Group's new ad pegs Obama to Wall Street  —  (CNN) - A conservative non-profit will spend $3.4 million to tie President Barack Obama to the financial industry in a minute-long television ad airing in seven general election battlegrounds, the group said Monday.

Obama's Bain ad: ‘Like watching an old friend bleed to death’ (Updated)  —  The Obama campaign's 2-minute ad on Mitt Romney's Bain Capital is record is out, and it is brutal.  —  Targeting Romney's involvement in the acquistion of GST Steel, the commercial shows workers at a shuttered plant pinning Romney and Bain with the blame.

EXCLUSIVE: Wisconsin Dems furious with DNC for refusing to invest big money in Walker recall  —  Top Wisconsin Democrats are furious with the national party — and the Democratic National Committee in particular — for refusing their request for a major investment in the battle to recall Scott Walker, I'm told.

Ron Paul ends his hunt for votes  —  DEVELOPING:  —  Rep. Ron Paul of Texas said Monday he will not compete in primaries in any of the states that have not yet voted — essentially confirming Mitt Romney will win the Republican presidential nomination.  —  Mr. Paul said he will continue …

U.S. Acceptance of Gay/Lesbian Relations Is the New Normal  —  For third year, majority says gay/lesbian relations are morally acceptable  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The slight majority of American adults, 54%, consider gay or lesbian relations morally acceptable.

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 …

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 …

After Obama's Decision on Marriage, a Call to Pastors  —  WASHINGTON — About two hours after declaring his support for same-sex marriage last week, President Obama gathered eight or so African-American ministers on a conference call to explain himself.  He had struggled with the decision …

Titans of Twitter  —  In a discussion of the Romney campaign's outreach to the wingnutosphere earlier this month, I mentioned in passing the apparent preoccupation of these new partners in crime with Twitter wars, and particularly the belief that Hilaryrosengate represented some sort of historic triumph for The Cause.

Tina Brown explains Obama ‘gaylo’  —  SIREN: President Barack Obama isn't actually gay.  —  But now that Tina Brown, Newsweek editor and grand dame of Manhattan publishing, has adorned him with the rainbow-colored “gaylo” and ordained him America's “first gay president,” it hardly seems to matter.

GOP Rep. Lankford Explains Why It Should Be Legal To Fire Someone For Being Gay: 'It's A Choice Issue'  —  Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) told ThinkProgress last week that he believes someone should be able to be fired for his or her sexual orientation.  —  In a conversation on Capitol Hill …

Black Pastor Tells CNN His Church Won't Support Obama, ‘Plan To Stay Home’  —  President Obama's headline-grabbing flip-flop on gay marriage may cost him dearly in the more religious parts of the black community, reports CNN today, as pastors tell their congregations the president is wrong in stepping in.

Louisiana is the world's prison capital  —  Louisiana is the world's prison capital.  The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts.  First among Americans means first in the world.  Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly triple Iran's, seven times China's and 10 times Germany's.

West Virginia frets over felon's performance  —  The nation has moved on after its brief fixation last week with the felon who won 41 percent against Barack Obama, but West Virginia continues to wrestle with the aftermath of its May 8 primary.  —  Phil Kabler of the Charleston Gazette reported …