By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

President Obama’s total assets in 2011 were as high as $8.3 million in 2011, according to an annual financial disclosure filing released by the White House Tuesday. Much of the president’s wealth is in the form of US Treasury bills and notes, which total between $1.6 million and $6.25 million. The Obamas also have $500,001 to $1 million in a checking account at JPMorgan Chase, the bank currently under FBI scrutiny for a $2 billion trading loss.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Mitt Romney cast President Obama as an enemy of capitalism Tuesday in a speech at Drake University, calling the president an “old-school liberal whose first instinct is to see free enterprise as the villain and government as the hero.” They were new words set to a familiar tune. Romney repeated an earlier promise to cap federal spending at 20 percent of GDP, vowed again to repeal Obama’s signature health care law and said he would reform Medicare and Social Security.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

A day after the Obama campaign released an ad attacking Mitt Romney’s business record, a super PAC supporting the president’s reelection unveiled a similar ad Tuesday focusing on the same Missouri steel company and running in four of the same states. But the 30-second spot produced by Priorities USA Action relies, in part, on the dubious assertion that Bain Capital always turned a profit, no matter what happened to the businesses in which it invested.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Mitt Romney has taken a slim lead over President Obama, with two-thirds of Americans believing Obama endorsed same-sex marriage for political reasons, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll published Tuesday. Romney holds a 46-percent-to-43-percent advantage over the president, but the Republican’s 3-point edge is within the survey’s margin of error. The monthly poll showed the two candidates tied in April, after Obama led in February and March.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Speaking to state and national audiences, Governor Deval Patrick today defended the idea of government ensuring near universal health care, even as he called on lawmakers, health care providers, and the business community to work jointly on controlling its cost. The twin targets reflected his role both as leader of the state and a top surrogate speaker for President Obama. The Democratic incumbent is defending his federal health care overhaul from criticism by Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

His friendship with President Obama has sparked talk of a Cabinet appointment should the Democrats retain the White House this fall. His travel to presidential primary states and book-writing have prompted speculation about his own presidential candidacy in 2016 should Obama lose. And some time away from the office has fueled the opinion he’s lost interest in his current job. An amused-but-exasperated Governor Deval Patrick today has an answer for all the chatter: “I’m not going anywhere.”

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Elizabeth Warren, trying to ride her reputation as a Wall Street enforcer to the US Senate, today released a new radio ad calling for enhanced government regulation in the aftermath of JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion trading loss. “I stood up to big banks. I took on their army of lobbyists and help win the fight for a consumer protection agency,” the Democrat says in the new spot. “Wall Street isn’t going to change its ways until Washington gets serious.”

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

President Obama’s endorsement of legal same-sex marriage is likely to resonate with young voters and women, two blocs where Obama is already strong, a new Gallup poll indicates. Support among voters between the ages of 18 and 34 is at 66 percent -- 19 points higher than in the 35 to 54 age group. The gap between men and women is 14 points, with 56 percent of female voters saying they support legal same-sex marriage.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Governor Deval Patrick and Representative Barney Frank on Sunday downplayed the politics of President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage last week. The assertions of the Massachusetts Democrats are contested by some observers who believe Obama’s announcement was dictated by political strategy and that it could make a difference in certain states on Election Day. But Romney and other Republicans have minimized the gay marriage debate, perhaps sensing that it ranks lowly on most voters’ priority lists.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Governor Deval Patrick praised President Obama for his “clear and principled position” Sunday, four days after Obama became the first president to endorse same-sex marriage. “It’s about convictions; it’s not about politics,” Patrick said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Patrick also tried to undermine Romney’s number one selling point -- that he would manage the nation’s economic recovery better than the president.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick’s much-vaunted surrogate speaking on behalf of President Obama has largely been limited to the kind of party activist speeches he will deliver tonight when he addresses a Democratic dinner in South Carolina. But his higher value may be on display Sunday, when he appears on the CBS program “Face the Nation” to discuss President Obama’s gay marriage switch this week. He leads Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage. His predecessor, Mitt Romney, opposes it.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Mitt Romney on Saturday is giving the commencement address at the conservative Liberty University, offering him a chance to woo social and religious conservatives who have long been skeptical of him. “I’m not sure quite why, but lately I’ve found myself thinking about life in four-year stretches,” he plans to say, according to several excerpts released by the Romney campaign this morning. Romney advisers said on Thursday that Romney was unlikely to dwell on the gay marriage debate

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

President Obama’s change over gay marriage may have come from the heart, but it was delivered in the most political of contexts. He spoke a day after voters in North Carolina, a general election swing state, gave him a temperature reading by approving a gay marriage ban. He also spoke the day before he flies to California for a fund-raiser with George Clooney and Democratic activitists sure to excited - and eager to donate - after his newfound position.

By Tracy Jan, Matt Viser and Callum Borchers, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent

President Obama declared today that he supports gay marriage, reversing his longstanding public statements of supporting equal rights for gay couples that stopped just short of marriage. In explaining his previous stance, Obama told ABC News, “I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue. I’ve always been adamant that gays and lesbians should be treated fairly and equally,” citing the reversal of the Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell policy that barred openly gay servicemen and women from serving in the military.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

A man currently incarcerated in federal prison beat President Obama in eight West Virginia counties Tuesday, according to unofficial results of a Democratic primary in that state.

Keith Judd, 53, who is serving a 210-month sentence for extortion, won 42 percent of the statewide vote. Obama won the primary with 58 percent. Judd’s performance was good enough to earn multiple delegates to the Democratic National Convention, but no one has registered as a Judd delegate.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Billionaire George Soros, a generous Democratic donor in previous elections, is stepping up his giving in the current campaign with $2 million in contributions. The super PAC American Bridge 21st Century said Monday that Soros gave the group $1 million. A Soros spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that the investor also plans to contribute $1 million to America Votes, which helps coordinate the activities of progressive organizations throughout the country.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has pulled into a virtual tie with President Obama in a dozen swing states, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday.

The president holds a slim lead, 47 percent to 45 percent, but the 2-point edge is within the survey’s margin of error. In March, Romney faced a 9-point deficit. At that stage of the GOP primary race, the former Massachusetts governor had not yet dispatched Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday highlighted President Obama’s advocacy of gay rights and declared his own “comfort’’ with giving equal rights to same-sex couples, but he stopped short of saying the Obama administration will officially endorse gay marriage in a second term. Obama’s position on same-sex marriage has vacillated over the years. He said last summer that his views are “evolving,’’ and he has mostly avoided discussing the subject as president.

By Callum Borchers, Globe Correspondent

The Obama campaign slammed Mitt Romney Monday for not confronting a supporter who said during a town hall event in Cleveland that the president “should be tried for treason.” Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, ignored the treason comment and answered her question. The Obama campaign characterized the woman’s remark as an out-of-bounds attack and said Romney, though he is Obama’s political adversary, should have stood up for the president.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

The Obama campaign released a new television ad Monday aimed at middle-class voters in nine swing states that strategists have identified as critical to the president’s re-election. In a conference call with reporters this morning, Obama’s campaign manager and senior strategist said the campaign will spend $25 million rolling out the ads over the course of the month in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida, and Colorado.