anyway. but he is. he's talking taxes. he's releasing his tax returns today. but you know what, early start has the early look. we got all those facts and details of why everybody is up in arms. what did he make and paid out? >> the florida debate. it was a little nasty and personal. romney is saying no more mr. nice guy. going after gingrich with gloves off. >> tivo or pop the popcorn now. it's the annual state of the union. even though one of his terms didn't have a state of the union. we're going to have that tonight. what is president obama going to do? a campaign speech or a blueprint for the economy? >> this was breaking news yesterday. the deadly tornadoes in alabama. it's the second time for those folks in less than a year. the red cross is responding. there are two people dead, hundreds of homes destroyed in that area. pictures are difficult to see. but up first here, we're going to start with the tale of the 10 o 40s. in less than four hours, the mitt romney camp will release the tax returns. >> the post got a sneak peek at it as well. he made $21.6 million in 2010. i don't know that that's such a big surprise. but how about this part. he paid just over $3 million in tacks. while that sounds like a lot of money, and it is. his effective tax rate is 13.9%. so while you're digesting that, christine romans has been breaking it down and digesting it as well. i don't know that it's a surprise. >> i would say it's not surprising but revealing. we're getting a better look at reuters and got a sneak preview of the numbers. we will see them at 8:30 this morning when the romney camp releases them. 2010 in detail, this is a vastly wealthy man. someone who made a huge fortune. he paid -- look, he made $12.6 million in capital gains just in 2010. almost $5 million in ordinary dividends and $3.3 million in taxable interest. all that stuff, the reason i point this out for 2010, that's tax add 15%. not the 35% if he was making his money from working. that's really important here. let's look at what's in them. income from profits, dividends, interest as i was saying from investments. he made $7 million over two years in charitable contributions. mostly to the mormon church. you will not be able to criticize him for not tithing. over two years -- >> 10% of his salary. >> more like 15% what he paid to charity. he did reveal here that he had a swiss bank account but reuters reporting that he closed that recently. he no longer has a swiss bank account. let's look at a full extent of his assets. he's worth between 190 and $250 million. he's got an ira worth between 20 and $101 million and a blind trust for his wife. about a $10 million blind trust. there are three family trusts and a foundation. we'll be spending days, if not weeks going through the more than 500 pages of information to figure out the swiss bank account, there are assets in the cayman islands. tax advantages there. looking to see all of this. one last thing to show you, quickly. how it compares with newt gingrich and the president himself. >> look. you can't really compare them. i will say that. mitt romney is so wealthy, he is so rich, i mean, you look at barack obama and michelle obama, they paid much less in taxes last year because they made a lot less. if you look at the wall here, we'll show you what it looks like actually. mitt romney made an awful lot more. you can see that the obamas made about $21 million in income with a $3 million tax there. 13.4% tax rate. you look then at the gingrichs. $3 million in income, total tax of $994,000 and 31% effective tax rate. then you look at mitt and ann romney. you can see from 2010, their income there, total tax and effective tax rate. that's something to look at to give you a sense of how these compare. i think that top line number for the 2010 tax return, more than a million dollars in 2010 over the course of a couple years, they made an awful lot of money. >> in every part of might have body, haven't -- it's like he hasn't run for president before. >> he paid a 15% tax rate. we know he's the 1%. he has said this is not a country of a 99% and 1%. in this country, we want people to have the opportunity to be able to make a lot of money. he's also said he didn't inherit his money. he earned his money. i mean, he worked for a long time at bain capital in private equity. we're learning more about what they do with companies. how you make money in america. it's almost the dna of the american financial system. he's an example of someone who made it. but i will tell you that the narrative in this country right now is about income inequality. he has an awful of lot of money and he doesn't pay 35% income tax, margin rate, because he's making his money with money. we tax that differently than actual work in this country. >> income inequality, me thinks we'll hear about that tonight. >> i do too. mitt romney was admitting that he fumbled on some of the debates when it was tax pressure. >> absolutely. >> he thinks it cost him south carolina. he made all that money, as christine mentioned, long time ago at bain and it continues to make its money. all the proceeds. does he need to release the returns from the '80s and the '90s? let's dig in. political editor paulstein house with us. from d.c., democratic strategist maria car doen a. paul, i'll start with you. a lot of people said the tax issue was the achilles heel for mitt romney. has it gone away because he's released two years of tax returns or has is been made worse because, as christine said, inincome inequality will be a big topic tonight. >> it will be a big topic tonight. right now mitt romney is running for the republican nomination. let's take it one step at a time. on that side, he's okay. listen, republicans are about making money. they're about capital itch. he defended himself strongly. that was number 18 by the way. >> i'm counting. paul i'm counting every single one of them. gi to bed at 5:00 in the afternoon and stay up until 8:00 for the beginning of this thing. >> he talked about the taxes last night at the debate and he was strong in defending himself and in the debate. going on the offense. he was on defense last week. he was trying to turn it around. guys? >> i keep wondering, if he's going to turn it around by saying it's the american dream or something like that. last night, lenny mcalester this sounded like the gloves were off because it was a different mitt romney on the stage. let me play a quick piece of how he's now going to, i think, characterize newt gingrich going forward and the big word, disgrace. have a look. >> the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994. and at the end of four years he had to resign in disgrace. in the 15 years after he left the speakership, the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in washington. >> is that the equivalent of getting a spine and really digging in? >> he has to. he's going to use the word disgrace and say influence peddler. this started saturday night from speaker gingrich after he announced his victory in south carolina. you're going to hear him use the word elite. if you thought he was using it on saturday night, after these tax returns came out and they're going to have more information coming out today, wait until you see houmt the word elite is used by newt gingrich over the next several days leading up to next tuesday. there's going to be a contrast. they're going to try to show gingrich as erratic and ineffective which is why gingrich was so silent yesterday. he wasn't on the attack yesterday to deflect that krit cinch. on the flip side, you're going to see gingrich try to paint romney as elitist and detached and somebody that made money off the bat to people struggling in this economy. gingrich is going to try to identify himself with the 99 and make romney out to be the 1 that everybody is rallying against from the tea party to the occupy movement. >> i come back to notion of the american dream. i know all about the american dream. i'm a big fan of it. maria, is it the battle against the american dream for obama or going against perhaps the ethics? i kind of trying to figure out where romney's achilles heel and gingrich's falls into the democratic strategy. >> it's going to be about fairness and frankly, about the american dream and how the american dream needs to be available and open for everybody. which right now, a lot of people don't believe that the american dream is available to them because of the policies that have been put in place by frankly, republicans two who do focus on the billionaires, the millionaires shall the folks like romney. the criticism of what romney did at bain capitol is not a criticism against capitalism. democrats love that as much as the other guy. if you're heading something like bain capital where your sole focus is to make money and make your investors wealthy, don't run for president to tell us you are the one best suited to look out for the american worker and the economy when that was never what you did to begin with at bain capital. that, i think, is the argument, the underlying argument that democrats are going to make that this president is going to make that romney is somebody who is absolutely out of touch with what american workers need, with what the american economy need in order to put the middle class first and not to put the 1% first. >> all i can think is democrats are licking their chops, jeb bush suggested that the firing squad is circular with this primary battle. paul and lenny and maria, thanks so much. we have a lot more to talk about. christine, these are the kinds of things that the numbers are going to get really chew yrk. >> actually, we're talking the number. earlier we were showing what the president and mrs. obama made. i thought the numbers seem a little odd. >> i don't think it's right that mitt romney made only a million -- somehow we superimposed with the president and his wife made and mitt romney made last year. you can't compare them. >> that will end up on you-tube. all i have to say is there's kind of graphic mistake. it is clear, as i have said many times, that mitt romney is more wealthy than -- he pace 13.9% tax rate, which is lower than the tax rate paid by the president and by newt gingrich right now. >> do you want to say that again? >> i'm kidding. >> no, i don't, actually. i promise when i come back in an hour it will be -- the graphics for you. >> the graphics were lovely. they were lovely. they were superimposed. thank you so much, christine. thanks for that correction. mitt romney knows he may have a long fight on his hands for the nomination. that means a lot more debates as well. the former massachusetts governor gets a debate coach, we understand. probably another one. britt o'donnell, veteran debate adviser, prepped michele bachmann during her campaign. joined us last week and joins us from tampa. we understand that you were with the romney team last night. are you a part of that camp now? >> well, i might be. i'm not sure what's going to happen. but i was happy to join them yesterday to give them some advice. they've been reaching out for some time and so it was just -- they brought me in to take a look at their operation yesterday. >> you were just taking a look yesterday? it's a very different romney that we saw. he was very fired up. did you have anything do with that? was that any of your advice? >> well, no. i think they've got a great team around them. you know, they put together the strategy and i think the governor realizes that this is going to be a tough battle and that he was engaging newt gingrich a lot more last evening. >> let's talk about newt gingrich. normally he's verbally very strong, especially when he has a crowd behind him. last night he seemed a little tongue-tied. let's listen to this and you can weigh in on it. >> you have congressmen who say that you came and lobbied them with regards to medicare part d. at the same time, your center was taking in contributions -- >> you jumped a long way over here friend. >> another area of insolence. >> no. let me be very clear. because i understand your technique, which you used on mccain, on huckabee, you've used consistently. okay? it's unfortunate. it's not going to work very well because the american people see through it. >> what happened there in your opinion? >> well, i thought that was a very telling moment last evening. i thought that these things are almost like prize fights. that was one of the few moments in any of the debates where newt gingrich is literally left speechless. i think that he was -- i think all of of the candidates are a little worn out by all of the debates. and i think speaker gingrich maybe showed that a little bit last night. he was a little tired and i think mitt romney got the better of him in that exchange and for a moment, i'm not sure how he wanted to -- i don't think speaker gingrich knew how he wanted to react in that situation. >> what about his point that the americans will see through this tactic. how do you think folks will respond to that? >> i think that this is a stock answer that he's come up with. that's been a strategy of speaker gingrich. he used this on michele bachmann when she was running. you get your facts wrong. he sort of got these stock answers that he uses to answer charges by other candidates. but this is a specific charge that governor romney is laying out on his lobbying for freddie mac ond on his lobbying for the healthcare industry. he didn't do anything to answer those charges. he released his contract from freddie mac, but i took a look personally at the contract and it does not answer the questions that are being asked by both governor romney and the press. >> all right. let's talk about the negativity in debates. romney had been complaining about that. but moderator brian williams said he's contributing to it. listen to what williams asked him and the response and we'll talk about that. >> do you pledge to spend your time going after the incumbent president, yet here we are again? >> i'll tell you why. i learned something from the last contest in south carolina. that was i had incoming from all directions, was overwhelmed with a lot of the attacks. i'm not going to sit back and get attacked day in and day out without returning fire. >> so overwhelmed doesn't sound like a word that you would want to use. how did you feel about that? >> i'm not sure that that's the correct word choice. i do think that the debates up until this point, where they've gone down to four people, have really not been what we would consider debates. they've been joint press conferences where each candidate has given their position on the issues. now they are debates where the candidates are being asked to contrast with one another. when that happens, they're going to be on the attack. they'll be offense. you saw speaker gingrich did that and rick santorum had one of his best moments ever in the debates last evening at the end of the debate when he went after both mitt romney and speaker gingrich. so you know, the fewer people there are in the debates, the more likely there will be clash. that's really what a debate is. it's a clash of ideas. i think this is good. ut a testing out of the candidates and their positions and it will harden them down in the battle against president obama in the fall. >> it's certainly fun to watch. brett o'donnell, thanks for joining us this morning. you can stay with us for the best political coverage on television. coming up al 8:00 eastern on starting point, soledad o'brien goes one-on-one with trent franks. she'll ask the arizona congressman how they plan to seal the deal and rally the party behind him moving forward. still ahead, yesterday we were talking about the terrible winds coming through communities that were still in the dark and when the light came up. look at the devastation. we're going to run down exactly what happened. how many homes and lives were lost. this is a place that can afford it least. we'll tell you why. you're watching "early start." . 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[ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. that can help lower cholesterol? homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. i learned early on if you want to make a difference you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix. it is 5:20 in the east. welcome back to early start. we're counting down to the state of the union as president obama takes center stage tonight. it's the third state of the union address and sources say that he'll present his blueprint for an economy built to last. among the proposals here. >> bunch of them. here's what we know. tax reform. so that the wealthier americans pay more. also, those bush tax cuts you always hear about, set to expire. i believe that's what the president would like to see happen. also more refinancing for all you homeowners struggling with high rates. making it easier to get at that re-fi deal. additional tax breaks for companies that bring jobs to this country. instead of exporting them out. more clean energy incentives something that's not on the republican agenda, that's for sure and enhanced job training initiatives as well. the president knew back in 2009, this is not going to be easy. >> you know, i've got four years. >> you'll know quickly how people feel. >> that's right. a year from now, i think people will see that we're starting to make progress. there's still going to be pain out there. if i don't have this done in three years, there's going to be a one-term proposition. >> i think we're going to hear that sound bite. did you see the color of his hair? >> he looks totally different there. >> what a difference three and a half years can make. unbelievable. >> they say stress doesn't do that to you gray hair. >> they're just as agey as we are. let's go to brianna keilar who covers this for a living. one of the big questions about for you, state of the union is always something that has to be somewhat political. after all, it is your party in power. tonight in particular, we're in the thick of it in the republican race. how much of this will be an election speech and how much it be a state of the union. >> ashleigh, it's going to be both. the sort of problem or the challenge for president obama is that politicking isn't necessarily presidential, right? especially for a president who has billed himself as post partisan. but if you talk to white house officials, they would make the argument that what's good for governing is good for politic. of course, this is going to be political. it's always political for a president when it's the year that he's facing reelection. i think one of the ways that you can really tell that it's going to be political would be to look at the states that he's going to on wednesday, thursday, friday following the state of the union to sell his message. he'll be in iowa. nevada, colorado, arizona and michigan. many of these states play into the strategy of the campaign for states that they need to