tonight. >> and a lunch today with my dad. what did you learn today? >> talking about the honor roll for the people who voted, ron paul -- >> of course ron paul. but that goes without saying. >> so ron paul, jim demint, pat toomey -- >> not paul ryan. >> mike pence. >> but not paul ryan. and academy award nominations are out. >> what did you learn? >> i was just reminded of where mika gets her brilliant from -- her father. >> mika, anything? >> my dad is amazing. no, take it away. >> it's early. >> what time is it? >> time for "the daily rundown" with check todd. thank you, guys. that musicals fires me up the showdown in the sunshine state. gingrich didn't take the bait. he came out on top. we'll break it down in minutes. plus mitt's millions under

pressure. romney releases his tax returns today, showing about $42 million in income over the last two years. not bad for a guy whose job has been simply preparing for a run for president. the state of union is tonight. the president promises to lay out his vision for strengthening the economy and middle class. a giant platform for what's basically the kickoff to the reelection campaign. it's tuesday, super tuesday. january 24th, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. what a packed day from the first five minutes, mitt romney was on the attack. the mer was given an opportunity to be the leader in 1994, and at the end of four years he resigned in disgrace the in the 15 years after he left the

fership, he's been working as a influence peddler in washington. >> i'm not going to chase governor romney's misinformation. >> romney called newt every name in the book, took aim at his role in freddie mac, and finally did draw him out for a response. >> they don't pay people $25,000 a month for six years as historians. i didn't have an office on k street, i wasn't a lobbyist, i've never worked in washington. we have congressmen who also say you came and lobbied them. >> i didn't lobby them. that's not true. >> congressmen say you lobbied them with regards to medicare part d. >> whoa, whoa. >> your center was taking in contributions. >> you jumped a long way. i understand your technique, you used on mccain, huckabee, you used consistently, it's unfortunate and it's not going

to work well. the american people will see through it. >> you can tell that it did affect the gingrich campaign this morning we also got a clear look when he's done what he's explained to advance the conservative cause, a question his rivals were only too happy to rely on. >> number one, i've raised a family, and i've -- with my wife we have raised five wonderful sons and 16 wonderful grandkids. number two, i've worked in the private sect officer. >> i went to a gold water organizing session in 1974, organized a group, spent 16 years building a majority in the house for the first time since 1954, the first reelected -- >> i said before, here's one where you have folks who preach conservativer temple, private

sector and when push came to shove, they got pushed. >> romney, who said he radio sweeto the dream act, appeared to wasn't to have a change of heart. >> i would work to get a signable version, which would be the military component. that part of the dream act i would support. i would not support the part that simply says everybody who goes to college is automatically waived for having broken the law. >> the questioning continues. >> i just note that's the same position i would have, i would not sign it as it currently exists, but i would vine the dream act if it was focused on military service. >> can you tell we're in florida now? this isn't south carolina or iowa. would mitt romney have jumped in and say let me give you a nuanced part of that. they were upset there wasn't more audience participation, more clapping, that we somehow banned clapping. for what it's worth, it's the

same thing we scud of the audience at the reagan debate and the mea meet the press debate, which is simply keep their aplus to a minimum, hold it down. for what it's worth, this audience just seemed to listen to the coats more so than other audiences we have dealt with. it's disclosure day. we're getting our first look at mitt romney's 2010 return, and here's what we know. he's managed to make a lot of money over the past two years. over that period he made $41.6 million and paid $6.2 million in federal taxes. by the way, that's more than either newt gingrich or the president made in the last two years. now he paid an effective tax rate of 13.9% in 2010. 15.4% in 2011. gave $7 million in charitable donations. over $4 million went to the

mormon church. that combined income comes out to $56,986 a day. romney said last night americans don't want somebody as a candidate in president that pays more in taxes than he owes. he may not have help when newt again called his 15% flat tax the mitt romney flat tax. >> mr. speaker, is the tax on capital gains also 15% or zero? >> zero. >> under that plan, i would have paid no taxes in the last two years. >> so it was an intent to say, hey, it's not like i don't want to be paying taxes at all. again the timing of this, by the way. if you're the white house, could you have asked for better timing if you're trying to make this case about income inequality, trying to neutralize the freddie max issue, gingrich made his own disclosure. he released very limited details of his consulting contract, but

made something of an unforced error -- i'm not and never was a lobbyist defense. >> i have never, ever gone and done any lobbying. in fact we brought in an expert on lobbying law and trained all of our staff and that expert is prepared to testify that he was brought in to say this is the bright line between what you can do as a citizen and what you do as a lobbyist. >> basically last night he explained that he was trying to figure out how do you go up to the line of technical lobbying. by the way, according to that contract, the person he reported to as a consultant at freddie mac was a registered lobbyist. we're going to start supplieding hairs here. all he did is release one contract, and there's nothing released about what he did for freddie make, or as mitt romney put it, any worked product. finally tonight's state of the union address is not technically a campaign speech, but don't be surprised if it

sounds like. economic fairness, income equality, that message gets kicked off a bit tonight. the white house is drawing contrast with mitt romney in particular and the timing of the release of his taxes might be a dream for team obama. david plouffe was quick to pick up on that issue this morning on the "today" show. >> it's a good example of the tax reform we need. warren buffett famously said he should not be paying less than his secretary. what that means, how it's going to work. when the average middle class worker is paying more in taxes than people make 50, 60 million a year, we've got to change that. dan pfeiffer will be here later this hour. before we get to the republican race, let's get a preview of what else the president will say. my colleague, my friend over there, kristin welker is at the white house.

i'm actually going to see you over there, it's been a little bit, big on the campaign trail. kristin, what else will we hear? they're talking about it as a bookend on the kansas spiel, e speech. >> reporter: there certainly will be a bit of a laundry list today. the theme of this speech xw laying out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last, so the president is going to focus on a few key things here -- manufacturing, education, energy. we expect him to lay out some help for homeowners and also, as you just heard david plouffe say increase taxes on wealthy, those are sort of the things we're expecting to hear tonight, but chuck, a lot of people are paying very close attention to the president's tone this evening in recent weeks and months. he's essentially been staking

his reelection in running against a do-nothing congress. it will be interesting to see how suddenly other overtly that theme is really introduced tonight during the state of the union address. i spoke with white house officials this morning who tell me the president will spend his day putting the finishes touches on the state of union address, practicing his delivery and will deliver it this evening. tomorrow, which is customary, the president will hit the road and try to sell some key features. this is something we expect from presidents after he deliver their state of the union address, but it takes on new meaning during an election year, so key battleground states including iowa, arizona, nevada, colorado and michigan. he's really been hammered by republicans on the campaign trail, so tonight he will be answering that call. again when he hits the road tomorrow. i will be with him, following him. >> yes, you will, and it will

feel like a campaign trip as much as anything else. >> reporter: absolutely. >> a couple others points. we do know that gabby giffords's husband, mark kelly will be in the first lady's box tonight and the republican response is being given by indiana governor mitch daniels. last night's florida debate had a decidedly local flavor. well, florida republican senator george lemieux, who's running for the u.s. senate joins me now. i want to break things down, senator, nice to see you. >> nice to be with you, chuck. >> i'm going to go to the first question, and i'm curious about your reaction. i believe you have not endorsed in the race? >> that's correct. i'm focused on my own race. >> fair enough. which was romney's the sponges romney gave to what's been a bit of a confusing position he has on what to do with undocumented

workers here in the united states. do you force them? deport them or not? here's what he said. >> if you don't deport them, how do you send them home? >> the answer is self-deportation. people decide they can do better by going home, because they can't find work here, and so we're not going to round people up. >> let me ask you, you know, i know that in previous republican primaries, the last couple cycles in florida, getting tougher on immigration has been a popular stance, but overall can have a bit of a mixed reaction in the state of florida, how does that answer play both inside the party and within the general electorate? >> i was in the audience last night. it's a mixed reaction. sort of hard to believe that more than 10 million will self-depart. there are some folks that are doing that right now, because the economy is not so good, so they're headed back to mexico. i think anyone who looks at this

subject in a serious way realizes not only will there be a self-deportation, but somer for ensure people are here legally and if not, they're sent home too. >> let me ask you about what mitt romney is hitting newt gingrich on in the state of florida, both a political issue, about you also a issue hit. here's a, po of the new ad. >> while florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, newt gingrich cashed in. he was paid by the scandal-ridden agency that helped create the crisis. a historian? really? if newt wins, this guy would be very happy. now, that actually was mitt romney's campaign, probably the harshest attack they have run with their name on it rather than from a super pac. how dirty of a word is that to florida republicans? does it have resonance?

>> i think it's beginning to have resonance. we have a foreclosure crisis here in florida, as i'm out on the campaign trail in my race against bill nelson. 24% of all of the foreclosed property in america is in florida. this is a big issue. it's not surprising to me that a lot of the debate and commercials are centering on the foreclosure issue. >> let me ask you action though, what do you do? there seems to be his tans on that stage last night for government to intervine in this crisis. we've heard governor romney say things like you've got to let the process work it out. i imagine you're running for an office in the state of florida. that's a tough answer for floridians to hear. they don't want to sort of let it work itself out. >> folks do need help. i vote fold efforts, i think

everybody can agree if somebody is making some kind of payment we do want to do everything we can. we debt get ourselves into this mess because of how big they got, the mortgage-backed securities and it caused a huge crisis in florida. this is the worst recession we've had in florida in 70 years. people want folks running for office, whether it's the u.s. senate, which i'm running for, or the presidency, to help solve some problems. >> you think it was really only democrats that somehow was pushing this idea of home ownership? i mean, that seemed a bipartisan effort was it not? framely republicans in the congress in the 2000s acted a lot like democrats. so we got ourselves in a difficult pickle. what we need now in my rue is to pull these things back, let the market economy work.

and let folks who are making payments action if you're trying to stay in your home, there should be some assistance. quickly how did they do on the sugar answer and space? >> i thought it was great to have beth and ryan smith asking those questions. they were really focused questions. i thought speaker gingrich did well on the space answer. on the sugar issue, that's something that really doesn't come up. they all said they wanted a market absolute. that's probably not an issue that floridians are focused on, but certainly agriculture will listen carefully to those answers. >> let me ask you this. is it a conservative that wins primaries in florida or an electable candidate that straddles that fence? >> it's both. the monday electable conservative wins. mitt romney attacked speaker gingrich on electionability issues in my view. i think he knows he's probably

the -- but he wants to be the most electable. it will be fascinating to watch. senator lemieux, good to talk with you. i appreciate it. >> nice to be with you. we have more highlights from the debate still to come. as president obama prepares to make his case foss second term. we have a preview from the wo us. and jim webb joins me next. he's been talking about economic inequality since he walked through the doors on capitol hill. is his message finally resonating. but first a look ahead to the president's schedule. you're watching the day lie rundown. he does all the these off the record coffees and lunches in the argument, but that's not on the schedule. we'll be right back. whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee!

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when one looks at the health of our economy it's almost as if we're living in two different countries. the stock market is at an all-time high and so are corporate profits, but these benefits are not being fairly shared. the middle class of this country, or historic backbone and best hope for a strong society in the future is losing its place at the table. >> that's virginia senator jim webb giving the democratic response to president bush's state of the union in 2007. he was talking about the need to economic fairness. senator, all of a sudden it apparently is the president's state of union message. what took your party so long to get to this point where you were talking there? >> well, actually, if you look back at five years, the response

i gave to the state of the union, we if speak a lot at the beginning about economic fairness and also i spoke about a failed strategy in terms of our foreign policy. it's frustrating to be standing here saying to you i don't think we're much better off in terms of policy than they were then. we went into a near depression, as you know, in late '08 is the president inherited a failed strategy in iraq, but in terms of coming out of the economic downturn, quite frankly, when we voted for the t.a.r.p. program, and i voted for it at the end of '08 to try to save or banking system, a good portion to bail out the economy went out to the very stop again. we're in a situation where a corporate ceo multiples in terms of working people are as strong and in some cases stronger than they ever were. if you look at the debate that

we've been having over the past 7 or 8 months, the 99% versus the 1%, i've been really concerned that we're not really focusing on how to fix the problem when we look at the 1%. i've consistently said i do not believe we should raise taxes on ordinary earned income. no matter how much ordinary earned income you're making. that's how you succeed in america, but we really need to fix the formula when it comes to capital gains and dividend, passive income. you have a classic example of that, now. you finally have a human face on it in terms of mitt romney and other people making all their money in that respect. >> you know, it was funny you say that. he pointed out last night to newt gingrich that gingrich wants to zero out capital gains, that's in his tax plan and mitt romney pointed out in a preview of what we saw this morning, then they wouldn't have paid any

income tax, any new tax at all on any of the his, quote, income, because none of it was wages. it was all the investment income. do you think you'll see that 15% actually get raised? >> it's as low as it's been in a very, very long time. in fact it was at 20% before the bush tax cuts. i still don't see any evidence in spite of the fact that people want to do away with tax cuts, what you make, what a truck driver makes, what a doctor makes, i still don't see any evidence that people want to reverse it backs to where it should be. if you need revenue, if we need revenue to solve our problems, the best place to get to it, at least as we begin to move forward and to restore economic fairness is in this passive income. mitt romney, i don't mean to pick on him. he's one of many. he's obeying the tax laws as they exist, will pay 14% of his

income. if you have earned income you pay double of that. that is what warren buffett was saying when he said his secretary was paying at a higher rate. and buffett was paying at 14.7%, as i recall, of $66 million. the average american can sit down and see if you're going to work every day and you're paying double the same percentage on your amount of money, whatever that amount of money is, that something needs to be fixed in terms of how we pay people for what they do. >> could you do this where you actually lowered rates on wages, essentially, on working income, and then you would raise the rates on investment income and then that would end up generating, quote, more revenue? >> i think as a beginning step you should put the capital gains

and dividends back to where they were before. >> a lot of people won't like that. the "wall street journal" will not like that. in the long term i think we should push towards consumption taxes. don't count on that happening in the near future, but certainly you should be able to say if i go out and work every day, whether it's $70,000 or $5 million, the taxes i pasch should be equivalent to somebody who sits back -- and with accumulated wealth to have an income and only pay 15% on it. the key here is if we agree we have to raise revenues in order to if i could or economic situation, and i believe we do, then we have to start with capital gains and dividends. the romney situation is a classic example. >> senator, very quickly, any advice for mitch daniels? you've given a response to the president. i think it's one of the most thankless jobs potential.

you're invited, it's a huge stage, but thankless because you get the smaller part. what's your nonpartisan advice? >> well, go everyonor daniels has long experience in many different areas of our country action and i'm sure he has his game plan and his ideas all set out. i would like to say again how concerned i am that we aren't putting policies together, republican or democrat -- this is not a party issue -- that are addressing some very key failures in foreign policy and also they issues of having americans understand we're trying to do fairness and justice when it comes to issues like how we fund or economy. >> all right. senator jim webb, you've got to leave it there. thanks for coming on this morning. he's not seeking reelection in 2012. how will the president's state of the union message affect wall street? the market rundown is next.

and why the brosen bruins' goalie was a no show at the white house and why john kerry lookeded up like hi telly got body checked. first today's trivia question -- which president delivered the longest state of the union address? tweet me the analyze. the first correct answer will get a follow super tuesday from us. the answer and more coming up on "the daily rundown." i love that my daughter's part fish.

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and now a molly barker created the girls on the run program to build the self-see steam of young girls. focused on teaching empowerment, optimism and gratitude. participants build up to a 5k running event. barker looks to pass on lesson of team building, self-value and community. one step at a tight. well, the opening bell just rang on wall street. time for the market rundown. cnbc's courtney reagan is here. >> about a minute 30 seconds into trade. it looks as if we're lower about 60 points or so.

the markets continue to wait for a resolution. to restructure greece's debt. negotiator ares back in meetings trying to work out a deal, but investors remain somewhat nervous that greece will end up with a disorderly debt default. domestically lots of corporate earnings in focus today. so far the numbers indicate that consumers are spending, mcdonald's turning in better than expected earnings. mcdonald's also plans to open 1300 new restaurants. johnson & johnson also beating street expectations. coach, they're saying their profit was higher, and men's product sales rising. not so good earnings disappointing, says the high costs of phones likes the iphone ate into profit. apple reports after the bell. i think they real like those sales. back to you. thank you.

"daily rundown" will be back in 30 seconds. the stories making headlines, a wave of car bombings this morning has left 14 people dead article more than 70 wounded. with more than 170 people killed this year. illinois senator mark kirk is in intensive care after suffering a stroke. doctors say the first-term republican appears to recognize his family and can respond to

verbal commands. he serves in the navy reserves and won the senate seat in 2010, once held by president obama. best wishes to senator kirk and his family. the both everyone bruins were honored at the white house yesterday. one player decided to boycott the event. goalie tim thomas didn't show in protest of what he calls a government that's grown out of control. he says he isn't specifically boycotting president obama but both parties. there was one -- as if he was a member of the hockey team. his injuries were from playing hockey. there you go. always dangerous these days. all right. tonight president obama delivers his third state of the union officially. it is expected to expand on the broad themes he late out last month in osawatomie, kansas.

>> sill believe this skin succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyone plays by the same rules. dan pfeiffer is the white house communications director. good morning. >> good morning, chuck. let me start with something senator webb just said. he was talking about that he gave the state of the union response in 2007. the themes are actually very similar to the themes that president obama, you guys are indicating that president obama will hit on tonight. he says, as far as policy is concerned, nothing has changed. fair critique? >> no, i think, a couple things. these are the teems we have -- dating intoic to when he turned down higher paying jobs, to speeches he glaf long before he was thinking of running for

president. he believes this is a make or break moment for the middle class where we have to do what it takes to make sure they have a fair shot. you'll hear a specific blueprint from the president on how we ensure that middle-class working folks get a fair shot, and we make sure everyone is playing by the same rules. >> and how much is tax reform going to be a part of this? obviously we've heard some of this preview. is there a full tax reform proposal he's going to unveil? or is he going to be talking about more of a 30,000-foot idea for tax reform which is really what he's been talking about the last couple years? >> as you know, chuck, when he put out his plan, he talked about the buffett rule, a principle for tax reform that would ensure that millionaires cannot pay a lower effective tax rate. so now he'll offer more details.

>> and what does the buffett rule hit so, you know, obviously mitt romney's tax return is what's in the news this morning. so effectively the buffett rule would do what? would it raise the capital gains tax? what is exactly you want the buffett rule to do if it's enacted? >> it says a principles, and he'll talk about how to implement that principle to ensure we don't have a situation where millionaires are paying significantly lower effective tax rates. >> okay. sounds like you really don't want to preview. >> that's never a good idea to get ahead of the president. >> fair enough. i want you to react to the republican debate last night. here's what newt gingrich said about what it takes to take on your boss, president obama. >> i think only a genuine conservative who's in a position to debate obama and to show how

wide the gap is between obama's policies and conservative can in fact win, because he as going to spend a billion trying to smear whoever the nominee is. >> so the hit is basically, and the case that newt gingrich is made is mitt romney and president obama are too close. do you think that's a fair assessment? >> first, i didn't see -- two, you know, it seems like the republican nomination will go on. they've had three contests now, there are 47 to go. as we know from 2008 it's possible to go through all 50 contests before this gets decided. whoever the nominee, whether it's speaker gingrich, governor romney, senator santorum, any of the above, all espouse the same commit philosophy. it's a philosophy where we give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and

corporations or wall street -- those are the policies that got us in this mess. the president will talk about how we keep moving this country photograph. i think there will be a big debail. they're all talking about the same talking points right now. >> is it fair to say this is a speech that's going to also largely lay out the case you're going to make for reelection? >> no, i think that, you know, presidents of both parties whether it's an election year or not, that it's a state of the union -- opportunity and responsibility to report to the country where the president thinks the country is going. the president is going to follow that duty tonight. it's not a campaign speech and not an election speech. he is going to lay out where he thinks the country should go, and i think that's important for the country to here. >> dan pfeiffer, we'll see you later on today. >> thank you, chuck. our super tuesday political panel is doing some double duty

today. we have postgame in the debate, pregame on the state of the union. that's all next, but first white house soup of the day, i think it's the best soup ever created -- french onion soup. it takes a good brothy soup, warm soup, good for your throat on a cold day, and it puts cheese on it what could go wrong there? maybe if you added bacon. you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed.

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i say it every time, but i love this super tuesday music. when the department of homeland security officially opened back in 2003 for business. tom ridge was sworn in as the nation's first homeland security secretary. the last time a cabinet department was added. president obama recently asked

congress to merge under one new cabinet post, for what it's worth. as for homeland security, talk about a slapped-together department, but we'll save that debate for another day. well, mitt romney was itching for a fight. romney dropped the entire gingrich oppo file. >> when i was fighting against cap and trade, the speaker was sitting down with nancy pelosi encouraging it. when i was fighting to say the paul ryan plan was bold and right, he was saying that it was right-wing social engineering. >> he said at least four things that are false. i don't want to waste the time on them. i think the american public deserves a speech on how to bead barack obama. perry bacon, and political editor the grio.com, and steve mcmahon is a democratic

strategist. lois, it was newt romney and mitt gingrich, apparently. they traded personalities a bit last night. how did it work? >> i don't think it worked well for gingrich because of a couple reasons. he needs very strong debate performances to, a, compensate he doesn't have any paid media, and because -- to compensate he has a weak campaign. so taking the high road and sake i'm not going to address this now made it look like he was caught flat-footed. >> what was interesting about romney, perry, just five days ago, the last debate he said he lamented the fact he had to go negative rather than president obama, in fact we asked him about that. here was his answer. >> i learned something from last contest in south carolina. that was i have had incoming from all directions, was overwhelmed with a lot of the attacks, and i'm not going to sit back and get attacked

without returning firing. >> it's a standard answer that any candidate says. basically what changed? el had lost south carolina. >> it was a big nevermind is what we saw. there were so many minutes of that. striking thing, do, he did make some moves. basically gingrich essentially conceded he hired a firm to tell his firm how not to be officially lobbying. he did get gingrich to concede some things that i thought were interesting and will mean something as we go forward. >> so basically i had two things good on last night, both candidates dealing with their baggage. romney going after him hard with freddie, and it was sort of splitting hairs. it felt like what is the definition is with lobbying issue, but then mitt romney knowing his tax return was going to get released within hours, and he still didn't have a very good answer about what is it that is going to be in there

that might surprise people. >> it's difficult when you shove a good chunk of your money over to the cayman islands and -- >> all right, all right. we ought to have bells. >> but seriously. you pay 15% income tax, the guy has been running for president for a long time. he didn't prepare his answer or finances to withstand it. this will be an issue he has to address repeatedly, and frankly most americans don't understand why they pay 30 or 35% and mitt romney paying 15% -- >> lois, the state of the union -- the timing of this is unbelievable. if you were team obama, you might not have picked better timing. but let's stick to the debate. many people feel romney's weakest answer is what have you done to advance the conservative cause within the republican party, and here was his answer? >> number one, i've raised a

family, with my wife we've raised five wonderful sons and 16 wonderful grandkids. number two, i've had worked in the private sector. >> and then he also talked about governor a democratic state. >> and running against ted and had to mortgage his house. >> and he had to mortgage his house, but he didn't talk about, you know, what made him a conservative. >> this is going to be a huge problem going forward and now they're facing and is the far right coalescing. >> are they all going to coalesce and wipe him out, so he needs some talking points. >> lois brought up the money earlier, and well, we found out today that addle son family, the

addle son household is giving another $5 million. this appearance of one guy, one household here, $10 million, basically it paid for the south carolina victory, and now may pay for the florida victory if they do indeed win. that is something else. you have a sugar daddy essentially. what does he want? how risky is this? >> you can tell team gingrich is nervous about there. rick tyler was nervous, a spokesman for -- he didn't know who was funding it, which seems hard to believe to me, and i think it's a nervous thing. there will be more scrutiny on him as they go forward. >> one thing to have a lot of millionaire friends, but it's one guy. >> it also says that no one else is giving to him. >> voters do not care. >> i notice people sake voters do not care, but if it's one guy, one guy, i don't know, it's

an interesting thing. when we come back the state of the union preview. we asked, which president delivered the longest state of the union address. this was easy. steve, you knee the answer, right? bill clinton. and it was the final state of the union. couldn't leave the stage. it lasted one hour and 28 28 minutes and 49 seconds. >> but it was a great speech. >> can you quote from it? >> you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

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let's bring back our panel. perry, lois, and steve. the state of the union, lois, they don't have any shelf life. there's so much always focus on what's going on in the primary season because it always happens either right around the early primaries, just after them, and we're in another one of those

situations. >> but it's got a good shot. he's talk to talk about top heavy wealth and it plays flight romney's wealth. take a shot at more taxing, the higher income people. so he's got a little bit of some points to make against that backdrop. what i was curious about was him taking this bus tour in the next few days. >> which is a total campaign trip. >> it is a campaign trip, but is it going to get the bounce he wants when everybody is focused in florida right now? >> that's the thing. it's tough to get a bounce in general these days. nice save. that's okay, i've done it. if you could have picked any day to have mitt rop ni release his tax returns as a democratic strategist, what day would you have picked? >> it's perfect. he's going get to set the frame for the conversation tonight, and, you know, it may be a fleeting memory for many people, they might not remember it in a month, but he's going to have 90 minutes on national television tonight to tell everybody what this race is about and what kind

of an economy he sees for the future of america and it's not an economy with two sets of rules. mitt romney releasing his tax returns today or yesterday and everybody write being it for the next two or three days demonstrates the two sets of rules, one for the wealthy, and one for everybody else. >> to double down on this, dan pfeifer let us know after he was on with us that one of warren buffett's secretaries is going to also be sitting in first lady's box. we know what's coming on that when it comes to the buffett rule over there. you know, did the romney -- what do we think the romney people thought when they decided to release it today rather than sunday or monday or wednesday that, you know, this was -- they think the state of the union would trump it? >> i think that's my assumption. the reason today, the state of the union will be on the front pages, so it will trump it some, but this campaign is dominating the news cycle. obama's speech is not going to have a lot of news in it is my impression or things we haven't already heard. this will remain on the table.

>> bill crystal is kre excited about mitch daniels giving the response. will others be excited watching mitch daniels and pining to replace romney? >> i'm not sure, no. i don't think so, no, not so much. >> shameless plugs. >> today is the state of the union, gabby giffords last act in congress. >> and mark kelly will be in the first lady's boss as well. >> cheers to gabby. >> i'm going to praise our embeds or nbc and the other networks who have done a great job on the campaign trail and deliver a lot of material the rest of us use. >> on the big network, on the big show. >> off topic, i would like to recommend sally bidell smith's new book on the queen if you're tired of mitt romney's taxes and just want some zoning out. >> it's about real wealth. >> funny gossipy books. >> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." msnbc's prime time coverage of the president's state of the union begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. tomorrow on the show, we will have all the reaction and

analysis of the state of the union, but also what's going on down in florida. coming up next on msnbc, chris "jansing & co." at 1:00 don't miss "andrea mitchell reports." a very busy day in washington. takes center stage at least for the day. see you tomorrow. who is the your business entrepreneur of the week. james hirschfield wanted to translate the look and feel of a high end paper invitation to the digital realm. in 2007 he and his sister pooled their savings and started paperless post. it quickly attracted high profile users like prince charles, condoleezza rice, and the white house. for more watch "your business" sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. ♪

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