Got the tournament over in brooklyn and the big east tournament at Madison Square garden. They came to play, literally and figuratively. Well get out there later in the show. Lets start this friday morning with the president ial race and the surprising display of civility at the republicans final debate before next tuesdays high stakes primaries. It was a striking turn around from their 11 previous clashes. We have complete coverage, including a new controversy for donald trump. Let start with nbc National Correspondent peter alexander. Good morning. Hey, matt and tamron, good morning. It was a kinder, gentler gop on display last night, and may have been the last opportunity for most marco rubio and john kasich. Big week ace heads ahead in their home states. No lying ted or little marco. Reporter for the republicans, the 12th time is the charm. I cannot believe how civil repter finally, a substantive battle over immigration, trade and foreign policy. Following his controversial comment that islam hates the west, donald trump refused to back down when asked if heeant all muslims. I mean a lot of them. I mean a lot of them. I dont want to be politically correct. I like to solve problems. We have a serious, serious problem. Reporter his challengers oking to capitalize. Im not interested in being politically correct, but being correct. Looking at the challenging we face, we have to work tether with muslims who are not radicals. The answer is not simply to yell, china, bad, muslims, bad. You have to understand the nature of the threats were facing. Reporter donald striking a conciliatory tone. Were all in this together. I think ill have the delegates. Reporter even qriting off kasich and rubios chances. And there are two that cant. We have beaten donald in eight separate states. I listen and watch television when ted speaks. He id, im the only one that beat donaldn contests but i beat him in 13. He never mentions that. Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Trump. I beat hillary in many polls that have been taken, and each week, i get better and better. Believe me, i havent even started on her yet. Reporter but thats not really true. Clinton has beaten trump head to head in all but three polls since last november. Cruz squeezing in a last shot. Incredible nation we have that the son of a bartender, mailman, dishwasher and a successful businessman can all stand on this stage. Donald trump is expected to pick up another endorsement today. Candidate ben carson will back the billionaire, describing him as authentic and an outsider. Peter alexander, thank you. Another issuerought up at the debate, the violence weve seen at Donald Trumps recent campaign events, including this one in north carolina, where a man sucker punched a protester. Nbcs Hallie Jackson has that part othe story. Good morning. Good morning to you. This morning, donald trump is on defense. Not just about his rallies, but about accusations his Campaign Manager roughed up a reporter. Overnight, trump is standing by his top aide wh concerns growing about the tone of his reporter its this shot caught on camera that has donmld trump facing new fire. You can see the supporter, the 78yearold mcgraw, sucker punches a protester at a rally, saying he deserved it. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. Arrested for assault. The protester, 26yearold jones. As soon as i turned he hit me dead in the eye. Reporter trump addressed the issue head on i last nights debate. I do not condone that at all, ke. Reporter Trumps Campaign telling nbc news, we are not involved in the incident and it takes significant measures to ensure the safety of all attendees. At the often wild rallies, trump said this you know what would happen at prior rallies like this . Taken out on a stretcher. We have protesters that are bad dudes. Theyve done bad things. They are swinging. They are really dangerous. Reporter now, new questions about what happened between a porter for conservative manager, accused of grabbing ingbing her arm. Audio witnessed by a Washington Post reporter. You okay . Holly [ bleep ]. Reporter tweeting a picture of her bruises telling abc news its hurtful. Nobody wants to be touch and had violated like that. Reporter trump standing behind his Campaign Manager. I have secret service all over, cameras all over, nobody saw it happened and nobody complained. I know this guy, and hes a fantastic guy. Reporter questioning the reporters account. I wasnt involved but the secret service was surrounding everybody and they said nothing happened. Perhaps she made the story up. I think thats what happened. New this morning, trumps Campaign Manager, is again accusing fields of making it all up. In a tweet, calling her delusional and claiming not only never even met her. Matt and tamron . Hallie, thank you. Chuck todd is nbcs political director and moderator of meet the press. Hes in ohio ahead of tuesdays critical contest. Good morning to you. Good morning. I want to talk about the alleged altltcation in a second, but lets start with last nights debate. A week or so ago, there was a Republican Debate that looked like wrestle mania. Last night looked like woodstock. Who benefitted most from the civil tone . Well, what happened was if you looked at our polling and everybody elses polling in that week, marco rubios personal ratings took a nosedive. Ted cruz saw his ratings go down. Donald trumpmp was even hurt by this. Individually, and the only guy thatenefitted in the last week had been john kasich. Individually, i understoodhy marco rubio laid off. Why ted cruz laid off. Obviously, this worked for kasich. Matt, i have to say, i have stunned because this race, donald trump is four days away to see cruz and rubio just sort of take a pass again, i get what kasich is doing. Its been working for him. But the other two, while i understand they didnt want to go in the gutter,hey sort of they may have overcorrected here. Rubio, they say this is his last stand before floridas primary. Did he do anything, in your opinion, that would help hurt his fortunes around . I dont know. I question whether any of the debates are going to have any impact on trump. Its not about him. Iihink marco rubio did finene it was whether did anything happen with trump where he would come down . thats what rubio has to do. He has a lot of ground to make up. Its not just him getting to 35. He has to bring trump down. Thats what i didnt see last night. I didnt see anything that trump diddhat made him come back to the pack. This issue of violence at some of the trumps rallies, the protester being punched, the alleged altercation between this reporter, you know, did trump say whate had to say when asked about it . Isnt the only answer, chuck, i will not tolerate any violence at my events . Not only is that the only answerer he needs to take it to another level. Remember what johoh mccain did toward the end of the 08 campaign . The mccainpalin rallies were exciting, rowdy and a little over the line, a little on edge . Mccain stepped up and calmed it down himself. The candidate himself, donald trump at these events, needs to not talk about punching people in the face, singling out the media the way he does. Needs to set the tone. Creating this hostile atmosphere. It is o o him to calmhings down. He cant hes not responsible for how people act. I understand that. But he can set a different tone. Hes going to have to have a moment where he does that, like john mccain did. It helped mccain. I think it would politically thats the irony. It would be in his political best interest to do this, not just in the safety of people that are there. Chuck todd out in ohio, good luck and have a good weekend. Thank you, sir. Now to the relentless rain that soaked parts of the south this week, causing deaths and leading to Widespread Evacuations and even more rain is on the way. Well get to dylan in a moment, but t rst, janet shamlian. The sheriff and National Guard staged outside of a flooded neighborhood. This Community Reeling after three days of drenching rain. What officials are calling historic flooding. Reporter the rescues dont stop. Lifethreatening conditions everywhere, from memphis to mississippi. For residents of this flood likely to be days b fore theyre allowed back to see how much damage was done last time, it was two weeks. Probably going to be longer than two weeks this me. Reporter some decided to ride it out and now admit they put themselves in serious danger. The water came so quick. You dont people dont understand that. Ive learned a lesson. Reporter this is the work of the National Guard. Theyre doing wellness checks in the gooded neighbooods to make sure people who decided to stay are safe. National guard truck rs thes are the only way out in louisiana. Each time a truck rolled through, stranded residents begged for a ride out. You have to wait a little longer, okay . Reporter you can dri for miles and it all looks like this. Devastating. Its devastating. Nothing you can do. Keep going. Reporter tens of millions lost. I have two refrigerators floating around the kitchen. Reporter and possessions for which there is no price tag. My mothers fathers bible. It means a lot to me. With the water reseeding in some neighborhoods, residents like that wan are able to take stock of what they can salvage. Some cases, its not very much. Back to you. Your heart goes out to these families. Janet, thank you so much. Dylan is in for al. Whwh can the folks expect . Unfortunately, more rain. Thes going to be more like 12 inches coming. There are several rivers at major flood stage. The most ever had was 78 feet of water and is nowow at 53 feet of water. We are breaking records, as far r as river levels are concerned. Naturally, we have flood watches and flash flood warnings in effect in red. Thats where were seeeng the significant flooding. The time it takes all the water to stream into the rivers, we are going to see delayed flooding, even when the rain stops. As we go through today, the rain will start to push east, well get a bit of a break. On saturday, more rain will streak in from the gulf of mexico some of the pockets of rain could produce heavier downpours. Even though well lose the threat of torrential rain for long periods of time, heavier downpours could be exacerbate the problem. The bulls eye will be near new orleans, along the coaoa of alabama and mississippi where we could end up with 10 to 12 inches of rain. Thank you. On to former first Lady Nancy Reagan. She be laid to rest in california today. Among the invited dignitaries who will attend, at least one relative of every u. S. President since john f. Nnedy. Natalie is at the reagan valley. Good morninin good morning to you. The service is going to begin in it has been meticulou ly planned for years by nancy reagan herself. Itll include classic hymns,s, readings from the bible and reflections from some of those closest to her. Reporter about 10,000 v,000 vip guests will be on hand. Most selected by the f fst lady herself. Eulogies will be delivered by former cef of staff james baker and tom brokaw, a close friend. Her children will speak, as well. Davis opened up about their complicated relationship and says she plans to speak about it honestly during the service. I have poignant memories in there that were loving. I do acknowledge that we had a challenging a sometimes contentious relationship, because it would be foolish not to acknowledge that. Reporter form erer canadian Prime Minister will read a letter from the president to other political figures includede former president s george w. Bush and jimmy carter, and first ladies michelle obama, laura bush and rosalyn carter. Hillary clinton is confirmed to attend, but in her role as former first lady, not current president ial candidate. Every detail of the service,e, says her daughter, planned by nancy reagan herself. Om the flowers and the music to her final resting place. My mother would always when she came up here on the anniversary of my fathers death, shed said, now, wha every time. Now, as weve reported, president obama will not be attending. The first lady representing the white house insteaea while some criticized that that unusual. When he was in office himself, president eagan did not attend the funeral of truman. And theres no real formal protocol when it comes to first tamron and matt . Natalie, thank you very much. We should mention, lester holt will anchor live coverage of the funeral on many of the nbc stations beginning at 2 00 p. M. Eastern time. Also this morning, new numbers on the zika virus. Nearly 200 cases have been reported in the u. S. , all of which are traced to travel abroad. The threat has alarmed health officials, who are asking congress to provide nearlyy2 billion to fight the virus in latin america and help preventt it from spreading. Some of that money would go to puerto rico, where the hea of the cdcears we could seeee hundreds of thousands of cases by the end of the year. Capitol hill republicans are reluctant to grant the request, suggesting the use of the leftover funds for the ebola virus. Canadas new Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau honored at the rst state dinner for a canadian leader in 20 years. It was the first to be attended by president obamas daughters. For us. Ron,n,hey were the buzz of social media. Indeed, tamron. Dreamy is a word often heard to describe Justin Trudeau, a litical rock star. Even president obama seemed to take notice saying, its been a long time since so Many Americans have been so excited to see a leader from north of the border. Reporter a glamorous evening. The president , the Prime Minister and their first ladies lighting up the white house. To the Great Alliance between the United States and canada. Say what you want to o y reporter the young family stunned canada, with his victory last fall. Former known as a boxer and drama teacher before politics. Family business, his dad, one of the nations most famous leaders. Also honored in his day at the white house. Now, they seem lost in a political bromance. The way that trudeau looks at obama. Trubama hashtag emerges. Trudeau jumped into 2016, dubbed the antitrump, inviting americans who say theyll flee if trump wins to come to cada. Its lovely, all times of the year. Reporter this was a night to put politics aside. On the guest list, famous canadians. Michael j. Fox, mike meyers, Ryan Reynolds with wife blake lively. Celebrating two leaders, seeing a lot of themselves in each other. May the special connection between our two countries continue to flourish in the years to come and may my gray hair come i at a much slower rate than yours has. Mr. Trudeau, the son of a former Prime Minister, also paid tribute to special guests. First daughters sasha, now 14, college soon. Trudeau praised their strength and grace, growing up in the cokstant glare of the public spotlight. Thank you very much, n. You have three kids. Seems like they were little kids overnight. How do you handle that . After a weekend sometimes. Yeah, it is good for them. I hope they had a good time. Beautiful. Dylan . Stillll dealing with the rain thats a l all right, south florida. Were seeing a few clouds along gulf coast. King up to mostly cloudy skies. All this moisture over the gulf of mexico will slowly butu surely be pumped into our Sunshine State throughout the weekend. In the meantime day were expecting a mix of sun and clouds. Well be warm, temperatures rereching into the mid80s. Breezy conditions along atlantic beaches. Keep that thats your latest fofecast. Thank you very much. Coming up, security lines at airports across the country, longer than ever. Can anything be done to fix the problem heading into spring break and the busy Summer Travel season . And a controversy tieddo the sat. Why your family could be charged more for online prep courses first, this is today on nbc. Just ahead, oprah celebrates her new weight loss success. Her inspirational message to other women. On trending, the slyest pickpocket weve ever seen. First, your local news and weather. When you think about success, what does it look like . Is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student . Is it securing not only your own future, but one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves . Of the Natural World . Those who serve others have a unique definition of success. Giving you the financialsecurity to pursue it, is ours. Tiaa. Created to serve. Built to perform. Does the smell of a freshly bound presentation fill you with optimism . Do you love your wireless keyboard more than certain family members . Is your r ccess due to a filing system only you understand . Does printing from your tablet to your wireless printer give you a jolt of confidence . If so, you may be gearcentric. Someone who knows that the right office gear helps you do great things. And theres one place that has it all. Good friday morning to you. Im sheli munoz rainfall im eric harryman. Right now it is 7 26 and we continue to follow a shooting that happened just near ft. Lauderdale. Were looking at this happening at northwest 1st street and 30th avenue. Chopper 6 over the scene. That shooting happened an hour and a half ago. One victim taken to Broward Health center. We know that. T. Bso gathering information into exactly what happened there. Again, just outside of ft. Lauderdale. Well keep you posted asnew right here on the air and on the nbc news and weather app. A woman said she was attacked by somomne she met on craigslist. Daniel jones attacked byy her roommate Byron Mitchell last month. She had been in a coma since then. Weve got an update on your trafc commute for this friday morning. Lets get you over to kelly blanco. Chopper 6 just got to the east, this is doral at 54th street. You can see emergency rescues here on scene. They have just taken someone out of the car into the gurney. Word how many people are inside the car. Can you see car verse tree. This is an area you want to avoid, all lanes blocked off at this time. The accident at northwest 103rd street blocking two lanes has cleaead up. South florida waking up to 72 ft. Lauderdale, 71 kendall. Waking up to rainfree condition