, he went up to witnesses and said tsa. They shook their heads no and he kept going. Ciancia was seen shooting several times. We now know ciancia lived in los angeles for over a year. Law enforcement sources tell nbc news he legally purchased two gun from a target range not far from his home. In a moment, ciancia lashes out at the tsa saying his Constitutional Rights were violated and a mention of nwo which warns of a totalitarian oneworld government. He sent a message to his family back in new jersey just before the rampage. His father was so worried, he asked to call l. A. Authorities. He called my cell phone back. He said to me that i cant believe what im saying on tv. Is this true . Is this my son involved in the shooting . My reply to him was i heard the same thing, paul. I have not confirmed anything. Reporter that confirmation would come later for the family of tsa agent hernandez. I am truly devastated. We are all heart broken and we will miss him dearly. Reporter this morning, ciancia is in critical condition. He has been unable to respond to investigators because of his medical condition. Police say the 23yearold sent his brother and sister a text message saying he was going to commit suicide shortly before the shooting. He could face the death penalty. Matt. Miguel almaguer in los angeles. Miguel, thank you. A match up in the 2016 president ial election. Two possible contenders. Chris christie and Hillary Clinton are getting more attention. Kelly odonnell has more. Reporter this spot is the nutley diner. It is one of several spots christ see will make today. He says that the bigger the win tomorrow the better for his future possibilities. Never bashful. Governor Chris Christie thinks new jersey can send a message. We need to show the Republican Party and america that we can win again and guess where they will be watching on tuesday night to see if we win . Right here in new jersey. They will be watching us. Reporter cruising toward reelection on a weeklong bus tour, the destination may ultimately be the 2016 president ial race. Voters bring it up at every stop. Christie both relishes the speculation and tries to tamp it down. I will see what the future will be. I think people dont plan politics years ahead. Reporter but 2016 predictions are irresistible. Even more mitt romney on meet the press. That is the kind of popularity and the track record the Republican Party needs if we take back the white house. Reporter the current occupant, president obama, jumped into one race this cycle. Campaigning to help terry mcauliffe. The democrats next president ial contend e contender . Hillary clinton was not in iowa. She got attention when senator Chuck Schumer made this call. 2016 is hillarys time. Run, hillary run. If you run, youll win and well all win. Reporter and president obama did not campaign for the democrat running against Chris Christie. She wanted more democrats to help her out. Savannah, people are looking beyond tomorrow to the irresistible 2016. Back to you. Kelly odonnell, thank you. We have the new book double down which is causing controversy. We have Mark Halperin and John Heilemann with us both. You guys reveal he had another terrible performance behind the scenes so badly that his advisers thought we might lose this election. He did 48 hours before the debate at hofstra. His disdain for romney. He could not figure out how to deal with that. At the same time, the contempt for the theater of politics. It got mixed up together. It was the horrible performance that left him stymied about how they fix it before the debate which was crucial for the reelection. They staged an intervention, mark. At one point, the president said i dont know if i can do this. One of the most dramatic moments for double down. Weeks before the president ial election and two days before a debate, his aides say we have to go to him and tell him things have to change. They ended up having a conversation which was emotional and they changed his debate prep. They said he had to be fast. He had to not be slow in the first debate. Talk fast and one liners. Not the thoughtful disposition that barack obama, the former law professor wants. Somebody told you you will never get this story. What did you say . They said this thing happened at the debate prep before hofstra. It is a black box you will never get inside that box. That encourages people like you. Lets move on to christie. The vetting team that looked at the v. P. Candidate saw so many land mines which was a non starter. Governor christies run for office. There is nothing like the scrutiny you get if you are thinking about the ticket. Romney was terrified. He picked someone and it blew up. He wanted no controversy. They found a lot of it. That was the reason that governor romney said as much as i need a street fighter, too much risk. These guys talked to low level staffers. You are just trying to sell books, john. We talked to high level staffers and everybody involved. We had an extraordinary thing. We quote from the vetting report. Linebyline what romneys vetters had to say about Chris Christie. That suggests somebody in romneys world they dont mind. We heard romney giving an a plus record card to christie. They can have complex relationships. Romney and christie have a great relationship. Personally they do. It is also true that their aides do have a bit of tension. A couple of quick things. You reported that the president s advisers actually considered and poll tested switching Hillary Clinton for joe biden and making her the v. P. Candidate. Is this something that president obama knew about . We have no idea. What we do know is the very top level of the obama campaign, no the political standing in the poll was so bad, they felt it was a dereliction of duty not to study it. One of the most unforgettable moments was Clint Eastwood and that chair. Whos idea was it and how did the advisers react . This is something we love to do. At the time, how did Clint East Wood get on the stage . Mitt romney had dinner it eastwood last year. He decided he wanted him at the convention. Eastwood decides at the last minute, everybody is up giving speeches and saying how great romney is. He comes up with a great thing where he talks to the chair. No one in mitt romneys world was happy with it. One was back stage and left governor romneys presence to throw up he was so upset. It was a big night for mitt romney. A lot of scoop in the book. It is called double down. Mark and john, thank you. We will send it to natalie following a remarkable story. Good morning, everyone. A dramatic rescue on sunday night after a College Student was found trapped in a narrow twofoot space between buildings. We have rehema ellis with more on what happened. Good morning. Reporter good morning, natalie. Asher vongtau is lucky to be alive after a frightening ordeal this weekend. He is lucky to be alive. Reporter 19yearold asher vongtau is recovering this morning after spending more than a day trapped in a tight space between two buildings in lower manhattan. He went missing saturday morning after a fire alarm was pulled. The nyu student fell into the narrow shaft way between the dorm and parking garage on saturday morning. He was discovered by Campus Security last night. More than 24 hours after a friend saw him. He was headed upstairs. We went to security and said you need to go to the roof. Reporter fire crews cut through the wall to rescue the man two feet wide. It took two hours to get the student out. This photo shows the aftermath. It is unclear how he became stuck or how long he was trapped. The extent of the injuries are unknown. He is conscious and alive and transported to the nearest hospital. Reporter the student is listed in critical, but stable condition and he is talking. Officials hope he will soon be able to reveal how this ordeal happened. Natalie. Very lucky young man. Rehema ellis, thank you so much. Houston Texans Gary Kubiak is recovering after collapsing at sundays game. He was walking back to the locker room and fell to his knees. He was responsive before taken off the field to the hospital. The general manager said he was lightheaded and dizzy. This comes a day after the Denver Broncos coach john fox will miss games for a heart procedure. Caught on camera. A fire ball in a lighting storm over the weekend in canada. The dramatic moments were caught on camera. More than 300,000 people lost power in the storm. The video has more than 2 million hits on youtube. A Record Number of fleet footed runners hit the streets for the new York City Marathon. The 26. 2 marathon course went through the five boroughs. The marathon was canceled last year because of super storm sandy. Two kenyans won the womens and mens. Then in the wheelchair division, tatianna mcfadden made it a grand slam. She won marathons in boston and london and chicago and now new york. No one has won four raices in te same year. The next stop, hopefully sochi. They are jumping up and down outside. Great job. Natalie, thank you. Al is here with a check of the weather. It got cold over the weekend. Thank goodness they were not running this morning. It was brutal. It looks gorgeous. The camera is moving around a little. Send us your pictures. Temperatures actually warm up with the highs of 47. We get to 63 in the metro area. We have a big dip in the jet stream out west. A snow storm we will talk about that. We have cold air making its way in the northeast and the midwest. Look at the temperatures. Right now albany is 22. Boston is 31. It feels like 22. Feels likes 26 in new york city. High temperatures today only up in the low to mid40s with wind chills in the teens and 20s. We also got a Tropical Storm with a depression. This is sonia makings its way. Whoops. I dont know what happened there. Making its way into mexico. The moisture streams into texas. Some areas picking up to 4 to 5 inches of rain. We will get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. F dollars of savings on the table by not choosing the right medicare d plan. No one could have left this much money here. Whoohoohoo yet many seniors who compare medicare d plans realize they can save hundreds of dollars. Cvs pharmacy wants to help you save on medicare expenses. Talk to your cvs pharmacist, call, or go to cvs. Com compare to get your free, personalized plan comparison today. Call, go online, or visit your local store today. 7 17. Good monday morning to you. Getting a lot of sunright right now after this weekends time change. Looking good there. Temperatures comfortable later on but we want to tell you it will be breezy to windy as we head throughout the second half of the day. 70 on the way to san jose. 68 in San Francisco. Warmup as we head through wednesday, then we bring in a slight chance for showers thursday into sunday. Weather. All right, al, thank you very much. The faa is working to piece together a terrifying crash that happened over the weekend. Two small planes collided in midair forcing that group to leap to safety. Nbcs Kevin Tibbles has the details on this. Kevin, good morning. Matt, just imagine, falling from sky at 120 miles an hour all the while dodging metal flames and debris. That is what happened to the group of saturdays plane crash is 12,000 feet above the ground. It was a big screeching and then a boom. Big explosion. That was the scene in the skies above wisconsin saturday evening when two small planes collided in midair. The nine sky divers aboard and one of the pilots all parachuted to safety avoiding burning debris on the way down. The other pilot managed to land the damaged plane at the nearby airport. In free fall we could see the burning airplane come apart into three pieces that i could see. As sky divers, we live for the excitement but tonight was a little bit over the top. Reporter the two planes were flying in a tandem formation when the trailing plane was caught in the lead planes tale tail wind. Causing it to come over the top of it clipping its wings off and sparking a fire ball in the air. You hear this loud bang. You see the wing come off and see it on fire. Its right there five feet from you. Reporter the wreckage of the lead plane narrowly avoided witnesses on the ground. It seemed to us like that could have came right through my building. It was that close where it landed. Reporter the only injuries were minor ones to the pilot of the trailing plane from his rough landing. 11 thrill seekers narrowly avoiding a potential tragedy. Very lucky. Any time two planes collide in the air its a potential disaster for everybody involved. So we were all very lucky here. Reporter investigators are now busy gathering up all the debris spread out here in superior, wisconsin after an accident that could have had a very different ending. Sure could have. Kevin, thank you very much. Meantime, carson is on voice duty. We have willie standing by. Good morning to you. Good morning, guys. Lets show you what is going on here. For no shave november, this is the stencil work by our makeup team. We also have ryan osborne, our producer here going straight movember stache. I would ask for the patience of the American People. It is slow and steady. We had an event last night, the youtube music awards. You have grammys and vmas and eme emmys and now youtube. This was a new event where they are recognizing artists that really blew up on youtube, whose careers were launched in many ways or who are especially popular. Eminem was there and arcade fire was there and so was lady gaga in a performance people are talking about with her new single dope. [ music playing ] so theres lady gaga last night. These awards were voted on by youtube users. Heres the winners, artist of the year eminem. Video of the year, theyre out of korea called girls generation. 75 million views for their song i got boy and breakthrough of the year macklemore and ryan lewis. Of course, we know their song cant hold us. A different feel. It was all live streamed on youtube. You could log in and log out. Check it out. Wave of the future. You hang in there with the beard. Its going to be a long road, matt. Its beard in air quotes. Coming up, well take a turn, cleveland kidnapping victim Michelle Knight shares never before heard details of her terrible ordeal. 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