Obama's Wall Street problem  —  The giant $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase highlights a central problem in President Barack Obama's case for a second term: Four years after the financial crisis nearly brought the nation to its knees, very little appears to have changed.

The un-McCain campaign  —  Mitt Romney and his top aides are building a strategy, partly by design and partly because of circumstance, around what they consider John McCain's disastrously run campaign in 2008.  —  The strategy: whatever McCain did, do the opposite.

Andrew Sullivan on Barack Obama: The First Gay President  —  The president's bold support shifted the mainstream.  Andrew Sullivan on why it shouldn't be surprising—Obama's life as a biracial man has deep ties to the gay experience.  —  It was the spring of 2007, back when Barack Obama's bid …

Poll: Most Americans support same-sex unions  —  CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.  —  A new CBS News/New York Times Poll shows a solid majority of Americans support legal recognition for same-sex couples …

Obama targets Romney tenure at Bain Capital with new ad, website  —  President Obama is taking dead aim at Mitt Romney's record helming Bain Capital, debuting a new television ad, online video, and website that each depict the private equity firm as predatory and having engaged in “questionable business practices.”

Outsiders' money to play role again  —  Less than six months remains before the Nov. 6 retention vote.  Wiggins does not yet have a campaign committee or any specific plan to convince voters that he deserves to keep his job.  Instead, the justice says his chief focus remains on writing …

As European Austerity Ends, So Could the Euro  —  The euro currency is a malady that condemns at least a generation of Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese and Irish to the economic infirmary.  —  In these nations, unemployment rates are now at their highest levels in recent decades …

Eurodämmerung  —  Some of us have been talking it over, and here's what we think the end game looks like:  —  1. Greek euro exit, very possibly next month.  —  2. Huge withdrawals from Spanish and Italian banks, as depositors try to move their money to Germany.  —  3a.

Brown Tax Increase Gains Urgency as Deficit Rises to $16 Billion  —  California Governor Jerry Brown bet that a nascent financial recovery would lift the world's ninth- largest economy enough to whittle down a $9.2 billion deficit.  Instead, the gap has widened to $16 billion.

GOP: Mitt should shame Obama with Israel trip  —  Mitt Romney should visit Israel soon, Republican lawmakers say, claiming that such a trip would highlight the fact that President Obama has not been there during his first term.  —  Congressional Republicans told The Hill that there would be many benefits …

Report says 230,000 unemployed losing benefits over weekend  —  More than 230,000 unemployed workers will lose their jobless benefits this weekend as portions of federal programs expire across several states.  —  All told, 409,300 long-term unemployed Americans in 27 states will have lost upward …