. . . is a line or two from the president about eliminating the tax benefit for the 'carried interest' Romney is predicted to be taking advantage of with his 'investment' income from his private equity firm, Bain. One small hint and the President has a thread of Romney's he can tug on in the light cast by his SOTU.

I think Mitt is kidding himself if he thinks he can bury these returns. After the SOU the pundits will take his returns apart with a fine tooth comb. They will also be calling for him to release more of the back years as well.

Which could, and may already, be happening.

If they decide they want Newton gone, this story will be handled by the same crew that manged the story of Barbra Bush's stupidest son's AWOL and DUI stories.

SOTU-As-Shiny-Thing is a very real possibility.

can figure out truths about that tax return within half an hour, with access to the Internet to check out the entries. Before the State of the Union address, we will have a pretty good inkling of what makes Mitt one of the 0.0001%. It wouldn't surprise me if the President managed to slip at least a line into his address about cutting off at least one of the specific tax breaks available to the rich that Mitt's availed himself of.

Especially now that he's made everyone suspicious about what's in there.

For starters, we will know the name of every bank that the Romney's dealt with that year, you have to list them on Schedule B if they paid you any more than $400. How many of them are linked to shady dealings, or bailouts, or redlining? How many of them are overseas?

We'll also have a list of the stocks he sold that year, and the same kind of questions will apply. Also, did he tithe 10% of his gross or his net to the Mormon Church? They'll sure be curious about that, and the amount that he's given to them even if he's shorted them will be enormous compared to what Joe or Jane Average person has to live on. It will indeed bring up the dreaded "M" word yet once again, and it will rub the fundies' noses in just how much he supports that church's efforts to poach their flocks.

Besides, there are likely to be other exotic investments listed on that tax return, surely some are tax shelters of dubious economic worth, yet provide a nice way to convert fully taxable income to either capital gains income, or some other form of "not your average person" tax break. They may well undermine this whole narrative of "At Bain, I did what I had to do that made economic sense."

There are a lot of reasons that Mitt's been stingy about his taxes, we're on the verge of getting a glimpse into them. The little bit released will just be an appetizer for those who don't want him to have the nomination.