on our broadcast tonight, sudden impact. a new look at the moment of crisis. the massive outbreak of tornadoes. tonight, more bad weather making the clean-up even more difficult. damage control. on the eve of super tuesday, our new nbc news poll shows where the candidates stand and what a bruising primary fight has done to the gop. face to face in the oval office, but what's really going on behind the show of friendship at the white house and the talk of a common enemy? the firestorm -- rush limbaugh versus the law student and the aftermath continues. even after an apology, more big sponsors bail out. and making a difference, women called to serve in an unusual second career starting over and changing the world in the process.

over and changing the world in the process. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. this time there was a lot of notice. across a whole region last friday, a lot of schools let out for the day. a lot of shifts were canceled so workers could be home with their families. yet the massive and early winter tornado season attacked with such force and spread out over such a wide area, tonight we have to report yet another increase in the death toll. 40 americans are now dead in what we now know was a total of 46 separate and confirmed tornadoes. and what so many did not need was further bad weather on top of all of it. lester holt's been covering this since the outbreak. and again tonight, heads up our reporting from henryville, indiana. hey, lester, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. i'm standing in the middle of

the 52-mile-long path of the biggest tornado of that day, the ef4 churning at speeds of 175 miles per hour. what does that translate into? how about a power pole that snapped into thirds? reinforced metal bent like paper around that tree branch. and here's the attic of a house that simply collapsed on top of itself. this didn't take place over a matter of minutes. it happened in a matter of seconds. and survivors are finding that moving on presents a new and different challenge each day. three days after the tornado gutted this small indiana town, this morning, a blanket of snow, adding insult to injury. aaron zoman falls on the slick rubble of his home as he searches for family photos and keepsakes. he's unhurt. >> kind of makes you worry about the rest of the pictures that's left when all that snow melts. >> reporter: today, many of his neighbors who also lost their homes filed into a church to

accept donated food, clothing and supplies. other survivors, like michelle, were already back at work today, trying to reclaim a sense of normalcy. >> i don't want to just sit. you just sit and think. i did that for one or two days and that was too much. >> reporter: this is what's left of michelle's apartment. she snapped this series of photos of the approaching tornado before jumping into a bathtub with her teenage daughter. >> i thought i was going to die, so i figured i would just keep taking pictures until somebody would find my camera in the rubble. >> reporter: more than a dozen people did lose their lives in indiana alone. the 13th victim, a toddler named angel babcock, taken off life support yesterday after being found alive in a field where the bodies of her parents and two siblings were recovered. they had all tried to take cover in neighbor jason miller's trailer home. >> when we felt it hit and go, i think it probably blacked out for everyone. nobody remembers anything after that. >> take it away from us, lord. >> reporter: also hard hit, west liberty, kentucky, where amateur

video captures still more of friday's terror. 21 people died in kentucky and many others are stunned to be alive. >> you couldn't see nothing. and it just like -- i just thought we was going to die. >> don't worry about asking questions. >> reporter: back in henryville, indiana, folks starved for information, crowded into a community meeting late this afternoon. >> the power company is working very hard to get power restored. >> reporter: among the most urgent concerns, the henryville schools which took a direct hit from the tornado that sent walls crumbling and buses flying. kids are out of school right now while officials make plans to try to find room in other nearby school districts to accommodate those 1,200 kids displaced by what happened at the school here in town. we should note as you look around me, that snow that fell earlier today has now melted. they expect it to be warmer tomorrow which will certainly help people as they continue to search for their belongings. >> lester holt remaining on the story tonight, henryville,

indiana, lester, thanks. now we switch gears to the presidential campaign on this eve of super tuesday. the big cluster of gop primaries as many states are in play tomorrow night as the number of states decided so far. and perhaps the biggest prize for a lot of reasons is ohio. nbc's peter alexander is in zanesville tonight. peter, good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian. good evening to you. given the choice of where to host its party tomorrow tonight to give you a sense of the volatility in this campaign, the romney campaign chose massachusetts. that's the state where romney served as governor and it is the one state where advisers say they're certain they're going to win tomorrow. with a fierce tug of war atop the republican field, mitt romney and rick santorum are making their final pitches on the eve of super tuesday. it could alter the course of this campaign. >> give me your vote tomorrow, get out and vote. >> reporter: at stake, 11 states and 424 delegates, more than any other single day all primary season.

the most heavily sought-after prize, the general election battleground of ohio where santorum is appealing to the state's blue-collar base, again today attacking romney's health care overhaul in massachusetts. >> he recommended to president obama that he adopt romneycare as the template for obamacare. and guess what? they did. >> reporter: and at a town hall in youngstown, romney faced unease even among supporters. >> i need an emphatic yes from you that you will repeal obamacare. >> why would i not? there's no -- [ applause ] >> reporter: in a campaign season consistent perhaps only for its inconsistency, with a string of different front-runners from michele bachmann to herman cain to rick perry, romney is arguing that he can finally focus on the general election with a victory in ohio. >> then we can start organizing our effort to make sure that we replace president obama. >> reporter: romney has tried to

focus on mr. obama before, only to be tripped up by a reluctant republican electorate. >> i come to the people of ohio as a candidate who shouldn't be here. shouldn't be here if you looked at any political expert and you look at the money that's been spent, at the airtime that's been given, but we're here for a reason. >> reporter: and for his part, newt gingrich is counting on the south, including his home state of georgia to help him reinvigorate his stalled campaign. ron paul just returning from alaska where he's hoping to get his campaign's first primary win. >> peter alexander on the nonstop trail, happens to be stopping tonight in zanesville, thanks for that. for a snapshot on where things stand heading into super tuesday, our political director, chuck todd, is with us here in new york with our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. interesting numbers yet again. >> it is, the closest thing we have to a national primary. five time zones, 11 states going to be voting tomorrow night.

here's the national republican number, mitt romney at 38% over rick santorum with 32%. and for romney, this is his best performance yet in the nbc/"wall street journal" poll. we had him under 30% for most of 2011. but at 38%, why? he's simply doing better among tea party and core conservative voters. that's helping him a lot. if he is indeed the de facto rominee, as somebody on twitter was calling him today with me, here's how he matches up against president obama, 50% to 44%. it's rare to get to 50% in our poll. we have a tight screen there. why is romney underperforming? look at his personal rating. he's upside down, 28% positive rating. 39% negative rating. the last major party nominee to be upside down at this point in time on the cusp of super tuesday was bob dole in '96. we know how that turned out for him. >> a lot of talk this cycle about how dangerous this has been for the republican party brand, all this infighting extracting a cost. >> we simply asked the question,

how's this process, the republican process, made you more favorable or less favorable to the republican party? look at this. 40% said less favorable. 12% said more favorable. worse off for the republicans, even 23% of republicans were less favorable. just 16% said this process made them more favorable. look at this question we asked. which political party does a better job of appealing to its non-hard core supporters? democrats were chosen by almost 30 points over the republican party. independents favored the democrats on this question by 25 points. even 35% of republicans told us they thought democrats did a better job basically of reaching out to the middle. we also see evidence of this poll of some issues for the republicans among suburban women. >> and yet as we always say, so much could happen between now and then. chuck todd, as always, thanks. in the office of the current president today, a face-to-face meeting over an issue of great and urgent concern -- iran. what to do about the possibility that it could build a nuclear weapon. president obama and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu tried to project an image of a unified front today.

but there are real differences over when and whether to take military action. we get more on this tonight from our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. >> reporter: president obama urged patience before taking military action against iran, promising prime minister netanyahu his commitment to israel's security is rock solid. >> the united states will always have israel's back when it comes to israel's security. >> iran's leaders know that, too. for them, you're the great satan. we're the little satan. >> reporter: but in two hours of talks, including 30 minutes one-on-one without aides, there were critical differences over timing. the president still believes sanctions could work. >> we do believe that there is still a window that allows for a diplomatic resolution to this issue. >> reporter: how long a window? u.s. officials say they would know if iran decides to build a weapon and would then have a year before iran could actually build a bomb. israel sees a much shorter time

line and no margin for error. >> when it comes to israel's security, israel has the right, the sovereign right to make its own decisions. >> reporter: how soon might israel act? >> israel views the window of opportunity as closing this year, maybe even this spring or summer, while the united states sees a much longer time line where things can play out. >> reporter: israel's supporters know that no american president would let israel go it alone, especially not in an election year. mitt romney and the other republicans have been pounding mr. obama for months. >> if barack obama gets reelected, iran will have a nuclear weapon and the world will change, if that's the case. >> reporter: in today's nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, 21% support direct military strikes to prevent iran from getting a weapon. 26% say only in support of israel, not alone. 32% want stronger diplomatic action and sanctions, this while iran's ayatollah khamenei tightened his grip in parliamentary elections, undermining president ahmadinejad, iran's most vocal

hardliner against israel. some see a face-saving way out for iran. the ayatollah recently repeated that nuclear weapons violate islamic law. but officials say no one takes that seriously. but prime minister netanyahu said today to the president he has not made a decision to take military action. brian? >> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom tonight, andrea, thanks. in russia, he's back. vladimir putin who served two terms as russia's president before becoming prime minister won his old job back in yesterday's presidential elections with more than 63% of the vote, despite rampant charges of fraud. nbc's jim maceda remains in moscow tonight where putin has already made clear he is not putting up with challenges to a comeback. >> reporter: brian, vladimir putin is now officially back in the driver's seat. his victory in russia's presidential election was so solid that even taking into account all of the reports of vote fraud -- and there were many -- he would still have won a majority.

and tonight he let some 10,000 anti-putin protesters know he's not going to tolerate them much longer. when a few hundred tried to overstay their allotted two hours to protest on a square here in moscow, riot police swooped in and arrested at least 200, including several top protest leaders. six more years of putin will be a hard pill to swallow for this opposition, which is threatening yet more civil disobedience. there could be a lot more turbulence here ahead. today, his first day as president-elect, he was already talking and acting tough. he told reporters the tear they saw running down his cheek at last night's victory celebration wasn't emotion at all but just a gust of wind, he said. and with putin, again, as president, relations with america could take a major step backwards. he blames the u.s., of course, for supporting these pro-democracy protesters here. don't expect to see any breakthroughs on iran or syria

or missile defense with putin calling the shots. brian? >> jim maceda in moscow. jim, thanks for your reporting. still ahead as we continue, the apology, rush limbaugh says he's sorry about the personal attack on a law student. but tonight, some big sponsors have had enough.

after a written apology over the weekend, rush limbaugh apologized again today on the radio to the young woman he verbally abused over contraceptives and insurance. but the story goes on. we hear tonight from nbc's anne thompson. >> reporter: today, on the air, rush limbaugh said he's sorry. >> i again sincerely apologize to ms. fluke for using those two words to describe her. >> reporter: not once, not twice -- >> i genuinely apologize for using those words. >> reporter: but three times in the first hour of his radio show. apologizing to sandra fluke, the georgetown law student who spoke out in favor of government-mandated contraception coverage. >> i should not have used the

language i did about sandra fluke. >> reporter: this is what he said about fluke last week. >> it means your a slut, right? it means you're a prostitute. >> reporter: limbaugh's verbal mea culpa followed a paper apology over the weekend. but neither stopped advertisers from abandoning the radio host. today, aol joined the growing list of companies suspending advertising on the show. aol's statement echoing what some of the others said, that mr. limbaugh's comments are not in line with our values. republicans aren't rallying around the conservative icon either. >> the big myth about rush limbaugh is he can't deliver a pizza, let alone a vote, a lot of noise. >> reporter: what some call noise makes limbaugh a lot of money. "forbes" magazine says limbaugh's deal with his distributor, premiere networks, pays him more than $56 million a year. premiere in a statement today said it respects limbaugh's right to express his opinions but adds, he did the right thing by apologizing. on "the view" today, fluke dismissed limbaugh's apology

posted on his website. >> i don't think that a statement like this issued saying that his choice of words was not the best changes anything. >> reporter: an apology he says is heartfelt, she says is the result of pressure from sponsors. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, news for parents whose kids play contact sports. bay area !

here's big news from verizon wireless and xfinity from comcast. now get the xfinity triple play and verizon wireless together. call 855-704-7400 to sign up and get a free smartphone. choose one of our hottest phones. verizon wireless and xfinity. tv, home phone, internet and wireless together. the nfl is dealing with an unfolding scandal. coaches who paid bonuses to players to injure their opponents. it's been called pay for pain. in plain english, it's a bounty system. and in truth, this kind of thing has gone on in one form or another at all levels of football for a long time. league officials met today with former new orleans saints defensive coordinator greg williams who arranged cash bonuses. the league is expected to investigate the saints' past three seasons.

punishment could include fines, suspensions and lost draft picks. this is just getting started. this news comes on a day when we learn that even mild concussions in children, mostly sustained during sports, can lead to problems with attention and memory for a year or longer. a new study shows about 20% of kids between 8 and 15 who suffered concussions had lasting problems including inability to concentrate and forgetfulness. steve bridges has died. he made a living as someone else. he was the george w. bush impersonator who got a lot of air play during xliii's two terms in office. he appeared on "the jay leno show." numerous times. famously appeared next to the actual president at the white house correspondents dinner in '06. he underwent over two hours of prosthetic makeup for each appearance. he was found dead in his home in l.a. after returning from a trip to china. it's believed he died of natural causes. steve bridges was 48 years old.

you'll be hearing a lot about this next item over the next 11 months. astronomers have identified a new asteroid about 150 feet across which is headed our way and may come so close to earth that it will pass between us and the satellites orbiting in space above us. there is some debate in the scientific community about whether a direct hit is even possible. most steadfastly say, no. this is called 2012 d.a. 14. they say this will be the closest pass of an asteroid in the history of tracking such things. and, again, while this pass is supposed to miss us, the experts all say there's nothing wrong with making sure your affairs are in order. up next here tonight, taking years of skills and knowledge and using them to change the world later in life.

next at 6:00, years of dui convictions could now be in question. the error that's to blame. and the showdown at the capital. thousands of students converge n inepakt don't pl ing. finally tonight, the growing number of americans who are deciding now's the time to answer the call of john f. kennedy 51 years ago when he formed the peace corps. early volunteers were mostly young. but these days, some are a lot closer to retirement age than college and they want to make a difference. our report from nbc's chris jansing.

>> reporter: in the 30 years mary roberts was an urban planner in the u.s., it was never like this. she now rides a bike to work across the vast expanse of poverty that is malawi. retired and a 58-year-old peace corps volunteer. >> it was one of the things that i've always wanted to do. >> reporter: roberts vividly remembers president kennedy making the call to serve in 1961. >> providing for the establishment of a peace corps. >> reporter: then college and career took priority. so now, like 500 peace corps volunteers over 50, the time seemed right. she manages health and nutrition programs for poor women and children, and they've come to trust her. malawi is typical. the peace corps expects its volunteers to integrate into local life. but the over-50s bring not just professional experience but life experience, in other words, they don't sweat the small stuff. >> it's a little dark in here. but welcome. >> reporter: she now makes do with just occasional electricity and only cold-running water. a simpler life.

>> i just find that i get to slow down and really reflect on what i'm doing, why i'm doing it. >> reporter: so the peace corps is looking for more mature volunteers. >> i'm no youngster. >> reporter: 150 came to this california recruiting session. many had heard jfk's call, too. >> now was the time to take that dream from age 17 and bring it to fruition at the age of 60. >> reporter: after serving in africa and romania, karen is an unpaid ambassador, talking to peace corps prospects. >> i'm about to be an empty-nester. this is really a wonderful opportunity. i can still do something to contribute and serve. >> reporter: it's challenging. older volunteers have to pass a physical, live on a minimal stipend and learn the local language. mary roberts has missed birthdays and graduations but has no regrets. >> you're always going to miss something. but you are experiencing something else. >> reporter: the tribal chief says because of roberts' work fighting malaria and cholera,

children here will live to be adults. not bad for a second career. chris jansing, nbc news, likuni, malawi. that's our broadcast on a monday night as we begin a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. and don't forget our special hour-long primetime coverage of the super tuesday results. hour-long primetime coverage of the super tuesday results. good night. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm raj mathai. there is a standoff at the state capitol as we speak between police and protesters. thousands of students flocking sacramento today to protest rising tuition. and tonight there is rising tension. our nbc chopper above the scene of the state capitol. you see it down below. the students are face to face with officers. all is peaceful now, b