on the broadcast tonight, high stakes. with the president speaking tonight, coming off last night's contentious gop debate. mitt romney chooses today to release his tax returns and show the world how much he made and what he paid. now voters get to take a good, long look at the numbers. vaccine worries. a link between some common household chemicals and chdhood vaccines. solar storm -- the incredible light show. an output of energy that's so strong, so unusual it's affecting air travel. and jfk's secret tapes. and we hear president kennedy as never before.

on his own image, we hear his children and we hear him in his final days. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> good evening. while our focus in prime time will be the president's state of the union address before a joint session of congress, to be fair, the attention has not been on the president. not for months. it's been on the gop race and the republican candidates. and one of them, mitt romney, chose today to release his tax returns from the year 2010. he did it to help stop the questions about his wealth, but in releasing his taxes, he reveals what most americans will regard as unimaginable wealth, and vast investments after a successful career in business, much of it spent buying and selling companies. the numbers in these returns will likely get talked about for the rest of the way in this

campaign. it's against this backdrop that we begin tonight with nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: mitt romney wasn't talking about his taxes today, but the numbers tell the story. for 2010, the romneys paid $3 million in taxes on an adjusted gross income of $21.6 million, an effective rate of 13.9%. that compares to the obamas who paid 26% of their income in taxes. and the gingriches who paid 31.6%. the big difference -- almost all of the romneys' income is from investments, not salary or other income. and the irs taxes investments at a much lower rate. >> when you're at this wealth level, you get much more in the way of capital gains and qualified dividends and other preferential income. >> reporter: for 2011, the romneys estimate they'll pay an effective rate of 15.4% on an adjusted gross income of $29

-- $20.9 million. over both years, the romneys gave $7 million to charity, including $4.1 million to the mormon church. they earned $12.9 million over two years in so-called carried interest, retirement payments of bain capital, taxed at the lower rate for capital gains. that part of the tax law is hugely controversial. if those payments had been taxed at higher rates, the romneys would have owed $2.6 million more to the irs. >> he was proud to have paid 100% of what he owed and that's really the beginning and the end of that story. >> reporter: with growing income inequality and anger rising, romney dragged his heels for weeks about releasing his returns. even if elected president. >> it's a little premature for me to be talking about that at this stage. >> is there some secret? people know you're wealthy. >> i understand. >> there's nothing to hide. >> i agree. there's nothing to hide. >> reporter: the romney campaign now says it's been completely transparent about its taxes, but that won't settle the issue for

the obama campaign and tax codes that favor the rich. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. and a word about our last night at times contentious nbc news republican debate from tampa, propelled gop candidates into the ground war today into the fight for the state of florida. and after going after newt gingrich last night, today as mitt romney's finances were detailed, he chose to go after the president. nbc's peter alexander has our report tonight from tampa. >> reporter: mitt romney tried to upstage tonight's state of the union address with a scathing critique of obama's economic record. >> three years ago, we measured candidate obama by his hopeful promises and his slogans. today, president obama has amassed an actual record of debt, decline and disappointment. >> reporter: last night romney abandoned what had been his above-the-fray style, instead aggressively challenging his republican rival, newt gingrich.

>> i think it's about leadership and the speaker was given the opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994 and at the end of four years he had to resign in disgrace. >> i'm not going to spend the evening trying to chase governor romney's misinformation. >> reporter: gingrich, whose combative tone in past debates energized audiences. this morning, complained that the rules set by nbc news limiting crowd outbursts affected his performance. >> the media doesn't control free speech. people ought to be allowed to applaud if they want to. >> governor, the speaker said no more debates without audience participation. does that matter? >> as i recall, the presidential commission doesn't have audience participation, so he better learn how to debate in all settings. >> reporter: rick santorum tried to capitalize as the front-runners hammered away at one another. >> when push came to shove, they got pushed. they didn't stand tall for the conservative principles that they argued that they were for. >> reporter: back on the campaign trail in sarasota today, gingrich was greeted by a large crowd of supporters, and

earlier in an attempt to blunt criticism about his three marriages, gingrich told the christian broadcasting network, he's learned from his experiences. >> i have not hidden from the facts of my life. i have confessed my weaknesses and i had to go to god for forgiveness and for reconciliation. >> also tonight, newt gingrich's supporters tell nbc news that they have just bought $6 million in new ads to air here in the state of florida. and for his part, ron paul's campaign says that paul is going to focus on other upcoming contests like maine, nevada and colorado. brian, all this is more evidence it's shaping up to be one long primary campaign season. >> peter alexander in florida for us, thanks. now to the high-stakes speech the president has to give tonight. the annual state of the union address. this year, of course, an election year, our political director, chief white house correspondent chuck todd has more tonight from the white house. and chuck, this is supposed to be a pretty lofty occasion. but let me ask it this way.

how does what has been happening on the republican campaign trail and all these debates almost one a day we've been seeing, how does that affect the tone, tenor, content of tonight? >> what's interesting about this speech and everything we've learned about it is that there's a little bit of a tone. you're going to hear a populist president obama deliver a populist state of the union. aides tell me it's not necessarily a campaign speech, but it's certainly a setting of the political agenda. here's one excerpt. i will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. no, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt and phony financial profits. tonight, i want to speak about how we move forward and lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last, an economy built on american manufacturing, american energy, skills for the american workers and a renewal of american values. perhaps, brian tonight the most interesting thing is the president is going to lay out the idea of the buffet rule -- a minimum tax for

multimillionaires. it may actually double what mitt romney actually paid in taxes. that's going to be interesting fireworks. >> all right, warren buffett, the famous businessman whose secretary is supposed to be in the gallery tonight as a guest of the first lady. chuck todd at the white house, thanks. now let's go over to capitol hill. nbc's kelly o'donnell who will be in the house chamber tonight as usual for tonight's speech. and kelly, what are you expecting in the room? >> well, we heard in a small meeting with house speaker john boehner today that he hopes for an olive branch from the president to work with the congress on jobs and not just run against congress. boehner also got very tough saying that the campaign wrote the president's speech, and accusing the president of using tactics like the politics of envy that boehner said were, quote, almost un-american. now, if you're longing for some harmony, we'll have that, too. congresswoman gabrielle giffords will be here, one of the last things she does as a member before giving up her seat,

recovering from that assassination attempt last year. and also an open seat left by a member of congress who suffered a stroke. he holds the seat president obama once had. >> we'll be seeing you tonight as part of our coverage. with us here in what is really his studio in washington is the moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. and david, while there have been state of the union addresses with greater interest going in, it's still a fraught period of time and it's still one heck of a big platform for the president. >> it's a huge platform. i talked to a senior campaign adviser who said look, you don't pass up this opportunity to lay out what is effectively a philosophical campaign blueprint for a huge audience tonight. he's going to use that. so yeah, the stage is set. but i talk to republicans today who say they're not expecting very much. they're pretty cynical about it. there is no shared sense of what america's national purpose should be right now. that's the reality this

president confronts. he's going to go out there and make a populist pitch, as chuck said. you're going to hear a lot about fairness, a lot about new rules of the road that benefit everybody. this is the answer to what you're hearing. all the tea party energy and anger on the republican side in this campaign, the president wants to offer that competing vision tonight. >> boy, you do see how the media spotlight shifts to the other side and he's going to try to bring it back tonight. david gregory will be part of our viewing gathering here in our washington bureau tonight. david, thanks. and a reminder, nbc news coverage of the state of the union address begins right here 9:00 eastern, 6:00 pacific time on this nbc station. in other news tonight, an update on the january tornado outbreak in jefferson county, alabama, as we showed you here last evening. there's still so much damage. the death toll stands at two with two dozen people hospitalized tonight, 200 homes destroyed in all and another 200 damaged.

the twisters also destroyed an elementary school and some folks are worried about qualifying for the money they need to rebuild the school because that county filed for bankruptcy protection back in november. if you live in the northern u.s. or canada, you're in for what could be a heck of a light show tonight if you can stand the cold temperatures outside. expected to hts ar be visible as far south as montana, maine, upstate new york, perhaps the edges of pennsylvania. the lights will be one by-product of a massive solar flare that has triggered the strongest solar storm in more than six years. waves of energy and radiation, because this happened a few days ago, they're just now getting here, are bombarding the planet earth at 4 million miles an hour. that could cause minor disruptions to satellites and power grids and communications here. some airlines have rerouted a handful of flights that normally fly over the north pole because

of the increased radiation. but the folks who are watching all of this closely aren't expressing urgent concern. >> this radiation storm, it's hitting the astronauts. they're certainly getting a few extra x-rays from their dentists or their doctor. we're getting none of that down here. the earth is protected by a magnetic bubble. that magnetic bubble keeps that radiation out of the earth's atmosphere. >> or so we hope. physicists also tell us the sun is entering a new active period, so this type of solar activity is likely to last, they say, at least another 18 months. something to look forward to. up next here tonight as "nightly news" continues from our washington bureau -- do everyday things from our homes prevent children's vaccinations from working as they're intended? the interesting new research tonight that's raising a lot of questions among parents. and later, a big day in hollywood, what's old is new again. but is it gold? that's the question. s

as we mentioned health news tonight that's going to be a great interest to a lot of parents. it's about children's vaccines and a new study raising new questions about common chemicals in all of our household products from microwave popcorn bags to water resistant clothing and whether they are somehow making these vaccines less effective for our children than they should be. our chief science correspondent robert bazell has more on this new study. >> reporter: the chemicals are called pfcs. researchers looked at children in a small fishing village in north atlantic and found that when the children had high levels of pfcs, common vaccines for pertussis and diphtheria

were up to 40% less effective. >> what we found was astonishing. we found that for these compounds, the higher the exposure, the lower the antibody concentration in the child. >> reporter: pfcs are found in many products, including food containers, nonstick cookware, beauty products and cleaning solutions. the epa is already planning to phase them out by 2015. the problem is, they stay around for years. despite these early results, experts say parents need not worry about the effectiveness of vaccines. >> there's absolutely no indication that the vaccines are in any way not working in the united states. >> reporter: and the industry association representing chemical manufacturers said in a statement, this study should be replicated and read in the context of all science. still, some parents are taking no chances, with chemicals in her home that could hurt her children. >> these are perfect materials to cook with. >> reporter: she hired ron and

lisa who run a company in southern california to help people remove any potential dangers. >> i'm trying to eliminate exposure at home. just to keep them healthier, but also because i know it's hard to eliminate out in the environment. >> reporter: many experts say such precautions aren't necessary, but they do agree pfcs do need far more study. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. apple reported its earnings for the last three months of 2011 today. the company's revenues were up a staggering 73% from last year at the same time, and its profit more than doubled to $13.1 billion. sales of the new iphone 4s and ipads drove those massive gains. think about how many people you know who received them as christmas gifts, perhaps. it was apple's first modern day earnings period without founder steve jobs at the head of the company. he died october 5. that blockbuster apple news came after the closing bell on wall

street, though, on a mixed day. dow and s&p 500 lost a little ground. nasdaq was up slightly. up next here tonight, president kennedy in his own words as tapes made public for the first time tell us about his last days.

when you mention white house tapes, richard nixon comes to mind, but he wasn't the first to have a secret taping system in the white house in the oval office. there was lyndon johnson before him, but the practice was started by president john f. kennedy. and today, his presidential library released 45 hours of audio recordings, a kind of narrative of his last weeks of his life. >> at one point, we hear a confident president on the tapes, thinking about re-election and the best way to sell himself to younger voters.

>> kennedy was very well aware of the power of the image. he can be heard pushing the idea, quite revolutionary at the time, of producing films for the '64 democratic convention in color for the first time. >> jfk was one of several presidents who got conflicting advice on vietnam and in one conversation, you can hear his frustration with two separate aides just back from there giving him contradictory advice. >> you both went to the same country? >> the kennedy children, john and caroline, are on the tapes. we can hear the president introduce them to soviet foreign minister. >> come in a minute. say hello. do you want to say hello to john? you know the ambassador.

>> they are very popular in our country. >> and then there's a scheduling meeting, right before the president and first lady leave on a trip to texas. they talk about a visiting dignitary and the busy monday he has planned when he gets home from dallas. it turned out to be the day of the president's funeral. >> the voice of john f. kennedy, just days before dallas. you can hear more of these tapes. we've posted a link on our website tonight and on our facebook page as well. when we come back, after a break, the stage is set in hollywood for something that hasn't happened in almost a century.

finally on this big day in the nation's capital, it is also a big day on the other coast in hollywood where this year's oscar nominations were announced. not since the first year of the oscars in the late '20s has a silent film won for best picture, but that could change this year as "the artist" is among the nine movies nominated for the top award. our man in hollywood, george lewis, tells us what's old is new again.

♪ >> reporter: and the oscar goes to nostalgia. in "hugo" nominated 11 times, one of america's most celebrated directors -- >> action! >> -- martin scorsese conjures up a breathtaking fantasy about a boy living in a paris train station. >> i had to be here for some reason. >> reporter: in "the artist" nominated for ten oscars, a contemporary french filmmaker brought his crew to l.a. to remember the end of the silent film era in hollywood. >> the two movies that got the most nominations are both odes to cinema of the past. >> hey! >> reporter: the nominations for best actor include george clooney in "the descendents." >> i'm a dope. i'm just kidding you. >> and brad pitt in "moneyball." >> what the hell am i doing. >> for best actress, meryl streep picks up her 17th oscar

nomination, playing british prime minister margaret thatcher in "the iron lady." >> that's the term that we want to strike. >> reporter: streep is competing against her friend viola davis, nominated for her role as a housemaid in "the help." >> breathtaking. >> so pretty it makes my stomach hurt. >> reporter: and while the academy did not nominate the smash hit "bridesmaids" for best picture, melissa mccarthy's hilarious performance earned her a best supporting actress nomination. sadly, there was no nomination for uggy, the scene-stealing dog from "the artist" in spite of an online campaign to create a special category for him. the academy just shot down that idea. the human contenders get the oscars february 26. george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. >> and that's our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. one more reminder, we're back on

the air, 9:00 eastern time, 6:00 on the west coast for coverage of the state of the union. for now from washington and for all of us, good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com