up, watch the debate and show everybody the highlights. >> bright and early tomorrow. >> see you here next to me tomorrow. right now, kyra phillips. >> thank you so much. 9:00 am in the east coast, 6:00 am out west. ratcheting up with tonight's first big debate, seven republican hopefuls will square off in new hampshire in a debate you can watch here on cnn. national average dropping 17 cents a gallon over the last three weeks. the new average, $3.74. prices could drop even more. dallas mavs hoisting the championship trophy. they beat lebron james and the miami heat last night. from muscle shirts to just a towel, more pictures of disgraced congressman anthony weiner surface. these pictures posted on it tmz

alleging showing the congressman in the house members gym. this is as he slinks off to treatment. is he not saying what kind of treatment he is seeking or where he is going. his office does confirm he will, quote, take a leave of absence. critic of both parties say that's not enough, though. they are still demanding for weiner to resign. kate, congress back in session for the first time since the scandal came out. what do you think? will the pressure be stronger for weiner to resign? >> reporter: if this weekend is any evidence, absolutely. one statement that came out this weekend, anthony's inappropriate behavior has become an insurmountable distraction for the house, he is in charge of getting democrats elected to the house. he is one of a growing number of top house democrats that came out over the weekend. until this point, they had been very hesitant and resistant in

coming out to call anthony weiner to resign. that seemed to definitely change over the went. listen here. >> i think anthony weiner needs to resign so he can focus on his family, focus on his own well-being. >> it seems extraordinarily difficult that he can proceed to represent his constituents in an effective way, given the circumstances of this bizarre behavior. >> reporter: while there still is a lot of unclarity, if you will, kyra, house democrats did not want to have to come back for a third week in a row, talking about this scandal instead of talking about the agenda. distraction is the word that everyone has been using now. they all seem to be coming out, trying to change the attention to something else, as anthony weiner now goes to -- taking a leave of absence, going to an undisclosed treatment center for undisclosed treatment, i guess we could say, for an undetermined period of time. >> kate, appreciate it.

>> of course. new photos of another member of congress. these images capture the resilience and remarkable recovery of gabrielle giffords. the first time we get to see her smile since she suffered a gun shot wound to her head five months ago. cnn medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is here with a closer look. as we look at these photos, is there any way we can determine what this means about her recovery? >> this is the first time we're obviously seeing her in six months. you've seen this photo now. she looks great. keeping great eye contact with the camera. great smile. couple of things to point out quickly, kiran, from a medical, ne. rosurgical perspective. it's this area here we focused so much on, where that bone is removed. this picture taken before she had that bone substitute placed back in. she will shael have a more normal contour and scars up here and down here as well, typical

tracheostomy scar. this is obviously just one picture. she looks pretty good overall in terms of how she is doing, what -- the fact that she's able to actually maintain. >> we look at these pictures and think, wow, she looks great. she's smiling. everybody has been talking about those pictures. what does it say or what do we know, i guess, about her cognitive skills? >> it's interesting. we know, for example, she's going to go to outpatient rehab now. that's a milestone. you're in your own kitchen, your own bathroom, your ability to live on your own starts to become the focus and gets tested to some extent. cognitively, there's always this belief that she could understand what people were saying. she was following commands all along. her receptive abilities were fine. her ability to speak in longer sentences, her ability to transmit what she's thinking in terms of communication.

right side of the brain affects the left side of the body. months down the line, still, before we start to see anything. >> you think of bob woodruff, abc news, had the head injury during the war. took a long time. he is on the air now. he's talking. >> i think he's a good model. everybody is going to be a little bit different. in bob woodruff's case, as you know, it was an explosive sort of force that injured his principal and not as much of a penetrating force as the gunshot wound. every injury will be a little different. i think that's a good model. your ability to find words upon recall, your ability to speak extemporaneously. your ability to get around without much difficulty. bob can do those things but it took a long time. >> we want that for gabby, for sure. thank you, sanjay. >> you got it. brand new poll numbers show that two of the most popular picks for president haven't even

declared that they're going to run. mark preston joining us from manchest manchester, new hampshire. it's good for them if they do decide to run. boy, they save a lot of money. >> no doubt, right? i'll tell you what, kyra. if you are sarah palin right now and you are rudy giuliani, why do you need to declare a run for president if you are polling so well? from the cnn opinion poll, romney at 24%, sarah palin comes in second at 20%, rudy giuliani down at 12%. here is the big, big surprise, herman cain, businessman from atlanta at 10% and newt gingrich at 10%. michelle bachman at 4%, tim

pawlenty at three. huntsman at one and santorum at one. the big surprise of this, herman. kr ain, not a lot of people know him nationally the republican voters are starting to get to know him. he could surprise a lot of people. it will be interesting to see how he performs on stage tonight at the college. >> we'll be paying attention, that's for sure. we heard from newt gingrich after his senior staff bailed out. what did he have to say? >> interestingly, he made reference to it last night at the republican jewish coalition. let take a listen to what he had to say about the turmoil his campaign has faced over the past couple of days. >> as someone who has been in public life for nearly 40 years, i know full bell the rigors of campaigning for public office. in fact, i've had some recent

reminder reminders. >> there's newt gingrich last night at the republican jewish coalition, brushing by major controversy that has rocked his campaign. he has lost all his major staffer, key staffers in states like new hampshire, iowa, south carolina. newt gingrich says he is revamping, his campaign starts an anew. a lot is riding on the line tonight, kyra, for newt gingrich. we will all be looking to see how he performs. >> yes, we will. we'll have coverage all day long and then join us as the republican hopefuls face off in new hampshire, 8:00 pm only on cnn. we're keeping our eye on syria, where video via cell

phones continue to show us the violence. thousands of people continue to flee their homes. zain verjee now. what have you heard? >> the accounts are pretty chilling from them. basically what they say is that tanks went in there. helicopters were in there. there was heavy shelling. livestock was killed, people were killed, crops were burned. a situation that seems to be deteriorating. there is also report that is there is a mass grave and soldiers were found with their limbs hacked off. they're saying they were kill bid armed gangs and protesters are saying that they are soldier that is defected and the southeastesyrian army killed them.

we cannot confirm reports but the situation seems to be getting worse. >> zain verjee, out of london. sorry about that, zain, we are talking about a couple of other headlines. i apologize. >> a couple of opinion pieces, actually. let me show you what gulf news is saying. its headline says al assad runs out of friends and time. it says this, kyra. with no regime in waiting to reassure foreign powers, the people of the syrian spring are dealing the cards themselves and the renl eem is suddenly realizing that it cannot survive as it did in the '80s with only iran as a powerful friend. check out "the guardian." butchery, while the world watches. it says these talks about talk only underline how limp the response is. military action is is not realistic, but the full range of diplomatic, financial and legal sanctions should come into play.

kyra, it's great to see you. we missed you. >> missed you, too. i was looking forward to seeing you again, zain. we'll be talking to you in the next couple of hours. thanks. we'll ask a member on the house committee of veteran affairs what he's going to do about the latest failure at the v.a. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian.

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this morning, we sadly report how the department of veterans affairs has, once again, failed the men and women it's supposed to serve. take a look at these disturbing numbers from a new government report. 284 sexual assaults reported in the v.a. system over a three-year period. and even more shocking, many of those cases not reported to the v.a. leaders who could have done something about it. cases include rape, inappropriate touching and forceful medical exams. it wasn't just patients. employees were among the victims as well as the attackers. both men and wrem were attacked. i want to remind you, this is the same v.a. that put thousands of veterans at risk over the past couple of years because of dirty surgical instruments. jeff miller is on the house veterans affairs committee, obviously reacting to this story. congressman, we have talked

about the medical mistakes for years, particularly on this news program. you don't think malicious intent when it comes to those types of stories. now you've got the lack of safeguards at the v.a., taking on a whole new meaning with sexual assault. so, you know, were doctors sexually abusing veterans? do we know exactly the details of who was doing what? >> the report doesn't go into specifics as to to who it was. we know it was patient on patient, patient to employee, employee to patient. it was a myriad of people within the system. the thing that concerns us greatly, besides the facts that the sexual assaults occurred, is that they did not report it to the upper folks. so people are unaware of these issues because they're not being reported as required by regulation. >> let me ask you, those who knew about this and could have done something about it, how are you going to hold them

accountable? >> well, one of the things that congress does, and our committee in particular, with our oversight and investigation committee, is to look exactly in depth as to what occurred. we have the goa report that was actually requested by the house veterans affairs committee. that will be the starting point for us. ann marie birkol from new york will be the lead. we're having a hearing this afternoon. we'll bring the oversight and investigation subcommittee in and have joint hearings with the two together. >> what's sad is that we've heard the stories and heard how sexual assaults have not been reported in country and within the military. and now we're hearing about it in the v.a., where vets are supposed to be getting treated and taken care of. so, are you going to push a change in how these cases, sexual assault cases are handled from the very beginning and reported to the higher ups? >> absolutely.

i think it already is required that it be reported. for some reason, there's a culture within the system -- i was in miami last week and was discussing other issues. and you talked about some of the sterilization issues that have taken place with medical equipment. there's a culture within the system that people at the lower level are afraid to bring things to the top for fear of losing their jobs. and that's not an acceptable issue at all, especially when you've got criminal intent with sexual assaults like the goa report has brought forward. hundreds of residential facilities are out there. right now they've only studied in depth about five of them. >> so, can we or will we see prosecution of these attackers? >> well, you know, we wanted to know, in fact, what has happened with the people that have perpetrated these assaults, the rapes, as gao has called some of them. are some of these people still within the system? i don't know.

>> they've got to go. >> the only way to find out is to ask the question. if they're still there, not only do they need to go and be processed but their supervisors need to go as well. >> final question before we let you g how can vets be assured that they can can still go to the vncht a. and not fear now being attacked? >> i can say that there is complete focus by the v.a. i have talked to some of the undersecretaries. i want to talk with the secretary this week. it is not their grandfather's v.a. system. the mental health care being provided now by the v.a. is

second to none. when you have things like this, that rock the very foundation of the v.a., i can understand why some veterans would have questions whether they should go into the system or not. >> we'll be looking to you to see the changes implemented. that's for sure. congressman jeff miller, we'll

be following the story. appreciate your time, sir. >> thank you. several hundred people protested the release of a transit cop who shot and killed an unarmed man at a train station. he shot and killed oscar grant in oakland, california, new year's day, 2009. messer lly claimed he meant to tase grant but used his pistol by mistake. second largest wildfire in the state's history. it is 10% contained and some of the evacuees are being allowed back into their homes. minnesota family was looking forward to their new pool until they got a new project. fixing the garage. as you can see there, the crane, lowering the pool shell into the backyard, crashed into the house. luckily, nobody was hurt. she's been royally busy these past few days. we head to london to get the latest on duchess kate, her whirlwind weekend and, get this, her recycled designer duds. ÷$r

it's been a rough day in chri christchurch, new zealand. the same area that was rocked by a quake that killed 180 people. amateur video we got in. you can see the trees actually start to shake and the water is sloshing out of the pool. the second hit the very next hour, it was the biggest one.

magnitude 6.0. 20 minutes after that, the third. so far, jst a few injuries have been reported. to england now, where duchess kate, the royal fashion plate, had a very busy weekend. zain verjee is in london, of course, with the latest scoop. she has very good taste, very good sense and always has both

of those on display, right? >> yes, she does. i had a very busy weekend, too, kyra, but nowhere near as glamorous as this. i did not get pulled in an awesome carriage or wave on no balcony. let's just take a look at the pictures here. kate middleton, looking amazing. had a very stylish weekend. here, you see her going to the queen's official birthday. she's wearing a hat there, looking fabulous. the thing everyone is talking about, kyra, is that she actually recycled that hat a little bit later. there you see it again. she went to a wedding later in the day and kept the same one on. it's called a fascina tcht. are. you missed the royal wedding. >> i was watching. >> check out her dress, a recycle number two. she wore this to -- that he the white dress on the balcony. the polka dotty one is a number she wore in her nightclubing days, a cool club here called beju. i'll get you in, when you come. she wore it there a few years ago. people are saying it's great she recycles. prince william, by the way, i

thought he looked pretty cute there. what do you think? >> he's a handsome young man. absolutely. >> wearing one of those high tops. >> there it is. okay. we finally got the picture up. wait a minute. how do you know for sure that that is the prince? please tell me, how do you know? >> i have my sources. i have my sources. it's the mouth. >> i like the little turquoise flare there on the side. speaking of fashion icons, i cannot let you go. i've been watching you in the early, early morning. you are obsessed with superman's new album. >> holy kryptonite, no red speedo on the new superman here. he is going to get jeans. a lot of people are outraged about this but dc comics are saying they need to reband superman and the idea is that comic book sales of him have gone down. they want to make him more modern. he will get these blue trunks but no red speedo. >> looks like a member of the village people. >> i know. what would lois lane say? that's the question. >> depends on what kind of jeans, i guess. all right, zain. i'm going to come visit you. >> you better. >> we'll hit beju in our fasc a

fascinators. if folks only knew how it was to spend an evening with you. >> kyra, how are the babies? >> they're fabulous. you come visit, aunt zain. >> all right. gas prices have been falling and, guess what, they could go even lower. also coming up, the stage is set. seven republicans running for president face off tonight in new hampshire at a cnn co-sponsored debate. live preview, coming up. mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943.

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seven candidates lineup tonight held by cnn, mur. there seems to have been a shift in what americans want from their government, their leaders. done lemon is in new hampshire. tell us about the shift. >> reporter: first, do you have your popcorn, kyra? you're going to be watching, dplued to the television. >> i'm waiting for the twinkies that you offered me up on friday. >> reporter: they'll be there. fedex will deliver them to you. if not, i'll bring them back to you next week. first time -- cnn has been taking these polls since 1993. there's a shift in what americans find important. if you don't have money, you can't afford the gas to get to

the polls, probably values aren't going to get you there. what's going to get you there is the money. candidate who will put money in your pocket. a candidate who will get a job for you when unemployment is so high. here is what we found. since the first time, we asked people about traditional values. here is what they responded. do you want traditional values? 46% said yes. here is the interesting thing. it's fallen below 50%. 50% said no. and that's even since last summer, it's dropped. those numbers in the summer were 53% and 44%. that's simply because of the economy. before this poll came out, we had been talking to people in new hampshire. every time we bring up something like values, because that's what these candidates -- especially someone like rick santorum, mitt romney. they say, listen, we don't want

to talk about it. am i going to get a job? is the economy going to get better? is government going to get smaller? take a listen and theln we'll talk about it. >> the values change and society changes. if you did traditional values, we would still be in a segregated society. think about that. >> i think what people do in their homes is none of the government's business. if people want to do something, as long as they're not hurting anybody else, i don't have a problem with that. >> reporter: also interesting -- you might say where does that number fall when it comes to republicans? it's down even for republicans. six in ten republicans say we need to know about job and the economy. we don't really need to know about traditional values. they still think it's important, but that number is down for republicans, as well, and also independents. there you go. when these candidates are up on the stage tonight, people are going to want to hear out of their mouths, how are you going to get me a job, kyra.

how are you going to fix the economy? stay out of my bedroom and my personal business. those are second tier issues and they'll talk about that after they get to work. >> looking at the seven candidates that will be debating tonight, whose name keeps coming up when you talk to these folks? you talk about the issues. who are the folks most excited about? >> the name that keeps coming up the most is probably mitt romney. from these parts. he is from massachusetts. it's been the neighboring state here. his name comes up. he has a lot on the line here. they also want to know what newt gingrich is going to say, especially since the bulk of his staff resigned last week. the interesting thing, mr. mark preston is sitting right here. herman cain is coming up in the polls. people are interested in him. who would have think a virtual unknown. people are interested.

i want to hear what he has to say and really know what's behind his popularity. what's behind his popularity, mark preston? >> a strong conservative with a great story. mark just summed it up, the voice of reason off to my left. >> when he was here in atlanta, he gave that speech. i listened to it. he definitely gets the crowd fired up. he has a way of ad libbing and getting the crowd energized. you never know what he's going to say, which is also very interesting as well. >> that is. and there's a difference, though, between getting a crowd revved up and drawing people into the polls and having enough power, really, to win and become the leading candidate. i think he's sort of trending right now. in order to hold that, he will have to do a lot more than get the crowds fired up. >> don lemon and mark preston by his side there in new hampshire. thanks, guys. you can watch the debate here

8:00 pm eastern on cnn. checking top stories right now. just a towel or maybe a muscle shirt. take your pick. tmz has published more photos of disgraced congressman anthony weiner. despite on all the press for him to resign, he is taking, quote, a leave of absence to seek treatment. this is a smile we just can't get enough of. our first look at congresswoman gabrielle giffords since she was shot in the head five months ago. she looks fantastic and is expected to leave a rehab center and begin outpatient therapy next month. the musical satire "the book of mormon" took nine tonys. >> finally some relief at the pump. gas price were within pennies of that $4 mark, but how quickly things can change. right, alison? >> exactly. the national average for a gallon of gas sitting at $3.70.

the peak of this cycle topped $4. down 27 cents since then. highest prices in chicago, by the way. drop in prices not all that surprising at this point. we've been watching oil prices falling as well. oil prices are sitting at a little over tds 98 a barrel today, kyra. >> where do gas prices come from here? opec came out last week, saying the global demand will rise which, as we know, can push gas prices up. >> with oil, anything can goes. one of the wild cards for the economy, keera. it's hard to forecast. the situation winds up changing so fast. what you said has a lot to do with what could be happening. there is just talk that saudi arabia could boost oil output. that could reduce prices more. in the meantime, while we wait for the saudis to decide what to do, the u.s. recovery is slowing.

analysts say that should keep gas prices down. don't get too excited because the days of $2 a gallon gas are gone. risk premium built in because of political unrest in the mideast. not too much unrest in the markets. in the green today after six straight weeks of down days here in the market. several deals with boosting the markets today. the owner of northface is buying timberland, a $3 billion deal between two insurers is in the works and arby's is being sold to a private equity group, giving markets a boost. kyra? >> thanks, allison. after beating the miami heat last night, dallas marv vics are champs. many are celebrating as lebron james, who left cleveland, went down with his teammates. >> i'm a mavalier fan. we hate lebron. go, mavs! >> lebron said he would never

stop until he had a parade down euclid avenue. people in cleveland don't forget that. >> lebron can kiss my back side. >> oh, my. we'll have highlights from the maverick win 25 minutes from now. new government report says you may be exposed to a cancer-causing age enter, formaldehyde. who is jon huntsman? he's a mormon, speaks mandarin, and is about to join presidential hopefuls.

we're going to head on into the interview. krystal. . . krystal . . . what lead to your decision to go with the fusion? i just keep on going back to looks; it's a great looking car. how do your co-workers feel about your decision? they were the ones who were against ford. they were like they're a truck company. for the most part i am pretty sure i have changed most everyone's mind. krystal, you seem pretty comfortable up there, are you sure you haven't done this before? umm. . . i did 8th grade telecommunications class.

formaldehyde is found in many household items and is now added to the list of known cancer causing agents. where exactly do we find it? >> it is all over the place. it really is. you think of formaldehyde, people think of embalming fluid. it's in there, too, but it's in things that you and i use every day. it's in things like hair straighteners. you go get your hair straightened at the salon. nail polish, pressed wood.

you get that new car smell. >> is that formaldehyde? >> it sure is. >> these are things we use on a regular basis. how dangerous is it? >> we don't know -- unfortunately, we don't know how dangerous it is for people like you and me, who run into these things for a short period of time throughout the day. for people who use it as part of their profession, it is problematic. studies have shown that. people like embalmers, who are around this stuff a lot, they have shown that they have higher rates of certain kinds of cancers, leukemia, nasal, oral cancers. people who get exposed to this a whole bunch do have those kinds of problems. the question is what about people like you and me? we just don't know. >> it is not on the label. many times it is not on the label. >> that's interesting. that makes you suspicious as to why it's not on the label. >> it does make you suspicious. the new proclamation from the

federal government, people think they may start to put it on the label or manufacturers will start making formaldehyde free products and brag about that. that's probably the label thing you'll see in big letters. >> if it's not on the labels, how do we protect ourselves? >> one thing you don't want to do when you get a new car is sit in the car and go -- ah, the new car smell. >> everybody does that. >> right. everybody does that. you don't want to do that. you want to stay away from that. open up your car doors, ventilate as much as possible. same thing when you get a new carpet, you get that new carpet smell. open up those windows, ventilate. stay out of the house, if possible. be smart about it. we have some other tips, if you look on cnn.com/the chart, my colleague, matt sloane, wrote a wonderful blog. >> he is so great with that stuff. >> he is. >> thanks. >> president obama's focus is on job growth. politics are sure to come into

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in just about two hours, president barack obama will be in north carolina to discuss job growth. he is meeting with the jobs and competitiveness council with advice on ways to strengthen the economy. senior white house correspondent

ed henry at the white house with more. the question is, how many of of those jobs have actually been created? >> reporter: and the answer is almost impossible. the labor department will not really break out into that kind of a sector clean energy, green energy jobs. it's impossible to know exactly how many have been created. now the white house will say over the last couple of years because of stimulus spending there's been a couple hundred thousand in this clean energy sector that have been saved or created by the president's programs. i think when he goes to north carolina today, he's about to leave the white house in the next few moments and goes to this clean energy place, company that creates these lighting fixtures and whatnot. it's a microcosm with the

broader battle he has, convincing americans that his policies created as many jobs as was predicted, kyra. >> so the state is also considered key in the 2012 elections, too, right? >> reporter: i think it's both. i think you're right. no doubt about it, this is a particularly hard-hit state. you're right, this was a president who carried north carolina on the democratic side for the first time since 1976 with jimmy carter. there's a lot of states like that. north carolina, indiana, virginia, that barack obama turned to the democratic column, but they're all struggling with jobs, high gas prices, et cetera. republicans are very eager to flip them ba back to the gop column. he will be hitting these states like north carolina a lot between now and 2012. >> ed henry, goot good to see you. 11:00 am, former nfl wide receiver makes his first public

appearance since serving in prison, months on a weapons charge. president barack obama meeting in north carolina, as we just mentioned. that will happen at 11:05 this morning. at noon eastern, 9:00 am pacific time, an important hearing begins in california on gay marriage. the issue, whether the judge's original ruling prop 8 unconstitutional. coming up, mormon, former governor who wants to be president and he's not mitt romney. who is jon huntsman? candy crowley tells us all about him.

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the prosecution could wrap its case against casey anthony this week. she's accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter. some pretty gruesome testimony. more than 30 people camping in the cascades in washington were rescued from a giant wall of mud. ten feet deep, 200 yards wide in

some places. rescuers punched a tub in the mud. bob maxwell of oregon finally got his high school diploma, ready for this, at the age of 90? sir maxwell had to drop out of school during the great depression to work on the family farm. congratulations, mr. maxwell. well, you won't hear from him tonight, because he hasn't officially joined the race, but jon huntsman has sure been out there stumping. chief political correspondent candy crowley tells us more about him. >> reporter: he looks like a candidate, walks like a candidate, talks like a candidate. >> we're in a deep funk in this country. >> jon huntsman has held more events in the past 30 days than anyone else, but not a declared candidate, though that's pretty

much nuance. >> we're right at the end point. is your family supportive? yes, you check that box, do you think you can rally enough financial support? yes, you check that box, do you think in the early states you can create the presence and the excitement and enthusiasm that will work? yeah, you check that box. >> hey, how are you? >> how are you, sir? >> he's a motorcycle riding mormon who speaks fluent mandarin, a soft-spoken father of seven with ecollective political connection. former ambassador to china for president obama, a man huntsman once described as a remarkable leader. therein lies a primary problem. >> i think the problem isn't so much that he served as ambassador, but gushed over policies that made no sense. >> huntsman hopes to stand out as the strong, silent type. he goes through hours of campaign trail time without mentioning barack obama.

he steps away from softballs in the strike zone. >> do you think that barack obama has had a failed presidency? >> on the economic side, there are no signs of success, very little. >> reporter: he shows no instinct for the kind of go get 'em rhetoric that the faithful expect. >> reporter: you don't -- >> failed on the economy front. >> how about foreign policy front? >> well, we have different world views. >> reporter: more than 70% of the country doesn't know enough to know whether they like him. the field is crowded, a basic tenet is to define yourself before your critics do. still huntsman decline a cnn debate invitation. for now he is biding his time and holding his tongue. he will not bide for much longer, another ten days or so and he'll be all in. in a political world that thrives on slugfests, we'll see how long he holds his ton.

okay. we're following lots of developments in the next hour. let's check in first with don lemon. >> cnn has uncovered a big shift in what's going to get americans to go to the polls. these voters believe that many of the candidates are out of touch. i'll have that coming up at the top of the hour. >> i'm kate bolduan, congressman weiner takes a leave of absence. we'll have more at the top of the hour. and new pictures, the first of gabby giffords since her injury. what does the future hold for her? i'll have that at the top of the hour, kyra. >> and we're talking about pictures all hour. we have amazing pictures out of chile. volcanic ash blocks out the sun and grounds flights an ocean away. lean cuisine market creations steam meals. like new chicken poblano with tender white meat chicken, crisp veggies, in a savory cheddar sauce. new from lean cuisine.

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the dallas mavs on top of the nba world after beating the miami heat for their first-ever title. jason terry led the mavs 27 points, including this basket off a steal. he was prophetic. he had ra tattoos of the trophy on his right bicep before the season began. dirk nowitzki didn't dominate as much as the rest of the season. the final score, mavries 105,

the heat 95. mavericks win the finals in six games. lebron james said after the game, it hurt, but i'm not going to hang my head. milestone for jeff gordon. his 24 car takes the flag, the fifth time he's won that race. it gives him 84 nascar wins. good enough for a third-place tie for career titles, by the way. redemption for harrison frazar. he had a chance to win the st. jude classic, but on the 18th, his ball hit the green and then in the drink. he went into a sudden-death playoff with carlen. frazar won, his first win in his 35th try. he had been thinking about quitting the tour, but now he says, no way, i'm staying on.

10:00 a.m. on the east coast. 7:00 on the west. congressman weiner has a new round of photos to explain. celebrity website tmz says the snaps were taken inside the house members' gym. in california, freedom for a transit do that who shot and killed an unarmed man. he served half a two-year sentence. he told a jury he meant to tase the man, but grabbed his gun. you'll remember in february a massive earthquake killed more than 180 people there. well, out of touch or what the voters wants to hear? seven candidates line up tonight to tell you what they'll do if elected president. it's a gop presidential debate head by cnn, wmur and the new hampshire new leader, and we've

done some polls going into it. we asked republican voters who they would want as a nominee for next year. mitt romney is out in front with 24% of the vote. sarah palin second, but that's within the margin of error. giuliani, herman cain, newt gingrich, the four remains, less than 5% each. don lemon is talking to the voters. some of those candidates, too. bring us up to date, don. >> reporter: we're giving the viewer a lot of numbers, so let me make it easy. really the first time since 1993 that cnn has been taking this poll about values voters, that's when newt gingrich got republicans to take over the government with this contract with america. for the first time most americans find these traditional values, so-called value voters, they say, that's not important.

that's not important. the numbers now, they want, 50% say no, so we can put that down. what that means, let's talk in human terms here, it means the economy is so bad people find these traditional values to be second-tier issues. they want people to stay out of their homes, they want these candidates to stay out of their bedrooms. one interesting thing a woman said yesterday, they need to be promoting traditional values, given what's going on in their own homes and take care of our economy first, and then get to that other stuff, which is traditional values for us as well. that's what that means. people don't have money now, they can't afford to go to the polls and vote if they don't have a job. what they're concerned about, what they want to hear out of the mouths of these candidates tonight, how are you going to improve the economy? how will you get me a job. i spoke to rick santorum and ron paul about this shift, these things they're campaigning on. take a listen, kyra.

>> the federal government, when it comes to many social issues, many that i'm very sympathetic with, but i just think most of those responsibilities schobel family, church, local community and the state rather than the federal government getting involved. >> i am someone who's strong on social issues, but strong on national security issues. there's nobody with the levels of experience that i have. no one has end the federal entitlement. so we've got a lot to talk about, and we will. >> so as we were -- i was discussing this with folks i worked with last night, wee driving home and hitting the potholes and bumps, in construction, all that, that's what people want to government. they want the roads to work, school buses to come on time, public transportation, government up and running, but that's what the concern is. not what people do, not about abortion, not about prayer in

school, though that's important to some people, but the issues that will get people to the polls on election day. it's going to be money, money, money, the economy, kyra. >> don lemon in new hampshire, thanks so much. that big debate is tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. from muscle shirts to just a towel, take your pick. more pictures of disgraced congressman anthony weiner surface. these posted on tmz allegedly showing him in the house of representatives gym. he's going off to treatment, his colleagues are going to work, and many say they just don't want him coming back. >> i think he needs to resign so he can focus on his family, his own well-being. >> it seems extraordinarily difficult that he can proceed to represent his constituents in an effective way, given the circumstances. >> kate bolduan is on the hill.

with the new photos over the weekend, what do you think, is the pressure stronger on him to resign now? >> reporter: i think the pressure is mounting. what's unclear, kyra is what anthony weiner will do about the pressure, as more people continue to call for him to resign. he is taking this leave of absence to get treatment at a treatment center in an undisclosed location, and according to a democratic source, congressman weiner doesn't want to make any decisions about his future until hi wife returns. his wife is a longtime aide to secretary of state clinton, and they're scheduled to return from the trip thursday, but that kind of leaves the -- this statement -- this idea that he isn't determining what to do about his future yet, leaves the door open that he's considering the possibility of resigning, but still we don't know at the very same time, as you just showed s. the pressure does seems to be mounting, as you've seen a significant shift over the weekend from democratic

members being resistant, and then over the weekend many of them, the top democrats saying very clearly it's time for him to step down. they didn't want to go into a third week having answered questions about this. they want to talk about their agenda. as one top democrat put it, his behavior has become an insurmountable distraction. >> kate, thanks. and nancy pelosi wants to know in he violated any ethics of the house. coming up in a few minutes, we'll talk to the former chief counsel of the house ethics committee. and we'll ask him. forces claim they have a copy of mo mash gadhafi's top secret battle plan. rebels in misrata saying they got it from troops last month. the title is battle plan to cleanse the city of misrata from militant gangs, end quote.

cnn hasn't been able to confirm the authenticity. guess what moammar gadhafi is doing? playing chess, taking time for a footo op with the visiting russian president of the international chess federation. we're also keeping an eye on the middle east, particularly syria, cell phone videos and youtube postings show us house brutal the conflicts continue to be. secretary of state hillary clinton is calling on syria's leader and his forces to show restraint. >> president asaid has said over the last several years that he wanted to make changes and, as president obama said, he either needs to make them or get out of the way. >> all right. we're also learning that an icon of the uprising is a hoax. the blog a gay girl in damascus claimed to capture the struggles of a syrian-american woman

caught up in the violence. last week the blog reported she was abducted by government forces. an online campaign then sprang up to demand her release. zain verjee has a closer look. what do we know about the real author? >> we know there was no amina abdullah, there was no kidnapping, it was all a big fat hoax. the author was actually an american guy living in scotland. his tame is tom mcmaster. he made the whole thing up. he posted something, where he did not apologize, but what he said was, look, it was a fictional character, and he played an important part in bringing to attention some of the issues that gay women face in the arab world. he doesn't apologize for it, but it's made a lot of people really mad. >> so the other bloggers, especially those in the region, what are they all saying?

as we know, as the story circulated, this alleged gay woman became such an icon within all of this. >> she really did. people are really annoyed. look at what people say i say shame on you. what you have done is harmed many and put us all in danger. >> someone else called daniel nasr said this, you took away my voice and many of who i know, and there is no positive side effect of the hoax. it did not bring attention to syria. it brought attention to a white fantasy. a lot of skritices too saying this whole hoax gifs the syrian government an upper hand. they can go around saying, look, don't believe what you read, it's just not true. it's also a note to so many

people who rely on blogs for information that we need to be a little extra careful. it may be someone like tom mcmaster sitting in his graduate dorm in scotland making stuff up. >> yeah, you always have to be careful with the blogs. from the depths are tragedy to a glimmer of tryumph, our first look at congresswoman gabby giffords. dr. sanjay gupta will tell us what these pictures actually show. [ female announcer ] only yoplait original

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well, new images capture the resilience and remarkable recovery of representative gabby giffords. it's the first time we get to actually see her smile since she suffered a gunshot wound to her head just five months ago. cnn medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta here with a closer look. what do you think when you see the photos? >> you mean, it obviously is one static image in time, but a couple things you'll notice, obviously great eye contact with the camera, a great smile, she seems very much there. from a medical perspective. you know, we talked quite a bit

about the fact that some bone was removed on the left side of her head to allow boust brain swelling. you can see some scar es here probably from the initial injury as well, and a classic trachostomy scar. it was subsequently reed moved, but one image in time. she's clearly making good eye contact and seems to have an idea, a presence of just where she is in getting that picture taken. when you look at things like this, obviously you want more information to put it together in the long run, but this was the first time we've seen her since this all transpired. >> physically she looks great, about you what about her cognitive skills. >> people talk about this from a left-sided brain injury, you talk about the impact on speech and the impact on strength on the other side of the body. with speech it's an unumbrella term, your able to understand

speech, but then obviously also to express yourself. it seems she can understand. she's always been able to follow commands. her receptive part seems okay. it's more the speaking in short sentences, not always finding the right words. that's what you see a lot of, and then obviously working on the strength on the right side. >> and she's heading to outpatient rehab. what will she do there? >> there is an important milestone. outpatient rehab, she'll stay in houston, but be in her own place, her own kitchen, for example, her own bathroom, learn the activities of daily, independent living on her own, which is, you know, about on schedule typically. six months into this, outpatient rehab is about on schedule. >> i hope you get to spend some time with her. >> i'd like to talk to her when she's able to talk, but her

staff says at this point it's still too early. if you don't use your blackberry to send steamy pictures, that's one thing. what if you snap the photos in the house gym? is that a breach of the rules? we'll ask a former counsel for the ethics committee. tracy morgan is still getting slammed. more celebrities are speaking out against morgan. we'll have that just ahead as well. ♪ [ male announcer ] you like who you are... the man you've become. and you learned something along the way. about the world. and yourself. ♪ this is the age

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my money. my choice. my meineke. nancy pelosi wants to known in congressman anthony weiner brought any ethics rules with his self-portraits. the new batch of steamy pics posted by tmz, and possibly posted in the house gym, could give them more to work with. so, blake, let mess start by asking you, criminal activity, do you think he actually committed a crime? >> i think it's too early to tell, but most likely not. >> let's move into the ethics side of this. do you think this case will actually go to a house ethics panel?

>> if he doesn't resign, i don't see how they don't take it up given the calls on both side. >> what will the panel look at? what does such a committee need to know? >> the straightest path is to see if someone abused their position or misused official resources. they'll look to see if his conduct brought discredit on the house. >> he's already said i didn't use my work blackberry, i didn't use the work computer to send these pictures, but now we're hearing he possibly took thinks latest photos in the house gym. so, is that enough to have an issue here? >> i think the house gym is a little different than most places. the members pay a fee, just like you would going to the gym down

the street from you. so i think that's going to be a bit of a fine line to say whether that's a misuse of official resources. >> so from what you've seen here and what you know to this point could be -- could be the issue at hand, could lead to a punishment? >> at some level the punishment may in fact be the investigation. the simple fact is the committee is going to have to look, and as they look, you don't know what they're going to discover, you don't know what they're going to find, but they'll dig through this. it will be in the news every day. at that goes forward, mr. weiner is going to have to deal with all the questions and just the process. >> well, what would those questions be? let's say you were still chief counsel to the house committee. what would the questions be that you were asking right now? as you smile.

>> the first thing you're going to do is look at the records. you're going to look at his eplace, computers, you're going to talk to his staff, you're going to talk to him at some point. at you do that, you're going to be looking, like i said, focused on whether he abused his office or misused the resources of the house. at some point, though, i think we need to realize there's a level of -- this just looks bad. i think for an investigator in the house and in the political system that the committee works in, that frankly any day that you have to feel like in the course of your investigation you have to take a shower at the end of t. you know things aren't going to end too well. >> blake, do you think he should resign? >> well, i think it's going to be a long, hard road if he

doesn't. >> blake chisam, always great to see your insight. appreciate it. more fallout for tracy morgan despite apologizing for his homophobic rant. he's still getting slammed. a.j. hammer is here. we definitely should start with tracy morgan. still the talk over the weekend. >> it didn't slack off one bit. the story brought on friday. he went on a homophobic tear in a show, saying among other things he would stab his son to death if he was gay. he as apologized for the unfunny jokes. it was a big topic on the red carpet at the tony awards last night. "showbiz tonight" was there, of course, catching up with many stars. this reaction pretty much summed up a great deal of what we heard last night. >> what do you say to that? that's not funny alone in the

house behind the door. so people do stupid things. i don't know him, i think the judgment has been passed. i haven't heard one person who's like, yeah. i'll bet no one laughed. it's just not funny. >> he's not even getting support from chris rock, wanda sykes, and i should point out, kyra, he only apologized a week after the comments and only a week after it came to light. >> it's a true shame. >> there's been tabloid headlines about kim kardashian having an affair, but you may have gotten to the bottom of the story? >> at least a part of it. this falls into the category of you can't make this up. nfl player made headlines that he had a physical affair. i spoke with him on friday, and we learned that maybe this affair was more virtual than

physical. watch what he told me. she says she has never met you. i assume she means by that face-to-face. have the two of you ever met face-to-face? >> no, we have not. she was very busy. it was during football season. he book signing was launched at the time, so we weren't able to connect at the time. >> and records have kim car dashia getting set to sue lockett for defamation. the big question, is she pours gasoline on the fire? we'll have to wait and see. >> i'll let you follow the salacious news on that one, a.j. but let -- >> thank you. >> something you and i both love, this has a lot the credibility of the tonys were last night. >> yeah, and no big surprise. the huge winner was "the book of

mormon." it won nine tony awards, including best musical. the story of two mormon missionaries sent to africa was created by the genius guys behind "southpark." but this production has been almost universally well received by critics and audiences. it was great. during the speech last night parker thanked the audiences for making the show what it is, and he said, having won for the award, now you have to atone for this. >> hats off. i'm looking forward to seeing it. that's the next one on my list. have you seen it yet? >> no, i haven't seen it. everybody around me is wondering why that is. actually in the next couple weeks i'm going to try. it's always been tough to get tickets. winning those tonys will not help my access to tickets, kyra. i'm not that well connected in the theater world. >> we'll work on that. we'll see and then talk about

it. >> thank you. great to see you. if you want everything in the entertainment world, a.j.'s got it every night. mitt romney will make hi pitch for why he should be the next one to tailing on the white house. romney leads the polls. what does he need to do to seal the deal? we'll talk about it in our political buzz, next. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers.

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as speaker john boehner obviously is aware of the initial hesitation some folks have with his last name, he gave the commencement address at ohio state university, given his own experience, he reflected upon the significant of a politician's name. >> when you begin to go out and ask people to vote for you, they're probably not going to vote for you if they can't say your name. you know, my name looks like beaner, bonner, boner -- thank got it's not weiner. time for our political buzz, a rapid-fire look at the hot topics of the day. our observers gets 20 seconds. on the left cornel belcher, john

avalon, and of course dana loesch. glue plenty of political watchers having called him a weak front-runner. what does he need to do to solidify his status. cornel, let's start with you. >> first of all, i think it's hilarious, he's not the front-runner. in cnn's polling, he's four points ahead of sarah palin, someone who hasn't even announced. he's got to be the weakest front-runner in some time. he has to explain away he flip flopping so the base so they will rally around him. and good luck with that. >> dana, shooting down the cnn poll. >> i'm throwing my hands up here. this is like the second time in a row that i've agreed with cornel. i am not a big mitt romney fan. he can't run away from

campaigning, either. he seems more worried about making a glitzy campaign. his strategy is utter fail. it's not going to work for him. >> john avalon? >> well, cornel and dana agreeing is just breaking the time/space continuum. he needs to also have some human moments and show he's relatable. >> republicans aren't the only ones campaigning. president obama hits two key swing states, north carolina and florida. which gop candidate makes him the most nervous? dana? >> i think if rick perry were to get in, that would be cause for concern, though i realize that rick perry doesn't have high name req any right now, he has a great record as governor. i think he's a good solid conservative candidate. i don't think anyone in it at

this point -- it's too early for me to sake, but i think that would make him nervous. >> this is like the sixth time she's brought up rick perry, cornel. >> yeah, he would be an interesting candidate. i'm going to push back on the idea that he's campaigning. he's out looking at industries, new innovative ways to bring about jobs. i don't think he's really campaigning. i don't think he spend a lot of time thinking about who the nominee will be. >> john avlon. >> not rick perry. i think the candidate they'll have the hardest time adjusting the strategy against would be jon huntsman. that would change the equation in the general election entirely. obviously the biggest competitor is the economy. north carolina, florida, high unemployment rates. >> guys, time for the buzzer beater. actually today it's going to be

a pool, okay? we decided to have you all compete against each other. whoever wins get a fabulous mug, so i know you're excited. john, you probably already have 12 of them. weiner-gate, more pictures, more pressure, now treatment. a two-part prediction here. what kind of treatment do you guys think he's going in for, and how long will that last? i want times and dates, cornel? >> i didn't know there was a therapy for sectix texting. i don't know. a week maybe? >> dana. >> i can't believe you have to seek treatment to not cheat on your wife and not sent pictures out on the internet. i think perhaps 30 days. >> okay. john? >> 28 days, sex addiction, because there is no more

specific diagnosis for what he's got yet. >> outstanding all three answers. wait, did you give a time line, john? >> i think he's going to finish the 28 days, because that's the best hope s. >> 28 days. >> that's the only hope of holding on to the seat, and he doesn't have much hope. >> i'm dusting off the mug right now, taking my lipstick marks off it. thanks. we'll talk to you again. a check of the top stories now. dallas' dirk nowitzki put the finishing touches on the mavs' first-ever nba title. they beat the heat to capture the finals 4-2. three earthquakes struck christchurch, new zealand. two of them with magnitudes of at least 5. a few damages and injuries, but nothing like the earthquake in february. and the average price for a gallon of gas now $3.74, a drop

of 17 cents. lundberg predicts that pump prices will keep falling. in less than an hour president obama will be -- he's meeting -- cnn's white house correspond ed henry at the white house with a little more. the president is pushing green jobs. in january he proposed a plan to create about 17,000 manufacturing green jobs, so i guess mea question is, have any of those jobs been created. >> the white house says he's creating jobs. exactly how many is hard to tell. now, i spoke to somebody representing the real estate roundtable. they say that basically the white house is part of their better buildings initiative where you try to create more energy-efficient buildings. that will create an estimated 114,000 jobs over the next couple years. but the keyword i mention is "estimate." these are all estimates.

whether they pan out or not remains to be seen. number two, a lot of people hear these estimates, but don't feel like the economy says getting better and that's the uphill climb this president has. >> we talked about this last hour, 9.7% unemployment in north carolina, a state considered key in the election let's put it together. >> reporter: yeah, wait, it's an important state in 2012. he carried it for the first time since 1976 when jimmy carter had north carolina. all kinds of states like that that flipped over to the democrats. the republicans think they'll have this time. it's interesting, larry summers in "wall street journal" today, they talk about a fund-raiser where he thinks by the end of 2012, unemployment will be down to 8%. it's at 9.1% right now. people are wondering if it comes down, but even if it comes down

to 8%, that's still pretty awful. >> ed, thanks. coming up a menace at home and abroad. ash heads down understand grounding flights thousands of miles away.

new across country. crews say they're making progress in arizona, but it's slow progress. the fire is only about 10%

contained and only some evacuees are being allowed back in their homes. and about 30 people in the cascades were rescued from a giant wall of mud. rescuers got them out by punching a tunnel in the mud. bob maxwell of oregon has another accomplishment to go with his medal of honor of he finally got his high school diploma at the age of 90. he had to drop out of school during the great depression to work on the family farm. way to go, mr. maxwell. it forced thousands of people in their homes nearby and left thousands of travelers stranded. it's still smoking. zain verjee is back here with more. is this thing making that big of a mess? >> it is. it created havoc today. 60,000 people, kyra were stranded because of ash coming from the pluming of that

volcano. part of the southern hemisphere were totally affected. there were delays, grounded flights, people were pretty stressed out, but just a few hours ago, good news, the wind has swept away from ash particles, so flights are back on schedule, but people are still really delayed. take a look at these incredible pictures. it seemed like the bubbling cauldron, the plumes of ash in the sky, just spewing the flames and lava as it erupted like this. this volcano is called i found the volcano in iceland pretty easy. kyra? >> you know, you bring up a really good point. there is never an easy name of a volcano that at least we have to

say, and then there's the one that starts with a "t" that i can never say properly. [ buzzer ] >> that means we're out of time. they're now buzzing us. >> they are? we can't say it again? >> yes, no thank you, zain. the target's on mitt romney in new hampshire. that's one of three things to watch for tonight. we're going to get you set for the debate after the break. [ carrie ] i remember my very first year as a teacher,

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first medical mistakes, now sexual assaults, a house panel for veterans affairs will hold a hearing this afternoon about a shocking new government report. 284 sexual assaults reported in the v.a. system over a three-year period, many of those cases not even reported to the v.a. leaders who could have done something about them. the cases include rape, inappropriate touching, and forceful medical exams. it wasn't just patients. employees were among the victims, too. earlier i had a chance to talk with congressman jove miller, how this could have even happened. >> there's a culture within the system that people at the lower level are afraid to bring things to the top for fear of losing their jobs. that's not an acceptable issue at all, especially when you have

criminal intent with sexual assaults like the gao report has brought forward. remember, there are hundreds of residential facilities out there. right now they have only studied in depth about five of them. >> now, remember, this is the same v.a. that put thousands of veterans at risk over the last couple years because of the dirty surgical instruments. we'll stay on top of the story. here's some other developing stories. nfl wide receiver plaxico burress makes his first public appearance. he served 20 months on a weapons charge. the national urban league says that burress is expected to make an apoint announcement. at 11:05, the council was set up to advise the president on ways to strengthen the economy. at noon eastern, an important hear begins in california on gay marriage. at issue, whether the judge's original ruling declares problem 8 unstill should be tossed out.

cnn is the only place you can catch tonight's debate from new hampshire. our deputy political director paul stein hauser joins us from the site there in manchester with three things to watch for. hey, paul. >> you know it's a big deal. why? we brought the bus. i know you talked about our polls earlier. mitt romney, former massachusetts governor on top. that means he's the front-runner. that means he'll have the bull's-eye on his back, so look for some of them to go after mitt romney, partly because of that health care bill he passed five years ago. michele bachmann, she is a darling of the tea party movement. i guess you could call this her coming-out party. see if he can appeal to a broader audience a similar thing for rick santorum. for some people it's rick who? we're talking about the former

senator from pennsylvania. he's loved because of his stances on such issues as abortion and gay marriage, but not well known out of that communities. so here's another chance for a national audience for him to get out his word. that is a big thing to do tonight. >> well, as we get ready for the seven candidates to go at it, shall we say, what's going on behind the scenes there? i hear there's a lot of, i don't know, inside something-something. >> there is a lot going on here. besides me yapping away here, we have a lot of people behind the scenes putting this together. last night i got a sneak peek in the control rouge, in the production truck with sam feist. take a listen. >> this debate is a little different. it will take place in manchester, new hampshire, but also across the state of new hampshire we're going to bring in voters from around the state via satellite. they'll have a chance to not

only watch the debate, but put questions to the candidates, so the candidates on stage here at manchester will be answering questions from john king of cnn, from local reporters here in new hampshire, and also voters across the state. >> of course, new hampshire playing a huge role of picking the nominee. this is the state that holds the first primary in the race to the white house. kyra, back to you. >> thank you, paul. the dallas mavericks make it to the promised land. dirk nowitzki lifts the trophy after his team won its first-ever nba crown. we'll show you the highlights in sports. and is college worth it? that debate is heating up. we have new numbers that will probably surprise you. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately.

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college. we all know it's extremely expensive, but new numbers show that the price of higher education is growing so quickly that it's actually squeezing out many people in the middle class. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. so alison, how bad is it? >> it's just not good, kyra. you look at this, the reality is for so many families they're just being priced out of a college education. here's what's happening.

college prices are going higher, but wages certainty. let me lay it out. the average tuition at a four-year public school in 1988 was $2800, that's adjusted for inflation. in 2008 it was $6,500, a 130% increase. guess what? it doesn't count room and board. keep in mind the medians income decline. that means it's really tough financially just to afford to send your kids to college. >> so you crunch the numbers a couple months ago, and it's pretty scary where my kids will be in 15 years. is there any way to deal with the financial burden? >> you know what, for many families it wound up being tough choices. the department of education says what's happening is fewer middle-class students are going for the four-years degree,

instead a two-year degree. what you wind of doing you could be hurting your earnings potentially, because that two-year degree may start you at a lower pay and that limits how high you can go during your career, but you can't blame them. you have to at least get into college and there's one more reality for you. analysts say most graduates from a four-year school will be paying off student loans in 20 years, which means when we're sending our kids to school we're still paying off our loans. so a lot of this is about tough choices. that's the reality of the age we're living in, kyra. >> start those 529s immediately. >> you said it. >> alison, thanks. next hour we'll check in with one of homeowners. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. lets go... haha. if you have high cholesterol, you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don't kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about lipitor. dallas mavericks on top of the nba world after beating the miami heat for their first-ever title. jason terry led the mavs with 27 points, including this basket off a steal. boom. terry was pretty prophetic. he had a tattoo of the championship trophy put on his right beaccept before the season began. dirk nowitzki didn't dominate like he has for much of the postseason, but did score 21 points, including a couple basket as they pulled away. the final score 105-95.

mavericks win the finals in six games. let's take a look at the countdown clock on the bottom right of your screen. just a bit more than nine hours before the first debate of the presidential campaign season. cnn crews scrambled over the weekend to get ready. seven hopefuls will take the stage. our candy crowley explains. >> reporter: new hampshire has this history of turning the race upside down or re-forming the race. it's the first primary in the nation, so there are a lot of people not because new hampshire voters decide, o. it could be this guy, but if you come in fourth in new hampshire, what happens, your donors dry up. other people look around. again, what voters want, whether you're a republican or democrat, but what republicans want is someone who can win people are not going toe