putting on the final touches of the state of the union address. and newt gingrich's stunning surge has made him a lightning rod for a new wave the criticism. can we keep up the momentum in florida? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." 6o. just a few hours from now, the president of the united states goes before congress and the american people to record on how the nation is doing. his state of the union address will certain by as important glimpse. . . will focus on job, income equality and taxes and a whole lot more. as mitt romney reveals his own mounta multimillion dollar -- cnn's jim acosta is covering the campaign for us. he's in florida. romney, he did well in that debate last night, everyone seems to agree. is he back on track? >> reporter: wolf, we'll find out. right know his 'campaigning in front of the a foreclosed home. you could say he's hitting the reset button today. he's a taking the president and his rivals, but he's finding out hitting the reset button is nots exactly hitting the reset button. >> mitt romney played the role of candidate in chief, delivering a blisters pre-buttal to the president's state of the union address. >> record unemployment, home foreclosures, debt that's too high, opportunities that are too few. this is the real state of our union. >> it was an attempt to -- he releases the 2010 and estimated 2011 tax returns. they show over the last two years he made nearly $43 million, almost entirely on investment income and paid an effective rate of 14%, lower than what many middle-class americans pay. the disclosure was welcomed at the white house, which announced warren buffett's secretary would on sit in the first lady's box at the state of the union. team romney was ready for that one. >> the unemployed don't get tickets to sit next to the first lady. >> reporter: his advisers were throwing punches at newt gingrich. that he reveal more. >> we released more tax returns than he has released, and his questionnaire is what is his relationship with freddie mac all during those years, people in florida are getting crunched. what vitt was he giving to freddie mac. >> gingrich has moved on. ties romney to, who left the republican party to run as an independent for the senate guess marco rubio. some of kris's former staffers in and out work for rom romney. >> noises, if that makes him a moderate in massachusetts, but it makes him pretty liberal in a republican primary. >> team romney was too busy resurrecting this image as a cry baby over thinks threat to skip upcoming debates if the audiences are asked to keep quiet. the crowd was told at monday's debate. romney's advisers say he sounds like he's running for pouter-in-chief. earlier today a romney adviser told reporters florida is not a must-win state. that's a sign that polls may be showing soon that newt gingrich may have a sizable lead in this state. just a few moments ago, i can tell you that romney has launched a new line of attack, that he hasn't seen too many his turkey that make as much money as newt gingrich for freddie mac. >> let's listen in briefly, listen to what he has to say. >> if we were to reelect barack obama a year from now he would stand up and talk about the things he's done, cap and tread, car check and stopping solyndra and obecamacare, stimulus, all those things and how they're working just fine, how they're taking a little longer, but they're working just fine. we would hear more of the same. the candidate who campaigned on change would be talking about how he's keeping things the same. this same policy has not worked. if i'm the president of the united states, i would be talking about a new way forward, we'll have a new president with new excitement in america, we will get america on track with jobs, with home prices rising again. it is my commitment, i will use every ounce of my energy to make sure we're fighting for your job, not my job, your home, not my home. i love this country i love this country. it's so much fun to see folks like yourself that, as a boy i got taken around by my parents to the national parks. they took me in a rambler. it's amazing we maid it. i felt in love with the beauty of the land. my mom used to sing some of the beautiful hymns. for purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain. i got to see those mountains. i was in awe. >> we've heard this part of his speech many times before. earlier he was directly going after the president of the united states. jim acosta is on the scene. is he getting a big crowd there? set the scene for us. >> it's a good-sized crowd, wolf. one of the things we should mention is the backdrop. he's standing in front of a foreclosed home. earlier today he was standing inside a abandoned drywall factory. these are postcards from the edge of the weak american economy right now. it's a signal that perhaps the campaign has reached a turning point, realized these days and days of going after newt gingrich may not be working, so getting back to the economy, the bread and butter issues may work well. a voter appreciates mitt romney coming to this house and standing in front of it, addressing this crowd, because he's seen squatters pulling out the copper wiring, the plumbing, that sort of thing. it's one of those bread and butter issues that people feel prchlly on the ground in places like southwest florida. i talked to one gentleman who was glad toss him out here today, wolf. >> it certainly underscores the opportunity to once again hit newt gingrich on that contract he had from freddie mac and the whole housing industry, gives him an opportunity to talk about that. jim acosta, thank you. gingrich is in a knockout dragout fight with romney and throwing some sharp jabs at president obama today. gingrich is working the crowds himself in florida. cnn's shannon travis is covering him. what's going on? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. mitt romney isn't the only one throwing jabs today. newt gingrich is as well. i'm here in an airport sang garr in sarasota, florida. just a short while ago this was packed with throngs of loyal newt gingrich supporters. obviously in this area of florida and the south-central coast there's a lot of conservatives and tea partiers, so it was a friendly crowd, and they took a chance to pre-but the state of the union address and listen to the crowd reaction as well. >> gathered as we are on the day that the president is going to speak about the state of the union. [ booing ] >> i thought i might suggest a few things that might improve the state of the union. you always have to wonder when obama speaks which country he thinks he's talking about. >> reporter: wolf, you hear some boos here. that might not be ordinary in ordernary times for americans to boo, but obviously a lot of conservatives here have little love for the president and feel like the speeches have become increasingly political. one thing of note, gingrich is also striking hard against romney. we heard a bit of that in jim acosta's report. he also talked about the debate last night as romney was going after newt gingrich with political attack after political attack. apparently a new debate coach has hired to teach him untruths as fast as he can. and the question out there is why did newt gingrich lie down, if you with, and not respond to the amazing response. shannon, stand by. we'll have much more. in last night's debecame mitt romney really went after newt gingrich. he didn't hold back at all. listen to this. >> i worked very hard to promote a coven servety agenda. we cut taxes 19 times. we balanced the budget every year, put in place a rainy day fund of over $2 billion by the time i left. we were also successful in english immersion in our schools driving our nations to be number one in the nation. >> i helped pass the reagan economic plan and worked on the collapse of the solvesh and spent 16 years building a majority in the house for the first time since 1954, the fehr rye electioned majority since 1928, developed the conservative opportunity sewed. 6 trying to develop a conservative movement. mitt romney came out swinging and hit him hard, but he almost played dead. i don't want to get into a big fight. who won that debate? >> this was a battle of mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most conservative of them all. i would have to say newt gingrich did a better job of explaining the roots of his conservati conservatism. i think mitt romney still has a bit of a problem explaining just hot deeply conservative he is. and i think it points to why lots of republicans are kind of skeptical about mitt romney, because the question is, okay, will he defend our conservatism if he gets to the white house. >> but the first 20 minutes of that debate and newt gingrich was not responding, which is unusual. i had thought he learned his lesson from iowa. and he collapsed in iowa. this time he just sort of turned the other cheek, if you will. >> at first he said he's not going to respond to every little thing and after the exchange went on and on, it enthe for the evening and they went on to other things, but i think romney did exactly what they came there to do, which is to lay a gloef on newt gingrich. >> gingrich last we're released his taxes. is this issue in and out put to rest? >> and gave $7 million away. look, this is an interest that ended the republican primary to say i had unearned income, i paid a low rate. that's okay. that's fine. >> that's the law of the land. >> newt gingrich even suggested in this debate that mitt romney should pay no taxes on it, because newt would like to get rid of capital gain taxes for everybody. romney seemed surprised about that, because that's not his proposal. so i think it's okay the question is hi still seem difficult. my question is, will he become comfortable, and will he be able to say, look that doesn't keep me from relating to middle-class americans and from the paint you're feeling, fundamental. newt gingrich did release some documents about consulting with freddie mac, but that is not going away. >> no, it isn't, and you heard jim acosta talking about the housing situation. romney now uses the phrase "influence peddler." he was still on the payroll of freddie mac, and you can be sure he's going to hit him over and over again and try to shy newt gingrich to the shaky mortgages that were handed out by fred yik mac and helped cause the decline of housing market. gloria, thanks very much. i'll be moderating cnn's next republican presidential debate thursday evening, 8:00 p.m. eastern, just days before the pivotal florida primary, only here on cnn. the state of the union speech still a few hours away, but the house speaker john boehner isn't waiting to release sharp new criticism, including one thing about the president that boehner calls, quote, almost un-american. and his super pac is spew fear and loathing, a rare access to the group founded by karl rove. stay with us. and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day and i love the great taste. 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[ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ jack cafferty is here with co"t cafferty file." george soros is warning that a class war is coming to the united states. he said the occupy wall street movement will eventually become violent, week strong-armed tactics to, if things go far enough it could bring about a repressive political system in this country. it might be a stark view, but this idea of class conflict is growing these days. when president obama pushed for higher taxes on the wealthiest, he insisted those tax hikes were not class warfare, but not everybody agrees. you can bet the same income inequality will be a theme tonight. the president is set to talk about a government that should ensure, quote, a fair shake for all, unquote. mr. obama said that the system is rigged against the nailing's middle class, and he wants to work for an america where everyone engages in fair play, gets a shot and their fair share, unquote. a recent poll shows a large majority of americans see class warfare with two thirds saying they're very strong or strong class conflicts that currently exist. here's the scary part. the clash between rich and poor now ranks as this country's greatest social conflict, topping conflicts between immigrants and native-born americans or even conflicts with blacks and whites. something to think about. here's the question -- how concerned are you about class warfare in this country? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post a comment on my blog or go to our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> thank you, jack. good question. president obama will certainly be in the spotlight tonight, but john boehner did grab some of the spotlight today. he met with reporters in his office and release d dana, the speaker will be setting directly behind the president along with the vice president during the speech tine. they've had a rather run year. >> reporter: actually on a personal level he said that you would be surprised at our back and forth. look at what he said about the president. speaker boehner said it was like negotiating with someone who never negotiated anything. he went on to say at some point someone has to say yes. ite thing i thought was interesting is he says he hasn't spoken to the president since december 23rd, more than a month ago. yes, congress was gone for most of that. but if they have a good relationship, why haven't they spoken? >> i think if you speak to folks over there, they agree that the president likes john boehner, they have a good relationship on a personal level, about you he feels that boehner can't deliver, he can't control his own caucus? what are they saying there? >> i asked john boehner that question, about the fact he has been speaker for a year now, and he has had some interesting times with his own conference. the fact of the matter is there are lots of people who are elected and not to compromise and say compromise be damned, we came here on principle. he told. a lot of people are really angry at congress right now. >> reporter: of course. we talked about congress has the lowest approval rate in history. washington does as well. i certainly didn't leave this breakfast thinking that we'll get a lot done this year. he did say he has told his members they have to try to find a way to get common ground, but wolf when we tried to get into the specifics, it didn't sound like a lot would happen. he blamed the president that, quote, he's been awol since labor day, and even that his speech tonight was written by the presidential campaign. >> republicans being those for the wealthy, here's what he said about that. john boehner said -- this is a president that ed i'm not going to be a divider, and running on the politician of divides and envy is to me it's almost un-american. pretty tough stuff from the house speaker about the president. i think they were upbeat at the white house that it may be ugly, it may be bloody, but by the end of february they will extend the payroll tax run, extend unemployment benefits when they coot get they year-long payroll tax cut down, which is the fact they want to cut spending to pay for that they're having the very first meeting, say they're hopeful, but it's hard to imagine it won't go down to the wire just like last time. >> dana will be busy tonight in the chamber for the president's address. thanks very much. and please be sure to watch cnn for special coverage. our coverage will begin live here 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. did a change in format change the outcome of the latest debate? they're both standing by live for our strategy session. plus new concerns about the cruise ship disaster. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ ♪ [ multiple snds ng melodic tune ] ♪ [ malennounc ] at northrop grumman, makthworld a feplace. th's value performance. northr gruan. let's get back to our big story. romney yielded to growing pressure, and released his income tax returns, revealing a relative low tax rate. weeknights 7:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. nothing illegal about this. all above board, very legal. what jumps out at us? >> it was a pain to go through, but we commissioned six former i.r.s. attorneys and go through various parts, from the swit bank accounts from the offshore accounts to blind trusts. first, in terms of the blind trusts, not something that's standard for wealthy or nonwealthy americans, but is standard for politician or people that wasn't to run for office. it gives you the ability to say, look, i didn't make a decision on whether to bet against the housing market. i'm not saying he did, but that would be an example. that's a standard part of what a politician might do. one thing that stood out to me, interest, that i've been curious about. what it is is that when someone for private equity fund, you wolf blitzer invest in that fund and the person managing the fund gets a 20% cut of whatever money he makes for you. that cut is taxed at the capital gains rate of 15%. there are some in the industry who defend it. but mitt romney benefited from it significantly. $12.9 million of his income came from that carried interest alone. he paid $1.9 million this taxes on it if it had been taxed at the income rate, he would have paid $40 million. very above boor and in line with the rules, about you it raises questions whether it's a loophole. according to the obama administration's numbers how much it would raise eliminated that loophole, 1.5%, $20 billion so raising serious issues perhaps for mitt i don't remember any, but not something that would move the needle at the federal level. >> most of the income was rather dividends, regular interest, stuff like that, but the capital gains long-term rate. >> the same as carried interest. most of that right around that 15% rate, but it was just from carried interest. there are a few people in this country that benefit significantly from that one particular provision, and mitt romney is one of them. >> erin will have more on this setting the stage for the state of the union. thanks very much. >> all right. see you, wolf. appreciate it. let's dig a bit deeper on our "strategy session." paul begala and the republican strategist mary matalin. one thing about that explanation. >> this is erin's background, she knows this stuff better than i ever will. i know she's right about it. what's interesting political is we saul earlier a live shot of mitt romney speaking, and he has this phrase, i love america. of course, he does. roars, so does my mother, we're not going to make her president, but his political opponents can say if you love america so much, why were you investing in the cayman islands, in swiss bank accounts, in luxembourg, in ire listen middle-class folks don't have swiss accounts, so if you love america so much, why weren't you investing. >> what about he had a blind trust and investors were doing that. >> about you