president walks a fine line pledging u.s. support for israel while cautioning against las talk of war with iran. bob orr reports on mr. obama's much anticipated speech. a sunday for prayers and for taking stock in towns hit hard by tornadoes. ann ar werner and elaine quijano have survivors firsthand story. >> it's all gone, we have nothing left. >> jeff: ta days before the supertaos showdown, jan crawford and john dickerson on campaign 2012. and rear view cameras in cars. they can save lives and mark strassmann tells us they'll soon be in every new vehicle sold captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news."

>> jeff: good evening, everyone, i'm jeff glor, as talk rose of a potential israel arei strike on iran, all sides are closely watching two key events. first today, president obama's speech to american supporters of israel, then tomorrow a crucial meeting between mr. obama and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. bob orr joins us from washington with more on this, bob, good evening. >> good evening, jeff, president obama promised today when the chips are down he has israel's back. but in offering support for israel's security, he also tried to tamp down enthusiasm for potential military strikes against iran's nuclear facilities. >> already there's too much loose talk of war. >> reporter: in speaking to the pro-israel lobby aipac president obama walked a delicate line. he pledged the u.s. will stand with israel, if force is ultimately needed to keep iran from building nuclear bombs. >> iran's leaders should have no doubt about the resolve of the united

states. i have said that when it comes to preventing iran from getting a nuclear weapon, i will take no options off the table. and i mean what i say. >> reporter: but he argued with sanctions fighting hard and crippling iran's economy it is not yet time for war. >> now is not the time for bluster. now is the time to let our increased pressure sink in. >> it's the same message the president is expected to deliver tomorrow in a meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu whose made it clear israeli doesn't need u.s. permission to attack iran. the two leaders had an icy summit last may but today netanyahu thanked the president for preserving the military option in the campaign to stop iran's nuclear weapons program. >> most important of all, i appreciated the fact that heed is said that israel must be able to defend itself by itself against any threat. >> while israeli and u.s. officials agree, iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons, they disagree over the imminence of the threat.

intelligence analysts say iran has not yet decided to build a bomb but the developing capability has israel on edge. john alterman is an all list for the center for strategic and international studies. >> israel has a history of using military options because they feel that just reinforcing their deterence is one of the most important things they can do. i don't think the israelies have made a decision. i don't think israeli decision makers know what the answer is going to be. >> when netanyahu speaks to aipac tomorrow he's expected to issue another strong warning to iranment but frankly the more important words will come earlier in the day, privately, when he meets here at the white house face-to-face with the president. >> jeff: bob orr, thank you. >> for more perspective on this story we are joined in washington by cbs news national security analyst juan zarate. good evening to you. a question a lot of people are asking, if israel were to strike iran, what does that mean for the u.s.?

>> jeff, the united states has a long-standing commitment to defend its ally, israel, and this administration has reiterated that commitment. i think as well the reality is that iran will assume that the u.s. was apart of any attack. so will likely try to attack the united states or engage in reprisals. so the u.s. is lakely to get pull mood any war between israel and iran anyway. so the u.s. will be looking to ensure it's doing everything possible to make those attacks effective. >> jeff: juan, the hard-liners in iran lead by chy mine won fairly convincee-- convincingly, i wonder what they think about this chatter. >> reporter: the regime does not want to appear to be bowing to pressure. they will certainly use the talk of war to their advantage to wrap the flag of nuclear nationalism around them and strengthen their regime. >> juan zarate, also in washington tonight, thank you very much. >> thanks, jeff. >> jeff: by the way, the official results of today from iran's election show barkers of the supreme leader won more than 75% of seats easily defeating supporters of president

ahmadinejad. reform candidates were virtually absent from the ballot. now those devastating tornadoes in the midwest and south at least 38 people have died including four members of the babcock family in indiana who died on friday. and then we got this sad news, a fifth and final member of the family, 15 month old angel babcock died today of her injuries. she had been ripped from her home and found alive in a field yesterday. tornadoes hit seven states over two days. henreyville, indiana, was hit by two tornadoes and all but destroyed. elaine quijano begins our coverage there ♪ ♪ . >> reporter: there's still no power and no heat at st. francis xavier catholic church in henreyville but at morning mass parishners made sure there was music. ♪ ♪ . >> reporter: father steven schaftlein spoke of healing.

he told his congregation that this town of 1900 residents has a choice, hope or des prayer-- despair. >> we can choose to begin anew, and either see this experience as the end or a new beginning. >> reporter: starting over will take time. the national weather service reports two tornadoes hit henreyville friday afternoon. one of them a powerful ef-4 on a scale of 5 with winds in excess of 165 miles an hour o raked the ground for some 50 miles. >> today crews pull mood town repair pog we are lines and clearing up wreckage. >> insurance agent lynn murphy carter was hard at work too. >> thank you so much. >> she's been meeting with customers at the business her father started. >> everybody is like family. i didn't want to cry, but i love my people, i mean i love them. i love every one like they are my neighbor, my brother, my sister. >> and right now her priority is helping people

take care of their home. >> we're going to be okay, you know. there are people that aren't going to be okay because there's nothing we can do about that. but the ones of us lucky enough to be standing here right now i think are going to be okay. >> donation of food, water and clothing have poured into this community. and hundreds of volunteers are now here helping with the cleanup effort, jeff. >> jeff: all right, elaine, thank you. kentucky also suffered some of the worst damage, that includes the town of west liberty. today residents were beginning to pick up, and also sharing stories of survival. anna werner is there. >> reporter: the cleanup of an entire town began this morning. and some residents got their first look at what the storm left behind. paul ferguson had watched from across town friday as the tornado swept over his home with his fiancee and three young children inside. >> i mean i seen the tree go down. i seen it go from there, to

here and the tree go down once literally watched your house being destroyed. >> with my kids and fiancee. >> his family survived. the house did not. and ferguson had no insurance. nearby brenda fannin picked through the bits and pieces of her beauty shop. in this pile of degree, finding her father's antique barbering tools counted as the victory of the day. >> downtown west liberty stayed off limits for most people as the national guard and emergency workers sorted through the remains of the business district. the national weather service now says the twister that tore through this small town was an ef-3 marked by winds with building toppling speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. this pile of rubble used to be the three story west liberty christian church. it had stood on this spot since 1910. >> i never thought anything could take that church. >> the pastor here says the building may be gone but he's telling his

congregation that hope and faith survive. for at least one man, that's true. paul ferguson. >> it was all gone. i'm a firm believer. i wasn't some of before but i am now. >> for as much help as they do have here, the american red cross says they have two distinct needs tonight. one is nursery water to make formula for babies. and the other is food for everyone, jeff. >> jeff: i hope they get that help, anna werner, thank you very much. in campaign 2012 the latest contest was yesterday yesterday's nonbinding caucuses in washington state. mitt romney was the easy winner with 38% of the vote. ron paul narrowly edged rick santorum for second place, 25 to 24. newt gingrich got 10% of the vote. next up is the supertuesday contest. across ten states including ohio where jan crawford is on the trail in dayton tonight. jan, good evening to you. >> well, good evening, jeff, the candidates are out

campaigning across the country. and what will be their last petition for both in the biggest test to come. rick santorum met voters in tennessee. mitt romney made his case in georgia. ron paul was headed to alaska, and newt gingrich made the rounds on the sunday talk shows. it's a sprint to the finish on tuesday when 419 delegates and 10 stating are up for grabs, more than all 9 other contests so far combinedded. >> romney now has the edge. he's one of the last five races including washington state yesterday. and now has 187 delegates followed by santorum with 65, gingrich at 30, and ron paul with 20. but that's a long way to a 1,144, the number needed to clinch the nomination. santorum says can get there if he and gingrich would stop splitting the conservative vote. >> if you continue to combine the votes that congressman gingrich and i get, you know, we are-- we're doing pretty

well. in michigan we would have won easily. >> ironically just six weeks ago then front-runner gingrich was suggesting santorum should quit so gingrich could have all 9 conservative votes. santorum refused and went on to win colorado, minnesota and missouri. >> suddenly he very cleverly went to three states nobody else went to. and he became the media darling and bounced back. >> reporter: on "face the nation" gingrich predicted a victory tuesday in his home state of georgia. he said the race would remain unsettled for a while because romney can't convince republicans he's a real conservative. >> he can't convert it into closing the deal because there is a breathtaking scale of dishonesty, underlying the romney campaign. >> reporter: but now romney has got all the momentum. he's leading in the national polls and he's got the big endorsements and today he picked up another one, house majority leader eric can tor threw his support behind romney but jeff, the question is have voters give him their endorsement on tuesday. >> jeff: we will see, all

right, jan, thank you. for more now on supertuesday we are joined by our political director john dickerson. john, good evening to you. it's been up and down for him for months. i wonder how much clarity mitt romney might get on tuesday. >> well, he might actually get some clarity in a race where it's been so hard to find. if he can come off of his recent wins and then win in ohio on supertuesday along with those other states he's likely to win, virginia and massachusetts, will able to say he has put to rest concerns about his candidacy among conservatives and is ahead in the delegate, that will put him in a strong position to argue if his opponents will continue they won't be able to get more delegates and it will only hurt romney in the general election. >> speaking of those s there any indication that some them might potentially drop out after supertuesday? >> well, they say, of course, newt gingrich and rick santorum say they're not dropping out but if newt gingrich only wins georgia and not too well anywhere else t would be hard to

argue there is a path forward. rick santorum has to do well enough on tuesday to say that he is the sole conservative to romney. but even if he can be that leading alternative to a mitt romney. he still needs to get more delegates and after supertuesday that may be a digger long shot. >> a long tough slog to the nomination continues. john, thank you. later, the push to have rear view cameras on all new cars. an historic hawaiian home in the kilauea volcano's path, and a decisive result in today's presidential election in russia. those stories when the "cbs evening news" continues. greater risk of a stroke.es i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35%

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no, not this one where vladimir putin strolled to another election victory to become a three-term president and counting. this one where top teams from moskow and st. petersburg began to fight it out in the end of season hockey play-off. the stakes were high, the competition intense, emotions overthrowing,'s rink, not at the polling stations. yet the vote and the game had much in common. politics in russia is like hockey. a contact sport, except one team only seems to make the rule, team putin. three of the four other presidential candidates were tired faces putin had beaten before. and the other, billionaire industrialist mikhail prokhorov was widely rumored to be a criminal lynn plant to split the opposition vote. to counterfears of ballot box stuffing and other election rigging, web cameras were installed in the more than 90,000 polling

places as election organizers r of the election commissions at the local level. so it was not a good report card. >> reporter: election observers say they did witness irregularities at this vote but probably fewer of them. perhaps that's because vladimir putin was so far ahead in opinion polls he didn't need to cheat. he remains a popular figure in much of russia and was seen as the candidate of stability. the only suspense here has been over the size of the victory margin. in the end, the putin vote was put at just upwards of 63%, large enough for an absolute majority but not so large that he can be accused of massive vote rigging. it's about 10 points down on its last time he ran. still the arguments don't

matter. vladimir putin is the one and future president of russia. >> jeff: mark phillips in moskow, mark, thank you. ahead here it is an historic house so what happened when the kilauea volcano came to call?

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>> jeff: disaster in the republic of congo, an explosion at a munition dump killed at least 200 people. the blast rip add part a neighborhood in the capitol brazzaville. hundreds more were hurt. the explosions broke windows up to three miles away from the blast site. hawaiia kilauea volcano has wiped a nearby neighborhood off the map now. for years lava has cent into the community of royal gardens destroying homes one by one. now the place where 200 used to live is gone. the last resident was evacuated just before molten rock destroyed his home. the girl scouts of america mark their 100th anniversary later this month and among those joining the celebration is 111-year-old those joining the celebration is 111-year-old amelia millie england of new bedford, massachusetts. we noticed this today, she joined her local troop back in 1914. and still considers herself

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>> jeff: finally the government said last week it's temporarily delaying the mandate that rear view cameras are in every vehicle sold but it is coming at the end of this yeeferment with the reasons why, here's mark strassmann. >> two-year-old cameron gulbransen was killed in his own driveway in 2002 when an suv back up ran him over. the driver was his own father. pediatrician greg gulbransen. >> the pain doesn't get less t just changes. everyone was naive. i was naive. hi no idea. i was a pediatrician going over home safety for children, you know, when they are born about watch out for extension cords and watch out for all the little things and keep your cabinets lock. i never told them to get a camera. >> reporter: drivers in ever larger vehicles killed 448 children in backup accidents between 2006 and 2010. more than double the previous five years. >> cbs new transportation safety analyst mark rosenker explains how the accidents

generally happen. >> it's called the bye-bye syndrome when in fact children will run out to say good-bye to their uncles, to their parents to their grandparents and the drivers did not see them. >> rear view cameras are standard in 45% of 2012 passenger vehicles. from luxury sedans to this honda cr-v which sells for 22,000 dollars. >> even a small suv like this honda has a big blind spot. in the size view mirrors all's clear. nothing in the rearview mirror either. but if i actually back up right now look what's at risk behind the suv. that stroller, right in the blind spot. which is easy to see with this rear view camera. >> for a five foot 8 driver the average rear blind zone is 13 feet long for a midsized sedan. 19 feet long for a large suv, 24 feet long for a pickup truck. >> the expected dped ral mandate for came flas all new vehicles by the end of 2014 is part of a 2008 congressional car safety

reform bill. named for cameron gulbransen. >> if it wasn't for him this wouldn't have gotten through. so i would say to him, you know, i'm proud of you, look what you did. i'm devastated. i'm so sorry, but we did something. >> the average cost of adding the car camera sunday $200. eliminating the rear blind zone could save an estimated 112 lives a year. >> mark strassmann, cbs news, atlanta. >> jeff: that is the "cbs evening news" tonight. later on cbs, "60 minutes." i'm jeff glor, cbs news in new york. scott pelley will be here tomorrow. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org captioned by media access group at wgbh

burning building. and why it took firefighters so long to gain control. . how people tried to save their stuff from a burning building and why it took firefighters so long to gain control. a set of occupy demonstrators with very specific demands. what they say was worth the walk from oakland to sacramento. and political heavy weight on his way to the bay area. what israel's president is expected to discuss and what president obama says about possibly attacking iran. cbs 5 eyewitness news is up next. ,,