on commuter trains and even pool side, at least one outfit was so fresh it was still smoking. and this couch potato was left behind, his family ruptured by the rapture. jeanne mo yne moos, cnn, new yo. >> that does it for me, thank you very much for watching, i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." john king usa starts right now. thanks wolf and evening, everyone. tonight agony and destruction in joplin, missouri, at least 116 people are dead in what is now tied as the single deadliest tornado on record. neighborhoods turned to rubble, the tornado cut a path of destruction a mile wide and four miles long. >> the best way i can describe it is it looks like a nuclear bomb has hit. and the search and rescue teams

race against the odds tonight, hoping to find survivors in the rubble. and there's this, a forecast warning of more tornadoes and severe weather across the midwest tomorrow and joplin is again in the danger zone. jackqui jeras is in joplin and gives us the very latest on this stunning stunning tornado. >> reporter: people are in search and rescue mode and the best news we have heard today is that seven people have been found alive, so seven survivors in joplin, missouri and that search and rescue is the big focus, and they say it's going to be a number of days that they're going to continue to go out there, and one of the biggest problems we have been dealing with has been the weather, more weather has been coming in here, nonstop throughout the day, we have had these waves of showers and thunderstorms, producing lightning, producing hail and torrential downpours so it's making it very difficult for workers to get where they need to be to try and help some of these people and the concern is

that some of them are going to get wet as well as the temperatures drop throughout the night. more severe weather expected here tomorrow as well, in fact a moderate risk has been issued by the storm prediction center for the severe weather, so the threat of tornadoes will be out there for southwestern parts of missouri. the damage is just incredible, in all of my years of reporting those tornadoes, i have never seen this much devastation over such a wide area through town. things are just strewn about every way, you can see the scene behind me, workers are coming in now with tow trucks trying to get rid of some of these cars that have been thrown feet away that have just been crushed and the smell of gas remains very strong also from some of these cars, so they're trying to get equipment in here, emergency personnel are here, 450 strong, about 250 of those are national guard members and they say another 450 on top of that are

on stand by as needed, this is a real community effort, local, state and federal government all here on the scene and they say they're going to be here throughout the duration to help the people in joplin, missouri. john? >> jacqui jeras on the scene live. we'll take in touch with jacqui and the others throughout the evening. 49,000 people, southwest missouri just inside the borders of kansas and oklahoma. it's in the bible belt. the tornado demolished a catholic church. it's also near a major interstate highway. isa isaac duncans heard the sounds but not the sight the moment the tornado hit. >> we're good. >> we're okay. [ screaming and crying ]

>> jesus! jesus! >> another camera, this one on a storm chaser's car dashboard caught the moment the tornado dipped down out of the clouds, you can see the storm chaser trying to warn the police. >> hey, guys. the tornado's trying to come down right here. the winds are to the north and it's kind of back around, the tornado's right here, it's coming on the ground right here, get the sirens going. get the sirens going, i'm telling you. >> roughly a quarter of the city has severe damage, the local electric company says 18,000 customers were out of power late this afternoon. i want to join us to get more of the scope of the devastation here. bill is a member of the missouri state house, he and his wife

have an incredible story. let's take us back to the moment you were out have been having dinner i understand when the natu tornado hit. >> we had gone to the local i hop, my wife and granddaughter met us there, they had been in town shopping and my son and grandson and i joined them. we had just gotten seated and gotten our glasses of water and ready to order, and i noticed another state representative and his family, bill white, were there at the ihop. and bill, i had my back to the windows, and bill was looking outside and he got up and walked to the door. when he came back, he told me that, he says, get our family under cover, there's debris in that storm cloud. so that was a pretty good indication there was a tornado, we got up and with bill's efforts about 40-something

people crowded into the kitchen, jane and i and the grandkids all got down on the floor, they got under some stainless steel tables, and basically just rode the thing out. it was -- it seemed like it lasted forever, but i'm sure it was something like a minute or two of actual wind. but as it started quieting down, we looked around and there was literally no walls, of course all the windows were gone, the roof was gone, basically all that was left was the kitchen. but i could, in the midst of the thing, i could hear jane and my granddaughter both praying over the noise of the storm, so they were doing some pretty loud praying. >> and thank the lord those prayers were successful in keep yog u safe. obviously you're in the ihop, and the ihop is destroyed around

you, what was the scene outside? >> whenever it has finally calmed down and we were trying to get out from underneath the tables and all, all of a sudden, someone yelled there's gas, and so it was still raining and still hailing out, and we all got out and we had nowhere to go. you know, you're just not used to that. the cars were completely demolished and we had both vehicles there, and all -- like 40, 50 people, but there was nowhere to go. and there was a little bit of an overhang on the front of the ihop, and i held the children under there, but still thinking there would be gas there, i'm very protective of them and it was just an experience. is the only way we can put it. >> and bill, you drove around the town, i want you to describe what your town, your community

looks like tonight, and as you do, have you been in touch with the state rep there, have you been in touch, what is the sense of the hope or the dwindling hopes, forgive me for saying it that way of finding any survivors now at this hour now, pretty much a day later in the rubble? >> about an hour ago, i was asking with the newt county sheriff's department, the fellas had a mobile command unit set up down on south maine and no one is giving up. i mean there's still a lot of people coming in volunteers, are coming in and searching through rubble. as i drove through town, we had a devastating tornado hit our business three years ago, but we're out on a rural location with the business and as i was driving through town, i was absolutely amazed at the destruction and the way

everything is so piled up, there could easily be people still in basements and crawl spaces and so i'm certainly not giving up on survivors being found. >> bill and jane lant, we're going to keep in touch and we share your hopes that the search and rescue teams can find some miracles in that rubble tonight and into the morning hours if necessary, we'll keep in touch with the lants. chad meyers is in the cnn weather center, when you hear the stories like this, you see the pictures like this, veteran, seasoned people who have tornados in their community, nothing like this, tell us why. >> because this was the big tornado of the day. there may have not been one bigger tornado or as big tornado, the rest of the day. yesterday wasn't a big severe weather day. today we'll have more tornadoes, probably than yesterday, but there was one, that was one tornado that rolled through that town and it was an f-4 tornado and i'll get to that scale a little bit. but what we have here is the

town of joplin, right there. 50,000 people, i heard you say that, 50,000 people in the city of joplin proper. but there are suburbs literally around job lynplin, that's abou 150,000 people around downtown joplin. so you get all these together and there is a giant hook on a supercell, no weather here, no weather here, it's all by itself. they're choosing all of this moisture to come in and gobble up literally the atmosphere here making it the most severe storm possible which is caused mesocyclone which is the severe supercell. that's downtown joplin right through here. that's the gray area, a lot of concrete buildings downtown and then down to the south, 20th and 26th street, and i know you'll be showing pictures later, of a walmart and of a home depot, that's right at that same spot that that representative you just talked to was.

there knows not much at all left of that walmart and very little at all left of the outside part of the home depot, i guarantee somehow there will still be people trapped in this debris and in this rubble, john, and we will find them days to come and they will still be alive. this rain is helping them believe it or not because rather than be dehydrated, they can drink the rain water to stay alive. i know it's an ugly thought, but staying alive is staying alive. >> chad's going to be back with us in a little bit because the rain may be helping those right now, but chad will tell the rain is an ominous forecast for the region. ♪ [ male announcer ] every day thousands of people are switching from tylenol to advil. to learn more and get your special offer, go to takeadvil.com. take action. take advil. go to takeadvil.com. ♪ ♪

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the hospital took a direct hit. people 70 miles away found some of the x-rays blown into their driveway. let's stop and take a look. here's the swathe of the storm right here. about a mile wide at its widest point, four miles wide as it came through. let me come in now and zoom in on this home depot. take a look at the building, you have one in your community, i'm sure, you see the tar building out here, you see the parking lot out here, a pretty traditionallial structure right there. that was then, this is now. that is that same home depot, just gone, the building just destroyed. the debris thrown all around here. you see the aftermath of people coming to see. searchers of course combing through all this rubble as anxious townspeople wait and hope. >> my dad and my uncle are in there and i'm hope and praying to god they're okay. >> when is the last time you heard from them? >> before the tornado hit.

>> casey wians with us now live from joplin and casey you hear the anguish, the fear, the anxiety right there. give us the latest on this search and what you have seen as you have wandered through this devastated community today. >> reporter: we were with the search and rescue team as it arrived at that home depot and we met that 17-year-old andrea and she was in tears as you can imagine, fearing that her father and her uncle were trapped inside that building. we still don't know if they're in or if they're out. what we do know is if they have pulled one survivor out of that home depot, it's unbelievable that anybody survived given the condition of that structure, but they also did find fatalities. we have been hampered as we have been reporting by the weather all day long, but they're still going at it. it was really amazing seeing that the rescue effort, they were using skip loaders to move

big pallets full of propane tanks like you would put in the parking lot. very dangerous thing to do because those things could have explo exploded. there were people that may have been trapped inside that structure that they were willing to fake that risk. >> lost week we were talking about the governor of mississippi in the concept of the floods, warning fatigue, it's been a heavy season, and people are not taking the warnings seriously? >> absolutely, you get a mixed picture from the people we have spoken to so far today. some people did say they did have warning, 20 minutes worth of warning and they were able to seek shelter and get out of the path of the tornado or at least not get the brunt of it. but a lot of people did say, we're sort of used to them, we didn't think it was going to be that bad. and one man we interviewed said he was working in this hospital and he said he got five minutes

of warning. maybe he didn't hearing the earlier ones, but by the time he started heading down to basement, glass was breaking all over, and his ears were popping, he said he didn't have enough warning, but people's experience are definitely varied. >> you can hear and see there, the weather complicating the search and rescue efforts. joining me now on the phone is terry darby, his home was destroyed last night. and he's calling this evening from a shelter where he will be spending the night. thank you for your time on this terrible time. were you at home when this hit and take me there, what did it sound like? what did it feel like? >> it started out as a nice, clear day, and then all of a sudden it just got really dark it came just like a train, you know, people have described it sounding like a train, that's exactly what it sounds like and then all of a sudden, limbs come

flying through the windows and mortar comes down and bricks go everywhere, i mean it really, it really looked bad. >> what room of your -- what room were you in when it happened? >> i was in the living room, sitting watching television as a matter of fact. >> any warning at all, no, there was no warning, period. >> no warning period, what does your home look like sir in your neighborhood now? >> well, if you look at any -- have looked at any archival footage of the bombing during world war ii of hamburg or dresden, i think that give you a pretty good idea of how it looks. >> you have obviously made it to a shelter, what's the sense of your neighbors and your friends, did you lose people in your neighborhood? >> i believe there were three or four lost in my complex alone.

i lived in a four-plex and i'm staying right now at mccauley catholic high school in joplin. >> you mentioned thattive you looked at archival footage of the war, we looked at some footage and you're right. it looks like a bomb zone. i have looked at the before and now the devastation today, have you had a chance to see that and what's the sense in the community? >> i haven't had an opportunity, they came and got me about 1:30, 2:00 in the morning because i really didn't want to leave my home, because i have a pet cat. and the fire department came and made me leave because they were afraid that the remaining structure on top of my facility was going to cave in. >> and, sir, it's probably maybe a tough question to answer, hours after all this, but what next for you, do you have insurance? can you rebuild, do you know?

>> no, i don't and i can't rebuild because this was a four-plex that i rented. so, you know, i don't -- my plans right now are up in the air, i really don't have any. >> mr. darby, we want to thank you for your time tonight and let you know personally your entire community is in our thoughts and prayers and we wish you the best, sir. >> richard sirreno, let me just start on the search and rescue efforts tonight, 116 people dead, that ties for the deadliest tornado in our country's history. it's sad to say that we may eclipse that number, but what is your sense of the number of missing and whether you'll be successful in finding them? >> reporter: the local first responders have done unbelievable yeomen's work, they have been out there in the rain with a crew about a half hour ago, it started pouring, started hailing and the work they have

done picking through the rubble, in the one-block area, this one team has been at it for hours, literally using their hands, looking to try and find some of the survivors, they knew that were people missing in that block. but the urban search and rescue teams, the police officers t firefighters, the emts and paramedics have been doing heroic work saving lives in the last 24 hours. >> at least seven people rescued today. is there a sense of what kind of a clock you're racing in terms there's people that have been buried for hours, it's going on night fall, there's some pretty nasty weather. what is the hope that you could still find people alive? >> we hold out hope for a while, we'll hold out hope for days, actually. the weather has been pretty rough, it's very windy and rainy, the temperature has dropped a bit, it's cool, but the work is the rescue workers, the firefighters, the emts have

been really trying to find people, they have ideas where some of the people are and they're going to target those areas first and they have been going on a grid search neighborhood by neighborhood throughout the city. >> do you have a sense of how many people are unaccounted for, or is it still too chaotic to have a good number. >> speaking with the fire chief and the city manager, they didn't have a good sense of how many people were missing, they do have a list, they're going through that, it's really a local issue, part of the team to support the government, to support the city of joplin in any way that ke can. the president has made it clear that the government is going to be here to support. >> what joplin needs and what the federal government might be able to do to help. have you ever seen anything like this? >> this is total devastation. as far as you can see, we're standing on top of a hill here,

the hospital is standing, but nothing else around them is standing for four to six miles long and approximately a half mile wide and there is absolutely nothing, it's just completely level throughout there. we're still focusing on the search and rescue operation, the local first responders and the state, and we're also looking for the future as we get to that, we'll be here for the long haul, we're not going to be here just for today, for a week, we're going to be here for months. >> and as you deal with this, your first overnight there, is there any one or maybe two things that joplin needs tonight that's your waiting for, whether it's more heavy equipment or something that somebody watching at home or something they could do? >> right now, one of the things we want people to do is actually the survivors in the area to contact fema if they need help. we'll be able to get some individual assistance, the president declared a disaster area and the people in the area, they can call 1-800-62-fema, so

we can go start the recovery process with them. >> and in terms of shelter, in terms of food, whether it's for those, the people who don't have a home to go to tonight, and for everybody there trying to help-- >> right now, they have shelters open, they have enough room in the shelters, a lot of people have talked to survivors who are going to stay with family for the interim and for the long-term, we're looking at what they need for shelter. the people in joplin say they didn't have any unmet needs right now. but as we stated, we're just in the first hours of this and we're going to be here to support them in the long-term. >> that was the deputy administrator in fema. we wish you the best in the hours ahead. when we come back, we're going to hear from the principal of a catholic school that was flat out destroyed, destroyed. take a look right there by the tornado.

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back life to joplin in just a moment. also to chad myers in the severe weather center. first we want to show you just a little bit to put this storm into context. it has been such a terrible season so far. february, there was one fatality, and one tornado, march one and one fatality. april 48 killer tornadoes, 361

people killed then. may so far two and at least 116 killed in joplin, missouri tonight. as it plays out, it is a horrible, horrible thing. the scale you'll hear, is it a 1, 2, 3, or 4? 0 is 60 to 85 miles an hour. that's the ef scale. this storm was up here, 166 to 200. it is a 4. a 5 would be over 200, massive winds. in joplin, missouri, the national weather service warns there is a 47% chance of another tornado outbreak in missouri tomorrow. chad, 45% chance, show us the areas most at risk. >> yeah, it's all set up again, john, for tomorrow. and we're even seeing some storms tonight and if you're around cincinnati or southward in northern kentucky, you've got

a line of cells heading your way. also north of tulsa, and moving right back into joplin, which is why actually some of our live shots have either sounded or looked dot perfect because it rains on our satellite dish and just like if you have direct tv or dish, sometimes your signal goes out when it rains. well our signal goes out when we try to shoot it back up to the satellite. from oklahoma city southward, a couple of storms are rotating tonight and will continue to rotate tonight. zooming in on joplin, it's been an ugly couple of days there. not severe technically, but just to the south of joplin, tornado watches are in effect all the way down to the texas border, then farther off to the east, we are going to see that weather move through cincinnati. and these are the areas you asked me to pinpoint these, let's just zoom this out a little bit, the same areas will be affected for tomorrow. let me show you what we're expecting for severe weather, all the way to the northeast, back down through st. louis and into oklahoma, now i'm drawing

the exact same place that we have severe weather right now. and that has been the problem, john, one cell, one storm, another after another, coming out of the same spots, we have had weather in the same areas, tornado alley, dixie ali, for i would say at least the last three or four weeks, significant tornadoes, almost every day, one place or another. most of the time they miss everyone. so they don't get the media attention. but a trough has been in the atmosphere, it's turned like this. when you get a trough in the jet stream that does something like that, little pieces come out of the west, bring down cold air this way, bring up warm air this way, they're little low pressures, they want to make like a suction, they make like a vacuum. they clash right along that jet stream, the jet stream is essentially the road map, the roadway for what all severe happens. we have cool air that's been aloft, we have had warm air down

at the surface, yesterday, that warm air bubbled literally, that joplin storm was the most severe storm of the day. the only one that put down a big tornado and yet it hit a major populated area. had it hit a wheat field, we wouldn't be standing here today, but it didn't hit a wheat field, it hit a city, and that city had hail to the north of it, and all of a sudden the spinning down to 2 bottom of the it and at the bottom part of that cell, called the mesocyclone and it rolled right through just south of the downtown joplin, that big red area that was right exactly where all that damage was, and some of it is devastation where you can't even find the house, you would never know there was a house there, except for the part that there is a slab sitting down there where the house should still be. >> we'll keep in touch with chad as he tracks not only what happened in joplin, but the severe weather yet to come.

it destroyed both st. mary's catholic church and it's elementary school. you see the before and after picture there. the shell that was still standing, the reverend justice -- the principal of what used to be st. mary's elementary school. he's on the telephone. let me just start, mr. jones, are all of your students to the best of your knowledge safe and accounted for? >> we are actually missing one, a little girl and one of her parents has not been heard from at this time and we're hoping to hear something soon. but just like everyone else in the community, it's very difficult to make communication, cell phones don't always work, and so getti ting hold of peopl and knowing where they are is very difficult right now. >> sir, when you look at that church and the school and what

it looks like today, what goes through your mind. >> well, obviously, we just have to completely rebuild. the rectory center, across the street is completely down. the church is devastated as well as the building and so all of our books, materials, supplies, papers and everything are just completely ruined. and so we'll have to replace just absolutely everything. like me, the people in our community, with their homes. >> tell us about your personal circumstances, where were you when this hit, sir? >> well, i am a little bit south of town, when i was told that it was hit and in fact my son was in harrison, alaska with a younger grandson and a granddaughter, and my oldest grandson was actually at home by himself, his mother was at walmart, and she was locked in

and they were not allowing people to leave, and so i and -- my wife and i drove to their house approximately three or four miles away from our home, we ended up going down sidewalks because the streets were so cluttered with lines and streets and so forth, that we -- we had to turn around a couple of times, finally made it and everyone's safe. right now we have been working on trying to shore up some windows and things in the house, the neighborhood he lives in is totally devastated. but he happens to be in one of the very few homes that it's not livable right now, but very clearly reparable. i noticed that -- i heard you saying earlier about all the houses being gone, you can't even tell where you are. one of the things i discovered is turning on my gps driving down the street would help me identify cross streets. once you're on a main street, you're okay, but landmarks are

just absolutely impossible to recognize right now. >> and so this is the community where -- >> the other problem we're having -- >> you live and work and you play here, and you don't really know where you are when you're driving around right now, is that what you're saying? >> oh, absolutely not, absolutely not. you just cannot tell a treat corner as you normally would. last night, we were looking for some -- grandparents of my daughter-in-law, and walking down the street, it was impossible to recognize even some large buildings, something like the olympic fitness center, a bank that was just completely knocked down. one of the things that we're having problems with now of course is trying to do some repairing or adjustment as you can see, the rain and the wind is blowing, we have also had lightning, can't get up on a ladder if you're trying to do something outside, so it's impossible to make any kind of adjustments in many cases. my son and i went about 20 miles

away from here to buy some lumber because we understood many of the lumberyards were closed, one lumberyard is completely gone. home depot they said is just completely flattened and no longer here in joplin. >> as i watched you and i cannot tell you how much we appreciate your time tonight in these circumstances. i'm watching you in this horrible weather shivering and i'm wondering in a sense, this is your community. rescuers are out looking for people unaccounted for. in the conditions as you experience them right now, does that dampen your hopes that there will be some miracles, some encouraging stories in the next stay or two? >> oh, absolutely. we're hoping, you know, joplin is the place that we had something called our connor hotel fell many, many years ago and there were three men trapped in it and they found one alive after about five days so i'm

hoping that anyone that is trapped and so forth could be rescued and saved and very few life that has not only been discovered to be lost, i'm hoping no other lives will be lost. and the church is down, it's the place we go to pray, we have a couple of other churches in the community, and i'm sure people will be there gathering not only just for prayers, but also just to make contact with other people and help each other. >> stephen jones is the principal of st. mary's elementary school. sir, we appreciate your time tonight and we wish you the best and you can be assured that you and your community are in our thoughts and prayers as we go forward. appreciate your time, sir. >> okay, well, thank you. >> thank you, sir, take care. we still have a lot more important news to cover. president obama left ireland early today because of a volcano in iceland. and another field of republicans who would like to take the president's job.

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welcome back. a lot of news tonight in addition to the joplin, missouri tornado. here's the latest you need to know right now. president obama is spending the night in london after a jubilant day in ireland. he visited the hometown of his great, great, grandmother on his mother's side. the president had to leave ireland early so air force one could avoid ash from a huge

volcanic eruption in ireland. in philadelphia today, a major roundup of alleged organized crime leaders. the reputed philly boss. the justice department filed suit to stop the proposed merger of h & r block. recapping the day's top story, rescue crews tonight trying to find victims of last night's deadly tornado in joplin, ohio. today seven people have been found alive. the tornado has killed 116 people, making it one of the deadliest tornadoes in u.s. history. another republican officially decided today, he's in. we're coming for what's ours. maybe you didn't hear. but dimes, nickels, even pennies have power now. because the volt charges for about a buck fifty a day. making most commutes gas-free for just a handful of change. so we're taking it back. all of it.

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back to your coverage of the joplin tornado. tim pawlenty who's been moving around the country for months has made it official. he says that president obama has not delivered on hiss biggest promise. >> fluffy promises of hope and change, they don't buy our groceries, make our mortgage payments, put gas in our car, or pay for our children's school clothes or other needs. so in my campaign, i'm going to take a different approach, i'm going to tell you the truth, and the truth is, washington, d.c.'s broken. >> sounds familiar, doesn't it? let's talk presidential politics

over. gloria borger is here along with dana batsh. that was not actually all that impressive. where does he fit in, governor pawlenty is now in, if you look at national polls, he tends to be down single digits and yet when you talk to serious republican strategists, they say romney's the front-runner but don't count him out. >> i talked to one strategist who called him a tortoise. the republican party hasn't whole heartedly embraced him largely because they don't know who he is. he v evangelicals like him, fiscal conservatives like him, they think slow and steady, slow and steady, he's somebody that could eventually do well. >> the reason he's going to get more attention, the reason he will get more now is that people are not running.

halle barbour decided not to run. and governor mitch daniel danie matters affecting us all, our family constitution gives a veto. my family more. translation there is mrs. daniels said no. >> a wife should have a say. any way, look, the reality, i agree with gloria. he's somebody to might be a tortoise but he's also someone who has been pulling low digits because he's been up against people who are better known. he's fiscal conservative and someone who evangelicals like and doesn't have baggage that other high profile candidates have. the health care problem that mitt romney has and personal problems that newt gingrich has and the fact that john huntsman worked for president obama until three weeks ago.

the question is whether or not he can raise money and that's what everyone is looking at. the quarterly report whether he can get dollars. >> you hear this grumbling and you always hear grumblingrumbli. these guys. maybe jeb bush. brother of former president. maybe jeb bush will run. my decision has not changed. i will not be a candidate for president in 2012. i was going to make a joke about maybe a wife veto. let's put this into context. i remember in 1992 everybody said george h.w. bush is unbeatable. we need to get somebody. bill clinton won two terms as president of the united states. >> they were complaining because al gore decided not to run. dick gephardt decided not to run. this governor that nobody knew except for a bad speech or two from the state of arkansas comes in and wins and decides to focus

on the economy and i talked to a republican who worked for george h.w. bush at the time. he said we were so cocky. we were sure we were going to win. the obama people are saying they don't spend to make that mistake. >> when you talk to republicans every day, is that what they are like or do they have grumbles? >> it's not so much grumbles as it is sort of a loud sigh because they're not sure how it will play out. everyone they are looking at now isn't an obvious rock star. the fact that the house majority leader eric cantor said he thought paul ryan could be a good candidate even though paul ryan, the house budget chairman who has a controversial medicare plan, said yesterday on sunday talk shows very clearly i'm not running. i think that speaks volumes as to where they are. one person speaking of congress we need to focus on is michelle bachmann. if she does, iowa is turned

upside down. >> here's my question. every republican i talk to say this is a seminole election. why can't they get the candidates they want to run that the establishment would like to run, why aren't they getting in the race this time? >> who cares about the establishment. who cares about the establishment. >> it's the money people. >> we'll see. a long way to go. governor pawlenty, welcome to the fray. we have a debate in a couple weeks. hope you will be there. dana bash, gloria borger, thanks for coming in. back to joplin when we come back. live pictures there as we go to break. ♪ you love money

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and if crestor is right for you. [ woman ] i love what we've created here together. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astra-zeneca may be able to help. among those volunteering to help in joplin today was grant. he photographed the tornado's destruction and submitted some of those photos to cnn ireport and was at home in nearby webb city when the tornado hit. let me start by asking you, you live nearby. you were not hit correct direct. why did you decide to go to joplin when you heard the big tornado had hit. >> i wasn't sure of the state of joplin at the time. my wife was feeding my 1-year-old son and i said i think i need to go help. i brought my camera with me. i thought i would take pictures of downed signs and missing a i

awnings. my prayers are with people in joplin and i work for the national cancer society and we were forming what we can do to help a cancer patient in the area. if a cancer treatment can't get treated they can call our 1-800 number. the rest of the day was checking on friends. making sure people were okay in my family and the surrounding community and knowing that the search and rescue people are doing what they do best. >> they are dramatic images here. which image struck you the most? >> the image that stuck with me the most was the image where i was up on top of a hill behind

where the walmart used to be. i was looking off to the west. i could see to the horizon and st. john's and destruction and academy and walmart were demolished and a pickup truck someone stuck an american flag in the tailgate. it reminded me of the countless volunteers, men and women in the community and mayors that went out to dig their friends and dig their family out of rubble and make sure they could help everybody they could and to me that image was an image of hope that despite all of the destruction that's here today, we're still going to stand strong and come together as a community and i think the american flag represents that hope very well for us. >> appreciate your time tonight and your submissions to cnn ireport. take care and god bless to taking care of the volunteer work in joplin.