those who hope to join it. those punish most by the wrong turns of the last three years are those unemployed or underemployed tonight and those so discouraged they've abandoned the search for work all to go. and no one's been more tragically harmed than the young people of this country. the first generation in memory to face a future less promising than their parents did. as republicans our first concern is for those waiting tonight to resume or begin the climb up life's ladder. we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves. and our economic stagnation and indebtedness, we're only a short distance behind greece, spain, and other european countries facing economic catastrophe. but ours is a fortunate land. because the world uses our dollar for trade, we have a short grace period to deal with

our dangers. but time is running out if we're to avoid the fate of europe and those once great nations of history that fell from the position of world leadership. so 2012 is a year of true opportuni opportunity, maybe our last, to restore an america of hope and upward mobility and greater equality. the challenges aren't matters of ideology or party presence. the problems are simply mathematical, and the answers are purely practical. an opposition that would earn its way back to leadership must offer not just criticism of failures that anyone can see, but a positive and credible plan to make life better, particularly for those aspiring to make a better life for themselves. republicans accept this duty gratefully. it roots back to an america of promise and to a solvent america that can pay its bills and protect its vulnerable start in the same place.

the only way up for those suffering tonight and the only way out into the debt end of debt to which we've driven is a private economy that begins to grow and create jobs, real jobs, at a much faster rate than today. contrary to the president's constant disparagement of people in business, it's the noblest of pursuits. the late steve jobs, what a fitting name he had, created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the president borrowed in blue. out here in indiana, when a business person asks me what he can do for our state, i say, first, make money. be successful. if you make a profit, you'll have something left to hire someone else and some to donate to the good causes we love. the extremism that stifles the development of home grown energy or can sells a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands or jacks up con suler utility bills for no improvement in either human

health or world temperature is a pro-poverty policy. it must be replaced by a passionate pro growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills. that means a dramatically simpler tax system of fewer loopholes and lower rates, a pause in the mindless piling on of expensive new regulations that devour dollars that otherwise could be used to hire somebody. it means maximizing on the new domestic energy technologies that are the best break our economy's gotten in years. there's a second item on our national must do list. we must unite to hit the safety net. medicare and social security have served us well, and that must continue. after half and three-quarters of a century respectively, it's not surprising they need some

repairs. we can preserve them unchanged and untouched for those in or near retirement, but we must fashion a new affordable safety net so future americans are protected too. decades ago, for instance, we could afford to send millionaires pension checks and pay medical bills for even the wealthiest among us. now we can't. so the dollars we have should be devoted to those who need them most. the mortal enemies of social security and medicare are those who, in contempt of the plain arithmetic, continue to mislead americans that we should change nothing. listening to them much longer will mean that these proud programs implode and take the american economy with them. it will mean that coming generations are denied the jobs they need in their youth and the protection they deserve in their later years. it's absolute ly so that everyoe should contribute to our national recovery, including the

most affluent among us. there are smart ways and dumb ways to do this. the dumb way is to raise rates in a broken, grossly complex tax system, choking off growth without bringing in the revenues we need to meet our debts. the better course is to stop sending the wealthy benefits they do not need and stop providing them so many tax preferences that distort our economy and do little or nothing to foster growth. it's not fair, and it's not true for the president to attack republicans in congress as obstacles on these questions. they and they alone have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements, and encourage new job creation only to be shot down time and time again by the president and his democratic senate allies. this year it falls to republicans to level with our fellow citizens about this reality. if we fail to act to grow the private sector and save the safety net, nothing else will matter much.

but to make such action happen, we also must work in ways republicans have not always practiced, to bring americans together. no feature of the obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some americans by castigating others. we americans are all in the same boat. if we drift, quarrelling and paralyzed over a niagara of debt, we will all suffer regardless of income, race, gender, or other category. if we fail to shift to a pro jobs, pro growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have. as a loyal opposition who put patriotism and national success ahead of party or ideology or any self-interest, we say that anyone who will join us in the

cause of growth and insolvency is our ally and our friend. we will speak the language of unity. let us build our finances and safety net and build the stairway upward. any other agreements we have can wait. the most troubling contention in our national life these days isn't about economics or policy at all. it's about us. as a free people. in two alarming ways, that contention is that we americans just can't cut it anymore. in word and deed, the president and his allies tell us that we just cannot handle ourselves in this complex perilous world without their benevolent protection. left to ourselves, we might pick the wrong health insurance, the wrong mortgage, the wrong school for our kids. unless they stop us, we might pick the wrong light bulb. a second view, which i admit

republicans all seem to hold, is that we americans are all up to the job of self-government. we can't do the simple math that approves the unaffordability of today's safety net programs and all the government we no longer have. we fall for the con job that says we can just plow ahead and someone else will pick up the tab. we allow ourselves to be pitted one against the other blaming our neighbor for troubles, worldwide trends, or our own government has caused. 2012 must be the year we prove the doubters wrong, the year we strike out boldly, not merely to avert national bankruptcy, but to say to a new generation that america is still the world's premiere land of opportunity. republicans will speak for those who believe in the dignity and capacity of the individual citizen, who believe that government is meant to serve the people rather than supervise them, who trust americans enough to tell them the plain truth

about the fix we're in and to lay before them a specific, credible program of change big enough to meet the emergency we're fatesing. we will advance our positive suggestions with confidence because we know that americans are still a people born to liberty. there is nothing wrong with the state of our union that the american people addressed as free born, mature citizens, cannot set right. republicans in 2012 welcome all our countrymen to a program of renewal that rebuilds the dream for all and makes our city on a hill shine once again. thanks for listening. good night. >> so we've now heard two aspects of the state of the union, one from the president of the united states, a very different one from mitch daniels, the republican governor of indiana. we're going to continue our coverage right now with anderson cooper 360. anderson? >> if you're just joining us on this, you've been watching the president's state of the union address. senior presidential adviser

david plouffe joins us shortly, so does republican senator jim demint. president obama in his third annual address to congress laying out his political agenda and his political road map for his campaign of 2012. he outlined steps that he's taking that don't need legislation, don't need congress, the state of the union is getting stronger. indiana governor mitch daniels just moments ago giving the republican response. we'll show you exclusively how a panel of undecided voters, democrats, independents, and republicans, reacted to what they heard in realtime with dial testing. we are live to the midnight hour. so is our panel, chief political correspondent and state of the union, candy crowley, david gergen, chief national correspondent, john king, chief political analyst gloria borger, political analyst roland martin, and former white house press secretary ari fleischer. the gang's all here. quickly, candy crowley, any surprises tonight? >> i don't think any surprises.

it was a solid speech. the idea of book end can it with the two foreign policy achievements, the end of the war in iraq and the death of osama bin laden, made it a very sort of solid speech, a reminder to voters, hey, by the way, here's the two things i did. as i mentioned before, here's a president who xwets higher marks right now for his foreign policy than he does for the economy. >> it was a populist speech, david gergen, but was it possible? many states require that students have to stay in high school until 18? >> it's a nice call but no, much of this will not happen. i think this is far more designed to be an agenda for his second term. take it to the public, fight it out, take it to the debates in october. i agree with candy. i did not think there were any surprises there. i did think it was politically deft, from his standpoint, and

that is, i think he showed democrats that he's willing to fight, that he's got some fresh ideas. i think he was deft in the way he shifted the emphasis away from deficits and away from jobs onto things like energy and skills and manufacturing. he's trying to shake this up and also keep that focus on fairness. i must also tell you, i think mitch daniels gave one of the best rebuttals i've ever heard. you can understand why so many leading conservatives really wanted mitch daniels in this race, a sensible voice and principled conservative, sensible voice, and didn't engage in a lot of this hyper rhetoric we've been hearing in these debates. >> ari fleischer, did you agree with mitch daniels? >> i'm neutral in this republican presidential race, but i'm a mitch daniels and/or paul ryan guy. i think if one of them was in, you'd see more energy on the republican side and more focus on what i think are the core issues the country faces, the

economic issues, and you'd see it in a friendly, inclusive way as well. that was the point i was making about the things governor daniels emphasized tonight, very different from the issues that president obama focused on tonight. a different emotional attachment on those issues. one really sees staving off this debt as the biggest issue we face. for example, let's just yield for a second and raise the bush tax rates on the wealthy. that gets you $700 billion over ten years, and we have $25 trillion of debt over the same period of time. it's a pittance, but to president obama, he seems to think it's the solution. we're in so much debt we can't start to fathom. taxes don't go far enough. it's a spending problem. >> you say keeping them honest. i've got to keep ari honest. it's a little hard to hear mitch daniels talk about the deficit when he was the budget director under president bush, when it

was a surplus turned into a deficit or talk about the tax cuts that contributed to our deficit. let's not be dishonest about that. here's one thing when you talk about the response. when mitch daniels talked about a pro poverty plan, if you will, from the president. that was also striking there, the first time we heard poverty come up tonight from president obama or governor mitch daniels. what's interesting going forward, you talk about obviously what is the next step? i do think the president has to go beyond just those battleground states. i do believe he should take his message to some of the red states in this country, some of the poorest states in this country, and begin to say, look, show me how their plans have turned out for you. show me how they have made your life better. are you going to have health care under their plans? are you going to have a better education under those plans? i don't know if he wants to go there, but frankly, i think he should. >> anderson? >> actually, paul begala, was there -- there wasn't much talk about reducing the deficit in this speech, which is something

for a lot of republicans should be front and center. >> you're right, and david gergen's right. much more emphasis in this speech on jobs, on opportunity, on education, on health care, on tax policy, interestingly enough. but what also struck me, if you just looked at it, parachuting in from a foreign country, you probably wouldn't know this is a president who is stuck at 44% going into his re-election with a painfully almost 9% unemployment rate, nor if you watched governor daniels would you know that his party is the one that just won a landslide election a year ago. it was really remarkable. governor daniels has his admirers, and he's a fine man. i'm sure he's a good governor. for me his speech was so pessimistic. this is hard to do. it was a glass of warm milk with a fly in it. it was both boring and depressing at the same time. i didn't quite go for it. i want an optimist. i think americans want an optimist. and barack obama doesn't have much to be optimistic about, but by god, he made the most of it

tonight. >> gloria? >> i don't think it was that bad, paul. what i think mitch daniels was trying to do was shift the agenda away from what barack obama was talking about and to talk about those deficit issues. and in addition to talking about obama's policy as pro poverty, as roland points out, he also said it is extremism, he called it, that stifles the development of home grown energy or can sells a perfectly safe pipeline that would create jobs, and obviously he's referring to keystone there. let me just get back to the president for one second because i think what he was trying to do -- and he succeeded -- was to thread the needle here because he didn't want independent voters watching him to look at his speech and say, you know what, you just don't like the rich. what you're trying to do is tax the rich. and you are anti-wealth creation. what he went out of his way to say is we don't begrudge

financial success in this country, we admire it, and then he started talking about having the wealthy pay their fair share. if you look at the polls in this country, people don't begrudge wealth. they just want taxes to be fair. so he was speaking to them. >> the argument over what does the word fair mean in this case? stick around, everyone. a lot more to talk about. we are live to the midnight hour. up next, a tea party republican's take on tonight from south carolina senator jim demint. we'll talk to him in a moment. and we'll show you the emotional high point of the night, gabby giffords' first state of the union since a gunman nearly took her life and her last state of the union as a congresswoman. o . well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on...

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as long as i'm president, i will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum, but i intend to fight obstruction with action, and i will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. >> president obama tonight laying down a marker on wall street regulation. other issues outlining action the white house could take without congressional approval. let's turn first to dana bash, who was inside the house chamber for the address tonight. gabby giffords' remarkable appearance, without a doubt, the high point of the evening. >> reporter: there's no question about it, anderson. i have sat in many a speech, from republican presidents, democratic presidents, democratic congresses, republican congresses, and you hear applause, and most of the time frankly you see that it's forced because it's political. there was nothing forced about this. it was democrats and republicans genuinely happy to see gabby

giffords and genuinely emotional about the fact she did decide she's going to resign her seat. tomorrow will be her last day so that she can focus full-time on her recovery from what people obviously know was a gunshot wound through her head. i want to bring in her colleague from arizona, congressman jef flake, who's a republican. congressman, i want to tell your reaction from up in the gallery. you're sitting next to her. you're a republican. she's a democrat. when the democrats stood for the president's applause lines, you helped her stand up. you were oftentimes, most times, the only republican standing there. tell me about that. >> it's the least i can do. it was just an incredible experience to be there with her, particularly after last year, having an empty chair where she should have been. it was just an overwhelming emotional experience for, i think, all of us. >> we could see her. we couldn't hear her. tell us some of what she was saying to you. >> we talked about the resignation tomorrow and the fact we'll be able to pass one

of the pieces of legislation she's worked so hard on just before she retires. and also, she mentioned that she tri tried, she tried. she was trying to come back. we all know she gives 100%. whatever is in store for her, we know that she'll give 100%. >> she specifically said to you that she tried to come back but she couldn't. >> she mentioned to a few people when they talked to her, i tried, i tried. it was just, for all of us, we're very saddened to see her retire but just grateful for the service that she's given and the bipartisan atmosphere she brought to the chamber. the fact we all sat together last year and the tradition continued this year, and i hope it continues beyond. >> i was hearing before you were getting tweets from your fellow republicans saying you support that or you support this? >> i think most people will understand. i support my colleague and

friend. >> thank you very much. i just want to say, anderson, the irony -- and i think you probably agree with this -- is that gabby giffords we now know is rconsidering running for the senate in arizona. and you are running for senate. you two could have been opponents. >> i would love nothing more than for her to run and participate fully in that way. i'm just grateful that she's recovering and continues to. >> congressman, thank you very much. i appreciate it. that was really one of the most remarkable moments of the day. there's no question about it. he mentioned the fact that last year at this time pretty much everybody, a republican and democrat came from each side of the aisle and sat with them to show their solidarity and bipartisan feeling there. unfortunately, some members decided not to do that this year because following that things devolved into partisanship in the past year, and in the coming year, it's an election year,

we're going to see that again. >> dana bash, appreciate that. we're going to take a quick break. coming up, we're going to talk to one of the president's staunchest critics, senator jim demint. ♪ 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? ♪

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and we'll throw in up $600 when you open an account. welcome back to continuing coverage. with me now is unwith of president obama's strongest critics, south carolina senator jim demint. first, senator, the moment gabby

giffords entered the chamber, you were in the room. what was that like? >> it was really touching. for her to be there with jeff flake and the tears. obviously, our hearts and prayers continue to go out to her. it was one of those wonderful moments there on the house floor. >> in terms of what the president had to say, was there anything there that you really agreed with? is there any room you see for compromise, for getting things done this year? >> anderson, he said a lot of wonderful things. it would be wonderful if it was true. sew there were things there that i certainly agreed with, but when he talked about us being more energy secure one week from killing the keystone pipeline, talking about building manufacturing jobs in our country when i talked to manufacturers, and they say that obama care, dodd-frank, all the

regulations are killing manufacturing jobs. so americans have to ask themselves, are they better off now than they were $4 trillion ago? this sounded like his first speech to the nation. he's trying to run from a record of broken promises, and we're going to have to hold him accountable. >> you wrote an op ed in the national review today and said the president is eroding middle class values. to use your words, "for the last three years, those values have only been punished." do you support the president when he says people who make more than $1 million a year should not get tax breaks or special subsidies, and they should not pay a lower effective tax rate than middle class americans? >> no one should get tax breaks and subsidies. a lot of us for years have been trying to get president obama, for senator obama to go with a low simple flat rate and take out the subsidies and loopholes. we're all for that. but then the president comes back and wants to offer special loopholes to his choice of manufacturers. he wants to pick winners and

losers. we just need a simple tax rate that allows our companies to compete. we agree with the concept, but that's not what the president has been doing. he wants to punish people who earn more than a million a year. there are not too many people like warren buffett. to build a policy around warren buffett doesn't make any sense. the things that he has done has made it harder for our economy to sustain middle class jobs. so it's hard for me to sit there and listen to him. frankly, anderson, the biggest point of the speech for me, it was irresponsible for him not to recognize the dire circumstances our country is in because of the debt. when he ends his first term, we're going to be $5 trillion more in debt when he got here. the euro is close to collapse, and he spent most of his speech making more promises from government. that's really just

irresponsible. again, he said some wonderful things, and i'd love to cheer for all of them, but what he says doesn't match up with what he's been doing for the last three years. >> senator jim demint, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. good morning, everyone. nice to have you with us. this is "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we've got breaking news from east. these two pictures, happy, happy faces. freedom. they are two foreign aid workers, one of them american, and they've been held for three months by pirates in somalia. they are free. we'll tell you how and how the rescue went down. and did you watch the state of the union address? president obama's challenging republicans to get on board or get out of his way. he says preserving the american

dream is the defining issue of our time. we have lots of highlights, lots of reaction. our panelists are going to weigh in. >> don't know if you're having a green apple for breakfast this morning, but i'll tell you what, the soon to be biggest technology firm in the world is feasting on green apples. apple just reporting historic profits. i know we say that sometimes, but wait until you hear how much that company made. >> it's probably known because we're contributing to it. ashleigh, did i tell you that plasma particles are hurdling toward us, how would you feel about that? >> i'd say aurora borealis. >> and what if i told you they're full of radiation? >> i'd say head for the hills. >> and if i told you delta airlines has cancelled flights because of this. >> i'd be concerned about those pictures. first breaking news this morning. two aid workers kidnapped in somalia three months ago are now free.

one, as ashleigh said, is an american, 32-year-old jessica buchanan. nbc is reporting that two teams of navy s.e.a.l.s stormed the compound by helicopter. there was a lot of gunfire, but the hostages, we understand, are okay, relatively in good condition is what they're saying. cnn is working to confirm this report. >> just remarkable reports coming out of there about the pitched battle, in fact, zoraida. with the navy s.e.a.l.s operation, according to the news, doing what they did. we have our correspondent in johannesburg, south afri. get me up to speed on this operation. all of this is a big surprise to us. many of us didn't even know this american was being held, and now we're hearing that, in fact, the locals okayed this raid. >> reporter: exactly. it seems like there was a lot of support for this american intervention, we're now being told by the danish rescue council. i just got off the phone, ashleigh, with the general

secretary of the danish rescue council. this is the ngo that these two were working for in central somalia. of course, they were kidnapped in central somalia in october and held. the danish rescue council has refused to pay any ransom for these two, and now we're hearing that tuesday evening an american intervention resulted in these two being rescued. we understand that there was gunfire, that nine people were killed. we don't know how many were pirates, and five were taken prisoner. of course, cnn bureaus across the world are working to confirm details of the story. it's still breaking news. details coming in thick and fast but still many of them very sketchy, ashleigh. >> keep an eye on that. we'll continue to tap in throughout the program to find out more about it. at least jessica buchanan, the american who i didn't think many knew was missing -- and sometimes that's what families

do, keep things very, very quiet, perhaps hoping they can work it out. great news for those families overseas and here. if you were up late last night -- >> i watched it in the morning. >> we go to bed very early, folks. lots of people didn't go to bed. they watched the reviving the american dream speech. at least that's what president obama was calling it, saying the defining issue of our time is, in fact, that. last night, this could be, folks, his final state of the union address if the republicans have their way. basically, here's how it cracked down. cracking down on china, playing by the rules. that's what the president was asking about. challenging the republicans also to end their obstructionist ways. and he called for a 30% tax on the very wealthy, the millionaires among us. and the overriding theme, if there was one, though, perhaps restoring fairness. >> let's never forget, millions

of americans who play by the rules and work hard every day deserve a government and financial system that do the same. it's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom -- no bailouts, no handouts and no cop-outs. an america built to last insists on responsibility for everybody. >> so much to talk about. live from washington we have white house correspondent breanna keilar and correspondent kate bolduan. first, an issue that would affect every working american, payroll taxes. listen to this. >> right now our most immediate priority is stopping the tax hike on 160 million working americans while the recovery is still fragile. so let's agree right here, right now, no side issues, no drama. pass the payroll tax cut without delay. >> there's been lots of drama, no agreement.

the white house is picking up right where we left off last month. what's different this time? >> zoraida, that sounds familiar. not a whole lot is different at this point. last month, of course, the white house and democrats really seized a victory over the payroll tax cut battle, and i think the white house is expecting, right now with both sides being far apart, that this could be a bit of a 2.0. the bottom line here is that that might allow president obama to paint republicans as obstructionist, sort of run against a do nothing congress. but the big challenge that he's facing is that unemployment number. 8.5% in december, expected to remain high in the election. and so you heard him last night seizing on the modest improvements that the economy has made, saying that a lot more has to be done, putting out some provisions to create more jobs. but the fact is a lot of them, republicans, have already said they're opposed to, and a lot of them republicans are likely to oppose. that's why you're hearing this message about fairness that the white house is confident will

resonate right up until the election, especially when it comes to taxes. polls show that it has, especially that sort of line that he drew in the sand, saying that, if you make $1 million or more, you should be paying at least 30% in taxes. who does that draw a contrast with for president obama? of course, mitt romney, who the white house is still expecting to be his opponent, who's paying 14% in taxes, zoraida. >> brianna keilar live in washington for us. thank you. >> the president was walking a pretty fine line last night, promising to fight obstruction with action, yet leaving the door open for compromise. have a listen. >> with or without this congress, i will keep taking actions that help the economy grow. but i can do a whole lot more with your help because, when we act together, there's nothing the united states of america can't achieve. >> our congressional correspondent kate bolduan is

live in washington, d.c. kate, that sure sounded nice. you and i have been having this conversation for several days now, if not weeks, that the president will likely attack the do nothing congress, as he calls it, on the campaign trail in the general election. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. it seems that theme will continue, and it's something the republicans absolutely have been pouncing on, all day yesterday especially leading up to the president's speech last night. look, from the perspective of congress, this was a speech that democrats loved. a lot of statements put out afterwards of democrats applauding the president of laying out a blueprint for economic success in this country, but this is a speech that republicans did not like. we could go even stronger and probably basically hate it. republicans really were bashing the president all day, even before he took to the mikes, ashleigh, really dismissing the speech, saying it's purely political, purely a campaign speech. and what they heard in his words during the time he was at the microphone probably did not make them any happier, especially the

part about raising taxes on the healthy. that's something that republicans fought against for a significant portion of last year. they'll continue fighting. and republicans were telling me yesterday, as the president is calling for fairness, they say it's a code word for class warfare. the president is trying to divide rather than unite. bottom line, it doesn't look like the president and even republicans have said we're ready to work with the other side, but they're pointing the finger at the other side, saying it's the other guy that's holding up the process essentially. >> if there was any moment of bipartisanship, maybe it was the gabby giffords moment, the arizona congresswoman, expected to resign from congress today. this was magic. look at this moment where she's hugging the president. >> seems to be dancing, right? >> oh, man. sorry i'm lingering on this. i'm lingering on it, kate, because it really is an emotional time. i know it's critical. the state of the union is a critical time, the policy issues

that are laid out, but these are the things that people really remember. also, a stark and honestly fabulous reminder of what -- where priorities should be. both sides are so partisan right now and really -- and the president has laid a lot of his central themes on blaming congress and blaming congressional republicans for kind of holding up the process, but this was a real reminder of kind of where everyone should be focused or where congress and the administration could be. a rare moment of bipartisanship, a very sweet moment. she's sitting with two members of the arizona delegation, a republican and a democrat, and gabby giffords is a democrat. so part of the bipartisan seating plan that we've seen that started in the last state of the union. but a great reminder and a fabulous picture. of course, everyone wishes her well. she is expected to be on the house floor today and is expected to submit her resignation. >> makes me wonder, if she

returns to politics, how many republicans would vote for her. thanks for doing that great work and getting up early, kate bolduan. thank you. it's hard to criticize the state of the union address when the central theme of the speech is fair play, right? but not everyone's buying what the president was selling last night. from little rock, arkansas, we have our panelist alice stork from our communications director for michele bachmann. from washington, political roll call writer. and cnn political contributor sharon rosen. in the last poll, only 35% of americans approved of how obama handled the economy. the big focus of the speech was on that, 46%, according to "the washington post," was focused on that. listen to what was said, and then we'll talk about it. >> we can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of americans barely get by.

or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a shot and everyone gets their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> so the president drawing a sharp contrast with republicans here, but you've got to be careful to not have an overdone campaign speech. do you think he was walking a fine line here? >> absolutely, he was doing a fine line there and even crossed over the fine line on the campaign speech. i think in terms of the content, dealing with the economy, the president's rhetoric was very populist, more so than we've ever heard him before, especially after he started going through the names of several states where he wanted to improve economic activity, including ohio, cleveland, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, my hometown. these are obviously swing states and states hard hit by the economy. >> hillary, i know you're dying to weigh in here. last night famously obama said no bailouts, no handouts, no copouts. he talked about taking the money

we're saving on the war in iraq and using it on the foreclosure crisis, an investigation into wall street headed by new york state's attorney general, eric snyderman, not a popular guy on wall street. do you think he was trying to rally the base? do you think independents are waking up excited this morning? >> yes, because i don't think this was -- you know, home foreclosures is not a partisan issue. republicans, democrats, and independents are feeling their home under water and banks on wall street not only refusing to partake of refinancing, but still fighting the consumer protection finance board to make sure that consumers get a fair deal from their bank. i think the president's focus on financial institutions doing the right thing by their borrowers, doing the right thing by consumers, and needing strong watchdogs, i think that's going to resonate everywhere. >> president obama did not talk about romney directly, but he

set up a sharp contrast there. he says he wants all millionaires to pay at least 30% in taxes. romney's returns, we now know, about 15% in taxes there. was president obama there choosing his opponent? >> no doubt, zoraida. he clearly was not focusing on the issues that people are concerned with, which is jobs and the economy, and he's it urning this into a class warfare argument. this was clearly a campaign speech. the two big issues he has hung his hat on, obama care and the stimulus, he didn't even reference last night. also, two other big issues that are earmarks of his campaign -- the unemployment rate, gdp, and the outlandish debt -- those weren't discussed because he wants to focus on what he calls, and the democrats will go forward calling class warfare. acan ttacking people who work h the job creators of this country. his plan to tax millionaires, 30%, that's going to do very little to cut down the debt and deficit. we don't need to tax more. we need to spend less.

that's the way we get out of this economic mess that president obama has gotten us into. it's not about taxing the wealthy. it's about spending less and allowing people that create jobs to invest in their businesses, create more jobs, put more people back to work. that will turn our economy around. >> it's really important, though, that we not think of the president's economic plan as a tax plan. that's what the republicans have done for years. they've always said, just lower taxes, and the economy will get better. we saw in the bush years that was not the case. central to the president's economic plan to get this country moving again is education, investment in education, give our workers skills to get jobs that actually do exist, investment in new energy, investment in manufacturing. those are the things that republicans have deinvested in, have ignored, all in favor of just a tax plan. the president is saying, look, all of these things are going to go together to create an economic plan. we're not just going to go back to past policies that only focus on tax cuts. >> taxes are front and center right now.

we're actually going to talk to a tax expert about that 30% a little later in the show. in the meantime, thank you for joining us this morning. we'll see you again later. and you can keep it on cnn for the best political coverage on television. on cnn "starting point," soledad o'brien gets reaction from the state of the union address when she goes one on one with republican steny hoyer and jeb hensarling. the s&p in the red yesterday, and the nasdaq up just a wee bit. i don't think anyone is going to remember anything about this day other than the bigger news, bigger market news. >> apple, is that what we're talking about? >> apple. a blowout quarter for apple. i've been covering corporate earnings for a long time, not to sound like an old lady, but i have never seen a tech quarter like this. this is a company that today, when it opens for trading, could

actually be the largest publicly traded company in the world. it will surpass exxon mobil. for the i phoniphones, 411,000 s a day in the quarter. they sold 181,000 ipads every day in the fourth quarter. christmas came for apple. i mean, people ran out and bought these things. >> we saw those pictures coming in from china. >> people really wanting this product. >> unbelievable. >> its sales up 73% from a year ago. wouldn't you love an investment or your business go up 73% in one quarter? there is no recession in apple land, and these numbers show that apple has had just a phenomenal, phenomenal quarter. >> did we know -- i mean, it was good. did we know it was this good? >> we knew it was going to be good. the company had been guiding, look, they're selling a lot of these products. if you anecdotally look around you, people got the first ipad and second ipad, and they're talking about there being a third ipad in march. people are frugal in this

country because they're burned by the recession, but people are focused on their frugality. in tech, people are willing to spend money, they really are. you see it in the kinds of tech they're buying. this is putting apple in sales neck and neck with hewlett-packard for the biggest tech company in the world. apple is bigger than the size of greece. and apple has almost $100 billion in cash. apple has more cash than most companies have in the entire value of their company. it's just got money in the bank. we all can't wait to see what it does with that money. the company, tim cook, the new ceo, saying things were very, very good. we'll see how well the stock does today. it was up after hours about 7%. >> keep an eye on that. and also apple makes great pies. that's all i'm saying. the new america. >> there's nothing more american than apple pie. >> i'm going to go back to my canadian. >> these products are made in china. >> there's that. >> i want to go back to my canadian roots. i grew up watching the northern lights all the time. totally normal for me.

>> do you love this story? >> look at this. it's not raining men, it's raining radiation. i know it's an awful 0 thing to say, but, man, does it make for a pretty picture. look at the solar flares. there's the northern lights. it's something i've seen on a regular basis. >> isn't it beautiful? >> this is the strongest one, by the way, since 2003. of course, it does make the stunning light show. this light show all the way -- it can be seen as far as norway. it is a bit freakish in terms of just the bombardment because it can send waves of energy all the way to earth, and it can also impact our satellite transmissions, which is not good, have an effect on power grids, and some of the flights earlier. >> rerouted their flights. >> over the north pole. >> specifically. >> it's pretty, but that's the headline. >> it affects astronauts the most, i hear. >> oh. >> yes. that's who's most affected by it. >> fascinating. still ahead, four east haven, connecticut police officers arrested for allegedly terrorizing latinos in the city.

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bennose dias, miami. do you love that? 75 degrees right now. later, sunny and 81. doesn't that bring a smile to your face? >> the next story is going to wipe that smile right off. i'm sorry, miami. welcome back, everyone. the fbi coming out with extraordinarily strong language about some police officers, calling them bullies with badges. and the mayor of east haven, where these police officers work in connecticut, is defending those police officers even though they're charged with racial profiling and even though some of the accusations are unbelievable. the indictment has just a laundry list of accusations against four police officers in east haven, connecticut, and i'll tell you what. it is not just excessive force, it's also obstructing justice, and it's infractions that go back years. and you will not believe what the reaction to these arrests of

these four police officers in east haven has been from the mayor, joseph maturo of east haven. i'm going to tell you what that mayor said in just a moment. first, i want to bring on from the television here david altimeri, who's an investigative reporter for the paper there, "the hartford current." i feel like i read this story wrong because i absolutely could not believe what i was reading. let me just give a tiny example for everybody who's listening who hasn't heard this before. one of the officers in the indictment apparently, when discussing latinos in the area -- and that's really what the accusations here stem from, harsh treatment of the latino community -- said this. he likes harassing motorists and referred to people drifting to this country on rafts made of chicken wings. there was a picture of the rat posted in the police officer's area of the bulletin board saying, you know what we do with snitches regarding the investigation of this. this is something that's been

going on for a long time. the fbi has some very damning stuff on these officers. >> three years. the investigation actually started because of the arrest of a priest who a lot of his parishioners are latinos. they had been getting arrested or stopped on motor vehicle stops by the east haven police department, and one day he went to a store in east haven to film an arrest, and officers took his camera away and arrested him and charged him with all kinds of crazy charges. >> dave, these charges were discussed in the local media there. in fact, there's an affiliate reporter who was talking with the mayor, who i named earlier, mayor joseph maturo of east haven, and the reporters asked

of the mayor, sort of giving him the background on the details here. over 10% of the population is latino, only one police officer in that community speaks spanish at all. >> yes. >> this was what went back and forth between the reporter and the mayor on that very issue. have a listen. >> such tension in the latino community with a force of 50 officers, still no police officer of latino ancestry. >> and your point being? >> what are you doing for the latino community today? >> i might have tacos when i go home. i'm not quite sure yet. >> dave, i don't know if the mayor thought he was being funny, but certainly when that plays out over national television, it's not funny. clearly with an indictment alleging extraordinarily serious charges of violence that includes bashing people's heads in on concrete walls in the precinct if they're latino. what is going on in that community? what is the retox whaction to we mayor said to that reporter?

>> well, i think he -- clearly, it was a foolish thing to say. i believe what he said basically is like the 13th interview of the day that he had done, and he was trying to make a flippant remark that he obviously shouldn't have made. >> has he apologized for it? >> kind of. i mean, he put a statement out later that he didn't mean it as -- he was trying to make a joke that obviously came off poorly. it was clearly a stupid thing to say. >> i think you're right. it's a poor choice, and i think once it gets that traction in the media it becomes an even poorer choice. i have to wrap it up there. dave, thanks for keeping an eye on that for us and thanks for getting up early with us. >> that's incredible. >> i knew you were going to be outraged. >> that is incredible. they need lots of training in that town. >> i know that this is -- latino issues are near and dear to your heart. >> discrimination across the board. >> you don't need to be latino,

black, or white to be offended by that kind of reaction from a leader. >> when the people in your community, who live in your community, such a large percentage, how do you not do some sensitivity training? that is outrageous. 5:27 here in the east. ahead on "early start," we are separating fact from fiction. are you ever watching something and wondering, is that the truth? we're going to tell you. christine romans is breaking down the state of the union address. fact checks coming up. and 0 romney's riches. we all know the guy is uber rich, but what about the millions in the offshore accounts? are there any smoking guns?

welcome back to "early start." it is 30 minutes past the hour.

a good time to get you caught up on headlines before you head out the door. breaking news overnight, an unbelievable raid. two foreign workers are free after being held hostage in somalia for the last three months. u.s. intelligence telling nbc news that two teams of navy s.e.a.l.s rescued the american woman and the danish man from suspected pirates during a daring raid. they were working with a danish group, both said to be in a safe location. and president obama calling on congress to help him level the playing field for all americans. in the state of the union, the president said economic fairness is the defining issue of our time. this morning he hits the road to kick off his re-election campaign. >> and the owner of that wrecked cruise ship, the costa concordia, is denying offering discounts to future cruises to passengers who were on board when it ran aground. it disputes reports that the cruise line was offering 30% off on your next trip somewhere to the survivors of that disaster.

so the president's state of the union address focused mostly on the economy. christine romans has been looking back over the president's record on the economy. i love this. she is doing a fact check for us this morning. >> the president's right when he says the economy is growing again and companies are start to go hire. last year 1.6 million jobs were added. that was the best job growth, i think, since 2005. it's been pretty rough. but it's been slow growth. and so the president's opponents are going to zero in on how much the national debt has grown under his tenure and say, look, for meager jobs growth, for slow jobs growth, we've added on to a deficit to levels we've never seen that will take years and years to pay off and will mean tightening belts. so both sides are right on that. and i heard it from gingrich surrogates on this show earlier this week that under the president gas prices are up significantly, and they are. they're up from $1.84 when he took office to more than $3 a gallon right now. this is true. in part, because the economy is growing better and things

happening around the world. but i want to talk about what i call this jfk moment last night, when i heard the president appeal to companies. he appealed to companies almost to their patriotism. listen. >> my message to business leaders is simple. ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed. >> the funny thing about appealing to their patriotism is that companies serve shareholders, and these are in many cases multinational companies that have operations around the world. and some of the biggest companies that we think of as american companies, their growth, their best growth is coming far outside american borders. so asking companies to bring jobs back here, something the prior administration tried to do too, and congress gave a huge tax break to do, and we're still down jobs.

>> why don't those tax breaks work? you're not appealing to good will if you're giving someone a tax break. you're saying, i'll make it worth your while. >> the president in his jobs council, he said, look, what are you going to do to create jobs? and the jobs council has said, what are you going to do to give us better workers? we need more innovation. we need a better work force. more education. no one is addressing what could be a structural problem in the near term of the long term unemployed, millions of people who need a job right now, not what they're retrained in four years or two years or three years, or not their kids who maybe have to start learning more about science and technology right now. there's still this middle ground where companies are chasing profits and chasing investments around the world, and we have a president talking about bringing those jobs back here. other administrations have tried to bring jobs home, and we've only seen jobs leaving. >> we're getting more details on how he would do that. >> that's what the jobs council is doing. the companies want to cut corporate taxes, cut regulations. we have a wish list for themselves, and the wish list for americans is we need more jobs. >> i have to be honest with you.

i love the state of the union like everyone else, but i feel like i'm watching platitude after platitude after platitude. >> that jfk moment was for voters, not for companies. >> she thinks like i think. christine, she's the bomb. the reason i say that is because i want to talk to our political panel about that very issue. like how much of this is the campaign, is the platitude, is the speaking to voters? and how much of this is really our layout of where we are and where we're going? our panel is a great one. former political director for michele bachmann for president. and hillary rosen, cnn contributor. hillary, normally, we don't start with a democrat. we let you come in midway or throw it in at the end. i'm starting with a democrat today, and i'll tell you why. you're going to love this. it's my john stewart effort at looking back over the years. are the writers lazy? i hear the same lines over and over again. listen to how president obama talked about immigration in

2010, '11, and '12. >> and we should finish the work of fixing our broken immigration system. >> we should take on the issue of illegal immigration. >> i believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. >> it's not fair to single out the democratic president. i've heard it with every other president as well, and i've seen john stewart do it with every other president. why do they do that? >> because it hasn't been fixed. really it hasn't been fixed because it's too easy and pat for me to say it's the republican in congress' falt to have stopped it. i do think republicans have raised the rhetoric level that have made people, pro-immigration reform folks panicked about a lot of things. for instance, one thing that the white house yand democrats are afraid to support but makes perfect sense is why are we educating all of these kids in our universities and then not stamping a green card to their

diploma and getting them to stay here and take some of these high paying jobs we can't fill that would help our housing problem, our housing vacancies? >> i love what you're saying. i got to be honest with you. i really want to know why they write the same crap over and over every year. it sounds the same. >> the reason they keep writing is because nobody's doing anything about it. and the president is right to call everybody's attention to it because it is a huge problem, and he is going to keep at it until republicans and democrats feel compelled to step out of their political boxes. >> that's exactly where i was going with that, hillary. thank you. the political boxes seem to come down somewhat, if not a little bit. especially the moment with gabby giffords and the bipartisan seating arrangements. i know the bipartisan seating arrangements started last year and continued this year, maybe without as much zeal as there could have been. it was a great moment to see gabby giffords trying to stand up, and her republican colleague helping her to stand. he may have been the only other

republican standing at the times when no other republican would. maybe this is just me being pollipoll i pol pollyanna, but don't you think we need more of this to make us feel better abos a nation? >> absolutely. any video we saw of gabby giffords, it tugged at your heart strings. it was good to see anybody with their hearts going out to her. last year in the state of the union, it was just days after her tragic shooting, where there was a real spirit of bipartisan cooperation. what a difference a year makes. things have changed. there is no unity in congress. president obama is mostly to blame for that. he hasn't helped the economy. he hasn't created jobs, and he certainly hasn't brought about unity. he talks about lowering the temperature. he talks about bringing both sides together. but the fact of the matter is he is partly to blame for that.

he is the one that's stopping a lot of this legislation. if you look at a lot of the issues he addressed last night, the rhetoric does not meet reality. he just talked about immigration. >> i think a lot of this is rhetoric, but here's something that's not rhetoric. john king talked to nancy pelosi, and her thoughts on the possibility of a newt gingrich presidency. >> let me just say this. that will never happen. >> why? >> he's not going to be president of the united states. that's not going to happen. let me just make my prediction and stand by it. it isn't going to happen. >> why are you so sure? >> there's something i know. the republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that's their prerogative. i don't think that's going to happen. >> whoa. i think that was the reaction from a lot of people. whoa. i can't figure it out, though.

is that just nasty elitist stuff, or is that spot on and calling it like you see it? >> i think it certainly was a true moment of candor from the former speaker, now house minority leader pelosi on that. i think she meant, first of all, that she doesn't think that, even if he does win the nomination, he'll win the general election. but she was kind of a little cagey about it. it seems like she was trying to tell people she knew something that other people perhaps didn't know. whatever it was, it was rather bullish on her part. >> was it ever. >> she's also been one to say or indicate at least that she wants that speaker's gavel once again. she's been bullish on things in the past too, including her own political future. >> it is an election year. >> evidently, she hasn't been seeing the polling results out of florida because he's doing quite well. whether it's newt gingrich or mitt romney or rick santorum, any three of them would do a much better job than the current president. talk about bipartisanship. >> we got five women going on this tv show right now. it's killing me.

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welcome back too "early start." it is 5:43 in the east. i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield. >> howdy. >> even before mitt romney agreed to release his 2010 tax return, we knew that he was super rich, right? now we're learning that millions were invested in offshore accounts in the cayman islands. the tax rate he paid, about 15%. are there any smoking guns here? live from rochester, new york, david k. johnson, tax and accounting columnist for reuters. nice to see you again. you were super popular yesterday. we decided to invite you back

again and take a closer look. let's start with the offshore investments in the caymans. is it just because it's an offshore account that we're talking about this, or was he trying to escape taxes by going to those accounts? >> no, he was not. there are nefarious uses of offshore accounts. the reason he has offshore money is he shares in the profits of the investors of the entities he ran when he was at bain. foreign investors go through a cayman islands company so they don't have to file an american tax return. and nonprofits, charitable endowments, pension funds would be taxed on their investments in the properties that mr. romney ran unless they're run through a foreign corporation. nothing nefarious at all. absolutely clean as a whistle. >> let's talk about newt gingrich's returns. not as wealthy as romney, but who he is? his income was $3 million.

he had an effective tax rate of 31.7%. you would think he could find tax lawyers like romney's to help him with this. is there a situation where politicians will strategically pay more money in taxes? do you find that ever happens or that's the advice they're given by accountants if they're running for election? >> no. and i've interviewed a lot of lawyers and accountants about this and have not heard anybody recommend that. in mr. gingrich's case, remember he released one year tax return. george romney in the 1960s released 12 because he said one year could be a fluke. just as i think romney should release his returns back to 1984, i think mr. gingrich, since he left speaker, should release his returns too. he also took advantage of a special deal that's questionable, the same thing john edwards did. he took a lot of his income as dividends so he didn't have to pay the medicare tax. if you're the sole owner of a business, that's a dubious tactic. >> and then i want to talk about the buffett rule because this is

what president obama proposed last night. americans who pay more than $1 million a year should not pay less than 30% in taxes. clearly, that was aimed at romney. he feels there would be a new fleet of lawyers looking for any loopholes into this. would you like to see a buffett rule? does that make sense? could it help the american economy and americans in particular? >> i think a minimum tax rule for people of very high incomes would be a very good idea because, when you get to the very, very top, we have people who pay -- and we have public record on some of them because of divorce cases and litigation and other things -- who take in tens and hundreds of millions of dollars and legally pay no taxes. so having a minimum tax, i think, would be a very good idea to put fairness into the system. >> there's one last thing i wanted to ask you about. we're running out of time. it was this effective tax rate, the nonpartisan tax policy center has analyzed effective tax rates. they say that actual ly 80% of americans have an effective tax

rate below 15%. a lot was made about how much romney paid in taxes. is it a shock more about his wealth that we're talking about this? >> the notion of taxes is the system is designed since the days of ancient greece which gave us democracy, that those who attain great increases in income pay the highest rates, bear the heaviest burden. think about it as harvesting your successful stock investments and taking care of the losers. but once you're into the six figures, $100,000 plus, you're paying a lot of money. the most heavily taxed people in america make between $200,000 and $1.5 million. >> david cay johnson, i feel like i get an education with you. love having you on the show. hope you join us more often. >> it's not every day you win a pulitzer prize in writing about taxes. >> and a great way to explain it it. >> we'll be back. the fight over florida has only just begun. candidates are preparing to duke

it out at the next cnn debate thursday in jacksonville. is that going to affect the polls? will there be a swing, momentum shift? [ beep ] [ mom ] scooter? 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?

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a good good morning to you. 50 minutes past the hour. showdown coming in the sunshine state. gop front runners, mitt romney, newt gingrich taking the fight on the cnn debate thursday, jacksonville, be on the stage. i don't know about the other two candidates, if they count anymore with what's been going on. what does happen on the podium does affect the polls. we're talking about a long gop adviser, who's helping mitt romney. nice to have you back, brett.

>> great to be here. >> you had all sorts of nice things to say about your work with mitt romney, and out comes newt gingrich a few hours later and says this. >> i discovered, i guess, that romney has a new debate coach whose specialty is to say as many untrue things as fast as you can. >> no. is that you he's talking about, brett? >> i don't know. maybe it is. but, you know, it's -- this is a typical stock answer that speaker gingrich has used. he used it in the debate in sioux city against michele bachmann. when he doesn't have a substantive answer on the charges that he gets attacked on, he comes back with your facts are wrong. the next thing you know, he'll be attacking governor romney's bus driver. it's unfortunate that the speaker wants to attack me or attack somebody else when he's

ignoring the substantive issues that were raised in the debate the other evening. >> we've been talking substance all morning, but i want to talk with something else with you because a lot of times the american public glazes over the substance and goes for moments like the lloyd benson moment. 1988, lloyd benson and dan quayle, the vice presidential debate. i want to take you back to his out of the ballpark moment. >> i served with jack kennedy. i knew jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> bentsen didn't win, but, man, that thing got traction. do you need an out of the ballpark moment on the stage from your candidate? >> i certainly do think that debates do turn on moments. we saw that last week the debates turned on two particular moments in the monday debate. it was the exchange that speaker

gingrich had with juan williams. and on thursday it was the opening of the debate when john king lobbed speaker gingrich a softball to hit out of the park and use his typical attack the media strategy. so the debates certainly do turn on moments. candidates do look for those times where they can create a lasting memory in the minds of the audience. >> that's what i'm getting at. that's what i'm getting at. a lot of people accuse your candidate of just being a robo candidate. he doesn't have that zeal and personality like reagan did. and i'm going there because reagan in '84 said this to walter mondale. have a listen. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> you know, i've got to say i remember that like it was yesterday because it made him adorable. does your candidate need to be a little more adorable?

>> well, i think governor romney showed on monday evening that he can actually do things like that. his exchange with speaker gingrich left the speaker speechless for a moment. i think that governor romney has actually done pretty well through these debates. he has described a vision for the country. i think that he has created some of those moments in the debates. the exchange in september at the reagan debate with governor perry was one of those moments. >> i'm putting the pressure on you right now. we want to have you back and talk about big moments you taught him. you ready for that. thanks, brett. good to have you on. we look forward to talking to you again. for a limited time, passages malibu

will be giving away free copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. we are keeping you in the pop culture loop this morning by taking a look at what's trending on the lab in and social media. this morning actress demi moore rushed to the hospital, a 911 call from her home on monday night. the paramedics assessed her. they took her straight to the hospital. a tmz report said she is being treated now for substance abuse. >> not so fast because her reps came in with a statement and issued this, saying because of the stresses in her life right now, demi has chosen to seek professional assistance and certainly doesn't talk about it

being substance abuse. you'll probably know the big story in her life has been this divorce action against ashton kutcher, her husband, after he cheated on her. who knows what the 911 call was about at this point. >> still to come, president obama says he'll take action with or without congress. but could a state of the union challenge backfire on him? 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.

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good morning to you. this is "early start." it is the top of the hour. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started here. we have overnight breaking news.

good news. the freedom for two foreign aide workers. there are their pictures. one is an american. they were held hostage in somalia for three months. we have the late-breaking details of a u.s. rescue. also, if you didn't see the state of the union we have the breakdown. president obama calling for fairness for all, especially when it comes to taxes. challenging congress on the bipartisanship, saying to china quit cheating when it comes to trade, and then, all that reaction that comes afterwards. we've got that for you, too. and the big buzz on wall street. did you hear? apple's humongous explosive earnings? how big did apple get? >> massive. massive. and then there was this really awful story out of east haven, connecticut, involving four police officers. fbi has been watching them for a long time. decided to charge four of them with terrorizing latinos in that community. if that's not a big any story, you will not believe what the mayor had to say to a local

reporter who asked about representation on the force of latinos when there's 10% latinos in the community. we're going to begin with breaking news. two foreign aide workers kidnapped in somalia three months ago are free this morning. one is an american, jessica buchanan. just moments ago the president issued a statement saying that he authorized the operation. also thank the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our special ops forces who carried that out. >> s.e.a.l. teams, right? >> two navy s.e.a.l. teams reported, helicopters, gunfire, a lot of people dead, but the hostages are okay. our team members are okay. chris lawrence is our pentagon correspondence me joins us live. i didn't even know that this american was missing. i don't know if it was just an amazingly kept secret, but i tell you what, this operation was certainly a well kept secret. >> you know, reminds you a lot, ashleigh, of the osama bin laden raid from last year when no one had any idea what was going on and the president came to the

white house correspondents dinner and everybody was happy and upbeat and nobody knew what was going on behind the scenes. we knew these hostages were missing since late october. they were working on a humanitarian aid mission. a u.s. official is confirming to cnn that navy s.e.a.ls on board helicopters landed near the compound where these two hostages were being held. the official says that the s.e.a.ls came under fire before they even got inside the compound and had to fight their way into the compound. there was a pitch gunfight. two hostages were not hurt in that. the s.e.a.ls managed to rescue them, get them on board the helicopter and get them out of somalia. again, last night as he was coming into the state of the union address, president obama pointed at defense secretary lee i don't know panetta and said good job tonight, good job tonight. we all kind of wondered what was

he referring to? well, now we know. the president released a statement this morning saying that he will not condone or accept the kidnapping and capture of americans. he went on to say that jessica buchanan was selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well being. last night i spoke with jessica buchanan's father and told him that all americans have jessica in our thoughts and prayers, and give thanks that she will soon be reunite with her family. the pentagon has told us that they have been taken to a safe location. they were getting a medical check of up and arrangements were being made to get them home. >> we have been reporting ad nauseum about pirates and hijacks and a lot of navy patrolling in that area, nato in that area. some people are saying that it worked well but shifted the pirates focus to abductions and kidnappings. does this action though, the navy s.e.a.ls action, put

pirates or abductors in that area on notice? >> probably not because you're talking about the motivation being money. the official i spoke with said there's no real indication that these pirates had any link or this was part of some largest jihadist group. the motivation simply kidnap, ransom, money. that's a harder motivation to dissway, so to speak, even with the navy sales coming in for this rescue. there was another american engineer kidnapped just in this past week. so you can expect that this probably will not be the last attempt at kidnapping some of the aide workers who are working in a very, very dangerous area. >> we should note there's still a u.s. journalist being held, 30 to 40 isolated different individuals from nations all around the world who are still being held as well. >> chris just mentioned another one. chris lawrence reporting live for us at the pentagon. we appreciate it. now to last night's state of the union address president obama defending the american

dream, challenging the republicans to to be obstructing. he's calling for a 30% tax rate on all millionaires. central theme that he has is restore fairness for all. >> the defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. no challenge is more urgent, no debate is more important, we will not settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of americans barely get by. where we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. >> as the president framed the challenges faced by the country last night he also framed the themes he's going to be pushing in his 2012 presidential campaign. brianna keilar is live in washington for us with that one. did sound a lot like a campaign and now we know his on the road

trip to the battleground states are certainly going to be like a campaign, right? >> that's right approximately he'll be focusing on different parts of the plan, parts of his plans that he laid out last night. but a lot of what you saw last night and as he moves forward in these arguably campaign-related events, will be this defense of that unemployment figure. 8.5% in december, not expected to really budge too much before the election. that is seen by the white house, by the president, as the big issue here. we saw him last night seizing on modest improvements that had been made in the economy. and highlighting just how big the financial crisis was, how bad the economy was, saying there's a whole lot more to be done. and he also laid out a lot of provisions for investments in education, for aid to states and for infrastructure spending. the thing is some of these republicans have already said they're opposed to, some of them no doubt they will oppose.

and so it was really, guys, that idea of fairness that he was talking about doing through tax reform, overhauling the very complicated tax code so that the wealthy pay more. something that polls well among americans. sort of draw that line in the sand saying if you make a million dollars or more a year you should pay 30% in taxes, drawing a lot of contrast, of course, to his presumed opponent, the white house still sees mitt romney as his presumed opponent, paying just 14%. despite all the talk of taxes and trade and 30% and all the rest, i think really many people are think of the moment of the night as happening right before the president took to the podium. have a look at this. you got it right. that's the president hugging arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords, giving her a kiss on the cheek. she's going to vote one last time today and then it is

expected today will be the day that she submits her resignation from congress because she says she's going to focus instead on recovering from that assassination attempt on her last january. >> i think you're right. love that moment. >> great. really great. newt gingrich and cnn's john king picking up where they left off last week in south carolina. remember the former speaker appearing on john king last night, he famously slammed king, gingrich did, at the debate for starting off with his ex-wife's -- nbc, the question about his ex-wife. guess what, they were going at it again last night. >> i can't speak for nbc but says if you offered people it would have interviewed them. >> oh, that is just plain who kno bologna. they said exclusively the opposite. we had several people prepared to be very clear and very aggressive in their dispute

about that. and they weren't interested. >> well, the cnn gop debate in jacksonville is going to be tomorrow night. we'll have to watch for the fireworks. if speaker gingrich has any more planned against the moderator, we want to mind your business now as well. the u.s. markets closed mixed somewhat. dow and s&p 500 down a little bit. nasdaq up just a little bit. but they were bigger stories and news. that's for sure. >> let's bring in ms. christine romans. let's talk all things apple. >> do you have apple products? >> oh, please. >> this one? >> i'm a blackberry girl but i do have the first generation ipad. it doesn't have a camera but i'm waiting to see when the third generation comes. >> i'm an am girl. first generation ipad, second generation, i ipad. >> apple keeps all that information close to the vest. i'm telling you at a stellar quarter there is no recession in apple land and if you look at the last three months of last

year you can see that ho-ho-ho, people were buying a lot of these. iphones, 411,000 a day. every single day. i mean, that's incredible. for something that didn't exist a few years ago to sell 411 through a day. ipads, 171,000 a day. for the first time they sold more than 5 million mac computers. the numbers, it's just mind blowing, the numbers, one after another in this earnings report. here's something else mind blowing. if you invested $10,000 in apple shares, exactly five years ago today, it would be worth 48 grand. i'm not kidding i'm not kidding. i know somebody who started buying apple stock at $2 a share. every time it doubled he kept buying more. i wonder why he still works. >> my sister did that with starbucks. 20 years ago. >> really? >> smart people. >> starbucks and a rl the two kind of things, if you understand it, know it. i remember the day when i noticed all the recycling backes on thursdays on brooklyn, there

were all of these apple boxes and i thought, what's going on. and apple -- seriously, they had this resurgence. the question is can apple keep going from here because for many people these are new kinds of gadgets. can the stock keep going or is it bubbly. this morning stock is up in premarket trading. >> i just think everybody has to have the latest greatest gadget, right? >> and can't even fulfill the orders. what would these earnings be like the they actually could sell to all the people in china who are trying to buy them and can't get them? >> it's cool, too, your point about the technology, we're pulling back in other parts of our lives, paying down credit card debt. we're spending money more strategically on technology. somebody john coach tells me, be careful about the technology you use when you go to a interview. it says how current you are, it says, i have a job coach tell me don't bring newspapers, make sure you have an ipad or iphone,

or google, android, some kind of the newest latest greatest to show that you are an early adapter. >> think about what it could do for you, right? you say i walk with my ipad everywhere and i really do because if i'm at a basketball game and my kid is playing i can videotape him and send pictures and upload and it's amazing what you can do, yeah. >> i'll watch it today to see what the stock does. whenever you look at $400 stock, bubbly, this could be the biggest value company in the world. >> how long will it take you before you get the new one? >> i don't know. my husband boubt me all of mine. >> for her, it's all about money. she's not going to spend it. >> give it as a gift. >> it's true. >> thanks, christine. if you're working hard for a living and traveling to do so you probably want your travel weather report right about now. >> we have jacqui jeras in for rob marciano today. >> nice to see you this morning. things are rough going across the lone star state. we're focusing in on texas at this hour with the threat of severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, isolated tornadoes, and

flooding. look at these pictures we have already this morning out of austin, texas, where between one and two inches has fallen just since midnight. a lot of lightning, a lot of reports of flooded roads. it will be slow going this morning. not just the case in austin but also in san antonio. flash flood warnings remain in effect. this is going to be a very slow moving system, guys. this is going to stick with us through a good part of the day. dallas, you're not in the watch right now. but you're going to be getting that heavy rain. houston, even though it doesn't look like you're in the tornado watch you technically are. it's going to be a little while before the heavier thunderstorms though get into your neighborhood. if you're going to be traveling today, major delays will be expected at the airports in places like dallas and houston. delays could reach an hour late this morning. memph memphis, heavy rain and thunderstorms. fog in new orleans. it's going to be crazy warm. a high of 80 degrees today. this is the big storm system we're dealing with across the country. wet and snowy in the northwest. everybody else is doing pretty much okay, including your guys

in new york. >> it ain't 80 degrees, i can say that much. >> that's true. >> all right, thank you. still ahead, president obama calls for comprehensive immigration reform. how will this resonate with the latino community? we're going to talk with the mayor of san antonio who was at the president's address last night. if your little one gets lunch at school, we've got news for you that you may be thrilled about. good food? coming from the school to their their mouth? how come it took this long.

good morning, louisville. it is 30 degrees right now. and you're going to have some showers but it's going to bump up to 44 degrees later. that's good news, right? >> that sounds right for kentucky. right? >> kentucky, this time of year. >> this time of year, it's nice to have you with us. certainly better than the earlier start of the week for y'all. great to have you here with us. let's get you up to speed on your top stories this morning. look at these pictures. these are live pictures coming out of tahrir square in egypt. they're marking the one-year an versus anniversary. these pictures were incredible of january 2011. there are now concerns about new clashes today between the military and protesters who are so frustrated by the slow pace

of change, before president mubarak was forced out four years ago. for police officers, the fbi claims they terrorized latinos in the city. and as for his reaction to the arrest, east haven mayor was caught on camera saying, quote, i might have tacos when i go home. >> yikes, not good. from the culture fire. actress demi moore is reportedly seeking treatment after she was rushed to the hospital after a 911 call. a spokesperson for moore says she is seeking professional assistance to treat exhaustion and to improve her overhaul health. >> we wish her well. 20 minutes past the hour here. president obama making his case for re-election for this year's state of the union address so he stood before congress and the country, of course, illustrating what the next four years might look like the he indeed gets a second term. the main theme there was greater fairness.

joining me now is the mayor of san antonio, julian castro. he was selected to sit with the first lady last night. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> so there was quite an impressiimpress ive list of people sitting with the first lady. mark kelly, gabby giffords' husband, the astronaut, army sergeant who served two terms in iraq and husband is deployed in afghanistan, entrepreneurs, volunteers. how did you get that cover vetted invite? >> well, you know, i -- it's always part secret. there's always a mystery to it. but, you know -- >> do tell. do tell. >> san antonio just a few weeks ago was ranked as the topper forming local economy in the nation. and one of the things that we've done well is really find the inner section of job creation and environmental stewardship, particularly with investments and renewable energy. so i think that that was probably the reason. >> all right. congratulations on that.

i want to talk immigration with you because your state where immigration is a really big issue. last night the president touched briefly, immigration reform. he said that he wants comprehensive immigration reform. he wants congress to send him a bill that sounds a lot like a dream act so he can actually sign it but his opponents say she should have acted on it already. so let's listen to three years of him at the state of the union. >> and we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system. i strongly believe that we should take on once and for all the issue of illegal immigration. i believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. >> so you know his opponents are going to say this is an issue that he ran on. he should have accomplished this earlier. what do you make of the lack of progress on immigration reform? and is he going to be held accountable for that? >> well, there's no question that -- that it has not happened

yet. at the same time, it's very clear, particularly in politics, that it takes two to tango. and the administration over these last couple of years has pushed hard for comprehensive immigration reform, particularly the dream act, the closest set of policies that could get passed. but at the same time, there's just no appetite in the congressional majority to make it happen. so hopefully during this year 2012, that will change and i was glad to hear the president challenge the congress to take it up. >> do you think that he's done enough? do you think that he's done enough at the state levels in order to get the kind of support that he needs in order to pass it? >> i think that he's pushed very hard, yeah. i also believe that the case-by-case analysis that the administration is taking on deportations is a welcome change. it makes sense. in the hispanic community, of course, there's a real concern for families. very family oriented community.

and so a case-by-case analysis of those deportations is important. and that was a step that the president took himself. >> let's switch gears here and talk about mitt romney. you've been critical of the texas state government for introducing immigration proposals that you describe as discriminatory. monday night mitt romney talked about how he would address illegal immigration. listen and then we'll talk about it. >> the answer is self deportation, which is people decide that they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here. and so we're not going to round people up. >> phrasing aside, is this a viable option? >> well, i think somebody else in that debate pointed out that you already have that. there's de facto self deportation and it's called the economy. right now we're seeing less folks cross the border from mexico than we've seen in a very long time because there's less economic opportunity.

it's also an explanation of why folks come here. they don't come here with bad intentions. you know, the vast majority of them, you know, they come here to work, to provide for their families. and so when i listen to mitt romney, i described governor perry of texas as having ushered in the most anti-hispanic agenda while he was governor during this last session. and when i listen to mitt romney i hear the echos of the same approach. i think it's unrealistic. i don't think -- not only does it not serve the hispanic community well, it doesn't serve the nation well. >> julian castro, mayor of san antonio, texas. are you thinking of a vegas, hotel rooms are all booked up, sorry. all the world's financial leaders are there but are they going to be able to do much about the global economic crisis we find ourselves in. sure looks pretty, but what about the talk, is it pretty? we're going to break it down for you on "early start." -good morning, dave. -good morning, dave.

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it is 6:29 on the east coast. welcome bark to "early start." good to have you with us. let's get you set up with your day for the top stories. breaking news overnight. freedom for two foreign aide workers. the american woman on the work, the danish man on the right. they've been held hostage in somalia for the last three months. president obama released a statement a short time ago

thanking somers tra erxtraordink on u.s. operations forces who freed them. they are said to be in good condition and safe undisclosed location today. news is not as promising for a fam life an american student who disappeared in syria this month. 21-year-old ohio native is both an american and syrian citizen. he had flown to damascus with his brother who says when they landed security guards just took his brother away. after the speech comes the big sell. president obama is doing that. he's hitting the road today on a three-day five-state tour to drive home a campaign themes that he laid out in the state of the union address last night. first up, ohio and then arizona. if they sound like battleground states to you, that's because they are. so, selling your ideas to the people, that would be one thing. selling your ideas to republicans in congress would be an entirely different ball game. the president said that he would

take action with or without them. are those fighting words? let's ask your congressional correspondent kate balduan live in washington, d.c. kind of sounded like fighting words to me. and this is a campaign year. >> this is a campaign year and they have to look through the issues through the lens in washington in an election of a campaign. look, this speech last night was one that democrats loved and republicans frankly did not. i mean, congress was clearly a target in the president's remarks last night. some have described it more as a lecture to republicans than a speech to the congress and a speech to the nation, even though the american voter was obviously also someone that the president was trying to speak to very much last night. the president talked about economic fairness. all day even before the president took to the mike republicans, you know, had their fire ready and were ready to blast the president for his speech what they called purely political and more of a campaign speech because when he's talking

about economic fairness they say -- they say that this is a code word for class warfare and pitting the rich against the poor and looking to more divide americans than trying to unite them. and that is really where republicans are criticizing the president and n. his remarks. they say the president is trying to distract the congress and distract voters from his record, which they say has now worked when they point to unemployment numbers and such. that he's trying to distract from that realtime their than -- because he can't defend it is their argument as he tries to target congress and say it's up to you now to try to help this economy and push forward legislation and work with me. bottom line, ashleigh, we talked about this a lot, even before the president's speech last night there was not a lot of optimism on capitol hill that congress was going to be able to pull off any kind of significant legislation. it doesn't look like with the president's remarks last night and the reaction from congressional republicans that they are any more motivated to find common ground right now.

>> indicakate balduan, thank yo staying up late and up early with us. thousands of miles away could easily affect your family here at home. europe's economy on the brink due to the debt crisis and today some of the most powerful minds in government and in finance are coming together to try to stave off a worldwide recession. so cnn's money poppy harlow minding your business this morning from dabos,switzerland. it looks beautiful behind you. quite a bit of topics on the debate agenda today. future of capital lymph, rise of china, financial regulation, aftermath of popular protests around the world. how are all of those dialogues going to have an impact here in the united states? >> all of them will matter greatly to people watching now in the united states. it's a tiny town, home to the world economic forum. 2600 participants here right now. word leaderses, we have timothy geithner, u.s. treasury

secretary here, angel merkel. they are all focusing on one thing specifically, the state of europe. just late yesterday, the international monetary fund came out and steeply cut its growth forecasts for the world economy for this year. why do we care? because united states relies very much on europe toeks port its goods. if europe does not do well, the united states does well. one of the heads of the imf came out, zoraida, and said if the crisis in europe gets worse, if it intensifies, quote, the world could be plunged into another recession. therefore, it matters greatly to every politician at home, greatly to every american looking for a job at home trying to hang on to their job. a is the focus tonight. the big focus will be on germany tonight and those comments from the german chancellor is germany is seen as center of europe, the stronghold, the strength in europe's economy right now. the question is what happens, that what is the future of the

eurozone and it greatly platters to us here. social unrest. that is a huge topic as well right now. not just the occupy movement in the u.s. of course the arab spring. what i'm hearing from lieaders here, economists, is that we should pay attention to social unrest, it will likely increase this year as it does not look like things are getting materially better in terms of jobs either in europe or in the united states. >> all right, poppy harlow, thank you for joining us this morning. and still ahead, some pretty good news if you got little kiddies who eat at school, apparently their lunch rest going to get more healthy. what about the pizza and french fries? congress seems to think those are veggies, still. we'll let you know what's going on. and we're getting an early read on what's making news in america today as well. you are watching "early start." ♪

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new york, new york, it's beautiful. >> lovely. i wish i had the temperature there. it was cold coming in. just a little bit cold. i'm going to tell you that. >> 30s, somewhere in the 30s this morning, folks. >> somewhat? >> new york city. it is 6:39 here on the east coast. and we're getting an early read on your local news that's making national headlines. this morning we have papers from new orleans and miami. so first, we are going to go to "the times. picaynne," a louisiana man taking on bp in court. he helped bp develop clean-up strategies after the gulf spill. he is claiming that the company took shortcuts, falsely reporting some beaches a clean when they were not. >> that's not good. >> he said bp threat bed him and fired him when he threatened to blow the whistle. specifically, he says, bp was refusing to pick up oiled debris on beaches and islands and falsely reporting the areas were clean. this is all in an effort to wrap

up its responsibilities early and leave the remaining clean-up to the coast guard. >> i think bp is going to have something to say about that in court, without question. you always have that in a whistle-blower situation. let's get you to the "miami herald." pro newt gingrich super pac says, pull out all the stops. they bought $6 million of advertising in florida. oh, people of florida, i am so sorry for what you're about to be seeing. all of this stuff is so nasty. i can tell you this. the ad at this particular time with this particular super pac is going after the whole romney versus obamacare, romneycare, using coats from the "wall street journal" to connect pem this this is win ourg future super pac. they have similar names in is the winning our future gingrich super pac . if you didn't know much about super pac, all new this year, gingrich got $5 million from a casino owner in nevada because

that's legal now. and then just within days that casino owner's wife wrote another $5 million. >> i thought it was a casino owner's wife but both of them? >> sheldoned a son and then his wife, mrs. sheldon addison, $10 million over the course of about a week, gingrich got $10 million injection from that pair. >> a lot of ad time. >> i don't know how -- i don't know why or how they could do that but i would love to have that kind of disposable income. money talk is dominating the fight for florida. front-runners duking it out. i'm not sure what that funny character is behind newt gingrich but you know, gingrich is being blasted for his connections to freddie mac. romney is being blasted for his tax returns and how rich she and what he paid in taxes. what's going to matter more in florida? you're watching "early start." hey, aren't you supposed to be following that fidelity green line? well, yeah, but it keeps leading me back to my old office. i think it might be broken.

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we're a little amazed here, folk, because our political editor at cnn, paul steinhauser, just sent us an e-mail with a brand new poll, not that just gingrich and romney are neck and neck, a couple of points away from each other, but i think what's most fascinating the last three days. after the win in south carolina, and monday's debate -- >> gingrich was at 26% and soared to 40%. romney, 37% and went to 34%. >> i don't think romney's camp is going to like those numbers. they're going to probably tap those down and say our internal polls say different. we can tell you one thing, susan might have something to say about it, professor of government and international affairs at the university of south florida. susan, does that surprise you, hearing those numbers swapping like that? >> not really. this is such a volatile state,

and these candidates are given it all they've got. it's ago for broke time for each of them. they are combing this state from top to bottom. the ad wars are well under way. this is a state where republicans very different from those in south carolina. but, obviously some are very encouraged by gingrich. others really want romney. there you have it, a great fight. >> i tell you what, when we talked about iowa and new hampshire and south carolina, we had specific, in iowa, the evangelicals, south carolina, back to the evangelicals. when i look to your state, my friend, i can't get my head around what's important. health care with all the seniors in that state, the latino vote and the immigration issues, or the housing crisis and the foreclosure issues. do you have a grasp on what's going to be leading issue for these candidates? are they all equal? >> it is definitely the economy,

economy, economy. jobssh, jobs, jobs. the bottom line is this state is very used to leading the nation out of recovery after a recession. now it's lagging behind and a position florida floridians are not used to being in. very impatient, very angry. they just want some assurance that whoever they vote for has some kind of clear idea how to get florida moving again. >> susan, if you're floridian friends are angry, i don't know how they're going to feel about this next thing i'm about to play for you and our audience. when i said housing crisis and the issues that your floridian counter parts face, mitt romney has tried to make this an issue tying newt gingrich to his connections to freddie mac and suggesting while newt was with freddie mac, everybody in florida was focussing and had to cope with these foreclosures. but then we went and found this itty-bitty little bite, this sound bite from mitt romney from, i think, back in the fall. have a listen. >> don't try and stop the

foreclosure process. let it run its course and hit the bottom, allow investors to buy the homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up. >> don't try to stop the foreclosure. i get what he's saying. i get free markets. let it happen. but do those words play in your peoria? >> well, they t. housing crisis, of course, is of great urgency which is why they emphasize it in their ads and why it was a big deal in debate the other night. but it does work a little bit different. you have an older population here that is a little bit, as we say, healthier, wealthier, younger, and better educated. they understand the business aspects of things a little bit more and are more invested in the market. for some they'll see that as simply, oh, you took something out of context. but for the working person whose lost their home or their job, they see those as fighting words. and the issue is you can take those kinds of comments from both gingrich and romney and put them on a screen and what happens is it mately people just

say i don't like either of them. there's a danger that might tamp downturnout even though i think we will have contrastwise a higher turnout than usual. >> susan, it's great to talk to you. hope you will come back and talk to us again. >> my pleasure. thank you for having me. >> smart lady. >> yeah. 29 minutes past the hour. let's go to the live pictures now just coming into the cnn newsroom. it's from egypt's tahrir square. tense of thousands of people. they are gathering to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled president hosni mubarak. tensions in the area as well. some activists are not happy with the pace of the democratic change. they demand the ruling military counsel relinquish powers. these are live pictures we're just getting into the cnn newsroom. we're going to get a live report right after the break as well from that area. >> so confusing for people because they look at those pictures and they think a year ago we saw the same thing.

didn't they oust hosni mubarak, what is the problem now? sometimes not as what you don't know. we're not sure that's the situation but clearly the military and people are not getting along with that country. we're going to get a live report and information. in the meantime, soledad o'brien has a look at what's ahead on "starting point." good morning. >> good morning. we've got a lot to talk about this morning. we're going to talk about those pictures you showed about tahrir square. and steny hoyer is joining us this morning and republican congressman jed he. there were a lot offal as of bipartisanship. we'll see if the two sides can agree on anything as we move post-state of the union address. i was telling you about these fascinating tapes, 45 hours of secret tapes made by john f. kennedy jr. they have been released and we're going to talk about jfk's last three months of his life with presidential historian

douglas brinkley. that is all ahead this morning as "starting point" gets under fwha roughly nine minutes or so. "early start" is back right after this short break.

pretty shot. >> you know, i love new york, i love chicago. >> but you've got a new favorite? >> i love those people in atlanta. good morning to you. 37 degrees right now. guess what. sunny, 65 later. those folks are super nice there. >> sun rise looks beautiful, doesn't it? the halceon environment and existence in atlanta. eight minutes until the top of the hour.

big changes for your kids school lunches being unveiled later this morning. we still going over that whole beef about pizza being a vegetable. yes, it still is. >> senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is in atlanta with some of these proposed changes. >> the one thing i want elizabeth to answer, if they have changes and they're great news, why is it that still, still the congress oh we the congressional decision on pizza and french fries being vegetables still holds? >> there you go, elizabeth. >> good morning, ladies. how are you? >> hey, there. >> can you answer that? that's one thing that has me really beefed this morning is that it's still got -- they still have that issues, even though you have good news, still issue about the pizza and french fries. >> let's take about that first because that is what is on everyone's mind. this has been discussed for months and months. right now inle sko schools as w speak, pizza and french fries counted as vegetable. pizza because of two tablespoons

as tomato paste and french fries are potatoes. really, should they count as vegetables? there's been a lot of opposition to this. the obama administration has pushed to make them not count as vegetables the same way they are now. and we're going to hear later today what's happened. but i know the congress last year said, no, we want pizza and frenchvegetable. a lot of people say they were kowtowing to interests. they say they want them to count as vegetables so congress voted last year, they are going to count as vegetables. >> elizabeth, if you could talk a little bit about the new standards because ashleigh and i were talking earlier trying to figure out how many calories should our children be consuming a day at one meal. could you talk about the new standar standards? maybe it's an education for us. >> what's incredible is that there's even this thought of proposing limits at all. when you think about it, we live in a time when there is this horrible childhood obesity epidemic and you would think there would be limits on

calories on school lunches and there aren't. you can have a zillion calories in a school lunch. this is the first time that people are talking about putting calorie limits on school lunches. some people say this is way too late and should have been done a long time ago. thank goodness they're doing it now. i want give you numbers because it depends on different age, different stages. it's going to be very complicated, different for high school than elementary school students, for some larger kids, for example, it might -- or older kids, it might be, let's say, 800 calories, approximately 800 calories for a school lunch. it all depends. but a lot of people see this as a step in the right direction to even be talking about putting limits. >> baby steps. >> baby steps. >> elizabeth, thank you. it's always good to see you. >> good to see you. >> your towercam shot was beautiful. >> thank you. five minutes to 7:00 on the east. [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self? c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down.

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call 877-242-usaa. the benefits of calcium in a sweet, delicious treat. enjoy vitafusion calcium gummies today. i love that we were talking about the school lunches. i still wonder what the kids will be eating. >> we have the new standards. now you have to serve skimmer, 1% milk, two servings of

veggies, whole grains, no trans fats. the current standard is a minimum of 825 calories. new standard now is down to 750 calories. added a max of 850 for high schools. >> big question is how many things are going to get thrown out off the tray. >> a lot. that's an issue for our s l soledad o'brien was "early start" is officially over. thanks for being with us. soledad? >> good morning, ladies. nice to see you. we're moving on to "starting point". thanks for being with us. we're live this morning with fr the diner once again in washington, d.c. our starting point this morning is breaking news, freedom for two foreign aid workers, one is an american held hostage in somalia for three months. he have late-breaking details this morning. also, we are, of course, talking about the state of the union this morning. it was all about the economy, fair play, fair shot, fair share. we'll discuss that, if today, the morng after, isck