While adelele performance hits a sour note due to audio issues. She laughs it all off, today, tuesday, february 16th, 2016. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a tuesday morning. Im Savannah Guthrie and we have carson daly in for matt. On my best day, i wish i sounded like a ale with the technical issues. There was something for everybody. Well talk politics, too. Our top story is the weather. A wintry mix of snow, ice and coast. Proving to be downright dangerous. The same system, responsible for tornadoes, as well, in the south. Nbcs Hallie Jackson has it covered for us this morning. Good morning. Good morning, savannah. Were waking up after the Winter Weather advisory in 17 states, stretching some 1,200 0 les from georgia to maine. In a lot of spots, we expected the snow to turn to rain overnight. The problem is rush hour is still dangerously icy in locations. All of it, part of the storm system that spawned tornadoes in the south and the east. Reporter the National Weather service confirming one of those tornadoes touching down near the rural town of century, flflida, about 45 miles north of pensacola. At least ten homes were damaged. First responders and volunteers forming a human chain to pull a 94yearold woman from the debris. Hallelujah. Reporter strong storms blew through central louisiana, tearing up trees and power high wind gusts causing the roof ofhis pizza hut collapse. It fell on my car. The car was shaking, my window busted. I seen it coming at me. It was scary. Reporter people across mississippi i cked by relentless twisters. Jackson, mississippi, tornado, i dont want to get too far ahead of it. Reporter the Severe Weather hitting a a gh school during classes. We were all getting down and, like, praying. Hoping we were being all right. Reporter meanwhile in the northeast, a plane headed from the e minican republic to o w york city had to be diverted to a snowy manchester, new hampshire, overnight, because runways at jfk were even worse. Delta 944, a diversion . We didi left holding at kennedy and came right up here. Reporter here in the washington, d. C. Area, snow gave way to freezing rain and sleet. To more than 500 c cshes, as untreated roads and sidewalks became treacherous. With temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, it has all the makings for a dangerous commute this morning. And weve seen that already here with really icy roads and sidewalks. While the temperatures are expected to climb throughout the day, with steady rain, the concern now is the ice, but the concern for tonights rush hour will be a flood watch. Lots of weather to talk about. Hallie, thank you. Mr. Roker is here tracking it all. Al . Minutes ago, we got this video from i81, north of scranton. Icy roads causing a massive pileup. You can see, in fact, a lot of the folks, including this videographer, ran up and got out of the way on the side of a hill. This trucker, stuck there, trying to make calls. Theyre clearing things out now, and im hearing i81 north of scranton is open again. Weve got a tornado watch down in southern florida right now. Front that hallie was talking about. Look how far it goes, all the way to the northeast, cleveland, buffalo, looking at snow. Heres the problem. We have winter storm warnings, advisories and wind warnings. 50 Million People at risk from North Carolina to maine. Look at the temperatures. Buffalo, 28. Syracuse, 34. New york city, 54. 56 in boston. Heavy rain pushes up by late this afternoon. Thats where were going to have the problems with flooding. It gets out of here by wednesday. Rainfall amounts, were looking in some areas, upwards of an inch to two inches. In about a sixhour period. Lakeeffect snow from erie to watertown. Another 8 to 12 inches of snow there. Weve got a lot going on. We have winter storm warnings. We have flood watchings and warnings. Its going to finally calm down by tomorrow. Al, thanks very much. Lets turn to politics. Of course, less than a week republican primary. Donald trump ratcheting up the rhetoric against ted cruz, threatening to sue him. Hes also set his sights on former president george w. Bush who shared the stage with his brototr jeb bush for the first time in the campaign. Weve got the race covered. We begin with peter alexander, in South Carolina this morning. Good morning to you. Savannah, good morning to you from South Carolina. This was, by far, the biggest crowd jeb bush has seen. 3,000 people to hear from his brother, the former president , george w. Bush calling for vision. In a direct contrast to donald trump, praising his brother as thoughtful, trustworthy and measured. The question this morning, will it matter . Reportete donald trump in thehe lead. Weve got a win on saturday. Weve got a win. Reporter and on the attack, reignited his feud with ted cruz. Ted is an u. Stable guy. Ive never, ever met a person that lies more than ted cruz. His eligibility. He doesnt have the right to serve as president or run as president. He was born in canada. I will bring the l lsuit if he doesnt apologize. Reporter cruz laughing it off, saying donald has lost it. This is the most rattled i have seen. We are not in grade school where you say, liar, liar, pants on fire and not respond to the subject. Reporter the front runner also went after the Republican National committee, accusing them of stacking debate audiences with special interests. Seeming once again to not rule out a thirdparty run, going against the gop pledge. I signed a pledge. But its a doubleedge pledge. As far as im concerned, theyre in default of their pledge. Thanks to brother for giving us something to do today, something important. Reporter the last republican to hold the oval office, george w. Bush, joined brother jeb on the campaign trail for the first time. The formerresident repeatedly dismissed the partys front runner without calling out donald trump by name. Strongest person usually isnt the loudest one in the room. Reporter 43 arguing real strength is not empty rhetoric or bluster. We dont need someone in the oval office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration. We need someone whcan fix the problems that cause our anger and frustration, and thats jeb bush. Reporter hours before trump attacked w. Over the iraq war and 9 11. The World Trade Center came down during hihireign. It was like, you know, he was the top. Reporter jeb had his big brothers back. He didnt know 9 11 would happen but he rolled up his sleeves, inspired us and kept t safe. Our latest surveymonkey, nbc online poll, shows 56 of republicans nationally believe donana trump will be their partys nominee. That number is up 14 points in the last week. Peter alexander, thank you. Letu bring in chuck todd, nbcs political director and moderator of meet the press. Good morning. Good morning. The road to the nomination goes through South Carolina. It has a reputation for being a slugfest and its not t disappointing. G. What do you make of this latest back and forth between donald trump and ted cruz . Trump suggesting he might sue cruz. Even dangling the notion of thirdparty run, threatening the rnc. He is a little bit. I think what hes trying to do is keep cruz from getting any momentum. Look, in South Carolina, it appears to be a twoperson race. The winner between trump or cruz, assuming t ty are battling for first, then the winner will have won 2 of the first 3 and will be the front runner and favorite going forward. Thats why you see, basically, trump pulling out all the stops and cruz pulling out all the stops. I can tell you this, savannah, the threat of the lawsuit, he if he files against files with an election law clerk and says, hey, you shouldnt put cruzs name on the ballot, its hurting me, that is a way for him to have standing with a lawsuit. By the way, the other part of the South Carolina, theres two primaries. The second primary is the battle for third place between rubio and bush. Lets talk about this, chuck. We havent seen a lot of data or polling from South Carolina a since the debate on saturday. Trump has the double digit lead. Cruz in second. All eyes, maybe, on third. Is that still where it stands now . I think its where it stands. Look, nobody is quite sure how mumu damage did trump do to himself with the attacks on george w. Bush. He is pretty popular in South Carolina. Theres chatter that he hurt himself. If he did by a few points, he still had a lead. I think that, you know, all of us are not making a living this year t ting to predict the demise of donald trump. Chuck todd, thanks. Stick around for your take on the democrats in a moment. Speaking of, Hillary Clinton will deliver a major speech on race in new york city today. Bernie sanders heads to South Carolina and georgia. Next caucus in nevada, and thats where we find kristen welker. Good morning. Carson, good morning. Our latest nbc news surveymonkey online poll shows clinton maintaining her National Lead over sanders, 50 to 40 . The race is tighter in states like nevada. She will be courting africanamerican voters today with the speech of race. It comes after a busy day of campaigning here in the reno area. I love being here. Reporter in nevada, Hillary Clinton is trying to avoid another upset. I want to break down all the barriers that stand in the way of americans succeeding. Reporter it was this moment that got everyones attention. And the dog, if its not true, hes going to bark. Repororr when she recalled a decadesold political ad that featured a dog that barked when someone lied, arguing the same rules should apply to republicans. Oh, the Great Recession was bark, bark, you know . Reporter this as her family fanned out in key states on sunday. Chelsea stumped in ohio and bill clinton in florida. The Republican Party rewarded the tea party. Just tell people what they want to hear. Its going on now in our party. Reporter sanders brushed aside clintons criticisms. In michigan on monday, he ramped up his oueach to africanamericans, a group he struggled d work over. Its working people standing up and fighting. What is the Civil Rights Movement about . Reporter after meeting with the families impacted by the flint water crisis, sanders demanded change. If we can rebuild v vlages in iraq and afghanistan, we can damn well rebuild flint, michigan. Clions address on race dubbed breaking down barriers senator sanders will be courting black voters today. Hell be introduced at a Prayer Breakfast today by danny glover, who will also join him at a rally in atlanta later tonight. Savannah, caon. Thanks. Chuck is still with us. Lets talk about the democrats. Nevadas caucus on saturday. Caucuses, harder to predict for pollsters. When you look at the race and the body language, who looks confident and who looks nervous . I canell you this, the Clinton Campaign seems nervous and the Sanders Campaign seems confident at this point. This is clearly fairly close. Theyve both dumpea lot of money in here. This is actually though a mustwin for sanders. Heres why. There is this idea he cant win in states that are more diverse. Nevada is basically 60 40 white to nonwhite, at least the way the Democratic Caucus is going to turn out. A narrow loss and the Clinton Campaign can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing South Carolina there, too. A loss here, a sanders victory here, puts more pressure on clinton. Then the questions are, oh, maybe sanders can win minority votes. Then the pressure on her to win South Carolina is as great as its been in any state so far. Chuck, do you see a shift in the way Hillary Clinton is framing this race, with more of a contrast, going right after sanders recently . I do, i do. If you listen to bill clinton and Chelsea Clinton and Hillary Clinton, theyre all trying to make this a referendum on sanders. They know if its a referendum on Hillary Clinton, she wont do as well with democratic voters. Put the focus on sanders. They think the more attention given to his ideas, his potential tax hikes, lack of Foreign Policy knowledge, suddenly, itll give pauseo democratic voters and help her. Shes always b bn better when she gets to frame an alternative. Thats what theyre trying to do now. Quickly, chuck, this is bones of your first answer, when you say the Clinton Campaign is acting nervous, what do you mean by that . By the fact theyre spending so much time in nevada . They realize that its a that lososg again, and suddenly you could make an argument that essentially, sanders won the first three contests. The iowa victory, every day that goes by, theres questions about how big was that victory and did out because of the way the counting process is . Thats what i mean by that. Theyre very nervous. The idea of losing back to back. To lose the first state they faced off against each other that isnt an overly white state, thats whatatakes them so nervous. Thats why, if they can win now, they put away a lot of questions about r. Chuck todd, thanks so much. Now to the Nations Capital who should replace justice Antonin Scalia. Andrea mitchell has more on that looming battle. Good morning. Good morning, savannah. The battle to replace Antonin Scalia is reshaping that 2016 with the republican president ial candidates taking a hard line against confirming anyone that president obama nominates. No matter how moderate. Reporter it is the one issue on which all the republican candidates agree. No one nominated by barack obama should be considered for the supreme court. Thehealance of the constitution is at stake. The republicans shouldnt allow it to happen. Were one justice away from a radical fivejustice, leftwing majority. Reporter for ted cruz, its personal. He clerked for the high court, argued before it and knew scalia well. Within hours of the justices death, the battle lines were drawn. Republican Senate Leaders saying they wont confirm any obama nominee to the higcourt. Democrats firing back. Its unprecedented. Its pure politics. The supreme court, of all places, should not be tied up in politics. Reporter the president in california hosting an asian that he is not backing down. Those responsibilities described in the constitution are ironclad. There are no caveats. The constitution doesnt include exceptions for election years or the president s last term in office. Reporter Hillary Clinton weighing in, unleashing a flurry of tweets overnight, aimed at gop senators. Hillary tweeting, fill this vacancy. Potus will do his jojo do yours. The scalia succession fight now also a Campaign Issue for the democrats. Last time i looked, the constitution didnt have a parenthesis. The president nominates, parentntsis, nominates except in an election year. Thats not the way our system works. The president has a working list, including several candidates who have been supported unanimously for lower courts by republicans. If the republicans wont even consider moderate choices, the president could fire up his own democratic base, nominating a minority. Savannah and carn. A lot of political strategy going into this decision. Andrea, thank you very much. In other news, pope francis returned to mexico city last night after a daylong trip to chiapas. Thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the pontiff in his white fiat. Earlier in the day, a touching moment. Pope francis interrupted the event to come down and bless a child in the w welchair. During prepared remarks, francis offered advice for creating happy families. Saying, quote, do not end the day without making peace. Its a version of, never go to bed angry, right . Great advice, actually. Lets get the rest of the forecast. Kids, im sorry about last night. Anyway, were looking at a snowy mess throughout the great lakes. Icy conditions here in the northeast. Especially north and west of new york city and pockets of the appalachians. Also looking at a Beautiful Day in the southwest, into southern california. Well look at that more in the next half hour. In the next 30 seconds. Rtgage, and ive also got a brain. Lifes short, talk is cheap. Ill be working while you sleep. Still dont think ive got a brain . You think a resumes enough . Wholl step up when things get tough . Dont you want that kind of brain . A degree is a degree. Youre gonna want someone like me. But only if you have a brain. Tomorrow with a few snow showers tracking through and then warming up for the end of the week and through the weekend. We cculd have a few rain showers on coming up, recordbreaking weather o o west. Thanks, al. Coming up, could there be a link between the popular heart burn drugs and dementia . We have your allaccess pass from the grammys. From wins for taylor swift and bruno mars, and the best and worst of the fashions. First, this is today on nbc. Coming up, should every kid get a trophy . Jeff rossen weighs into the debate over that queion. Plus, keeping tidy with technology. Office chairs that return to their desks, but with the clap of your hands. My laziness has gotten better. First, your local news. With theain and swelling of my moderate to sesere rheumamaid arthritis. Ordinary objects often seemed. Intimidating. Meant enduring a lot of pain. If ra is changing your view of everyday things orencia may help. 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