a lot going on this morning. time to get you caught up. it goes from bad to worse for new york congressmanent my weiner. weiner shirtless in the locker room at the house gym triggering new calls for him to resign. welcome to 2012. i'm christine romans live in new hampshire ahead of the first major debate of the presidential race tonight. new polls are just out showing gop voters have one thing on their minds -- winning. on this "american morning."

> and welcome to "american morning." it's monday, june 13th. ali velshi is off today. we have a special edition of our show live from manchester, new hampshire, is christine romans. the big run-up to tonight's debate should be pretty exciting. >> it should be exciting, indeed. live from saint ansem college in new hampshire, the site of the first in the nation presidential primary. tonight's republican presidential debate. many of the candidates who will be on this stage made the rounds this weekend. you can hear the bells behind me from this beautiful campus. tonight you will hear from former massachusetts governor mitt romney, former speaker of the house newt gingrich, former governor of minnesota tim pawlenty, congressman ron paul, congresswoman michelle bachmann of minnesota, hermann cain, former ceo of godfather's pizza and former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. a look at how it all came together in fast forward. 700 new hampshire voters will be

in attendance. isn't that an amazing picture? along with people from across the state asking questions on two big screens. but first, there is another developing political story right now, back to kiran in new york for that. >> that's right, christine. you probably can guess more trouble for new york congressman anthony weiner as he tries to put an embarrassing sexting scandal behind him that is proving not to be as easy as you would think. tmz's website publishing new photos of a shirtless congressman taken at the house member's gym. allegedly he e-mailed the pictures to a woman. he said he will not resign but asking for a paid leave of absence from congress to seek professional treatment. on the sunday talk shows, a growing chore russ of his colleagues saying weiner must go. >> i think anthony weiner needs to resign so he can focus on his family, on his own well-being. >> seems to me extraordinarily

difficult to represent his constituents in an effective way given the circumstances of this bizarre behavior. >> kate baldwin is following developments as weiner's colleagues in congress return to work today. she's live for us in congress. besides these pictures what's changed? >> quite a bit has changed. we went into the weekend with democrats hoping that this distraction, as they've continued to call it, would go away, but with these new pictures emerging it was clear that wasn't going to happen. we saw a shift over the weekend, democratic leaders have resisted calling for his resignation, they're joining the intensifying pressure to push anthony weiner out of congress from the house democratic leader nancy pelosi to the man in charge of house democratic campaign efforts who's also a fellow new york congressman steve israel, more and more high-profile members of congress, members of the democratic party saying it's time for anthony weiner to go. but political party can't just say that and then force a lawmaker to leave.

the democratic source tells cnn that weiner doesn't want to make a decision about his future until his wife, a long-time aide to secretary of state hillary clinton, they return from a trip -- she returns from a trip from clinton in africa, scheduled we're told to be thursday. until then, according to a spokeswoman for weiner he is taking a short leave of absence from congress to, quote, get evaluated and map out a course of treatment at an undisclosed treatment center i should add. one thing is certain, house democrats did not want to come back from recess and go into a third week of having to deal with this scandal, rather than their agenda and why we're hearing they made the change over the weekend. >> very interesting. we are also hearing some reporting that he was hoping to also talk to his mentor, right, senator chuck schumer who up until now has not called for him to step down. >> he -- and also chuck schumer, senator, long-time political mentor to anthony weiner, he

was -- he released a statement and even spoke over the weekend and still resisted coming out to call on anthony weiner to step down, saying that he was heartbroken and hoping that anthony weiner gets the help he needed. it seems like he's soon going to be maybe the only person not saying so on the democratic party. >> all right. kate baldwin following the latest developments, thank you. >> okay. ahead of tonight's debate, new polls are just out that show who has the most to gain and lose. joining us now is cnn deputy political director paul steinhauser. paul, what do we know? it shows the republicans want a winner. >> she thur do want a winner. three out of four want somebody who can beat president obama even if they don't agree with him on the issues. look who's on the top, mitt romney, making his second bid for the gop nomination at 24% and just behind him, 20%, sarah palin. the former governor of alaska.

look, rudy giuliani in third place. christine, take giuliani and palin out of the equation, they haven't take any concrete steps and look who's on top way ahead of everybody else, mitt romney, 19 points ahead of anybody else. he is the front runner in this race, the perceived frontrunner and the person who will have a bull's eye on his back. >> is it going to be romney care? >> romney care. we heard tim pawlenty going after mitt romney over the weekend calling it obama care comparing what president obama did nationally to what romney did five years ago in massachusetts. what mitt romney passed in massachusetts five years ago was an inspiration for the national which republicans despise. >> gingrich has to prove he's really in it and committed and that he is going to have the -- he's going to have the where with all to see this through after he lost his campaign workers. >> he has the most to prove of all seven on the stage. for why you said, he lost his

top campaign staffers, advisers. he has to rove he's a viable candidate. tonight's forum gives his a stage to do that. >> michelle bachmann, she hasn't officially declared, right? >> hasn't officially declared. >> and ed rollins, somebody who is a cnn contributor, advising her, to introduce her to the broader republican party. >> this is her coming out party. her first chance on the national stage. she's from minnesota which is the neighboring state to iowa, good for her. known well among tea party activists and a darling among many. this is her chance to reach out to a mainstream republican audience tonight. >> seven people trying to break out and all with a target on mitt romney's back trying to make -- make themselves stand out in the heap. paul steinhauser, thanks. our question of the day, with tonight's gop debate, what issues are most important to you? send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook. we're going to read some of your

thoughts a little bit later in the program. and, of course, we're going to have the first major debate of the election live for you tonight, beginning at 8:00 eastern, right here on cnn. right now back to kiran in new york. >> should be a good one. thanks. we're also getting our first look this morning at arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords, the first picture reese leased since shot in the head in january. remarkable to see how great she looks, almost completely normal, despite nearly fatal gunshot wound to the head. two new pictures were posted on her facebook page. one with her mother, the one seen there, the other she's alone, her hair shorter and darker and has a big smile on her face. there does appear to be a slight indentation on the left side of her head where the bullet entered. giffords' chief of staff expect hers to leave a houston rehab facility by the end of the month. a lot of people wondering what her future holds, will she be

able to resume life as it was before the shooting? coming up at 7:10 eastern we'll speak with dr. sanjay gupta about his assessment of congresswoman gabrielle giffords' progress. the 20-year-old nephew of maryland congressman elie ya comings has been killed in a shooting in his virginia apartment. christopher cummings a student at old dominion university, found in his off campus home friday morning. one of his roommates was shot and critically wounded. police have not released any other details of what may have happened. the power is out, the phone lines are down, after three earthquakes rock the new zealand city of christchurch. remember it's the same city hit by another devastating quake almost four months ago. more than 180 people were killed in that earthquake. police telling cnn that there was some damage caused by the shocks which struck within two hours of each other. there were also a few injuries, but officials say they're not serious. 7,000 people allowed to return home in arizona, but authorities say it's at your own

risk. the second largest wildfire in the state's history is not only 10% contained. evacuation orders were lifted over the weekend in two towns, springerville and eagar. authorities are still warning the elderly, those with health problems and young children should stay away because of the lingering smoke. this fire has burned an area twice the size of new york city in the past 15 days, and spot fires have spread to new mexico. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center for us. as we said, 10% containment. are they going to have waiting on their side as they go back at it? >> weather will be tougher today but the next couple days they may have another shot of seeing more tranquil weather and the winds die down. bad air quality west of the fire and east also into albuquerque and fire weather watch posted for new mexico and texas today. critical fire danger in these areas including new mexico and the eastern edge of that fire, which is pressing towards the new mexican border, for sure. winds today expected 20 to 25 miles an hour with gusting --

gust winds to 35. the rest of the country we have storms expected across the midsection, unseasonably cool across the northeast with unsettled weather after a cool and at times wet weekend, but better than the heat last week. the heat will continue across the southeast until further notice. 101 expected in dallas. we had a slew of record highs. we will go over those in a half hour. we continue to sweat it out. hope you enjoyed your cooler weather. i see christine with her rain jacket on up there. very fall like across new england. back to you guys. >> what a switch, though. we were starting to get used to the 90 degrees and suddenly got to grab your sweater again. thanks, rob. >> see you. the dallas mavericks are basketball's best. the mavs beat the miami heat 105-95 last night to win the nba championship in six games. it is the first title in franchise history. mavs star dirk nowitzki named mvp of the finals, but had plenty of help from his teammates in closing out lebron james and the heat in six games.

still ahead, we're following the latest in libya. fighting with rebel forces and new pictures of moammar gadhafi. he's playing chess. also mitt romney, the early favorite in the gop presidential race, but could a dark horse emerge tonight? a debate preview and we're live in new hampshire coming up next. 12 minutes past the hour. i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

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edition of "american morning." live in new hampshire for the first major gop debate of the presidential race. mitt romney has jumped out as the early favorite, but he's facing his first big test tonight against a still unsettled field in a state where he suffered a huge loss back in 2008. and some of his opponents will have a chance to introduce themselves to the nation for the very first time tonight. with us now is jennifer donahue, political analyst and commentator and former political director at the new hampshire institute of politics. welcome to the program. talk about the target on romney's back. s there also this idea that some of the newcomers may be debating someone tonight, that is the president. trying to set themselves apart against the president's policies. >> absolutely. i think candidates won't want to go too negative on romney because you witness want to hurt your fellow republicans. i think you will see pawlenty try to emerge and go after obama for obama care. i think you're going to see

bachmann hitting obama very hard. >> you think so? >> she has to make a name for herself, get in the race and show she's serious. gingrich playing defense after his defections last week. you're going to see him have to look serious and credible or he's totally out. i think people have a lot to prove tonight. tonight is the biggest game change event. tonight is the opening debate. >> so some of our polls are showing traditional values -- one of our polls falling below 50% ever, and jobs and the economy are issue number one. how do these republican candidates set themselves apart on jobs and the economy and show they're different than the rest of the pack there? >> this has been a really big challenge for people like rick santorum, former senator from pennsylvania, trying to make the case values are part of the economy, but it's hard to make that case when people don't have jobs. >> right. >> as we talked about earlier, if you don't have a job you're looking at this economy saying show me the jobs. the candidates tonight have to make it look like obama is the cause of the bad economy and the

problem with that is that voters think back to george bush, george w. bush, when they think about the bad economy starting, and they remember mccain suspending his campaign during the election because of the financial crossroads that we had. >> it's really difficult, difficult because there's so much of this theme in the tea party theme and on the campaign trail is get the government out of my life and the other part, where are the jobs and what are you doing that is preventing jobs or how can you create jobs? it's an it interesting line they have to walk. >> it really is. what we're looking for tonight is there's an establishment candidate, mitt romney. we're looking for the alternative to mitt romney and that's going to be a social conservative. there's room for that person to emerge. it's wide open. >> why isn't romney moving up in the polls? he's far and away the leader in the polls but is he capped in the polls at this point? >> romney has peaked. romney's got about the 30% that he won second place with last time to mccain's 37%. >> what's he doing to get more? is this a part of the -- is this the part of the campaign where

everyone is fine tuning to see how they will move ahead? >> romney needs to hold steady. he doesn't need more. what he needs is independents. that's why you saw him come out for global warming. looking for voters who make up more than a third of the electorate in new hampshire, come out and support him. the other candidates are fighting for second place. and there's really no clear alternative to romney yet, and even romney's standing, you don't want to be a front runner this early in new hampshire because if you have peaked already and it's only june, you've only got down to go. that's something we saw with obama, that's something we've seen with w.b. bush, what bob dole saw when pat buchanan cleaned his clock. >> herman cain, has the highest voter intensity rating. does he have to do tonight to keep the big mo? >> keep his mo going, keep his juice flowing. you know, he's the showman in the group. he has to do as well as he did

in south carolina in the fox debate and keep people smiling. but the truth is your shouldn't rule him out because he's got legs in new hampshire. >> yeah. >> he could be the dark horse. he could be the person that emerges as the conservative alternative to romney and then two african-american candidates conceivably which would make for a very interesting story line. >> it would make for history, that's no question about that. jennifer donahue, thank you so much. nice to see you. talking to you later throughout date. kiran, back to you. it's chilly, but very exciting. everyone is very excited today as this -- the countdown gets started for this big debate tonight. >> we'll be watching 8:00. a late night but an interesting one. thanks. opposition forces in libya claim they have a copy of moammar gadhafi's top secret battle plan. cnn has obtained that 15-page document. rebels in misrata say they took it from government troops last month. in its title are the words "battle plan to cleanse the city of misrata from militant gangs."

cnn has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the document. with fighting moving closer to his doorstep in tripoli, gadhafi was seen playing chess yesterday, taking time for a photo op with a visiting russian president of the international chess federation. in jordan king abdullah is introducing a government overhaul. his plan for the future calls for a parliamentary majority government, transparent election process, changes to the tax system and sweeping economic reforms. it's not clear when the king plans to implement all of those changes. a bug expert testifying over the weekend at casey anthony's murder trial about how the insect hess found in the murder suspect's trunk could help the prosecution's case. also rick santorum, live, before the big matchup tonight, how does he break out of the gop pack? we're going to talk to him still ahead. it's 22 minutes past the hour. at bayer, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief.

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25 minutes past the hour. here's a look at your business this morning. we're minding your business. investors watching closely as wall street faces a full week of new data. may retail sales numbers come out tomorrow and consumer inflation data will be released on wednesday. meantime the dow closed below 12,000 for the first time since march on friday. that extends the longest losing streak since 2002. a report says citigroup waited as long as three weeks before notifying its customers of the hacking attack that was announced last week. "the wall street journal" is reporting the bank delayed notifying customers so the bank could investigate the breach and produce replacement cards. new york's attorney general reportedly investigating several banks over the way they packaged and sold bundles of home loans to investors. according to reports, officials want to know if the bank's followed new york state laws in creating these mortgage backed securities. cnn calls bank of america, bank of melon and another bank have not been returned.

a cyber attack at the international monetary fund. "the new york times" reporting the attack happened several months before dominique strauss-kahn was arrested over sexual assault charges. the imf says they're investigating the incident but would not disclose any further details. could you be seeing higher prices at the supermarket this fall. the department of agriculture is blaming, flooding, tornado and droughts across the country for a harder planting season that could mean you pay more at the markets. gas prices have dropped nearly 17 cents on average over the past three weeks. in the latest national survey of prices at the pump it shows the average cost of gas will continue to go down. according to aaa the current national average for a gallon of regular unleaded dropped to $3.70. "american morning" will be back after a quick break. we're going to be talking with 2012 presidential candidate, former senator rick santorum.

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good monday morning. we're crossing the half hour. there are new compromising photos of new york congressman anthony weiner over the weekend. tmz publishing these pictures taken by weiner of himself shirtless in the house gym and allegedly sent to an unidentified woman. democratic leaders want him to resign, the calls growing over the weekend. weiner says he will not. he has requested a leave of absence to he get professional help.

a series of thfrp hit near christchurch, new zealand. more than 180 people were killed in that earthquake. at least one building was destroyed and ten people hurt in this earthquake. residents are telling cnn the power is out and the phone lines are down. also two new photos of congresswoman gabrielle giffords have been posted to her facebook pages. it's our first look at giffords since she was shot in the head in january. giffords is expected to leave a houston rehab facility by the end of the month and begin outpatient treatment. christine? >> the big matchup just hours away here in new hampshire. while some frontrunners have jumped out of the pack one candidate could have their breakout night tonight. with us 2012 presidential candidate and former senator rick santorum of pennsylvania. welcome to the program. really nice to meet you. >> thank you, christine. >> want to talk about how you break out. everybody said the target is on romney's back, trying to show they are different than president obama and there are

seven people up there and a few an dates who are not going to be up there tonight who haven't declared yet, how do you stand out for 2012. >> i think i stand out because i have been a consistent conservative, someone who has been a leader, the courage to lead on a variety of hot button topics before they were popular like entitlement reform. i've been a leader on that, a leader on strong growth policy to get this deficit under control and economy growing. one example national security, like at the field up there, really no one has the experience on national security that i have that, you know, leading in washington, d.c. and finally, again, having the courage on the moral cultural issues. a lot of folks can check the boxes, very few have gone out and led. so i've led across the board, i have a good track record and have a very good and clear vision for the future that i think contrasts well with the folks up there. >> you've lived your life along with your traditional values and known as a culture warrior because of that. our polls are showing people are

concerned about jobs and the economy. so where you have proven yourself and really a known quantity on the traditional values and cultural warrior, you've authored legislation when senator on foreign policy. >> right. >> how do you break out on jobs and the economy? >> that's the great thing is what people know me for and trust me and support general speaking among conservatives i have the opportunity to expand that base because i've done other things that people aren't aware of because i've been sort of type cast, if you will, because of my activity in that area. i'm encouraged the more people get -- i've seen this in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, the more people get to know about what i've done, leadership i've provided i would argue courageous leadership, going out on social security reform in 2005 and 2006 -- >> that hurt you? >> hurt me greatly but president bush said this is what we're going to do and jim demint and i went down to the floor of the senate held a series of structured debates with democrats, definitely hurt me but it was the right thing to do. i still believe it's the right

thing to do. i think i've shown in good times and bad, you know, willing to put their political career on the line to do what's right. >> if that hurt you in 2006 could it hurt you again? seniors are worried about med care, worried about social security, aarp is against the ryan plan. you support the ryan plan and go further on social security. >> aarp is against anything. aarp has their head in the sand with respect to social security and medicare. >> a lot of seniors listen and are worried. >> we have a responsibility to educate the american public, paint a vision of what we want to accomplish. >> what would you do with social security? >> the one thing we can do with social security is look at the cost of living increase. when i go running in new hampshire and ask people what should the cost of living increase you get for social security be tied to they answer the same thing, tied to the prices we pay. it's not tied to the prices that you pay. it's tied to wage inflation. which has nothing to do with what seniors are dealing with. if wages go up, they go up for a variety of reasons, part of which is worker productivity

which seniors are not involved in. what i've said is let's do what seniors think is already the case to tie inflation, cost of increases to prices. if we do that, it's a very small change, compounds over a long period of time and so for current seniors it's an inconsequential change but for long term we can say to young people like you, because we make that change, we're not -- you're not going to have to worry social security is not going to be there. solves about 75% of the shortfall. >> if we can create more jobs and have a jobs boom we have more people paying into social security. >> that's why we can't do tax increases. if we do tax increases on social security which a lot of democrats are suggesting, do tax increases generally what the president is suggesting, that's going to destroy this economy. we need a pro-growth policy, reduce tax rates, get rid of this oppressive government -- >> tax rates in here? >> particularly on businesses. >> cut spending, cut taxes, business gets confident, economy

grows, we're out of our problems? >> we have to do things on the entitlement side. we have to do something on the government side. look at spending as a percentage of gdp, historically between 17 and 19%. right now it's close to 25%. there's a couple reasons. we're in a bad economy and we're spending more money on transfer payments. the second reason is, we have grown the size of this government and with the implementation of obama care it's going to explode again. we cannot afford it. and number one, not only can we not afford it it's not right for america. it's too restricting of our freedom. >> ask you about your family, they're on board. you have a 3-year-old who's ill -- >> she's not ill. she has a disability. >> you have a big family. who's all got to be in this 100%. everybody is ready? >> yeah. last week when we announced last monday was a special time for the family and, you know, i was always -- i was always a little nervous because it's a big responsibility. we have seven children, ages 20 to 3. they were -- they were

encouraging me and lifting me up, really, they were. it was special. they've been that way ever since and were before. this was a family decision. not something you say i'm going to do this. this is a we proposition and very much a we game. karen who you will see tonight was magnificent last week and my real strength. >> great. rick santorum, very nice to meet you. good luck tonight. >> thank you. >> back to you in new york. the family of a missing indiana university student is offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who can help them find their daughter. lauren spearer was last seen ten days ago leaving an apartment building near her home at 4:30 in the morning. her case is getting national attention now, featured on "america's most wanted" saturday night. police are reviewing video tapes from local businesses and are speaking with persons of interest. a bug expert front and center this weekend at the casey anthony murder trial. entomologist neil haskel took

the stand testifying about the insects he found in the murder suspect's trunk. it's the trunk that prosecutors claim casey anthony stored the remains of her 2-year-old daughter caylee. >> let me present to you a hypothetical. that the body of a young child was stored in the trunk of that car for a period of time. and then removed and deposited in another location. does that fit with the evidence you found? >> absolutely. >> dr. haskel testify he believes caylee's body was in her mother's trunk for up to five days before it was moved and buried in the woods. the trial continues this morning. the prosecution is expected to call a tattoo artist that casey anthony visited in the weeks after her daughter disappeared. a a spectacular crash at the 24 hour he mans race over the weekend. the driver of this audi slamming into the wall, showering

spectators and photographers with debris, even wheels coming crashing down there. it was one of two major crashes involving the audi cars. both drivers, though, walked away from the wrecks. the audi still managed to win the endurance race for a tenth time. the creators of "south park" now the kings of broadway. trey parker and matt stone's musical satire "the book of m e moreman" was a winner. it took home nine. big night for "war horse" which won five tonys including best new play. there is a growing ri cry sis along syria's border with turkey. violent government crackdown in syria sending thousands of syrian refugees fleeing across the border. we'll check in with the latest with zain verjee to find out what's going on. mike tyson sharing the stage with rocky balboa, the boxing hall of fame class of 2011. --

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43 minutes past the hour. the former san francisco bay area transit officer convicted of killing a man on a train station on new year's day back in 2009 is out of prison this morning. he served only one year of his two-year sentence because of good conduct credits. the former bart officer said he inadvertently grabbed his gun instead of his taser. a transportation security administration firing 36 airport screeners and managers at honolulu international airport after an investigation found that they failed to check thousands of bags for explosives. this is believed to be the largest number of terminations in the agency's history. sources say the former tsa workers regularly allowed checked bags to be loaded on to early morning flights without being screened. iron mike tyson, too emotional to finish his speech as he was inducted into the boxing hall of fame yesterday.

tyson was the youngest heavyweight champion of all time, but the question will always remain, could he have been the best ever? tyson shared the stage yesterday with a loveable underdog from philly, rocky balboa. >> yo, i did it! >> sylvester stallone has a spot in the hall of fame for the rocky movies. he says it took three days to write "rocky" and it ended up winning best picture in 1976. syria's violent crackdown on government demonstrators has caused a crisis across the border in turkey. this is where thousands of refugees are fleeing and many are in need of medical help. zain verjee tracking the latest developments and joins us live from london. >> hi, kiran. it's a rapidly deteriorating situation. you have something like 5,000 syrian refugees that have crossed this border town and are in turkey right now. this town called jisr al shugur

was essentially faced with government tanks, helicopters, heavy shelling, on the weekend. it was an awful situation and the town is pretty much emptied out, according to people that have been talking to reporters in turkey. the syrian army is now in control of the city, but as you look at these pictures of refugees, aide agencies are going look, we have no access to these people well, do not know exactly the number of people here, how do we plan for them accordingly and the other thing, too, they don't know who to believe because the syrian government has allowed reporters to independently come in and interview people or to witness anything that's happening. this spectacle may be a turning point, kiran, because the syrian government has been repressing images like this for so long, but now we're actually seeing what's happening. >> also you have, in another story going on, tens of thousands of air travelers in australia and new zealand stranded because of a volcanic eruption in chile.

what's going on here? >> here we go again, kiran. volcanic ash clouds messing up people's holidays and travel plans. take a look at this volcano in chile. it has basically vote creted a real has sell for thousands of people stranded at airports. there have been cancellationings of loads of flights, australia, new zealand, many delayed until wednesday. the whole thing will depend on the wind and the direction the wind takes to see if planes can take off. this is called pualu. i don't know why volcano names are so hard this morning. >> i can't even -- the first one in iceland has 25 letters. >> that's about -- >> the iceland volcano. zain, thanks so much. >> all right. >> watch zain every morning, 5:00 a.m. "world one" on cnn. coming up next on "american morning," more than 30 campers trapped by a massive mudslide. details on the effort to get

them out safely. it's 47 minutes past the hour.

48 minutes past the hour. here are your headlines this morning. democratic leaders stepping up pressure on new york congressman anthony weiner to resign after new racy photos of weiner posing in the house gym emerged on tmz, the website. weiner so far has refused to resign. instead he's announced he's taking a leave of absence to get professional help. a series of earthquakes

rocked christchurch, new zealand. at least ten people injured and one building destroyed. it's the same area, though, where another earthquake killed more than 180 people back in february. arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords all smiles in the first photos the public has seen since she was critically wounded in a january shooting. giffords is expected to leave a rehab facility soon. with rebel forces closing in on tripoli, libyan leader moammar gadhafi a arranged a photo op yesterday playing chess with the visiting russian president of the international chess federation. and the big matchup tonight will be the gop presidential debate live from new hampshire only on cnn. eight republicans will be battling it out. new polls out this morning show mitt romney goes in as expected with the lead. and a big night for big "d." the dallas mavericks winning their first ever nba championship. they closed out the miami heat in six games, 105-95 win in miami last night. the mavs dirk nowitzki was named

finals mvp. and you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" will be back after a quick break.

51 minutes past the hour. more than 30 campers are safe in north central washington state. they were trapped by a large mudslide. it was ten feet deep in some spots, since friday. over the weekend, crews were able to clear a small path through the mud and that allowed everyone trapped at two different camp grounds to get out safely. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center for us this morning. hey, rob. >> good morning, kiran. a little bit of rain there over the weekend. they've had an extremely wet winter and spring and we have another front pushing into the

pacific northwest and flood warnings are still posted for parts of yak ka ma county, close to where that mudslide happened. a storm rolling across the midsection of the country, severe weather potential here and the cool air is in place across the northeast. that feels nice compared to what you saw last week. that will last another couple days. we have critical fire danger again today. it does involve the area across eastern parts of arizona where that fire is burning. in through parts of albuquerque and northern texas as well for low humidity and high winds today and of course not a whole lot of rain expected in this area. we expect to see some rain across parts of missouri. we have a severe thunderstorm watch that's been posted by the storm's prediction center, that's in effect until 1:00 this afternoon. hail and gusty winds the main threat with this. a couple cells popping up just around i-40 there heading down to the south and east, about 30 to 40 miles an hour. look at the heat yesterday. not so much across the north. you folks have cooled down, but in rosswell, new mexico, 107.

that aggravates the fire danger there. midland, texas, 105 degrees, measured in the shade and other spots in georgia seeing 100 degrees. the southeast continues to sizzle and the southern plains so no relief there from the heat. 101 expected in dallas, it will be 96 degrees in houston and it's going to be steamy there, 96 degrees as well in new orleans and 93 in atlanta. look at the north. 71 degrees in chicago. breaking records at this time last week. certainly feels a lot more comfortable. 81 degrees, we were up and over 100 degrees in some spots across the mid-atlantic last week and 75 degrees in new york city. although a little unsettled over the weekend. you take the good with the bad. they ran the belmont stakes there. it's sloppy conditions. so it's not quite as beautiful as it was for, say, the kentucky derby. now that the triple crown is over. you can stop betting on the ponies there. i know you like to go to the track from time to time. >> someone invited me to belmont but we had a busy weekend.

probably wouldn't have been so great sitting out there, little dreary. >> it was not the best of weather. but the horses seem to like it. >> they do. they like -- they'll run in anything. thanks. cnn will be hosting the first republican presidential debate in the critical state of new hampshire tonight. our christine romans is there live this morning at the debate site in new hampshire where manchester, new hampshire, where seven candidates will try to stand out in that crowded field. this is our question of the day with tonight's gop debate what issues are important to you. let's start with shawn harris. they should talk about a new and better way to fix the economy. the stimulus package is working too slowly. >> and this from shelby jameson on facebook. the most important issues to me are civil liberties and the national debt. there are other things i would like to hear debated but these are my top two. >> admiral porky writes iraq, afghanistan exit strategy. medicare and social security.

which d has the guts to confront iran over nukes and take military action. >> climate action on facebook -- keep your comments coming. send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook, we'll read some of your thoughts later. i'll be back from new hampshire with more on tonight's gop debate. i keep saying it's chilly. rob says feels good up there in the northeast. it's chilly. the heat in new hampshire is coming from politics, not from mother nature, that's for sure. >> probably warm up as the day goes on. when you're out there in the early morning hours, good thing you brought your coat. also next, new photos and more trouble for congressman anthony weiner. these possibly taken on capitol hill grounds as the calls grow louder from his fellow -- his fellow congress people to step down. what do his constituents think?

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snap shots from the house gym. the calls for new york congressman anthony weiner grow to resign after a new round of

embarrassing photos surface in weiner's sexting scandal on this "american morning." it's a new week but we're talking about the same old thing. welcome to "american morning." monday june 13th. i'm kiran chetry. ali velly have is off. christine romans is in new hampshire where they're getting set for the gop debate tonight. hey, christine. >> good morning, kiran. live this morning from saint anselm college in new hampshire the site of the first in the nation presidential primary. and tonight's republican presidential debate. many of the candidates will be on the stage made the rounds this weekend. tonight you're going to hear from former massachusetts governor mitt romney, former speaker of the house newt gingrich, former governor of minnesota tim pawlenty, congressman ron paul, congresswoman michelle bachmann of minnesota, herman cain, former ceo of godfather's pizza and he did pretty well in south carolina recently.

he's got a lot of buzz about him. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. here's a look at how it all came together in fasforward. 700 new hampshire voters will be in attendance tonight along with people across the state asking questions on two big screens. you can see us putting the whole thing there together. it's just amazing to see how much activity has gone on here already. first another developing political story, kiran in new york. you have that. >> this what is i was saying. talking about it last weekend and the weekend goes by, more pictures come out and now in the house and senate return to work today, congressman anthony weiner will be a no-show. his political future more uncertain than ever now after new photos emerge on the website tmz taken by weiner showing him in various stages in the locker room at the house members gym. weiner has maintained he will not resign. he is, though, taking a short leave of absence from congress. this is video shot over the weekend. our jason carroll and other tv crews trying to get him to

answer questions about this. democratic leaders are telling him in no uncertain terms, that's not enough. >> i think that anthony weiner needs to resign so he can focus on his family, focus on his own well-being. >> seems to me extraordinarily difficult that he can proceed to represent his constituents in an effective way given the circumstances this bizarre behavior. >> cnn's kate baldwin is following developments for us this morning. she joins us from washington. it's a new week, but the same problem for the congressman. >> kiran, i couldn't say it better myself. it's monday, so it must be another chapter in this scandal, i guess. we went into the weekend with democrats hoping this distraction as more and more of them are calling it would go away. with new pictures emerging it was clear that was not going to be the case. what we saw this weekend was a significant shift, democratic leaders who had resisted calling for weiner's resignation are joining the intensifying pressure to push him out, from

the house democratic leader nancy pelosi, to the man in charge of house democratic campaign efforts and also a fellow new york congressman, i should add, steve israel, all more and more people saying it's time for anthony weiner to go. simply put, a political party can't force a law maker to leave office and democratic sources tell cnn, weiner, apparently doesn't want to make a decision about his future yet until his wife, who is a long-time aide of secretary hillary clinton, returns from a trip with clinton in africa and they were scheduled to return this thursday. until then, a spokeswoman for weiner says he's taking, as you said, a short leave of absence from the house to, quote, get evaluated and map out a cows course of treatment at an undisclosed treatment center. one thing seems to be certain in this continuing to develop story is house democrats did not want to come back from recess today and go into a third week of having to deal with this scandal rather than talking about their agenda and why we're seeing more and more people come out.

>> how would that work, though, kate? is it -- it's not unprecedented that a congress person would take a leave of absence, but, you know, in terms of doing that to sort of take some heat off of a scandal and then coming back, can that work? >> unclear if it can work. but it is not unprecedented. people can take a short leave of absence for an illness or you can take a short leave of absence, say, if you have to go back to your district because of a natural disaster and need to spend more time there. it's not unprecedented for a member of congress to do so and it's not hard to do so per se procedurally. you have to write a letter to house, has to be read, doesn't have to be voted or approved. if it will take the heat off of him, we have to see. >> kate baldwin this morning, thanks so much. christine? >> all right. kiran, ahead of tonight's debate a poll out showing who has the most to gain and lose tonight. it has mitt romney in the lead at 24%. the next two closest people, sarah palin and rudy giuliani, aren't even in this race as of now and the underdogs are

already on offense. joining us now is cnn's chief national correspondent moderator of tonight's debate, john king. john, how do these candidates break out? break out of the pack? >> well, part of it will be attack the front runner. mitt romney is the front runner and the front runner here in the state of new hampshire. the people of new hampshire know iowa has invaded this morning. don't tell them. >> don't tell them. >> part of them will break out trying to differentiate within the republican field. i will do a better job on the economy or governor romney is wrong. expect governor romney to have the target on him. another way to break out, like 1992 here, the economy is dominating this campaign. people are is skeptical of all pog politicians talking points. if they gave the same, people will say i have heard this before. you try to do what bill clinton did in this state in 1992, all these things swirling around his candidacy he thrived saying i feel your pain, i connect to you. can the politicians make a connection to voters on the economy, tap their economic anxiety in a way the voters say i think this guy gets me.

>> how about putting distance between them and the president's policies? who can be -- is president obama the other person they're debating here? >> absolutely. the easiest person to debate in a republican primary is the democratic president. ronald reagan used to this have commandment thal shall know criticize a fellow republican. governor romney called the massachusetts -- trying to tie the unpopular plan to the massachusetts plan under governor romney. you try -- president obama will be the big spending, big regulating, tag taxing liberal tonight. and my job and the job of the voters to try to move past the talking points to contrast the policies. >> we know some of the polls showing traditional values have fallen in importance in the polling, jobs and the economy still number one. how do these candidates differentiate their position on the economy more than just, you know, connecting with voters? i feel your pain, et cetera. because it starts to get technical. they all want to cut spending. cut taxes. support current tax levels or

fewer taxes. and then business will be happy and the economy will grow. i mean, that seems to be the platform overall. >> and so you try to find something that makes you a little different. broadly, there are differences between them. but broadly they want to cut taxes, cut regulation, get government out of the way of business. so when you have that how do you differentiate yourself. governor romney will say i was in the business community. herman cain coming from nowhere to 10%, he's not a politician. he wants to say i understand the economy, i have been a ceo, hired and fired people, how this works and i'm not one of them. i'm not a politician, not tainted. that has appeal with the tea party. you try -- what makes you different in the field is one way to do it. another way is to try to show that you will take the fight to the president. one thing republicans worry about the social issues will be important, more so in iowa than in new hampshire. can't win a republican primary without checking those boxes. >> romney is not going to it iowa. >> in part because he wants to emphasize the economy not the social issues. one of the challenges tonight, in a television audience people watching at home, i could take it to president obama. we know he's a good debater,

passionate candidate. i'm the guy you want in that debate next october. that's part of the challenge. not just to distinguish yourself on the issues but to prove that in a general election, you can win. >> that's what makes these debates exciting, all unscripted. we don't want know what the sound bite, the dark horse could be after tonight. >> it's two hours. >> good luck, john. good luck. thanks, john. we'll have the first major debate of the election live tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern right here on cnn. back to kiran in new york. >> thanks. maryland congress man elijah cummings nephew shot to death in his virginia apartment. christopher cummings was a student at old dominion university. found in his off campus home friday morning. one of his room mates was critically wounded. police have not released details or a possible motive. the power is out, phone lines down after a series of earthquakes rocked the new zealand city of christchurch. you'll remember that was the same city that was hit by

another quake almost four months ago. 180 people were killed in that quake. police telling cnn that there is some damage caused by the shocks which struck within two hours of each other. there are also a few injuries, but officials say they are not serious. to arizona where 7,000 people are being allowed to return home but at their own risk. the second largest wildfire in the state's history is still only 10% contained. evacuation orders were lifted over the weekend in two towns, springerville and eagar. authorities still warning the elderly, people who have health problems and very young children to stay away because of the lingering smoke. the fire has burned an area twice the size of new york city over the past 15 days and spot fires have spread to new mexico. victory sweet for the newly crowned nba champion dallas mavericks and their fans. the mavs beat the miami heat 105-95 last night to win their first ever nba title in six games, mavs star dirk nowitzki

was named finals mvp. next on "american morning," the public getting its first look at congresswoman gabrielle giffords. during her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head, we're going to talk with dr. sanjay gupta about the photos and about her prognosis. the jaguar xj has been named s @@@@ and with its virtualinstru, sensuous leather interior and modern design, jaguar has once again raised the bar. learn more at jaguarperforms.com. when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing.

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12 minutes past the hour. she looks happy, she looks heal healthy, arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords people posting photos on her facebook page, first public images of giffords since she suffered a gunshot wound to the head in january. gave us an indication of how far she's come. dr. sanjay gupta joins us now from atlanta and they really are remarkable pictures, sanjay. to the average eye you can barely tell that she was shot point blank in the head. >> yeah. it's true. you know, there's a lot of things you take notice of when you look at the pictures. looking at her overall,

obviously she's making eye contact with the camera, she's smiling, really as you point out, looks great. there are a few of the things that are worth pointing out here, specifically, though, in terms of, you know, some specific things. we've been talking about this area of her head, for some time now. the left side of her head. you can see the depressed area. that's where the bone was removed, kiran, what we've been talking about. the skin closed over that area. really no bone underneath that part. this picture was taken before she had that bone substitute placed back in. if you look really closely over here, you can see scars as well. that's probably from where the actual initial injury was. and then just simple things like down here in her neck, that's a pretty classic looking incision for what's known as a trach scar. as you point out she does look fantastic. i mean, it's a great picture and probably over the next couple of weeks will look even better as she's recovering from the initial operation where she had the bone placed back in now. >> so, okay.

we do know this was taken before, as you said. she's since had that part of the skull which is now going to be i guess silicone, replaced and physically i mean she looks amazing. what about the news she's heading to outpatient rehab? what is that like and what do we know about what she's going to be going through now that she's officially released from the hospital? >> i think that it's pretty much part of the normal course of things. this isn't surprising, you know, january, beginning of january, when this injury took place and then a few weeks later at the end of january when she first went to rehab and she's been there for some time now. this is a pretty typical course going to outpatient rehab. she's going to stay in houston, get her outpatient rehab at the same place she's getting her inpatient rehab. some of the big differences are focusing on things known as activities of daily living, just starting to live more independently. using a kitchen, using your own bathroom, things like that. that's really important as part of your rehab and much easier to do in some ways in an outpatient

setting. while inpatient was important when someone still needs hospital care, now that she's had her operations, doesn't have any what we call acute medical issues it's time to sort of ramp things up in terms of letting her take care of herself independently. >> when it comes to her cognitive skills is she on the road to being the same gabrielle giffords? >> you know, as doctors put it to me that cared for her, she's not going to ever be 100% what she was before. i think everyone sort of recognizes that. what they seem to intimate is that look, almost since the beginning, since this all occurred, she was always able to understand, to process, somehow follow commands, so the understanding what we call the receptive part of speech, has been there. it's the expressive part, kiran, that seems to be more difficult. speaking in one or two word sentences primarily, having a hard time verbalizing, having a hard time communicating her thoughts to other people, writing things down sometimes. also the strength on the right side of her body. left side of the brain, controls

the right side of the body. that's still been affected, what we hear as well. in terms of getting around, learning to write with her left hand instead of her right hand that's an ongoing process. according to her office she's nowhere near what she used to be and that's still a long time coming. these things are measured in months, not days or weeks. >> amazing, though, the pictures. i just know that immediately after those pictures were posted a lot of likes on the page, a lot of people commenting about how wonderful she looked and voicing their support. certainly been a long road but to know four and a half months out that's how good she looks that's amazing. >> people still amazed that someone could survive a gunshot wound to the head and survive and then a few months later look the way she looks now. i know people want her to be more normal, recover more quickly, but it's pretty remarkable as you say what she ace done so far. >> good to see you this morning. thanks so much. president obama thinking about his job security and also yours today talking about how to pull us out of the unemployment

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one team. one planet we're going to head on into the interview. what really moves you about this car? i mean, it's definitely the styling, from an aesthetics point of view, um, so that was something that just kind of instantly appealed to me. lauren, tell us how you use your sync? i'm using it for business. i'm using it to talk to my friends who send me text messages. it reads everything outloud. the funniest one, i think, was when it said g r r r r r r for "grrr". do you the fiesta is appropriately named? it is a party on wheels.

we are live in new hampshire this morning, only hours away from the big republican presidential debate tonight. it's an issue that will likely follow president obama all the way to the polls. jobs. today the president will travel to north carolina to talk about ways to get america working again and he's betting on green jobs to give employment a little bit of a boost. to get perspective i'm joined by

two small business owners in the raleigh-durham area. maria, co-founder and president of southern energy management and also joining me sam, president of wakestone corporation. nice to meet you this morning. i want to start with you first, maria. you've grown your revenue over the past year, added almost 50 workers to the rolls. things are looking better for your company. first of all, tell me why and tell me what you'd like to hear from the president's competitive council when you meet with them later today? >> we've been very fortunate. there have been a lot of attention placed on energy independence and helping our country to become more energy independent and that's something that americans care about. we'd like to hear the president talk about more ways that we're going to continue along this path toward energy independence and allow us to create more great jobs that our people love to do and proud to do every day.

>> and maria, give us a sense of what your company does in the energy independence field. you do work in solar, right? >> we install solar panels. we call ourselves the boots on the roofs. we have people who install solar page every day and we also do energy efficient work, helping homeowners and building owners to make them more efficient and save money in the long run. >> what does wake stone do and how has the economy and jobs been important to you? >> wake stone corporation is in the crush stone business. we have five rock quarries, four in north carolina, one in south carolina. we provide crushed stone for road building and general construction concrete, asphalt. we're an ingredient in that. as far as the construction industry and related to the materials industry, we're in, we've seen about a 30% loss in jobs since the downturn in the economy. we did have the stimulus, but

that was too little and too short, $29 billion for roads and infrastructure. only 4% of the whole stimulus package or less than 4%. and so we've seen a little bit of a benefit from that and now we've got a downturn coming again and in order to keep from losing jobs we're going to need the president to get with congress and pass a multiyear transportation bill. we also need federal regulation on banking to be loosened so we can get lending started again. >> that's an interesting point because you're worried there's not money flowing to small business. you're worried that there just isn't -- the loan money available to small business to try to recover? >> that's exactly right. i think there's not a lot of pin up demand but a little bit and you have to get capital flowing into the market for growth to occur. >> it's really the tale of two economies. talking about solar on one hand, construction and transportation

on the other, crushed stone, and two kinds of demographics, two kinds of situations going on there. maria, you voted for president obama last time around. i mean tell me what you would like to hear from the president today and from the republicans that we'll be hearing tonight. who do you think is going to have -- what do you need to hear for a plan for jobs and the economy to keep it going? >> so, you know, i would talk about my industry. i think both sides, no matter who we're voting for, energy independence and -- is a great thing for this country and i would love to hear both sides get together and talk about how we're going to create a comprehensive energy policy. right now our business is doing well. it could be doing better and lots more businesses could be doing better with a comprehensive policy. it's a national policy instead of 50 different individual policies based on states. that's a real challenge. >> sam, you voted for the

republican candidate last time around, senator john mccain. there will be seven republican candidates on the stage tonight. what do you need to hear from them? what do you want to hear from them about job creation? is it about getting the money flowing for small business? is it about lower taxes, lower corporate taxes? what is it? >> well, it's a real combination of things. unfortunately, we feel -- i feel like we really tapped ourselves out. i don't know where the money is going to come from if you take the recommendations of the simpson bowles panel on deficit reduction, i think that would be great to have some action on that. i feel like politicians today, they really would rather not make the decision because then they can't make a mistake and they want to blame somebody else for their problems. i need to see what i would like to see is congress and the president coming together and i would like to see the republicans try to work together. there's too much -- it's too contentious.

we're just kicking the can down the road right now. >> and i think what we all want to see, an economy start to grow again. certainly helps when you have a stronger economy as a tail wind at your back which we don't have. maybe you do a little bit, maria, in your business, but not in a lot of others. thanks so much. maria from southern energy management, sam bratton, wake stone corporation, it's 26 minutes past the hour. back after this.

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29 minutes past the hour. your top stories now, the new zealand city of christchurch rocked again by a series of

earthquakes. they struck within two hours of each other earlier this morning. there are reports of some damage and some minor injuries. but it's the same area where an earthquake devastated more than several months back, more than 180 people killed in february. police in norfolk, virginia, investigating the fatal shooting of maryland congressman elijah cummings nephew. 20-year-old christopher cummings was a student at old dominion university, found dead in his off campus apartment friday morning. his roommate critically wounded. no word on a motive for the shooting. the stage is set, the first major debate of the presidential race will take place tonight in new hampshire only on cnn. there's a look at the debate prep in fast forward. seven republican hopefuls there, mitt romney leading the polls and may be wearing a front runner's bull's eye. christine? >> that's right. we're live this morning from

saint anselm college in new hampshire for the very first debate and the first primary state. one top new hampshire republican told us it's introduction day for voters, not decision day. brand new polls back that up. one shows mitt romney is going into tonight with the early lead. the next two closest people, sarah palin and rudy giuliani, who aren't even in the race as of now, with 20% and 12% respectively. republicans do think he has the best chance of being there at the end of the primary season. 42% saying mitt romney will most likely be the gop nominee. now a new "boston globe"/university of new hampshire poll shows money matters the most right now to new hampshire voters. 36% of voters saying the economy is issue number one. another 20% saying it's all about jobs. tonight you're going to hear from former massachusetts governor mitt romney, former speaker of the house, newt gingrich, also former governor of minnesota tim pawlenty, congressman ron paul, congresswoman michelle bachmann of minnesota, herman cain,

former ceo of godfather's pizza and former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. who's missing former utah governor jon huntsman hasn't made his campaign official yet. president obama will be in north carolina today meanwhile, talking about putting america back to work with a job panel in north carolina. while republicans fight to take his job here in new hampshire. so with election 2012 ramping up we want to know what issues are most important to you? it's our question of the day today. here are some of your responses. >> all right. start with david guthrie, i think an in depth challenge to romney care should be pressed. >> bob in houston on the blog says campaign finance reform. after the citizens united ruling i want to know if the republican candidates believe in corporate money or the voting rights of everyday american. one vote is being put to the test. citizen united ruling the

supreme court said corporate money can play. >> we got an easy from james on facebook. the economy, stupid. >> i've heard that before, right. b harper davis on twitter, economy and debt ceiling. so interesting because for the republicans, part of the strength for people like, for example, you know, rick santorum, it's -- he's seen as a culture warrior, traditional values, but people are so concerned about jobs and the economy that's where they need to differentiate themselves tonight. how will they -- how will they help with jobs and the economy and set themselves apart from the president. that's what they're trying to do. >> absolutely. we're going to find out what one strategy will be at least, the big matchup hours away as christine has been saying, the first debate in the early voting state of new hampshire and congressman ron paul is trying to build on what he accomplished in 2008, his campaign took on a life of its own on the web, surprised a lot of the pundits and experts. joining us from texas, 2012 presidential candidate congressman ron paul who will be participating in tonight's new hampshire debate. congressman, great to have you

with us, as always. >> thank you very much. good to be with you. >> i want to take a look at the latest cnn poll, released about 90 minutes ago. take a look at the field of gop contenders, you come in sixth place with about 7% of the vote. this is your third time running. what are you looking to do in tonight's debate to win over more voters? >> well, sometimes i question some of these polls but that's a different story. but no, i don't change strategy. i just keep doing the same thing and it's always been building. certainly there is an explosion of interest in what i've been doing for 30 years, four years ago in the last campaign, and it's continued. the momentum has continued. i think i just have to continue to do what i'm doing and have been doing because the country has finally awakened and found out what we've been doing is wrong. i've been warning people about the deficit, warning people about the stupid foreign policy and the wars that we continue to fight, the silliness of printing

money when we need it and people are starting to wake up and say, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. this what is i have been talking about for a long time. i would say i'm not adapting to the status quo as much as challenging the status quo and moving in the direction, moving rapidly. our campaign is pretty optimistic about what's happening. >> right. you bring up the point, a lot of ways it should be your time because these issues you've talked about and i remember interviewing in 2008 about cutting spending, cutting the debt, shrinking government are front and center now. again there are some other views like isolationism that could potentially keep you from being a mainstream republican candidate. do you think that there's a path to victory for you even though some of your stances are a little bit controversial? >> well, they certainly are tried to be made controversial by the media who always wants to use the word isolationism because that is not what i'm talking about. if anybody studies what i'm

doing will know you can't use that word. nonintervention. i'm a free trader. i don't want closed borders. and, you know, i just think that there's a big difference between not aggressively starting wars versus isolationism. isolationism is closing ourselves off from the world and i want to take the advice of the founders and follow the constitution. that is get along with other countries, promote trade and promote travel. that's what we need to do. so the last thing in the world from isolationism. and besides, it's very traditional and very american and it's very -- >> i was just -- >> go ahead. >> taking issue with the term, let's lose the term and talk about some of the positions that you've talked about. a pull out from afghanistan at a faster pace. iraq. what about libya, yemen, some of these other countries where we are involved in, whether it's major show of ground troops, know, but at least some sort of military intervention, be it drones or special operations

forces, what would be your stances on some of those? >> what it's been for a long time, come home and quit that. the majority of the american people are saying they're sick and tired of a ten-year war, now that bin laden is killed, especially now, come home. the foolishness of going into iraq, and now under u.n. orders and no permission from the congress, going into libya, starting another battle in yemen, in somalia, pakistan, iraq, afghanistan, we can't afford it. i mean the people know it. they're sick and tired of it. so i don't think this is strange at all. i think i am mainstream america on this foreign policy. >> you also said that you would -- there's no authority in the constitution for fema. after some of the disasters we've seen this year, technically the government wouldn't be there to help people in their neediest hour. >> yeah. well they don't do a very good job, fema has a bad reputation. i live on the coast and i've taken a very strong stand

against the problems that fema causes and believe me, we got tons of calls when the hurricanes hit, because fema gets in the way and take over, they're very costly, fema and that whole concept of insure people with other taxpayers' money to go and deliberately build in dangerous places, i mean, it's so anti-economic to encourage people to do the things that the marketplace wouldn't allow them to do. but just think of the recovery effort with the major hurricanes in the last several years. it doesn't have a very good record and no, it isn't in the constitution. when did we get into the insurance business? i mean, it's not there. >> i mean just imagine -- >> and fema, let me finish. fema is about $18 billion in debt so it's not a very successful organization. >> taking the challenges, perhaps, of the organization itself aside, could you see yourself as president ron paul standing there saying, i'm so sorry your entire town of let's say joplin, missouri, is wiped

away but the federal government can't do anything for you? >> well, i think following the law, that's a little presumptuous forming a question like that. no, we try to make things work, but the whole thing is, if they paid into and as part of the system, but long term and philosophically it's not a good idea. but so much of what we do in washington is not a good idea. but you try to make it work the best you can. and maybe somebody like myself who's a strict fiscal conservative, might be able to manage some of these things better until we decide that it is not the proper role of government. now, it is in this stuff, you know, like oh, your' not for the welfare state so you don't care about poor people, medical care. it's such -- you know, challenge that just don't make -- doesn't make any sense. >> all right. i know you're gearing up for deet bait tonight. great to get your thoughts.

ron paul from texas this morning, we'll be watching you tonight. thanks so much for joining us. >> okay. of course we have the first major deer bait of the election live for you tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern on cnn. coming up, congressman weiner's leave of absence, what exactly will he be seeking treatment for? we're going to be talking to clinical psychologist dr. jeff garr deer up next. this past year alone there was a 93% increase in cyber attacks. in financial transactions... on devices... in social interactions... and applications in the cloud. some companies are worried. some, not so much. thanks to a network that secures it all and knows what to keep in, and what to keep out.

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43 minutes past the hour. a look at washington, d.c. where it's sunny, 66 degrees. later going up to a high of 81 and some sunshine. better week weather wise. new york congressman anthony

weiner is resisting calls still from democratic and republican leaders to resign over the sexting scandal which continues to grow. new photos surfaced this weekend on the website tmz showing weiner in various states of undress, apparently taken by himself in the locker room of the house gym. now he's taken a leave of absence from congress now to seek professional treatment. joining us to talk about that is clinical psychologist dr. jeff gardere. the political aspects aside, he announced over the weekend that he will be seeking a leave of absence from the house to go seek treatment for -- for what? >> for what we talked about earlier when i was here during the week, this whole issue, there are deeper psychological problems going on for someone to behave in not just an outrageous sexual manner, but almost in a politically suicidal manner, there's got to be something at the root of that very destructive behavior. >> so sexting would be a

manifestation of what? >> it could be a man fes station of some sort of depression, an quite, but overblown ego, maybe some sort of personality disorder. as psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, we vo v to look at what is the underlying reason that someone would do something that would put his political life, his marriage, at peril. >> there are a lot of people out there that sort of scoff at this notion of sex addiction. is it real and do you get rehab for it? >> sure. sex addiction does exist. internet addiction, cyber sex addiction, all those things are real. they're not diagnosable by the dsm which is the bible for shrinks to diagnose people, of course. but usually it is secondary to some sort of depression, anxi y anxiety, maybe obsessive compulsive disorder or personality issue. people can become addicted to sex. they get that high and that high

feels so good that it takes more of what's feeding them, whether drugs, whether sex, or the gambling, to keep their personalities, their goals, their motivations going because it felt so darn good in the beginning anyway. >> that leads know wonder how do you put the pieces back together in a marriage or relationship? he's going to have to cold turking stop sexting, top doing what he's doing, getting affirmation from other women than his wife, and just like an alcoholic is encouraged to avoid alcohol, what does he do? he doesn't tweet, doesn't go on-line, doesn't look at other women on-line? >> normally we would say you have to stay away from the internet, but that's almost impossible in this day and age and especially if you're someone like anthony weiner with the kind of position that he has, so perhaps he may get his staff to do a lot of that work for him. the triggers may be women, trying to admire him. he has to stay away from that. with this treatment he'll probably get some sort of sexual addiction treatment.

inpatient, 28 days, 30 days, 40 days, we're not quite sure right now. he'll be evaluated, medically and psychologically. they'll see whether medications might help. but certainly he'll get individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, and part of this aftercare he's got to be involved not just in individual therapy, not just in a 12-step program but also in marriage counseling with his wife and that has to happen. that is essential as part of his aftercare. for them to try to repair that relationship if it is repairable, especially now there's a child involved in the future. >> do you see in your practice people being able to get up over this? it seems like an insurmountable hurdle. >> absolutely. a lot of folks are saying there's no way he will make it back. i suspect he will make it back. he's got to be real about that treatment. it can't be for political expedience, as a lot of people like to do. i'm in rehab, i'm in sex rehab. it's going to be okay. you have to really believe that

there is an issue and you have to buy in heart and soul into finding out what your issues are and working with those issues and, of course, following through afterwards because if it is an addiction it's something that lasts a lifetime and you have to take it a step at a time, a day at a time, but be cognizant it's something that's always looming, something that's very real in your life. >> dr. jeff gardere, clinical psychologist and forensic psychologist, great to talk to you as always. >> morning headlines coming up next. 48 minutes after the hour. breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers.

50 minutes past the hour. presidential debate live from new hampshire here on cnn. seven republicans will be battling it out. mitt romney goes in with the lead, new cnn polls show. clarence clemens reportedly

seriously ill after suffering a stroke at his home in florida. he has been bruce springsteen's right-hand man on stage since day one. all smiles in the first photos the public has seen since she was wounded in a february shooting. she is expected to begin outpatient treatment. a spokesman cautions that her recovery will be a long one. open slightly higher since six straight weeks of losses. dow, nasdaq and s&p futures are all up. dallas, texas, is title town. all-night party for mavericks fans. mavericks beat the miami heat 105-95 to win their first-ever nba title. that was star dirk nowitsky. ♪

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>> there's the cnn express. we are here in new hampshire for the first republican debate in the first primary state. it's all about the economy, the housing market, the jobs market, when will it get better. meantime, if you're in the market for a home, you know it is harder than ever to qualify for a mortgage. you need 20% down. you need excellent credit. you need a job and a pretty decent job history. that's why for millions of folks the new american dream is to rent. >> if i own my home, i would not have any of these amenities. >> full service building and outdoor pool. amenities aside, 24-year-old zander clark is at an age when a lot of people consider buying

their own home. >> i thought about investing in a home. my father purchased a home when he was my age. when i knew i was going to move to baltimore, i looked at properties. but i knew i would need to be relocatable. >> and he sees friends who own homes struggling. >> they're not getting the price they're asking for. that's scary that you have to keep lowering the price. >> reporter: home ownership has dropped steeply from above 69% in 2004 to the current just above 66%. home ownership is now at the level it was in 1998. even those who have the money and can withstand the tougher credit checks are opting not to buy, but to rent instead. >> i think a lot of people are looking and saying, you know, even if i can make the down payment, even if i have the income and i've got the credit, is this really the best time to jump into the market?

>> reporter: doug bibby is president of the national mortgage housing council. >> some predictions prices will fall more. there are others who are betting on the ability to change. >> reporter: with the jobless rate at the 9.1%, being able to pick up and go where the jobs are is critical. >> i prefer to rent. i like the flexibility that comes along with renting. >> reporter: the future of home dwelling, in general. >> i think there's a lot of evidence that people need to have down payments. we should have viable options for people who are not in a position in their lives to be owners. there's nothing wrong with that. hopefully, we'll start to eliminate some of the stigma so when people buy, they'll buy for good reasons. >> reporter: for many people, it's their work that keeps thelma on the move.

xander works in research for a large department store. he definitely sees another move in his future. he needs the flexibility, especially if it would be hard to sell a house. all of that is in my book "smart is the new rich." top stories after this break. i'm jason meraz and we can make an impact by ending modern day slavery. a fishing village largely operated by kids. there's thousands and thousands of children that don't get the opportunity even to go to school. they're forced to work in this fishing industry. i had the opportunity to be out there on the water and participate in these rescue missions. ♪ freedom freedom ♪ >> human trafficking is happening all across the world. the more we have awareness about it, this is something we can overcome. join the movement. impact your world. go to cnn.com/impact.

it's go time. i'm christine romens. we're live in new hampshire. gop ready to debate. new polls showing a front-runner has emerged. newcomers already trying to tear him down. trying to control the damage from anthony weiner's sexting scandal. photos taken by the congressman himself in the house gym on this american morning. good morning to you. it's monday, june 13th. i'm kiran chetry. christine romans is live in new hampshire, up bright and early ahead of the debate this morning. good morning, christine. >> reporter: you're right. we're here in the first primary state. it's introduction day for voter.

this is not decision day. brand new polls back that up. one poll shows mitt romney going into tonight with the early lead. tonight you'll hear from mitt romney along with former speaker of the house, newt gingrich, congresswoman mish bachmann and former ceo of godfather's pizza. he did really well in south carolina in a debate last week -- last month rather but the underdogs already on the offense here. it's jessica yellin with us right now. sharpening his attack on mitt romney. this is the target that is on his back. >> tim pawlenty is considered the establishment favorite if mitt romney should stumble. depending what poll you look at, he is in the low to mid single digits. he doesn't want to be seen as going too aggressive against a

solid republican but has to point out what all the other republicans think is mitt romney's weakness, which is that his health care plan that he proposed is so similar. >> i had a question about the president's plan and massachusetts's plan. it's obvious and president obama said in his own words that he patterned obama care after the health care plan in massachusetts and merge d those two things together to form obama care or, as i call it, obomni care. >> this speaks to a big government health care plan, right? what so many republicans don't like. so, if you have a front-runner who has something so similar to president obama, that could make him too weak in a general election. that could help romney lose a general election, let president

obama win. better to bring it out now. >> romney's defense, of course, was look, i was a governor of a state and states should have a right to decide these things, not the federal government. >> absolutely. y he will have a case to make it and we will hear him make it tonight. this is simply what his opponents will be trying to point out. >> of course. if they can knock mitt romney back a little bit, pawlenty is the front-runner of the establishment. >> wre. >> on his heels here at this point. >> he has had some uh-oh, woopses lately. the entire staff has defected and said, dude, you're going your own way. we're not with you. >> that is so early in the game. it was really out of the blue. >> john mccain had a similar experience at one point, much later in the game. it's happen ed it to other candidates before. the interesting thing will be to see how and if he can recover from it. he has joked about it, spoke here in new hampshire last night. let's listen to what he said.

>> various people commented in recent weeks, as someone who has been in public life for nearly 40 years i know full well the r rigors of campaigning for public office. in fact, i've had some recent reminder reminders. >> so, for gingrich, the challenge tonight would be to remind americans why he has been so popular for so many years. he has charisma, energy, ideas. so to show them, this is why you liked me before and demonstrate there's a way that he can prove that he can be organized, implement ideas and get a staff that will stick with him. >> trying to continue that big momentum he got in south carolina, and michelle bachmann needs to show discipline in her message and discipline in her facts?

>> and also going off script. being able to just answer questions freely out of the base of knowledge. for herman cain, he's sort of the newcoming star. >> everyone looking to break out and it remains to be seen who will. i want to know what issues are important to you. you can e-mail us, give us a tweet or tell us on facebook. at 8:30 eastern, we'll go behind the scenes of the debate with tevi troy, a veteran of president bush's 2004 debate prep team. ever wonder what they're writing when they're jotting all that stuff down at the podium? we're going to ask. back now to kiran. >> weren't they talking about that they have 40 books of prep he was going through? >> yes. >> and there are 40,000

potential questions and only 40 potential answers. it's all about steering whatever the question is into your area of expertise and getting your message across. that will be john king's job, to try to get them to answer the question. >> get them off script, off the talking points. >> yep. >> thanks, christine. investigating a deadly shooting of maryland congressman elijah cummings' nephew. chris cummings was a stupt at old dominion university. he was found dead friday morning, his roommate critically wounded. no word on a possible motive for that shooting. when congress returns to work in a few hours, democrat anthony weiner will not be in the house. he has taken a leave of absence after his sexting scandal. new batch of photos surfaced showing weiner in the house gym and leaving little to the

imagination. more calls for weiner to resign. and we have heard a report that he is considering that possibility. that report is new after he has been adamant about staying in office. >> reporter: one thing is clear, kiran. house democrats did not want to return from recess today to begin a third week of having to deal with this scandal rather than being able to talk about their agenda. i think that's wyatt least in part over the weekend we saw a significant shift from house democratic leaders or democratic leaders in general who had resisted to coming out to explicitly call for congressman weiner to step down. listen here. >> i think anthony weiner needs to resign so he can focus on his

family and his own well-being. >> it seems to be extraordinarily difficult that he can proceed to represent his constituents in an effective way, giving the circumstances of this bizarre behavior. >> that, you just heard from steny hoyer, the number two democrat in the house. nancy pelosi, the house democratic leader, came out with a statement asking for anthony weiner to step down, very significant statement. one thing remains clear, kiran. what will his future hold? what will he decide? he's taking a leave of absence for an undetermined amount of time at an undisclosed treatment center. from a democratic source telling cnn, we understand that the congressman doesn't want to make any decision without talking to his wife first when she would return, which we hear is thursday. she has been away on an overseas trip with secretary hillary

clinton, a long-time aide for her. we're waiting to see how things develop there, as well as how their colleagues react as they come back to work. >> thank you so much. first close-up look at arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords since she was shot in the head hed back in january. her office post twog photographs. she looks remarkably good. her hair is shorter. all smiles in both pictures. giffords expects to leave a houston rehab facility by the end of the month and begin her outpatient treatment. the makers of south park clean up big at the tony awards. a little recap for you of how it went down last night. plus the dallas mavericks, new nba champs, winning the title for the first time in franchise history. a serious health hazard. wildfire there in arizona, people are allowed to return home but are asked to proceed

with caution. we'll check in with rob marciano. it's ten past the hour. ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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13 minutes past the hour. fans of the dallas mavericks have reason to celebrate this morning. marvs are now the nba champions, beating the miami heat 105-95 last night to win the nba title in six games. it is the first win in franchise history. mavs star dirk novitsky also named mvp finals. or -- yeah, finals. mvp times. the toast of broadway, mu c musical satire took home nine tonis, including the one for best musical. were you watching the nba finals or tontonys? >> i did watch the opening number. >> with neil patrick harris. everyone was raving about it. >> phenomenally talented.

after that, yeah, it was all about the game. and it was a good game that i turned off in the fourth quarter to be rested to work with you, kiran. >> i didn't watch it at all, because i needed to be rested as well. >> we need you alert and ready to go when you're steering the ship. thank you for doing that. cooler, which makes everyone a little more alert. unseasonialy cool now. we have storms that will rumble across the midsection of the country. fire threat exists across new mexico, arizona. severe thunderstorms could pop up today. across central missouri, you see those cells in the watch box in effect until 1:00 this afternoon local time. they'll be rumbling toward the south and east and eventually get into the southeast area. hail and winds that could gust over 60 miles an hour. winds will be gusty to 5 miles an hour or so across the fire

danger area there and humidity levels will be rather low. look at the temperatures across the south, continuing to sizzle. in dallas, 101. it will be 93 degrees in atlanta. 96 in new orleans. a lot of these cities have not seen temperatures below 90 for over two weeks. but places like chicago and new york city, seeing temperatures at or maybe slightly below average. refreshing, cool clouds to hang around for you up there. sharo kiran, see you in about half an hour. >> okay. see you then. crews were trying to install a large fiberglass pool in the backyard of a home. this is near st. paul, minnesota, when the crane that was carrying that fiberglass pool crashed into the house. the garage roof was destroyed. the top of the chimney was sliced off. the crane operator is blaming a

computer error. half of the truck is in the air. no one was hurt and they say repairs are underway. yikes. we are following the latest details in the casey anthony trial. they had court over the weekend on saturdays. this saturday, a forensic expert talked more about what may have been going on when it comes to the trunk of casey anthony's car. and an entomologist, a bug expert, was testifying. ♪

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it's about 20 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning, cyber attack at the imf and this time at the international monetary fund. the attack happened several months before imf chief dominique strauss-kahn was arrested over sexual assault charges. the imf says it is investigating the incident, but would not disclose further details.

you could be seeing higher food prices at the supermarket this fall. all the flooding, tornados and droughts across the country made a hard planting season for america's farmers, according to the department of agriculture. that could mean you're paying more at the market. but gas prices are down, dropped nearly 17 cents on average in the last three weeks. and the average cost of gas will continue to fall. the current national average for a gallon of regular unleaded just dropped to $3.70, according to aaa. stock futures are up slightly in premarket trading. dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 futures are set to open higher after six weeks of brutal losses now. and charity lunch for warren buffett, a whopping $2.63 million. you can hear the bells of the

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24 minutes past the hour right now. it is a start of week four in the casey anthony murder trial. prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case in the next few days. the young florida mother is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee, and burying her remains in the woods. an expert on bugs, an entomologist, neal haskell, was testifying about the bugs. >> let me put it to you in a hypothetical. that the body of a young child was stored in the trunk of that car for a period of time and then removed and deposited in another location. does that fit with the entomological evidence you found? >> absolutely. >> how damaging was dr. haskell's testimony to the defense? and what can we expect as the

the prosecution's case wraps up? sonny hostin is from tru tv's "in session." they're trying to prove that the body at some point was in the trunk and that's what this entomologist was testifying to when he said absolutely? >> yes. if roy kronk, a meter reader basically moved the body into the woods, kept the body and moved the body into the woods. the defense is trying very, very hard to distance casey anthony from that trunk and from little caylee's body. this was an accidental drowning, the defense says, not murder by any means. i think their bug expert did a pretty good job of that. do bugs lie? they're not testifying. the evidence was there that the type of insects that can be found where there is a fresh body, decomposing body, those

insects were in the trunk. i think that's pretty important evidence for the prosecution. a circumstantial case. woo elf been talking about this case. it's tough. >> a couple of questions i have for the defense. it seems to me, at least, it would abe gamble to try to claim that the body of the 2-year-old was never in the trunk. make your case however you will and bring in other family members that you're trying to blame. they're trying to blame the dad in this case to cover up the accidental drowning much so far, you've had two scientists, one testify that a strand of hair consistent with decomposition was found in the trunk. >> one hair. >> and now the claim that at least some bugs that are seen or found around decomposing bodies were also found in the trunk. >> that's right. >> how does the defense counteract that? >> we don't know. their case in chief will start probably next week. in opening statements, again, they sort of laid out their theory. but with a lot of holes. they didn't address the trunk really. they didn't address whether or not george anthony placed the

body in the trunk, whether or in the -- when roy kronk got this body. if the defense does not shore up those holes in its case in chief, it's going to be very problematic for the jury. jurors want to know timeline. they want to know what happened. y i don't think that the prosecution has answered those questions yet. good life, beautiful life tattoo. they'll call trace evidence, experts. then i think that's pretty much it. that's the defense now that will fill in a lot of those holes. >> were they also allowed to introduce evidence? i read some of the journal entries of casey anthony where she writes things like the end will justify the means. >> that will be coming in. they really have to go to

motive. prosecutors don't have to prove moti motive. it's not an element of the crime but the jury needs to know why. they always have that why question. and i just don't think they've answered it. primarily because this crime cuts across and against the nature of a mother, right? so a lot of jurors have that question. usually when you have a mom killing a baby, you have a history of child abuse. child services has been called in many, many times or you have mental illness. those elements aren't here yet. i wonder about the motive evidence that really that explanation hasn't come in. maybe we'll hear about that this week. >> somewhat strange and disconcerting to see what's going on outside the courtroom with people knocking each other over, these fights that are taking place as people are clamoring to get a seat and to see this. people running in, as if they're going to see a movie. >> the willy wonka golden ticket. >> some form of entertainment. it is kind of a little disturbing to see that. what is going on here? >> it is.

i've never seen anything like this before. i've covered so many trials and tried them myself. i think it has to do with sort of social media. i think it has to do with the accessibility we have now and the premise of a mother killing a baby. it cuts across everything we believe about mothers. i think that is why it has become just so fascinating to the public. i liken it to people who watch car crashes on the side of the road. they don't want to look, but they do want to look. part of it is that, whow could mother do in th? it's so voyeuristic. there are 50 seats and people are fighting over 50 seats. it's like the golden ticket now. >> sunny hostin, thanks for being with us. >> thanks. christ church in new zealand rocked again by a series of earthquakes. there are reports of injuries and damage. this is the same area where an

earthquake killed more than 180 people back in february. police in norfolk, virginia, veging the fatal shooting of eli elijah cummings' nephew. chris cummings was a student at old dominion university, found dead in his off-campus apartment friday morning, his roommate also critically wounded. there is no word on the possible motive for the shooting. the stage is set. first debate of the republican national race will begin at 7:00 pm. mitt romney leads the polls right now, maybe wearing the front-runner's bulls eye. christine, it's most likely that the president, president obama and his policies, will sort of be the target here as these seven candidates try to make a name for themselves. >> that's right. they have to stay on their own message, but they also have to be ready to show some personality and go off script if need be, kiran. the candidates making their

final preparations for the debate. voters can make snap judgments on ear even the tiniest things on stage and some things end up on "saturday night live," like governor pailen winking at the camera, back in 2008. back in 1992, george h.w. bush checked his watch during a question about the economy. america was in a recession back then, too. and many voters took that as a sign that he was detached from their situation. then there are the lines that last forever, like the zinger that left president reagan's opponent speechless. >> 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. >> to this day, that must be one of the best debate lines ever. joining us with a unique look

behind the curtain is tevi troy. welcome to the program. in getting ready for primary season there's a difference than in getting ready for the general election. tell me a little bit about what these candidates are doing right now to prepare to break out from their pack of fellow republicans. >> you're right, christine. thanks for having me on. you want to go on offense and distinguish yourself, break out from the pack. in the presidential debate, as we were talking about a minute ago, you're playing defense. you don't want to make a mistake at that level. they are trying on zingers and trying to relax. tim pawlenty just went bowling instead of doing a prep session. they're trying to make sure they come across as easy going, happy and positive. at the same time, they want to have zingers directed at president obama as was suggested. >> former pennsylvania senator rick santorum was here and well

prepped. when you were with president bush in 2004, 40-page briefing books, this 40,000 potential questions. there's only 40 potential answers. the deal here is they need to try to steer whatever john king throws at them back toward what they want to say? >> that's right. it was more than a 40-page book. it was a 40-section book that we tried to get down to one page each. the key was, as i said at the beginning, the job of my xaun is 40 penciled questions. as i was told by somebody before, there's only 40 answers. he wants to direct every possible question to those rifts that he has internalized. you don't want a canndidate memorizing new stuff for a debate but his internal monologue, that he's comfortable with. you can't have him come up with stuff that he's not used before,

untested stuff. on the other hand, if you do that too much, there's a danger that people can anticipate your lines and be ready to zing you, like reagan did with mondale. regularn said he was ready for that line and had something in mind for it. >> that potential criticism or possible -- when they're writing, are they writing anything, tevi? honestly? >> we tell the candidates to have their pen in hand and look down at the pad and pretend to be writing. if they want to write actual notes, they can do so. if they want to write doodles, they can. but not to do what al gore did in 2007, which is to roll your eyes and look exasperated. the visual cues are just as important. >> you have to be a master of the message and a master of the politics and policies but also have a stage presence. >> absolutely. in 2004, we looked at the tapes of kerry's and bush's previous

tapes. one thing bush did masterfully in 2000 is when gore stalked him across the stage -- gore came very close to him. bush was in the middle of an answer and did a head check at gore and put gore in his place and we're told by a debate expert that was perfect visual cue, nonverbal cue, the kind of thing where bush showed he was in command, he wasn't going to get flustered or let gore's imposing bulk intimidate him. >> it's moments like that, as a voter, i don't know how well you can plan for those kinds of moments. maybe that shows, really, who the candidate is. that's the real candidate coming through, the real person. >> there's an element of that. you also try to control it to the extent possible -- you talk about president george h.w. bush and checking his watch. we tell candidates not to bring their watches. when a canndidate is pushed as n

the 2004 there's nothing you can prepare for that. debates aren't debate as much as parallel press conferences and you want to show how you are able to make the case against president obama. president obama will be a formidable candidate. obviously there are economical difficulties. he will raise a lot of money and incumbents without a primary challenge intend to win. how you can make president obama vulnerab vulnerable, defeat him and present yourself to the american people not just in the republican primaries but beyond as well. >> tevi troy, thank you very much. you served on president bush's 2004 debate team. thank you for pulling back the curtain for us as we wind up to tonight. thank you. what are the issues that are most important to you? that's our question of the day today. here are some of your responses.

robert vinson brannum says what should be done to improve race relations in america? do you believe racism has ended in america? kiran? >> given that many candidates say they are pro-life, what change would you propose to protect the lives of of estimated 180,000 people? please answer without discussing fault or obamacare. >> where are the jobs they promise fd we gave them a majority in the house? this is a calling to put up or shut up! >> and we have sristau 80 on twitter, how will each candidate return the proper funding for education on a federal level to each state. >> interesting. jobs, education, health care. we'll have the first major debate of the election live for you tonight. i'm sure all of those issues will be touched beginning at 8:00 pm eastern here on cnn. kiran, back to you. speaking of education, how

about the summer brain drain? the summer slide. k kids actually needing to come back to school in the fall and relearn two months worth that they lost over the summer. steve perry joins us, cnn education contributor, with easy and affordable ways to prevent the brain drain. [ male announcer ] the inspiration for its shape was an archer drawing his bow. ♪ could that have also inspired its 556 horsepower supercharged engine? ♪ the all-new cadillac cts-v coupe. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn.

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4 minutes past the hour. shot of atlanta, georgia, today. 76 right now. going up to 93. the dog days of summer, right? days are longer, temperatures are rising and kids are totally distracted at school, all sure signs that summer is right around the corner and summer break, of course. how do you keep your kids from backing up over the next couple of months and regressing when it comes to their learning? summer brain drain and to keep your kids' minds from turning to mush is contributor steve perry.

basically kids come back to school two months behind. meaning they lose two months of learning during summer break. how do you prevent that? >> quite a few ways. the traditional, which first you can start with your kids' school. ask them for summer reading or summer activities that they think the children should do. summer learning loss is a real issue. you cut two months off because of review. put the exams on there at the end of the year and the middle of the year and you find yourself with a five-month school year that teachers find themselves teaching. it's a chopped-up school year. you want to make sure that the kids have meanings. some traditional ones are going to museums and libraries. go off the beaten path. you can take them to a potential place where they may want to work. if they want to go work in media, they may want to go over to a newspaper and see how that works. >> part of it is making these little assignments, which is a really good idea for parents.

have the kids -- you don't want to sit there and make them do book reports all summer, but read and tell you what it is that they're reading. you were the beneficiary of getting a unique opportunity, these upward bound programs and other things like that. explain how kids could get involved. >> it's one program, a phenomenally successful, federally funded program for students like i was, who were low-income, first generation in their family to go on to college. six weeks of summer academic support as well as enrichment during the year over the course of four years. provides great opportunities for families who don't have the resources to pay somebody. if you do have resources to pay, there are both online and other courses that you can put your child through for math, science as well as reading. and s.a.t.s and a.c.t.s. and then, of course, we often overlook television. i know television, for so many people, seems to be the evil empire.

i believe watching cnn or cnn student news helps children. at least 10 to 15 minutes a day. because when you go back to school, you need to know what happened. you can't just know what you did with your friends. it actually -- the world is happening around you. and children need to know what's going on. just like the parents are watching cnn right now, 15 to 30 minutes a day of watching our cable news or other cable news to what's going on in the world is essential to learning. >> because they have a lot of concerns, especially saying that kids from lower income backgrounds end up being more of a victim to losing some of what they retain over the school year. public libraries, they have internet access right now. they try to offer some programs as well for kids, to get out there and take advantage of some of those resources that are available in your community. it's something that everybody should be thinking about. >> right. kiran, many people often overstate the digit al divide.

our school is 70% poverty. and we did a survey of our children to find out how many of them had internet access. we forget that many of them have cell phones and many cell phones are smart phones. kids will find internet access. we simply need to help them to direct their efforts so they can do something other than surf it for fun and friends but actually learn. children need to learn during the summer. they absolutely do. our school is a year-round school. school starts back up for us on july 5th, but many families have two months worth of just dead air. they have to find something meaningful to do other than lock the child up in the house, tell them don't answer the phone or the door and hope they enjoy themselves. >> cnn education contributor and founder of capital prep magnet school. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, kichlt. kiran.

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♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ you love money ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ i work so hard at my job ♪ and then i bring it home to you ♪ ♪ i love money in my pocket >> 28 minutes after the hour. here are your morning headlines. the first big matchup of the 2012 election is tonight. gop presidential election debate

right here on cnn. seven republicans will be battling it out. mitt romney goes in the lead new poll shows. democrats and republicans are calling for congressman anthony weiner to resign as his sexting scandal intensifies. new pictures posted on tmz show weiner in various states of undress in the house members gym. he is taking a leave of absence from congress and is exploring the possibility of stepping down. east street band saxophonist clarence clemmons seriously ill after suffering a stroke at his home. he has been bruce springsteen's right-hand man on stage since day one. market fewers are up after six straight weeks of declines. gabrielle giffords is all smiles. first pictures of the congresswoman after she was shot

in the head back in february. she is expected to begin her outpatient treatment at the end of the month. the dallas mavericks finished off lebron james and the miami heat with a 105-95 victory to win the nba championship in six games. it's the first title in the history of the mavs franchise. you're caught up on the headlines.

♪ i said it i said it i said it cause i can ♪ dallas, texas, sunny and 78. it it will be hot later today, triple digits, high of 101.

they're just thrilled this morning that they're the nba champs, so they don't care. spectacular crash at the world famous 24th hour of lee m france. check it out. sends him into the barrier wall, showering spectators and photographers with debris. driver, believe it or not, was able to walk away from that crash. people were obviously shocked and terrified. no one was injured, though. he went on to win the race for a tenth time. >> iron man mike tyson, too emotional to finish his speech when he was indeducted into the boxing hall of fame yesterday. the youngest heavyweight champ of all time. the question will always remain, could he have actually been the best ever? he shared the stage with a loveable underdog from philly, rocky balboa. >> yo, adrian, i did it! >> yes, sylvester stallone now

has a spot in the boxing hall of fame. stallone says it took three days to write rocki and it ended up winning best picture in 1976. rob marciano is in the extreme "weather center." you would have liked being there, wouldn't you, the boxing hall of fame? >> that would have been great. absolutely. always like to see the hall of fame indeducted in. and announcers always get in so rocky has its place. >> of course, people say raging bull. >> one, two three, four -- what is it? are we up to ten now? >> i don't know. >> all the more to see, by the way. storms rolling across parts of missouri today under a severe thunderstorm watch there, west of st. louis up towards kirkwood and down towards chesterfield. we're looking at thunderstorms, most of which have hail with them, have a little bit of gusty winds, 50 to 60-mile-an-hour winds with these. this watch box in effect until 1:00 this afternoon local time.

we'll look for this to be extend ed farther to the south and east as we go through time. a slight risk of seeing more severe weather in this area, stretching back toward northeastern colorado. stretching back toward new mexico, eastern arizona, we've got that fire that's still burning. 10% containment there. it's in there for the long haul. obviously we don't see any rainfall until the monsoon in the next few weeks. bad air quality with the smoke, obviously, coming from the southwest toward the northeast. and we still have a critical fire danger in effect for parts of new mexico and northern texas today because of the wind and the dry weather associated with this storm that will fire off the thunderstorms along the front. cool. comfortably cool across part of the northeast after a very hot week last week, including chicago, d.c., new york city. shattered records last week. southwest are pretty steamy, still. roswell, new mexico, 107. not even fit for an alien there,

midland, texas, seeing 105. these numbers will hang around. a lot of these cities down in the south including houston, dallas, new orleans and atlanta haven't seen temperatures below 90, at least for daytime highs, for a good couple of weeks. 70 in chicago. enjoy that. 75 in new york city. continued comfortably cool and settled with a couple of clouds today. are you going to have some company tomorrow, i hope? >> company tomorrow? you? are you coming up here? >> no, no. i would be happy to. >> oh, yes, christine will be back in place tomorrow. yes, she will. and so will ali. i thought you meant company at my house. i'm thinking, i vn done any grocery shopping, rob. i don't know what you're talking about. >> we're all showing up. get ready. >> if you want to stay cool, stay inside and watch rocky vi. car connection calls the xf,

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we're live this morning from new hampshire, sight of the first presidential primary and the first republican debate. it will be about these seven try ing to break out, right? they'll be trying to break out and show what makes them different. also, i suspect they'll be striking out a little bit dwens the president and his policies in just about 11 hours, first major debate of the election kicks off. beginning at 8:00 eastern here on cnn, kiran.