and d.c., is this rick santorum's last stand? can he convince republicans that the race isn't already over? i'm wolf blitzer. you're "in the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> let's begin with the breaking news. tornado emergencies right now in the dallas-ft. worth area. look at these pictures that have been coming in. this was the scene in the dallas-ft. worth area just a little while ago as the sky turns dark. we see a massive funnel cloud draw closer and then this monster tornado descends on a truck park, picks up giant trailers as if they were little toys and sends them flying. look at this. flying through the air. that's just one of the twisters on the ground today. let's go straight to our meteorologist chad myers. >> chad, for viewers who are just tuning in, update them on what has happened over the past hour or so. >> what has happened as two tornadoes, one going up 35w and one going up 35e. you have to understand, from san antonio to austin there's one interstate called interstate 35. north of dallas, there's one interstate going to oklahoma, but right at dfw, part of the interstate goes to ft. worth and part of the interstate goes through dallas and they split. two tornadoes simultaneously, one going up 35e and one going up 35w were making damage on the ground. right now we still have one storm here to the south of dallas proper, probably headed toward mesquite with a tornado warning on it. so this isn't even over for the dallas wort worth area. you called it like toys, i was watching this live, wolf and it felt like i was watching my son throw a train around. that's what it felt like. these are thousands of pounds, 5,000, 10,000 pound trailers, not the tractor part, but the trailers being throne into the sky and that's what it looked like, that organized parking lot, completely disorganized as this tornado did move right up the 35e. that was the dallas storm, but simultaneously there was another storm on the west side of the city in ft. worth. here are those pictures again. picking up the white trailers for a while and then you see it hitting the building and taking the panels off the building and in the air you see debris. this is the debris. this is the stuff that can hurt you while you don't want to be outside when there's a tornado on the ground and then all of a sudden the tornado got to where the trailers were parked and they were picked up and thrown into the sky at least a couple of hundred feet. those are 80-foot trailers, 80 feet long and at least double their length in the sky, wolf. >> you look at those pictures of those trailers and as you say, those are huge trailers flying in the sky landing a few hundred feet away. you can only imagine if it lands on a house or on the store the destruction. we have no injury report yet, death or injuries along those lines. we expect to get those first reports shortly, but have you seen trailers flying around that recently, chaed? >> i've never seen it before. in my life time forecasting, i worked in oklahoma city and heard a school bus, no children in it and picked up being thrown one mile. it was hard to imagine it was possible. it wasn't even an f-4 tornado, but the suction, the sheer massive power that this had picking up these empty trailers is the same power that the tornado will have moving a mobile home. it's widely safe if you're in a mobile home and the sirens are going off, you need to go to a shelter if you can, if you have time because although mobile homes are tied down, those straps simply cannot hold 140 or 1 150-mile-per-hour wind gusts and that's what can happen that tornadoes can roll mobile homes just as you saw them roll and toss these tractor trailers. >> we'll beec spooing, chad, you and me shortly to the dallas county sheriff about what's going on, but these trailers that you can see now the destruction. we've seen massive destruction in residential areas as well. some homes, vifrtually unscathe and others totally destroyed. >> that's how the national weather service will determine the size of this tornado. not by it picking up a large, although empty container and throwing it in the sky. the weather service will go out and see what a real stick-built home with nails and screws, what happened to that home, what happened to the roof, af-2, f-3 taking the roof completely off the home and an f-4 taking the walls off, where an f-5, only leaving literally the slap that the home is built on. we haven't seen anything like that where only the slap is left or only a few walls are left, but when you see the roof gone on some of the homs and even the second floor being taken away on some of the homes you're looking at at least 135 or 1 145-mile-per-hour tornado as it rolled through the residential areas just to the east there of 35e in dallas county. i know for a fact, wolf there is much more damage than what we can show you yet in tarrant county over just to the south of arlington, texas. the storm was bigger. it was on the ground longer, and it moved through more populated areas. we just haven't got a helicopter over there. the weather is simply too bad over there to fly. there's still a tornado warning in effect from just north of arlington, so certainly you wouldn't want to put a helicopter pilot or reporter in danger to get it over there, but i will tell you, as we look at this later tonight when the weather calms down and certainly by tomorrow the images will be more catastrophic. >> and there are those that reports that passengers at dallas-ft. worth, international airport they were told to go into shelters there and they put a ground halt on all of them right now. what do we know about the situation at dallas-ft. worth airport? >> think about any airport, usa. what does the airport jetway look like? it's completely out of glass. they want people to see the airplanes and all of a sudden they can see the airplane take off. that's what an airport looks like and here's a live shot from the airport right now, so when we had that two-inch hail marker on the radar heading trite dfw and also a tornado warning for the airport, everybody needed to get away from the glass. they needed to go into the interior hallways away from what you consider the jetway itself or the walkway to the planes. so everybody had to scramble away from the glass into small corridors and the hallways and you want to get away from the glass and they had their people away from the glass. they kept everyone sif. >> how much warning time for the folks in the dallas-ft. worth area which say very populated area is there, chad? >> well, the people inially burn c-l-e-b-u-r-n-e south and into johnson county, they didn't get a lot of warning. they tornado was on the ground rather quickly, one, two, or three minutes right after the warning was issued, but that warning was issued all of the way up to i-35w into arlington. so the people had at least 30 to 45 minutes. the people to the east also had quite a bit of time because the storm went to the west. these were like two simultaneous ice skaters spinning at the same time going south to north, rolling right through two cities that sit side by side. so the one to the west issued first happened first. the one to the east got a little more warning on it because the weather must have said wow! wait, that storm is already on the ground. we're not going to wait for the east storm to get on the ground and they probably had 20 minutes warning and 20 minutes' notice and i've heard of some cities having to turn the sirens on twice because they had so much warning. people say it must be over because i don't hear the sirens anymore. you have to remember there's no such thing anymore as an all-clear. no one blows the sirens for all clear. a second siren, the second time you hear that siren does not mean you can come out. that means something is still happening, wolf? >> you know what's amazing to me, chad, and you understand this so you can explain this. some home, the roofs are intact and they seem to be okay, but right next door the home is completely destroyed. is that the result of structural differences in those two homes or is it something else? >> it's being hit by the vortex itself been being hit by the tornado where the house just to the right of that house that's almost gone is completely still there. it's why some of those trailers, somebody's tractor trailers are still sitting where they are. the wind speed inside the vortex will be 150 miles per hour inside the tornado itself yet only about 50 yards away, the winds may only be 70. 70 compared to 150 is a drastic difference. it doesn't seem it. it only seems twice as much, but with wind speed and wind force, when you double the wind speed you more than quadruple the force on the home. so the 70-mile-per-hour mark was under the shingles where it was under the 150-mile-per-hour part of the storm may only be 50 to 100 feet away. >> i would like you to stay with me, chad, because ed lavandera, our man on the scene is in his car and driving along. ed, tell us where you are. these are live pictures you are feeding to us right now. i understand the audio is not great, but give us an update. >> reporter: hi, wolf. we're on the southern edge of downtown dallas driving toward the areas that were hardest hit in the southern edge of town earlier today. i just came out of a massive wall of rain that was falling and that seems to have broken up and what we see now is kind of those clouds -- i like to describe them as mangled fingers dropping out of the sky and you are just waiting to see if any of these clouds start taking shape, start spinning and rotating like tornadoes and that's what we're watching closely. we know there are more storm cells that continue to move through the area and we're watching this as closely as we can, but right now we're headed toward the town of lancaster which took a hard hit just a few hours ago with one of the first waves of the storms that came through the area today. i don't know if you can make out through the rain on the glass, but you can see the clouds that are dark up against the lighter shade of clouds in the edge of those storms that really appear to be the most disconcerting as you see them dropping from the sky line trying to wait and see if there's any kind of formation there or any rotation or power to develop these clouds and these storm cells in the tornados and that's what i'm watching closely right now. >> chad will come into this conversation in a moment. does it look like the severe weather -- this horrible weather and these tornadoes are moving away from the dallas area or toward the dallas area? >> i think chad will have a bigger picture idea of what is going on, but my sense is the jeent storm cell is moving from west to east, but within the storm there are storms moving north-northeast and it's those individual cells that are what we're trying to watch closely and they're little spots all over the dallas-ft. worth area, and depending where you are, things will dictate just how serious the situation will be, but here on the southern edge you can really sense that the sky has grown much more ominous and much darker as we start getting closer to it once again. >> let me bring chad into this conversation. chad, i'm sure you're as concerned as am i and the viewers, is ed lavandera driving through the bad weather in the dallas area in any trouble? >> he's not in immediate trouble, but the answer to your question is it moving away or toward dallas? the answer is yes. there was one cell that was rotating earlier that i actually warned ed about. it is moving away from dallas-ft. worth right there, but there's also more weather still to the west of dallas where fort worth is almost in the clear and it will move back into his location, but there's no rotation on this yet. another thing that has happened today, wolf, we've had reports of hail to the size of tennis balls. that will destroy your car and if you're going 70 miles per hour that will destroy your windshield and send glass shards anywhere. not just wind and not just tornadoes, but large hail is possible tonight, as well. >> ed, we're looking at these live pictures that you're feeding us from your vehicle and you're driving in the dallas area right now. there's traffic on the streets. how fast are you going right now? i'm driving south on enter state 35 so it's 35e. i'm driving south out of downtown dallas. it's east of the storm that chad was talking about. we'll try to move the camera to give people a better sense of what we're looking at and you can sense how much more dark and ominous the clouds look on this other side. >> those clouds look awful. >> when we were talking to brooke we were trying to get to the edge of it. d, it's chad. can you hear me? are you south i-20? >> are you south of i-20 or north of i-20? >> reporter: north of i-20. >> wolf, here you go. this is exactly where ed is. here's on the south side of dallas and ed is literally right here. right here on i-35 where a storm has moved off to his east. this was rotating and still has that purple box. that's a tornado warning on that box and that would be for mesquite, even, as well and the next storm coming at him is to the west. this storm here is essentially less severe than the one that just missed him, wolf. >> those clouds -- look at those cloud, chad. that looks ominous to me and these are live pictures. i just want our viewers to understand and appreciate that these are coming from ed lavandera's vehicle. he's driving in the dallas area right now. it breaks up once in a while, but those clouds look pretty awesome and devastating, chad. >> they do. >> i can't get to my dive down radar at this time, but i would wall them more of a wind threat coming in with this next cell. so the winds will probably gust at any of these locations to 50 and 60 meals per hour crossways, cross the qaa are from right to left and trying to blow the car into the median and that storm still to the west, though, is now going into and is now into an area that we call used up. you have to understand there's only so much potential energy in the atmosphere at one spot and just because the storm just went through there about ten minutes ago, a lot of that heat and energy is gone. when you get a thunderstorm it gets cool and that's what's happened where eddie is now. the temperatures have gone down significantly and therefore, reduces the threat of the next storm that comes in as long as it's not an hour or two, because sometimes it can become sunny again and you're back into 80-degree air. i don't think eddie is in 80-degree air anymore and the storm to his west does not have the potential at the one that just used up the air did. >> and this emergency, this crisis in the dallas-ft. worth area continues. if you're watching us right now don't think it's over by any means. ed lavandera is standing by. chad is with us. we'll stay on top of the breaking news. we're not going anywhere. we expect more tornado pictures, new information coming in this hour. it's a real weather disaster that's unfolding right now in the dallas-ft. worth area. a major, populated center. also, other news we're following including the race for the white house. it is heating up dramatically today as president obama for the first time goes directly after mitt romney by name. wow... [ female announcer ] sometimes, all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special. ♪ werther's original caramels. fight both fast with new tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack. >> take a look at this. these are pictures coming in from the dallas-ft. worth area. the destruction, a set of tornadoes pummeled the area and it's still continuing to slam this area right now. folks just begin to go out. be very, very careful, there are nails and destruction all over the place right now. look at this. that is a huge trailer that's simply lifted up into the sky and tossed around as if it was a little toy. those are huge trailers that are flying across the skies as a result of these tornadoes, he's high-intensity tornadoes. chad myers is standing by and ed lavandera is driving into the scene and we'll go back to them in a moment, but i want to check out important news happening as well, including the race for the white house. mitt romney is still in a bitter fight for the nomination. voting is going on right now in wisconsin, maryland and the district of columbia, but the gop front runner is turning his attention to november and so is president obama and it's getting personal. l tough speech for the president and for the first time he's uttering the words "mitt romney". >> reporter: that's right. also for the budget and mitt romney. mitt romney who was getting big endorsements is focusing less on his republican opponents and more on the president. president obama and his republican opponents have been exchanging blows from a distance, but the presidential race has shifted to hand to hand combat. obama versus romney. >> he said the other day that he's doing an historically day job like lincoln, lbj and fdr, and this was not said on "saturday night live." he believes that. >> reporter: as the gop front-runner continued campaigning in wisconsin, president obama was at the associated press luncheon in washington where for the first time in a speech he singled out romney by name, mocking the republican hopeful's support for the controversial ryan budget plan. >> governor romney has said that he hoped a similar version of this plan from last year would be introduced as a bill on day one of his presidency. he said that he's very supportive of this new budget, and he even called it marvelous which is a word you don't often hear when it comes to describing a budget. >> reporter: the former massachusetts governor didn't actually say the budget itself was marvelous, but he used the word in a town hall last night. >> i think it would be marvelous if the senate were to pick up paul ryan's budget to adopt it and fas along to the president. >> the general election may not be officially under way, but it sure sounds like it. >> i'm barack obama, and i approved this message. >> this week the obama re-election campaign rolled out the second national television ad, this time targeting romney by name in a rebuttal to criticism of the energy policy. >> mitt romney stood with big oil. >> the vice president has been taking shots, too, but representative paul ryan whose budget proposal was attacked by the president as, quote, radical and thinly vailed social darwinism while campaigning with romney in wisconsin. >> weir witnessing another day in which we have a president who is really good at giving big speeches. the problem with the president is he's not good at leadership. >> now the republican national committee also went after the president in his speech today saying it was cynical and it was deeply partisan ask it was clear that the president is going to run a campaign on, quote, fear and distortions rather than hope and change. wolf? >> so the gloves are clearly off right now. we've entered a new phase in the president's bid for re-election, dan, is that fair? ? i think that's fair although it's not official yet by the president singling out mitt romney by name and he's talked about other republicans and mitt romney himself so this clearly represents a new mark in his campaign, wolf. >> dan lothian is at the white house. let's dig deeper with our chief political analyst gloria borger. as soon as the president was speaking today in washington, speaker boehner said the from h president has resorted to distortions and partisan potshots. >> each side is