Transit Cop in Fatal Shooting Freed; GOP Debate: Candidates' Messages; Representative Weiner's New Photos; Representative Weiner Wants Leave of Absence; Rebels: We have Gadhafi "Battle Plan"; Syria's "Gay Girl" Blog is a Hoax
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR:  10: 00 a.m. on the East Coast; 7:00 on the West. I'm Kyra Phillips. Thanks for joining us. Congressman Weiner has a new round of photos to explain from the towel to muscle shirts -- well you take your pick. . Celebrity web site TMZ says the snaps were taken inside the house members' gym. In California, freedom for a transit cop who shot and killed an unarmed man. Johannes Mehserle served half of a two-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. He told a jury that he meant to tase the man, but grabbed his gun by mistake and fired the fatal shot. Three earthquakes have rocked Christchurch, New Zealand. There are reports of injuries in addition to the damage. You'll remember in February a massive earthquake killed more than 180 people there. Well, out of touch or what the voters want 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 Union leader. In going into it, we've done some polling on the field, both declared and potential candidates. We asked Republican voters who they would want as a nominee for next year. Well, Mitt Romney is out in front with 24 percent of the vote. Sarah Palin second with 20 percent, but that is within the margin of error and things start falling off from there. Rudy Giuliani, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, all pretty bunched up. Congressman Ron Paul leads the bottom five, the four remaining taking up less than 5 percent each. Don Lemon is in Manchester, New Hampshire talking to the voters and some of those candidates, too. Bring us up to date, Don.</s>DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're giving the viewer a lot of numbers, so let me make it easy. I'll pop this number up real quickly, Kyra and then we can talk about. Really the first time since 1993 that CNN has been taking this poll about values voters, that's when Newt Gingrich got Republicans to really 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 percent say no, so we can put that down. What that really means is talking human terms here. It means the economy is so bad now that 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 to us yesterday, they need to be promoting traditional values especially what's going on in the government right now in their own homes and then take care of our economy first, and then get to that other stuff, which is traditional values for us as well. So 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. So 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 I also spoke to Ron Paul about this shift in what Americans find important. These things that they are campaigning on and if they're out of touch. Take a listen, Kyra.</s>REP. RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The federal government, when it comes to many social issues, many that I'm very sympathetic with. I'm a very conservative right to life person, but I just think most of those responsibilities should be family, church, local community and the state rather than the federal government getting involved.</s>RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am someone who's strong on social issues, but I'm strong on national security issues. There's nobody who has the experience with the levels of accomplishment that I have on national security. No one has ended the federal entitlement. I did. I was the author of welfare reform. So we've got a lot to talk about, and we will.</s>LEMON: So as we were -- I was discussing this with some folks I worked with last night, and we're driving home and we're hitting the potholes and bumps and we're in construction and all that, that's what people really want from their government. They want the roads to work. They want the school buses to come on time, the public transportation, the government to be up and running, but that's what the concern is. Not what people do, not about abortion, not about prayer in school, although that's important to some people, but the issues that will get people to the polls on Election Day or walk to the polls are not going to be those traditional - so-called traditional values. It's going to be money, money, money, the economy, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Don Lemon in New Hampshire, thanks so much. And that big debate is tonight. Join us as the Republican hopefuls face off in New Hampshire 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 surfaced. These posted on TMZ allegedly showing the congressman in the House of Representatives gym. He's going off to treatment though. His colleagues are returning to work and many say they just don't want him coming back.</s>DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, DNC CHAIRMAN: I think that Anthony Weiner needs to resign so he can focus on his family, focus on his own well-being.</s>REP. STENY HOYER (D), HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: It seems to me extraordinarily difficult that he can proceed to represent his constituents in an effective way, given the circumstances, this bizarre behavior.</s>PHILLIPS: CNN's Kate Bolduan is on the Hill. Kate, with the new photos over the weekend, what do you think? Is the pressure even stronger on Weiner to resign now?</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the pressure is mounting. But what's unclear still, Kyra is what Anthony Weiner will do about the pressure that is mounting on him, as more people continue to call for him to resign. `What we do know is that 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 his wife returns from an overseas trip. His wife is a long time aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and I think 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, the pressure does seems to be mounting, as you've seen a significant shift over the weekend from Democratic members really being resistant to not come out, to explicitly call on him resigning. And then over the weekend many of them, the top Democrats in the House are coming out to say very clearly that 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 to the House and that seems to sum up the sentiments of his colleagues right now, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Kate, thanks. And Nancy Pelosi wants to know in Weiner violated any ethics of the House. So coming up in just a few minutes, we're going to talk to the former chief counsel of the House Ethics Committee and ask him if he thinks Weiner actually broke the rules. Opposition forces in Libya claimed that they have a copy of Moammar Gadhafi's top secret battle plan. CNN has obtained the 15- page document. Rebels in Misrata say that they took it from government troops last month. In its title are the words, quote, "battle plan to cleanse the city of Misrata from militant gangs," end quote. CNN has not been able to confirm the authenticity of that document and with the fighting moving closer to his doorstep in Tripoli. Guess what Moammar Gadhafi is doing? Playing chess, taking time for a photo 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 how brutal the violence continues to be. Thousands of citizens fleeing their homes of fears of a government slaughter. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling on Syria's leader and his forces to show restraint.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: President Assad 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.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. We're also now 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 Syria's violence. Last week the blog reported that she was abducted by government forces. An online campaign then sprang up to demand her release. Zain Verjee has a closer look now. So Zain, what do we know about the real author of that blog now?</s>ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know there was no Amina Abdullah, there was no kidnapping. It was just all a big fat hoax. The author was actually an American guy living in Scotland. His name is Tom MacMaster. He made the whole thing up. Now he posted something, where he did not apologize, Kyra, 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.</s>PHILLIPS: So the other bloggers, especially those in the region, what are they all saying? Because as we know, Zain, as the story circulated, this alleged gay woman became such an icon within all of this.</s>VERJEE: She really did, and in the blogosphere, people are really annoyed. Look and see what some people said, Sami Hamwi, who's an activist said this, "To Mr. MacMaster, 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, Mr. MacMaster and the voices of many people who I know," and then there is other Twitter user that calls himself Bangpound saying, "There is no positive side effect of the Amina hoax. It did not bring attention to Syria. It brought attention to a white fantasy." A lot of critics too, Kyra, saying that, you know, this whole hoax thing -- it gives the Syrian government an upper hand because then they can go around saying, look, don't believe the blogs. 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 because it may be someone like Tom MacMaster sitting in his graduate student dorm in Scotland and making stuff up.</s>PHILLIPS: Yes, you always have to be careful with the blogs. Zain Verjee, thanks. From the depths of tragedy to a glimmer of triumph, we're getting our first look at Congresswoman Gabby Giffords since being shot in the head five months ago. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will tell us what these pictures actually show.