magnitude. short jolt. only lasted for a few seconds. from what we understand, no damage. but, yeah, very unsettling this morning, about 5:30 this morning, carol. >> unsettling but i dare say californians are pretty used to this, right? >> very used to it. but anytime it happens, you know, this early in the morning, people are a little bit more unsettled as people are getting ready, you know, for their day. we know that it's standard operating procedure for them to check bridges and things like that and the subway system. and from what again we understand no damage at all. >> all right, dan simon. thank you so much. like a war zone or an end of the world movie. that's how people are describing tornadoes that tore through the midwest and the south. here is the latest. the violent storms are blamed for 39 deaths in five states. national guard troops are now on the ground in kentucky and indiana. fema has also dispatched teams to those states to begin damage assessment. but one state is holding off on asking for federal help. ohio governor john kasich says first the state wants to assess the damage for themselves before asking the obama administration for assistance. cnn's athena jones is in tornado-ravaged henryville, indiana. athena, i want to start with the ohio governor's decision not to ask federal authorities to come into the states to survey the damage. and why he did that. >> reporter: well, from what we understand, carol, there's not as much damage in ohio as there is here in indiana. as you can see behind me, just this bus through this home. so ohio authorities right now are assessing the damage themselves. they believe at the moment that they are going to be able to handle it. of course, that could change at any moment. so they are holding off. what we understand, they are holding off on asking for federal help until they know that they need it, until they know they can't handle it themselves. as you know, the president, president obama, has spoken with the governors of each of the affected states, and said that fema stands at the ready. the federal government and his administration is monitoring the situation. and they stand ready to help with anything that they are asked. they want to make sure that any unmet needs are met. they can help meet them. but right now, the ohio governor hasn't asked for help but that could change at any moment, carol. >> the reason i ask you that is because there are liberal blogs out there attacking the republican governor of ohio, who say that he's not allowing federal authorities to come in because of some political reason. >> well, certainly you can see politics can come into play here when you think about the idea of smaller government, the idea in many states they want to see a smaller federal government. they want to be able to handle things themselves on the state level, whether it's disaster relief or schools or health care or other issues. and so in some way, if that we don't know if the ohio governor isn't going to ask for aid, but that may be coming into play, the whole idea that a governor of a state will say, we want to handle it ourselves. we don't want the federal government to help because we believe in small government. that's certainly one of the political themes we have seen a lot in recent years, carol. >> indiana is a different story, though. the damage is more widespread there. fema is already on the ground, right? >> that's right. and we also have about 250 national guard troops who have been deployed here to help out. we just actually saw a red cross van go by offering disaster relief and assistance. and we have seen a lot of people coming together, whether it's churches or disaster relief organizations coming together to gather goods and water, food, anything that people need to try to help people out. you can see around me here this bus went right into the building there. this was a restaurant. the owners leased it just for the last month. we spoke yesterday with the woman whose parents actually started the restaurant some 20 years ago. it moved here. the restaurant had only been open for about a month. next to me there's also a lot of damage at an auto body shop. you can still see some of the cars underneath the damage. and of course the snow that's fallen overnight doesn't make things any easier when you've got this much debris to go and collect. and so that's what they are going to be dealing with here today. we spoke with the state police a little earlier today. they say that about half this town of henryville now has electricity and gas. but of course you can see that there are a lot of these buildings that no one is going to be in them anyway. so there's not a lot of activity right now. but we expect more cleanup to go on today. >> athena jones live from henryville,in. a kentucky town nearly wiped out by a powerful storm system is facing a new problem this morning. meteorologist rob marciano is following that part of the story in west liberty, kentucky. good morning, rob. >> reporter: good morning, carol. the only vehicles that have been in this area still emergency vehicles and a lot of power vehicles, power company vehicles. residents still not allowed to come here. there goes another power company truck. they are trying to get some juice going on here because power and communication have been the two biggest obstacles here in west liberty. there haven't been many buildings that have gone untouched. at one point, this storm was a mile in width. only the most sturdy standing buildings like that one down there, that's the courthouse, cement and brick, they have actually spent a ton of money renovating that. so that's heartbreaking to see the damage there. but the problem with the snow, and it's still snowing now. we got about three inches of snow on the ground. it eased up, but it's snowing again. nails, glass, sharp pieces of metal, that's dangerous to begin with. now it's hidden, slick, and cold. it's dangerous again and residents won't be allowed back in here today. they have heavy equipment to come in here today. we caught up yesterday with a cnn hero who leads a response team cleaning up debris with specially designed equipment just for storm debris. >> time is of the essence. you know, there's a lot of people that live in this small country town. they want to get back in here. they want to get to their home sites. they are looking for photos, important documents, anything they can salvage. but they can't actually get through the roads and so we're going to have to clear those roads. and we want them to be safe. this truck is specifically designed just to handle storm debris. it's got a crane mounted on the back of it. and in the front of the crane, it's got a huge claw that can come out of this large box and actually grab storm debris because storm debris is very tricky to deal with. after a tornado takes a home or a commercial building or like what we have here, a bank, it just twists everything together. and it's very hard to handle. so you need claws to specifically grab the debris. >> yeah. it's tricky. trickier now that we've got snow piled up on top of that. one of the other reasons they are not letting people in, carol, today is because not only the snow, but they're going to start demolishing some of the buildings. there's just no sense in keeping them around. and on main street, that's closely packed and really tight, it's tough to get around. so west liberty, kentucky, one of the hardest hit with this. the state of kentucky the hardest hit. 21 of the 39 fatalities in this state, and they are reeling. the worst outbreak here since at least 1974. >> and snow on top of it. thank you, rob. to find out more on how you can help those affected by the tornadoes, go to cnn.com/impact. you'll find all the organizations and ways you can help those in need. that's cnn.com/impact. did you know tomorrow was super tuesday? i bet you did. there's a lot at stake in tomorrow's super tuesday primaries. a total of 419 delegates up for grabs. the gop candidates are making a final push in the 10 states holding contests. the results could clarify the picture for a nominee. our political editor paul steinhauser is joining me now. i know you have new polls, but do you really think this will be the definitive answer as to who the nominee will be? >> not the definitive answer, but if mitt romney has a good night i think it gives him some more room between him and the other rivals for the gop nomination. and, yeah, i do have new polls. we'll start with ohio. you know that state well. not all super tuesday states are created equal. ohio seems to be the most important. look at the numbers on the left. for the first time, a brand-new poll has mitt romney on top, three points over santorum. that's within the sampling error basically all knotted up. but a week ago, rick santorum had a seven-point lead. we are seeing momentum shift to mitt romney. now in tennessee, a southern state without newt gingrich, so it's more evenly up for grabs. and rick santorum, he used to have a double digit lead in tennessee. now down to just four points, which again basically all knotted up. i guess the theme is momentum moving to mitt romney. >> why do you think that is? >> a couple of reasons. a lot of ads. the super pac that is supporting him has been blanketing the states with ads. santorum, gingrich, and paul not really keeping up. but also the wins last week in michigan and arizona are helping. momentum really an important factor. >> what about endorsements? mitt romney got a big endorsement from eric cantor. he was on "starting point" this morning and this is what he had to say. >> well, mitt romney is really the only man in the race who has a plan, a bold pro growth plan, to create jobs and get this economy back on track. and this is a central issue for this election. it is about how we're going to make the economy better, how we're going to get small businesses back in gear to begin to grow jobs. >> ok. you know how i feel about endorsements. i don't think they much matter. but he is a big tea party guy, eric cantor, and the tea party hasn't exactly been supportive of mitt romney. could this help him as well? >> you just nailed it. seriously. endorsements don't matter that much this cycle, but, yes, you add the endorsement by cantor and senator coburn of oklahoma, another very conservative, and it could help romney with a part of the base he has not done very well with. >> is part of the reason that rick santorum's surge has sort of ended because of the things he said about a college education, about barack obama being a snob for wanting to send your kids to college or have extra education at the end of high school? do those things matter in a state like ohio? >> yeah. and in a state like ohio where it's more about the economy, it may hurt rick santorum. in a state like tennessee or oklahoma where social conservatives are so important, even here in georgia, it may help rick santorum. one thing, though, if santorum does win ohio, we'll be talking very differently on wednesday morning, won't we? >> yes, we will. paul, i know you're going to stick around. thanks so much. tomorrow, super tuesday, noon eastern. join us online. we'll host the cnn election roundtable, an insider chat on the implications of tuesday's results on the presidential race. that's at cnn.com/roundtable. then join us here on cnn tomorrow night when the votes start coming in. we'll start with the special edition of "john king, usa" followed at 7:00 with live coverage of the results. coming up this morning, the debate over iran's nuclear program. president obama urges diplomacy. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. 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[siri] from now on, i'll call you 'rock god'. ok? oh dear... oh dear! ohh dear... i'm not sure exactly what happened here last night. i was out helping people save money on their car insurance. 2 more! you're doing it! aren't they doing great?! hiiiiiii!! come sweat with me! keep going richard. keep sweating!! geico. fifteen minutes could save you sweat! sweat! fifteen percent or more on car insurance. the next hour, president obama wades into high stakes debate with the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. the u.s. is urging israel to hold off at least for now on launching any military strikes against iran and its nuclear program. cnn's brianna keilar is at the white house where the men will meet, and the two aren't exactly close. so how high is the tension between them really? >> reporter: you know, carol, you know and we have some pretty serious examples that we've seen even in the basket year or so to show that. i think you look somewhat separately at the relationship between israel and the u.s., which is certainly very strong. but of course may also be at this critical moment where this allegiance may be tested. but then you also look separately at the relationship between president obama and prime minister netanyahu, which at times has been frosty to say the least. we saw last year prime minister netanyahu essentially lecturing president obama in the oval office. you can imagine that didn't go over so well here. and we heard of president obama being caught by an open mic, sort of bemoaning his dealings with netanyahu. are they best buddies? no. but they must get along. and i think what you'll see today in these meetings is obviously publicly a very positive face. i think that you'll see both men put on their dealings. and then you'll see a whole lot of spin behind the scenes as both sides really try to frame what they want to see happen going forward, carol. >> so what does president obama want to hear? >> reporter: you know, i think what he wants to hear and we've seen him say this publicly, carol, is that he wants some restraint on the part of israel. he wants to know obviously that the u.s. will not be pulled into some altercation can iran, that by the president's measure may be unnecessary depending on the point when it could happen. but you also have israel that is seeking some clarity. prime minister netanyahu wants some clarity from president obama on sort of what is the trigger for a military strike on iran. you've heard president obama talking about how all options are on the table, and that includes militarily. but there are sort of different triggers here for israel and for the u.s. israel's trigger is this capability that iran could have for creating a nuclear weapon. it appears for the u.s. that seems to be more building a nuclear weapon, although it's a little blurry. president obama hasn't really made a line in the sand there, and certainly that's something that the prime minister would very much welcome and may press the president on, carol. >> brianna keilar live at the white house. thanks. on a whirlwind tour of the caribbean, prince harry charms crowds in the bahamas. but will he receive the same warm welcome in jamaica? 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well, prince harry didn't disappoint. he came to this street festival. he ate, he drank, he even danced. the next morning, harry hit the great outdoors, climbing to the top of the mayan temple. a prince clearly with a head for heights. this was a whirlwind tour of less than 24 hours, and before we knew it, harry was in the bahamas, and in tropical military uniform. a quick change, and time to tease his brother william about landing a trip to paradise. >> i'll certainly be showing off about it to my brother and sister-in-law when i return home. >> you met diana when she came to the bahamas. >> yes. >> and now you're going to meet harry. >> right, her baby. >> the third generation. >> right. so it's wonderful. >> reporter: then he was off again. it's difficult keeping up with him. i think this is a first for a press pass, rushing to the airport to catch up with prince harry, who is always one step ahead. we're still chasing him. we are now going by boat on the way to harbor island in the bahamas, hopefully getting there before him. harry, meanwhile, was at breakneck speed in his boat, until it broke down. luckily, there was a spare. we managed to beat him to harbor island, this small oasis is a paradise where they went wild for their prince. after wowing this usually sleepy group, he went off accompanied by his mother's bridesmaid, india hicks, who helped show him around the island. ok. that was max foster. he is live in nassau today where harry was well received as well. but the next stop could be different? >> reporter: yeah. absolutely. since this trip was announced, a new prime minister was sworn in in jamaica, and she swore to get rid of the monarchy, to get rid of that link with the queen of england, who is also the queen of jamaica, the bahamas, belize. we'll see them shaking hands. but we saw a similar thing last year when the duchess of cambridge and the duke of cambridge, william, went to quebec in canada. they are also generally anti-monarchy but actually were pro the young prince and the young duchess. we'll see if harry manages to turn things around in jamaica. he is a popular guy. went down well here. he'll probably go down well with young people in jamaica. but also in jamaica, we'll see a pretty good harry moment, i think. he'll meet up with usain bolt, who is practicing for the olympics. he's going to race him on the track. we'll bring you that live tomorrow, carol. but loads of great peculiars comi picture s coming in. racing usain bolt. that's crazy. >> i bet he's going to lose. >> i pretty much think so. maybe he'll let him win. >> yeah, maybe he'll let him get a big head start. thank you, max. the biggest bailout of the insurers, aig, is now taking steps to pay it back. allison kosik has an update. good morning. what aig is doing is taking another step to get out from under the thumb of the u.s. government, so aig is selling more assets to pay us, the u.s. taxpayer, back. now it's been doing this for a few years now. but today's step is a big one it's going to go ahead and sell some of its stake in an asian life insurer called aia, and analysts say this sale should raise about $6 billion, and aig says it will take that money and pay back taxpayers. now, keep in mind aig still owes about $50 billion. so after selling this stake in aia, carol, the rest is supposed to be recouped when the government sells its 77% stake in aig shares which reportedly c