very good morning to you. it is an early start. hello. i'm ashleigh banfield. i'm zoraida sambolin. 5 a.m. in the east. >> let's start with tacks. don't you love that. >> big news today. >> unless you're probably governor romney. you don't like taxes. you don't like talking taxes 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." . 's new cash rewards card gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back!

i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy.

i got that wrong didn't i? [ 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 win in the general election if, say, president obama loses ohio, ashleigh. >> oh, ohio. always the swing state we end up talking about shall isn't it? he's headed to ohio soon, if i remember correctly on some schedule. let me ask you. remember when you were covering politics in 1948 and president truman ran on the platform of the do nothing congress. that's how a lot of people think this president is going to

campaign. not so much against whoever the republican nominee is going to be. but against this congress. is that off the mark? >> i think definitely congress has been a very good -- for president obama. you're going to see that tonight. no doubt. but i also think that you'll be seeing him kind of lumping certainly the republican field and keep in mind the concentration here of the campaign and of president obama is very much mitt romney. that is who they have in their sights, not so much newt gingrich even though there's this sort of uncertainty right now in the republican presidential field. you'll be seeing some of arguments that he'll be making tonight, some of the things he's proposing will sort of lump republicans in congress and mitt romney in a way together. not that you would hear him talk about mitt romney by name. you mentioned before, ashleigh, he'll be pushing for tax reform, letting the tax cuts expire. this goes to the message of his that the wealthy should pay their fair share. this is something that's worked for him for congress. it's certainly something that

his campaign, that his advisers would say would work for him against mitt romney of course. he's paying that low tax -- that low effective tax rate. so i think you'll be seeing him hammering both in a way. >> you'll have to watch for that strategy as to whether they're going to go after mitt romney as their target or whether that will shift to newt gingrich. brianna being thank you. we'll see you later at the white house, i'm sure. lots of politics. the state of alabama. it's trying to recover after three powerful tornadoes tore through that state. it's 150 mile an hour winds. they were clocked in yefr son county. in tuscaloosa, a 400-wide path of destruction. 140 mile per hour winds uprooted two dozen pine trees a at 8 p.m., alabama restores power to 55,000 customers. my goodness, a disaster area there. reynolds wolf is live in clay,

alabama with more. what can you tell us? >> i can tell you, i heard when you mentioned about one of the tornado having a path of 400 yards wide. this community near clay, alabama, the one that came through was as wide as a football field, about a hundred yards. this was one of the edges. went through part of this house. it's a little over 24 hours ago it was standing tall and you see the remains of it right now. the center part of the house in pretty good shape. in the foreground, a little bit of metal. mike cal way is the photojournalist. stay right there if you can, man. there are a lot of nails and stuff. this, i don't know if you can hear that. piece of metal. that's part of a travel trailer that was only a few streets over that was picked up by winds topping 150 miles an hour, slammed right against this house and for the most part, disint dprated. sure, you see the framework but everything else is gone. you look at the timbers that hold the house together.

it has all kinds of things wrapped up. insulation, you see other wires. even clothes from other houses. what's amazing about this is despite the devastation that we had in the subdivision, about 100 homes, about 25 to 30 completely beyond repair at this point. there's only one house where someone suffered a major injury. thankfully, they will recover from the injuries. expecting a full recovery. hover, it was a 16-year-old girl not far from this community and also a man who is 82 years old. both lost their lives. you can't put a price on that. a heartbreaking event for both families. again, the cleanup continues. >> terrible. last year 20 people died in the powerful storms. they can't catch a break. >> absolutely. we're going to tart to art faulkner, the director of the emergency management agency. we'll be right back.

♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. with my vial and syringe. me, drawing my insulin dose. and me the day i discovered novolog flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your mealtime insulin.

dial the exact dose, inject by pushing a button. no vials, syringes or coolers to carry. flexpen is insulin delivery my way. novolog is a fast-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. do not inject if you do not plan to eat within five to ten minutes after injection to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. the most common side effect is low blood sugar. other possible side effects include reactions at the injection site. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat or sweating. with flexpen, vial and syringe are in the past. ask your doctor about novolog flexpen, covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare.

does this make you happy in the morning, this music? i love it. >> she's rocking out. 5:31 eastern. i'm glad that you can rock out at 5:31 in the morning. >> this is my hour. i really like this hour. >> does it get you going? >> yeah, it does. the headlines much here's a good headline for you. if you're waking up. how do you like the rich? apparently this guy is one of them. we're getting a sneak peek at mitt romney's federal tax returns. boy is he loaded. he earns a total of just over $45 million in the last two years and paid, get ready, a total of $6.2 million in taxes. i know you're doing the math. but you know what, it's around 13-ish and 14-ish and 15-ish,

percent depending on the year. he will formally release them at 8:30 morning. two bodies recovered off the coast of italy in the costa concordia. that brings the number to 15 of confirmed victims. 17 people are unaccounted for. italian officials say salvage workers have pumped fuel out of the cruise liner again today. >> it got pretty ugly. intense exchanges between mitt romney and speaker gingrich during the republican presidential debate in florida. the governor accusing the speaker of being a washington influence peddler for freddie mac and newt gingrich denying the charges. calling mitt romney a liar. florida's primary is set for next tuesday. ashleigh, if you like your debates nasty. >> sure. >> florida was the place to be last night. the attacks are getting personal. romney turning the aggressor now. is this the new mitt romney and can he get over those tax returns? let talk to our political panel

from washington. cnn political editor, paul steinhauser, from chicago, conservative commentator, lenny mckalster, from washington, maria cardona. paul, i want to begin with you because you're a numbers guy. we all know that the tax returns are being released today by mitt romney. we got a little preview. it shows mitt and ann romney. i'm going to show the numbers again. mitt and ann romney had an adjusted gross income over $21.6 million. adjusted gross income is minus a few expenses and fees. the tax rate, 13.9%. this is not the full extent of his net assets. ira and blind trust also in there. comparing it to the rivals, he pays the lowest effective tax rate. it all looks really legal. i know we'll tear this apart a bit. my question here is, can he spin this? could he use this to sell himself as a savvy businessman who can turn the economy around?

>> yes. he was actually trying to do that last night in florida. in the republican primary, this doesn't hurt you too much of an extent. republicans are about capitalism. they're about creating jobs, making jobs, being successful, building companies. mitt romney will defend himself o on that. as for the tax rate, we've been through this. his tax rate is on investments and not on actual income. that's why it's a lot lower than most americans. also, listen, eve known for quite some time, he had to put a disclosure form, we knew he was wealthy. we'll dig deeper once the things come out at 8:30 a.m. eastern. off the bat, i mean this story has been around for a while. uncomfortable with it last week. he's trying to go from defense to offense in the debates. he has another chance on thursday night with our cnn debate in jacksonville. i had to get a plug in there. >> nice little plug. it's been an education on the tax code for me. let's talk about the debate last

night, maria. the economy is number one for floridians. a good part of the debate was spent on immigration, which surprised me. they tackled the dream act. listen to what gingrich and romney said last night and then we'll talk about it. >> i would work to get a signable version, which will be the military component. i think any young person living in the united states who happened tochb brought by their parents when they were very young should have the same opportunity to join the american military and earn citizenship which they would have had back home. >> that's the same position that i have. i would not sign the dream act as is currently exists but i would sign a dream act if it were focused on military service. >> that surprised me, maria. are they finally on the same page here. it was in iowa that romney said he would actually veto the dream act. and you know as well as i do, for latinos in florida shall the number one issue is the economy and immigration reform actually

falls to number six. is this still an attempt for him to court the latino vote? >> he's trying to, zoraida. again, what we saw last night was yet another flipflop. you're right, he said from the very beginning that he would actually veto the dream act and what he did last night was when he heard gingrich basically talk about a version of the dream act that had military service in it, he started saying me too, me too. in his attempt, knowing full well the audience that he was playing to that he needed some sort of morsel to throw to the latino community. it's clearly not going to be enough. latinos, yes, you are absolutely right. the main focus is the economy, it's jobs. but immigration and especially the dream act have become what we call a filter issue, which is if latinos don't like the way you're talking to the community about immigration, about the dream act, which basically not just the majority of latinos, but the majority of americans

believe that it is good policy, they won't listen to you on anything else. both gingrich as well as romney have put themselves in a box in term of really trying to go after the latino vote and as you know, no republican candidate can get to the white house with at least 40% of latino voters. they're not going to make it to the low 20s now. >> lenny, i need to let you chime in. will it look like a flipflop? >> it absolutely will look like a flipflop. once again, you have romney who has to play catch-up with gingrich right now, catching up to gingrich on an issue. romney started out the debate leading the aggression, leading the offensive and having gingrich react to him. which made gingrich look a little tentative. halfway through the debate, this issue comes up and back again, gingrich is "out front" looking more precedence and romney is trying to catch up. that's not a good image for romney. he can't look like that on thursday, particularly with the immigration issue while in florida. if he does, this tie that we see

in the national polls is going to swing a little bit more towards gingrich. >> lenny, paul, maria, nice talking to you. >> thank you. >> we might, we might be adding one more state in the union to the group that allows same sex marriage in this country. do you know which one it is and do you know why? we're only saying might. we're not saying will. we're going to sort it out in a moment. you're watching "early start." you think you take off all your make-up before bed. but do you really?

[ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

i couldn't tell if he was dancing or pointing at us to stay start? >> he was doing both. >> it's your turn to talk. it's 40 minutes past hour. welcome back to "early start." you know how you have the newspapers and don't know who is behind the articles. we're talking to the folks this morning. we have the headlines out of washington shall the state that is. it's one step closer to

legalizing same sex marriage. if it passes, washington state will be the seventh state plus the district of columbia to legalize gay marriage. the legislature has the votes to pass it and state senator mary margaret hogan announced her support saying in part, i do not believe it is my role to judge others regardless of my personal believes. i have always believed in traditional marriage between a man and a woman, but this issue isn't about just what i believe. it's about whether everyone has the same opportunities for love and companionship and family and security that i have enjoyed. on the phone is evan wolfson, he's a face in the founder of freedom -- he's an organization fighting for marriage equality. thank you for joining us this morning. >> caller: you're welcome. glad to be with you. >> washington state is pretty progressive. in 2007, you passed a domestic partnership law. it allowed things like hospital visitation and community property. and then in 2009, you passed a bill granting same sex domestic partners all the rights and

benefits that married couples have. so why take it this step further? why is it such an important milestone? >> caller: because actually the bill you're talking about, the partnership law was a step forward and gave families many important protections, didn't provide all the protections and responsibilities of marriage because the only way to do that is by ending the exclusion from marriage itself. when you don't give people the most important thing, which is the ability to stand in front of their family and friends and neighbors and communities and the law and say this is the person i'm building a life with, we want the same and have worked to have the same and take on the responsibilities of the same commitment, which is called marriage, then you're already putting those families in a place where they're more vulnerable to the insecurity and unknown that comes to people when they don't share in the same language that we all understand. the word we all understand is marriage. when you say i'm married,

everyone knows who you are in relationship to the primary person you're building a life with. >> i found it interesting that you have major companies supporting your efforts, nike and microsoft. why is that? >> because they know that what's good for business is treating people in the workforce with respect, encouraging people to be part of the community or part of the company and not have to worry about what's happening back at home when they're at work. that's why businesses in this country have moved way ahead ironically of where many of the state governments are. and now we have states like washington saying we want to be part of this. we want to keep up. we want to actually compete in the global economy. we don't want to be put barriers in people's way when they're trying -- >> this is the most high-profile issue before the legislature this session. do you think it has all of the support it needs to pass? if not, what's your strategy? >> caller: i think the announcement yesterday from a senator who obviously wrestled with this like a lot of americans have and decided that

it's wrong to deny to others the respect and protection and love and commitment that she treasures in her own life. that was the vote that we believe will put us over the top. i do believe it's going to pass through the legislature, but the challenge really is that in washington as in many other states, unfortunately, there's a process that says that even when the legislature passes a lou, it can be forced on to an up or down vote by the majority. typically we don't believe that people's basic rights should be up put up to a vote by the ma juror. whether people should vote on your freedom of speep or your freedom to marry. we're working hard to do is that. >> evan wolfson, freedom to marry, thanks for being with us this morning. from the pacific northwest issues, alabama is reeling. there are hundreds of homes that have been completely destroyed. the governor is doing some visitations around these places.

there are people who have lost their lives. there are people who are injured and emergency management is busy. we're going to talk to the director of alabama's emergency management next. [ monica ] i'm away on a movie shoot and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care.

we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. beth! hi! looking good. you've lost some weight. thanks. you noticed. these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right -- whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multi-grain cheerios -- 5 whole grains, 110 calories. creamy, dreamy peanut butter taste in a tempting new cereal. mmm! [ female announcer ] new multi-grain cheerios peanut butter.

so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, take the lead. ask your doctor if including advair

could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. welcome back to early start. i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh. storm flying through the southeast. we bring the story without good news to report unfortunately. we can tell you that alabama is really recovering from a battering. take a look at the pictures. two people dead. at least 100 people hurt. 200 homes or more destroyed. the entire state is in a state of emergency. you might remember that the state is also recovering from deadly tornadoes that just struck last spring. they are the state that perhaps or one at least can least afford for this to happen. on the phone live is art

faulkner, the director of alabama's emergency management. mr. faulkner, thanks for being with us. off the bat, do we -- you're on camera, thank you for doing that for us. do we know if we have the assessment final yet or could this story get worse with with the number of homes destroyed, two people dead? are we still doing counting at this point? >> well, we certainly hope that we don't have an increase in hour fatalities or injuries. we believe that our first responders did a great job yesterday of going out and trying to locate everyone and so we really feel that those numbers are pretty accurate. certainly, two is too many. but thankfully this morning we're not facing what we were facing last spring. >> especially with the pictures that we're seeing, mr. faulkner. to think that only two people died and that is too many. but when you look at the pictures with entire dee strubs, homes wiped off the foundations, it is miraculous which begs the

question, was there enough time to get that notice out to people to get into their shelters or seek cover? this happened in the middle of the night. >> well, we have been working with the national weather service throughout the weekend and governor bentley on sunday ordered all state agencies to be ready. we knew that this system could be potentially severe. there had been deadly storms overnight in arkansas and i think that our people on the heels of the spring of last year saw the importance of having a plan and listening when the warnings were issued. hopefully that contributed to the very low loss of life and the injuries. >> timing of this could not have been more bizarre. i didn't realize this as we were bringing the story to our viewers yesterday more than as the storm was starting to come through, but yesterday was actually kind of a critical day for you all because the tornado recovery action council, which is as i understand, is a state organization that was hired to

figure out how you all are doing in term of emergency preparation, it was due to set out the report yesterday with all recommendations. i suppose my question is this. are you going to be able to do better given that you got the recommendations now and how unfortunate is it that it came late? >> well, that was set up by the dp governor in the wake of the storms last year. it was a committee of business people to go out and to meet with all the aspects of the state, the first responders, the elected officials and the general public. i think that was the most important, going out and talking to the general public, finding out what we did right and what we needed to improve upon. and while that report was not able to be issued yesterday, fortunately, it will be able to be formally presented to governor bentley today and hopefully in the wake of this storm, it will show that much

more importance of having that safety plan and us going in there and trying to focus on those recommendations of te council. >> mr. faulkner, our thoughts are with you and everyone in your state as you try to put those pieces back together. this could have been so, so much worse given the vast destruction we see. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, ashleigh. a lot of work ahead there, huh? i hate seeing those pictures. >> i'm going to switch gears. did you hear about the showdown at the nashville airport? >> i thought it was funny but interesting. >> senator rand paul versus the tsa. who won? we'll tell you when we come back. for a limited time, passages malibu

will be giving away free copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com.

all right. we're keeping you in the pop culture loop this morning by looking at what's trending on the web. and social media. we're laughing about this one. kentucky senator rand paul versus the tsa. he refused a patdown in nashville after he set off a scanner alarm. he said he was ejected from the screening area. those are his words. >> the tsa -- >> detained also he said. >> you should have seen the blackberries, they were on fire yesterday as this was happening. tsa says no, no. he left the checkpoint willingly. he was eventually booked on another flight to washington because he had to miss his

flight. you know what, it brings up the ago argument that we go through. is our privacy invaded going through airport security or do you appreciate the fact that they are careful and they are not going to get another 9/11 happen on their watch? >> he's been arguing the issue with the tsa specifically. for two hours, he refused the patdown because he wanted them to go back through the scanner again. at the end he won. he went through the scanner again. >> loi still appreciate what th tsa does. i hear them get yelled at. i have not appreciated some them f of them. i feel safer going through security than i did on september 10, 2001. >> he said they randomly go off. that those scanners actually randomly go off. >> he did. >> that's why he's -- >> the tsa said no, that's not true much the big sanners, anyway. some of the other things can go

off. like the x-ray of your bags, that can happen. we digress, boy, there's a bigger issue. mitt romney's money. money, money, money. it's a trump thing. trump is not running and mitt is. it got fiery and aggressive last night. newt gingrich on the right on the defense. wow. can you believe it? after the debates before this where he was on the offense. >> we're going to break it all down for you.

it is good to have y'all here with us. good morning, everyone. it's "early start." i'm ashleigh band fill. >> every time you use the y'all. >> this girl's from texas.

>> i'm zoraida sambolin. we're bringing you the news. >> nothing gets your blood flowing like good tax returns. not yours, romney's. we all know he's wealthy but "early start" can tell you with this early look, he's loaded. here's what's more important, it's not what he makes but what he paid in taxes and, also, what gingrich and obama pay in taxes, too. and did you watch the florida debate? it got really personal. are we seeing a new romney? she's going after gingrich with the gloves off now. and the president is hard at work today going over and over making changes, practicing, the third state of the union address tonight. are you thinking, wait a minute, three? this would be four. it would be if his first one was the state of the union, and it wasn't. it was an address to congress. we're going to preview what this message is going to be tonight, is it going to be a campaign message or a true blueprint for the economy as we hear that is built to last. and yesterday this was

breaking news. alabama battered by three trn tornadoes. we have the pictures. hundreds of homes destroyed. they are still recovering from the twisters in last april. a lot of people died then. bets switch gears. money, the big headline today. mitt romney's taxes scheduled to be released in a couple of hours. you know something, we already got a sneak peek because "the washington post" got details that gave us some serious, serious dough. it's not only coming in but also going out. >> they are reporting he made $21.6 million in 2010. he paid just over $3 million in taxes. the effective tax rate there, 13.9%. >> that stuck in my craw. but i get it. i do understand. >> it's an education, really. >> on taxes. usually we think about taxes, oh, man, i've got to get my forms together but this is a different kind of tax chart. >> i don't think. i think that 30%, oh! that's what i think when i think

taxes, 30%. >> when you think of the irs data, you know, we pay tax rates all over the map. there are some middle class earners who also are paying more like 15%, 13, if you have mortgage deduction, a couple of kids. look, the tax code is very big and complicated. there's nothing simple about taxes. there's nothing simple about mitt romney's tax returns either. 550 pages over two years including three blind family trusts and other stuff in there. let's dive into what we've got here. we know we had a tax bill of something like $6 million over the past couple of years. let's look at just at 2010 because 2011 income, he's pretty much, i guess, estimated that. but 2010 we know for sure. $12 million in capital gains. $5 million in ordinary dividends. why is this interesting? because he's making most of this, according to the campaign, from a blind trust. he's paying a 15% tax rate on

all of that income. not like you and i who are paying a higher tax rate on our work. in this economy, in this tax code that we live under, we pay a higher rate for our work than we do for making money with money. that's how rich people like mitt romney make an awful lot of money. a couple things here. profit dividends, interest from investmen investments. $7 million in charitable contributions over a couple of years. a lot of that is to the mormon church. >> tithing. >> you get $42 million in earnings over two years, he gave $7 million to charity. we also find he did have a swiss bank account, an account in the cayman items. the swiss bank account was closed because an advisers told reuters they realized at some point it could be politically a liability. also stressed, according to reuters, none of this was used to evade taxes. >> can't. >> this was a big oh of we he's very rich, got an awful lot of vehicles and the blind trust in

particular, they're blind. he doesn't manage those. >> you go to pay the rates here even if you put your money overseas. that's the law. >> the swiss bank account is closed. apparently there are some investments in the cayman islands and the bermudas. at 8:30 we'll look at this. >> i can't wait for you to go ever all 150 pages of it. >> i'm going to look at his foundation and i'ming looking at those three blind trusts very closely. and then also examining those tax rates. looks like the tax rates for 2010, 13.9%, 2011, 15%. >> i had a vision with you at 8:31 at ali velshi in a conference room with takeout for seven hours. >> we're going to get the banker's lamps and the accounta accountant viser. >> i would love to be a fly on the wall during that. with a week to go before the florida primary, newt gingrich has caught up with mitt romney making the race for the republican nomination a virtual dead heat right now. and making it even more important that romney overcome

some criticism that he's getting over this big tax issue. let's talk to our political panel. from washington, paul steinhauser. from chicago, conservative common tater lenny mcallister, from washington, democratic strategist maria cardona. thanks for joining us again. i'm going to start with you, again, paul, because we're talking numbers here. we just saw christine romans go over the numbers. i don't know if anybody is surprised by these numbers. do we have to wait until everybody takes a closer look and like you're going to do and see if this is an issue for mitt romney? >> exactly because we've known for quite some time that mitt romney was wealthy. he ran for president four years ago, we know that. this time around we knew he had assets, $250 million. even knew about the tax rate that's been up there for a couple weeks now. romney has had a problem talking about this. we saw him stumble last week in both those debates in south carolina.

that's why you want to get it out of the way now. it's going to be a topic of conversation in our debate on thursday night. but romney needs to get this out of the way now. will it hurt him? probably less than the republican primary. it could come back to hurt him if he's the nom nae knee because of the disparity between him and president obama if it's a two-person race between those two guys in the general. >> lenny, let's talk about last night's debate. looks like romney is back on track finally. listen to what he said to brian williams and then we'll talk about it. >> pledge to spend your time going after the incumbent president, yet here we are again. >> i'll tell you why, which is i learned something from that last contest in south carolina, and that was, i had incoming from all directions. was overwhelmed with a lot of the attack and i'm not going to sit back and get attacks day in and day out without returning fire. >> we're used to seeing gingrich on the attack and really fired up. this is new for mitt romney. do you think it will work or will it wear thin?

>> well, it worked last night. we'll see how the polls look going into thursday. if he has to continue this methodology, he'll do so. before south carolina he was the presumed nominee, now he's the assumed nominee. we all know about that assumed. what it does to most folks. he knows he cannot just focus on president obama. he has to make sure that he's taking out the republican competition before he goes one-on-one with president obama. now it's tripped him up. two out of the first three states. he has to secure florida and get that mantel back for being the presumed nominee and try to coalesce more of the republican base and republican establish i'm behind him for his nomination. >> maria, let's talk about whether gingrich or romney would be more suited. the anti-beginning brich is that he is an easy target for president obama. now republican sources are telling cnn if he is the nominee

it is a disaster. another ais says we are not a def-con 5 yet but we'll see in florida. his baggage is bringing him down, political history as speaker of the house, alleged affairs, work with freddie mac. as a democrat, who is a better candidate for president obama to days, romney or gingrich? >> first i'll say this, president obama will be ready to face whoever comes out toss nominee of the republican party. and the focus of the general election will be about a choice between a party who is only wants to look out for the rich like romney and president obama who looks out for the middle class. let me say this about romney and gingri gingrich. gingrich did a very, very good thing in south carolina which was he showed republican voters who are angry, who are hurting, that he is the one who is ready to fight for them. which is something that romney had not been able to do. and those voters in south

carolina were able to look past all of the baggage and, frankly, i think the fact that the establishment is against gingrich is gog to help them with all of those voters, republican voters who are disenchanted and disconnected from the party establishment. and they don't think that the party establishment speaks for them. and that is, i think, where romney is having a problem and why he came out attacking last night because up until last night you didn't see that romney had the fight in him that republican voters are looking for. >> could he shift that now -- could he shift that now that we are seeing a fight? >> well, it's going to be interesting to see what happens at the cnn debate on thursday because what i also saw last night, which is so interesting, is though romney was attacking he seemed incredibly uncomfortable doing it. it is not a role that he likes. it is not a role that he is good at. and frankly, gingrich, again, in another role reversal, did not seem comfortable, not being the attack dog. so it's going to be interesting the dynamic we're going to see in the cnn debate on thursday.

>> zoraida, one thing you noticed also last night the audience was extremely quiet. >> were they told to be quiet? >> brian williams was scolding them but it hurt gingrich. gingrich plays to the crowd. the crowd last night was not involved. >> very good point. thank you all for plugging the cnn debate. i think the only one that didn't plug it was lenny. >> come on, lenny. >> i promise you next time. >> paul, lenny, maria, thanks for joining us. >> lenny might not be on the panel tomorrow. i'm kidding, lenny mcallister. i love you. president obama is easy. you think we're busy. i bet he was up at 4:00 hopefully watching us. putting the is and ts. >> watching us? >> you never know. if you are, hello. this is his third state of the uni union. if you're doing the math it's because the first state of the union was an address to congress, not the state of the union. political stakes are high this time. sources are telling cnn that the president is going to sort of

put forth a blueprint for the economy, quote, built to last. here's what with know he's going to be running down. tax reform so the wealthier americans will pay more of their share. those bush tax cuts for the wealthy looking at getting rid of those as well. and more refinancing for all you homeowners out there who struggle with high rates and having a tough time getting that re-fi. some additional tax breaks, too, for people who have companies that bring jobs back into this country instead of exporting them. more clean energy incentives. enhanced education and job training initiatives. the president said he knew in 2009 when he delivered that first address that this was not going to be easy. >> i will be held accountable. you know, i've got four years. >> you know quickly how people feel about what's happening. >> that's exactly right. a year from now i think people are going to see that we're starting to make some progress, but there's still going to be some pain out there. if i don't have this done in three years, then there's going

to be a one-term proposition. >> cnn's brianna keilar live in washington for us with a preview of tonight's big speech. okay. so the republicans, brianna, are already attacking this. i can tell you that ryan, chairman of the republican national committee, has said this. wining the election will likely be this year's unspoken theme. as usual, tuesday's speech will be a campaign speech. is he so awful toff the mark? >> republicans are expecting this to be political. and i think obviously they're going for that argument because, of course it's going to be political. i think white house officials are trying to say, you know, what's good for governing is good for politics. they're trying to say that the point is moot. but, you know, this is something they try to fight. politicking is not always sort of presidential. so the idea that it's political might put a little ding in that sort of presidential armor. but of course this is going to be political. it always is when a president is giving a state of the union address in a year where he's

facing re-election. and i think one of the things you can look to to say no doubt this is going to be political, is also the all important selling of the state of the union. the president will be traveling wednesday, thursday, and friday to sell these things that he's talking about before congress tonight and where is he going? he's going to iowa, nevada, colorado, arizona, and michigan. many of these states playing into that strategy of states that his campaign feels he needs to win if he loses ohio and if he wins those states that he could still clench re-election. so he will be sort of putting forward this message of, you know, the republicans are protecting the wealthy, fighting for the middle class. you mentioned the tax cuts for bush tax cuts expiring, calling for tax reform, paying for more. these are things that will be hitting. congress will also in a way without necessarily naming the republican field and really mitt romney because that's who is in

his sights, he will be hitting in on those trying to draw the a contrast. >> read between the lines, shall we? brianna, appreciate that. i'm also looking forward to seeing gabrielle giffords who is a guest of the first lady. later on "starting point" she's going to be talking to obama's senior adviser valerie jarrett about the state of the union address tonight. maybe she will be able to squeeze a few more details out of her. 15 minutes past the hour. parts of alabama resemble a war zone this morning. debris as far as the high can see. three tornadoes touched down in jefferson and tuscaloosa counties. two people were killed. 100 injured. more than 200 homes have been destroyed. that region, as you very well know, is still recovering from the twisters that killed 20 people last spring. cnn's reynolds wolf is getting an up close look at all the damage. he is live in clay, alabama. we understand there are two deaths there. it was a 16-year-old girl and 82-year-old man.

>> reporter: that's right. you know, i don't want to sound callous when i say that but we're very fortunate that that number wasn't even higher. i got to tell you, when this tornado came through it struck very quickly. especially hit this community of graybrook which is just outside of clay, alabama. i'm going to step out of the way. mike, let's give them a shot what happens if you take a walk into this home. this home was just over 24 hours ago was in great shape. now rumble everywhere. you can see the installation. you can see part of a travel trailer that was just a few streets over that crashed up against the side of this house. it is hard to believe that you had a family in here enjoying a night of watching the nfc and afc championship on sunday night and sure enough early in the morning you had all this happen. what's amazing about it is much of this happened in a span of about 35 seconds or so. some of the good news, the reason why we didn't have more fatalities in this area, plain and simple, is thauz bay did have plenty of advance warning. storm prediction center out of

norman, oklahoma, basically told people throughout much of the region this was going to be a possibility. a lot of people say in this community they are really watching the weather, keeping a sharp eye on the forecast. they knew that there was going to be a chance of rough weather. now, as this was happening, as this tornado was coming close there were some sirens that were going off within, say, 20 minutes or so. maybe they had advance warning up to an hour before the tornado came through. when it did come through, obviously you can see tremendous damage. one person seriously injured now in the hospital but expected to fully recover. but thankfully everyone else who happened to be in their homes did exactly as we always tell them. get into the innermost rooms away from outside walls and windows. everyone else made it through for the most part unscathed. >> thanks. reynolds is right when he says those numbers not being higher is surprising when you see all of those pictures. >> remarkable. the power that brings its house off the foundation or takes it away entirely, earth shattering. rob marciano was reporting on a lot of this system coming

through for us yesterday. always a calm after the storm. but how was the rest of the country fairing now that the system is somewhat gone? >> much more quiet, guys, thankfully. let's not forget about mississippi, kentucky, arkansas, they also saw their fair share of storms yesterday. let's look at the radar from yesterday and compare it to today. let's take a look at it. there you go. let's skip right through that and show you this. much more quiet across the eastern half of the country. we'll take it, won't we? how about that? a couple of showers across eastern south and north carolina. panhandle of florida. much more stable air moving in at least for the eastern third of the country. we do have fog issues this morning. cooler and moist air across the eastern slopes of the appalachian. places like myrtle beach through atlanta back through southeastern alabama we've got visits as low as a quarter mile right now. that may slow down travel at the atlanta airport as charlotte as well if you're traveling through there. seattle, rain and wind, another storm coming your way.

snow in denver. los angeles, some fog as well. atmosphere is recharging just a little bit. strong dip in the jet stream bringing snow to the colorado rockies. they'll take that. as it exits into texas this one is going to be a lot lower further south than the last one. we have a threat today across parts of the texas including san antonio, texas, corpus christi. temperatures still mild. even with that cold front coming through. 47 degrees for a high temperature in boston. 64 degrees in atlanta. 33 degrees in chicago. middle of january. 33 in chicago, zoraida, you can attest to this? >> thank you. >> yes, it could be much worse. godfather of the tea party and former house majority leader and legendary in congress. he's going to be with us to talk, oh, i don't know, politics? that's coming up next.

i'm really glad we took this last minute trip! you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. get the app. hotels.com. for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally.

ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years.

thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home.

welcome back to "early start." it's 22 minutes past 6:00. i do not like to bring you this story but it is a story, none the less, campaign manager for arkansas democrat who is run for congress said he found something very disturbing. his family pet, a cat, mutilated on the front steps of his home. >> yes, indeed. the word "liberal" was painted on its body as well. the image is so disturbing that we are not going to show it to you this morning. so the cat belonged the jacob buries. manager for the candidate ken aden. buries says his 5-year-old son found the cat. aden's campaign released a statement saying in part, quote, to kill a child's pet is just unconscionable. whoever did this is definitely the worst part of humanity.

so ken aden is joining us now. your campaign director was with his four children at the time. it was a 5-year-old who found it. i cannot imagine this happening to my children. how is he dealing with this? >> i spoke with mr. buries early this morning and, you know, he's taking time to spend with his family and obviously, you know, work through this with his kids. and it's just very disheartening any way you look at it because politics should be about a good political conversation, a goody's course. and, you know, whoever did this is just wrong, plain and simple. >> i have to ask you, has this been a contentious race? >> since we announced september 1st we have had good political discourse with our opponent. i do not believe that -- i believe this action is not related to the republican that we're running against. i do not believe that he has anything to do with it. i just believe that it was someone just, you know, just -- i don't know. it's just crazy.

to be honest with you. >> i have to release here part of a statement that congressman steve womack says in respond to this. the thought of brutalizing any animal to make a political statement, no matter what that statement is, is beyond any standard of decency. there should be no tolerance in our political discussion here in this nation for this kind of behavior. how are the authorities handling this? because i would imagine that folks working on your campaign feel threatened. >> right now the authorities are currently doing an investigation into it and it's our hope that we have been this contact with the fbi, it's our hope that we can continue to move forward and obviously whoever is behind it will be caught and brought to the full justice of the law. it's just -- it's disheartening and very upsetting. you know, we as a campaign, we're going to continue to move forward and do our job here in the third congressional district of arkansas. >> we certainly wish that family well. ken aden running for u.s.

congress in arkansas. thank you for joining us this morning. coming up, they call him the godfather of the tea party, but before the tea party, he was kind of like a godfather of congress. his name is dick armey. and what does he think about all this business that's been going on on the debate stages? he's here live to tell us. congressman, i can't wait to talk to you.

and welcome back to "early start." it's 28 minutes past the hour, which is a very good time to get you caught up on headlines if you're just about to make it out the door. mitt romney's campaign, formally release his tax returns at 8:30 eastern time this morning. "the washington post" got some good information overnight. they report that romney earned $45 million in the last two years. chump change. he paid a total of $6.2 million in taxes. romney's income tax then, if you're doing the math, was at about 13.9% in 2010. he's projected to be paying about 15.4% fwor last year's return. two more bodies recovered from the wreckage of costa concordia off the coast of italy. that brings the number of

confirmed victims of 15. 17 people are still unaccounted for, including the two americans. italian officials say salvage workers are pumping fuel of the of the cruise liner right now. and the two top republican candidates went at it in last night's florida debate. if you didn't see it, mitt romney, wow, what a change. going after newt gingrich's leadership credentials and accusing him of, quote, influence peddling after he left congress. gingrich denied the charges accusing mr. romney of the worst kind of trivial politics. all four candidates are going to debate again thursday night. you can see it live right here on cnn at 8:00 eastern. and one of the many political conundrums for this race for the white house is where the tea party candidates stand and whether they will vote in an actual block. the man considered the god father of the tea party is here and he happened to have served with newt gingrich in congress. congressman dick armey, excellent to see you live and in

person. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> how are you doing? >> we're happy. we love texas and love our grandkids and we're happy and busy. >> now that we got the fun stuff out of the way, let's talk business. >> okay. >> i'm sure you're watching the debates and these commercials and i'm sure you're noticing it is a nasty, nasty fight. where do you fit into this? >> first of all, my personally find politics to be boorishly childish all my life,ive always thought that. i've vtried to avoid that. certainly in our movement, freedom works, our organization, but the movement broadly has forsaken the possibility of having a reliable, innovative small government conservative emerge through the republican party's process. so we put our focus on -- what do you mean? i thought thaft ron paul, congressman. >> well, ron paul, we don't believe he will emerge as the candidate through this process. >> why aren't you backing him

and all your very strong tea partiers? the numbers are in the hundreds of thousands if mot millions? >> one thing you have to understand about small government activists is we all -- each and every one of us individually march to our own drummer. there are many people in our movement backing ron paul and there are some that are backing some of the others as well. >> then that means that you don't have a bloc of power if what i'm hearing is accurate. >> we're not about power. that's one of the things that's confusing to a lot of people who are used to analyzing the belaif your of real politicians in for themselves. individual liberty, personal freedom and everybody being free to do their own thing. we're also understand that one is very unlikely that any of these candidates that are on the field today will emerge with 51% of the delegates because of the way it's structured and that they're going to have to resolve this thing and that will be an inside game among the people in the republican party. >> like a broker convention?

are you telling me, congress ma man, that i have to cover this at pace until the convention? >> i wouldn't be surprised. >> really? >> also the fact that given the fact that it seems right now to be headed in that direction, you still have an opportunity that somebody like a mitch daniels could declare himself available. >> again? >> the person -- i've said this for some time. the person who may very well end up being the republican party's nominee may not be on the field at this moment. and i don't think anybody that's on the field can emerge in this process with 51% of the delegates. >> all right. let me jump into something that's been going on and that is the business wean these two front-runners, romney and gingrich. i want to play one piece of last night's debate so we can talk about the tenor and how mitt romney may have changed. have a listen to mitt romney as he talks about his fellow contender newt gingrich. >> 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. >> congressman armey, you worked with him and right there alongside all of it, wiser rumors there was a coup and you were accuse of being part of it and i know you vehemently deny it. can you weigh in? was this a disgraceful period of time as mitt romney charges for your former colleague newt gingrich? >> i think there were -- newt had problems but i don't think it was accurate to say he resigned in disgrace. coup attempt. probably the dumbest and the most dishonorable thing i ever saw while i was in washington. i put a stop to it personally myself, but newt survived that. he also, by the time he left his speakership had resolved all the ethical allegations that had been alleged and formally

charged against him. the fact of the matter is for the last two years of his speakership bob livingston, he and his allies had spent the entire two years on the floor of the house making deal by vote by vote by vote to get the votes for livingston to be elected speaker and bob livingston in that manner had the votes and newt recognized that and left. >> these details you're giveing are so terrific but sometimes get lost in the bumper sticker tendencies of the electorate. >> right. >> and here's what i want to ask you. as i watch newt gingrich tear into our colleague john king and then i watch mitt romney tear into newt gingrich, i sometimes wonder -- and their popularity soars afterwards. i wonder if the republicans are trying to elect a cable news host. >> that stresses me, too. again, the pundits tell me, the big shot professionals that are in the political rackets, tell me that negative campaign works and apparently it does. but it is so damned undignified they out to be a little bit

embarrassed about it. don't they have a plan for america they would like to talk about rather than bellyaching about each other's personal difficulties? i frankly get a little disappointed in washington. i wish they would all grow up and get busy focusing on this country. >> perhaps you need to run. perhaps that's the answer. congressman, always love to talk to you. give the folks in texas some love. by the way, for the best political coverage keep it here on cnn. 7:00 a.m. on "starting point" mitt romney's campaign adam putn putnam, we're going to ask him if he recapture the no mem up the. at 8:00 a.m. as well, soledad is going to go one-on-one with trent frank. she's going to ask the arizona congressman how his candidate plans to close the deal in florida. and then rally the party behind him moving forward. 36 minutes past the hour. coming up on "early start," mitt romney's vast riches about to release his tax returns a little bit later but we have the early

numbers on "early start." forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa.

welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield. waving this morning. >> i'm just waving. that's it. >> 39 minutes past the hour here. in less than two hours the romney camp plans to release the candidate's most recent tax returns. failure to do it sooner may have cost romney south carolina. today's release and the controversy perhaps stir up some more? live from rochester, new york, tax and county columnist for reuters. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> as we wait for this official press conference to release tax returns, a few organizations to get a preview, "the washington post" and yours, and it shows that mitt and romney had an adjusted gross income of $21.6 million. we have it up there again in case anyone missed it. adjusted gross income is a total income minus a spew specific fees, effective tax rate of

13.9%. this is not the full extent of his net assets. i excludes an ira and blind trust for his wife. 550 pages and forms that christine romans told us. what would you be looking for in these pages? >> well, these pages show that romney is, in fact, in compliance with the law and the funds that he has in the cayman islands and elsewhere are perfectly legal. nothing is being hidden. on the other hand, here's what they show that everyone else but reuters has missed. the romneys gave $100 million to their sons and paid not one penny of gift tax. they were able to takes a sets they have that are producing enormous income and, under the law, give that money to their children and not pay any taxes on it. >> is that something that you specifically found in what has been released to you? >> yes. i have suspected this and written about in my column this is what happened.

last night brad malt, the attorney for the romneys confirmed to reuter that we were correct. they have not paid a penny of gift tax. that's because congressional lous a very tiny group of people, the romneys by their income is in the top 1% of the top 1% to not count as having any value the real source of their income. something called carried interest if they give it to their children. >> and so that's perfectly legal. >> absolutely. it's absolutely legal. the scandal here is not the romneys who have comply with the law in every way. it is the law that requires you and me to be taxed differently and much more heavily than a very small group of people, those who run funds of the find that mr. romney does. >> it's kind of tax law that you're talking about. >> absolutely. and, you know, the hedge fund managers and the private equity managers are the highest paid people in the world. some make over a billion dollars a year and don't have to pay income tax on that monday my. they only have to pay tax on the money that grows out of it.

the romneys' return shows this. it only goes back one year. what he did from 1982 to 1999, the returns that really matter, they have not been released and they they indicated they are not going to as of today. >> sorry to interrupt you here. you say that built his fortune of $200 million while he was working at bain but you go on to say he's done nothing illegal so why do you think she needs to release the bain years? >> well, because, one of the things in run for president is it allows us to examine how the tax system distributes the burden of supporting government. the fact is that an individual worker who makes $54,000 a year bears a heavier tax burden than the romneys and when it comes to gifts, most americans on a gift of $100 million to their children would pay a $35 million gift tax. the romneys paid zero. we need to have a debate about how the tax system is not as it appear tos on the surface and h

we have special rules for hedge fund and private equity moon managers. >> something an issue later on but not necessarily for romney right now? >> i don't know. i'm hoping that this leads to a serious discussion about it. the republicans -- the leading republicans are the ones who brought this issue to the fore. newt gingrich and others did complaining about romney and businesses he's been in and how he's conducted his business. they're the ones that put the issue on the table. >> thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. so you think the republican contenders ha contenders have been going hard at it? that is nothing compared to iran and the rest of the west. find out what iran is saying now as they get squeezed tighter and tighter economically. live report from the pentagon coming. i love that my daughter's part fish.

but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, one, two, three ♪ ♪ count the birds in the big old tree ♪ ♪ la la la [ male announcer ] the inspiring story

of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree side by side ♪ but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the charming outfits. take away the sprites, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter.

welcome back. 6:48 in the east. soledad o'brien joins us now with what is a look ahead at "starting point." good morning. >> ladies, good morning to you. you've been talking about it all morning, we're going to continue to talk about mitt romney and releases his taxes. he know he's made over $21 million in just 2010 alone. and he paid 13.9% tax rate. this morning we're going to have adam putnam, running romney's florida campaign, if finally releasing these taxes will finally close the issue. also, two brand new

lawmakers, terry is the first african-american woman who elected to congress from the state of alabama and the tea party's allan west is going to join us. the state of the union tonight, we'll talk about that and talk about low poll numbers from members of congress and what they think about washington, d.c. so far. also, our get real this morning, boston bruins were honored at the white house for winning the stanley cup, but the goalie snubs the president. we'll tell you why. that's all ahead this morning on "starting.." joining you here live in ten minutes. see you then.da . -hey, dave. -hey, dave. hey. -hey, dave. -mr. dave. -dave. -what's up, dave? -dave. -dave. dave. dave. dave? hi, dave. oh, dave's looking for you. hey, dave. yo, dave! [ male announcer ] in a small business, it's all you. that's why you have us. at staples, we have low prices on everything your small business needs. staples. that was easy.

the benefits of calcium in a sweet, delicious treat. enjoy vitafusion calcium gummies today. welcome back to "early start." u.s. and european union is trying to hit iran where it hurts trying to get iran to the nuclear gabargaining table. >> are they ever. iran is being defiant. what do you know? issuing a brand new threat. i don't know how many this is now but trying to shut down the strait of hormuz and it comes after another u.s. aircraft carrier was dispatched to the region. cnn's chris lawrence is live at the pentagon for us. every time i tell this story i feel like a broken record. chris lawrence, am i a broken record or is there sm something

more this morning i need to be worried about? >> ashleigh, these ank shuns are in completely different realm. these are probably the most significant toughening of sanctions to date. we are talking about the european union imposing this oil embargo on iran. that's 20% of imports gone right off the bat. the u.s. is also now put iran's third larger bank on the blacklist which really brings it up to 23 banks now that are on that list. it cuts off one of iran's last access points to sort of the international finance world. a lot of people i've spoken with say this really has the possibility of bringing iran to its knees economically. the key though is going to be looking at some of iran's biggest partners, china, india, japan, to make sure they don't just fill that gap and start importing more oil. >> sure, yeah. because they've said right away they've got enough of a demand there that that could possibly, you know, backstop, for them.

i'm always curious to see what those arments are up to and how we sort of position and negotiate in that way. but chris, keep an eye on it for us and we'll check back in with you to see what's happening. 53 minutes past the hour. i'm in the air flying 17 days out of the month. majority of people will recognize me from the delta safety video. >> smoking is not allowed. >> i am not an actress. i truly am a flight attendant as well as instructor. i can fly upwards to 17, 18 days a month sometimes. all over the world. you name it, i'm usually flying there. i think in the industry you have to enjoy travel and enjoy people. happy passengers make for a happy time on our plane. sometimes on a trip you only get to stay 10, 12 hours, maybe 24. if it's on pleasure i can stay a week in vegas and really enjoy

myself. i try to look at the fun of the travel and nostalgia that thanks for flying with me. i hope i get to see you in the air soon. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above and still pay the mid-size price. here we are... [ male announcer ] and there you go, business pro. there you go. go national. go like a pro. gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody...

♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ]

we've been talking about this all morning long. mitt romney is going to be releasing his tax returns and on "starting point" we are cover that at 8:30 eastern. soledad o'brien has a list of panelists. >> perts, not only cnn experts but panelists who weigh in from all different points of view. these not only going to do this but do this on location in florida. can you guess where? >> at a diner probably. >> at a diner. she gets her breakfast. soledad, what did you order today? i'm starting to get jealous. >> hey, good morning. we're in d.c. for the state of the union. you're watching "starting

point." i had at breakfast what i microwave at home, tater tots. my favorite. welcome, everybody. on "starting point," romney, mitt romney releasing taxes, expect that to happen in just about 90 minutes. the numbers though have already been put out to the "washington post." we'll talk about those. we know that he made more than $21 million in 2010 and paying taxes at a rate of 13.9%. so is that enough to finally close the issue? we'll discuss that straight ahead. plus, a florida debate last night. in some ways it was boring but in other ways you did get a glimpse of a new mitt romney. he was aggressive and attacking newt gingrich. he clearly was not going to be mr. nice guy anymore. was it effective? we have an analysis of that this morning. plus, turn to the storms we were talking about yesterday in alabama. three tornadoes, two people dead, more than 200 homes destroyed. look at some of those pictures. we'll update you on the latest from there. president obama today is preparing for the state of the union address tonight and it's going to be all