As the race for the presidency heats up, President Obama's reelection team continues to attack Mitt Romney's career at Bain Capital, while questioning private equity's role in the American economy. Edward Conard, former managing director at Bain Capital and author of "Unintended Consequences," worked with Mitt Romney throughout the Republican candidate's years in private equity. Conard explains why he believes Romney's experience in private equity will prove essential should the Republican candidate take the White House this fall.

Whether you love or hate politics, it’s hard to deny that when it comes to identity and culture, this year’s presidential election is truly historic. The incumbent is, of course, half black and thus, a racial minority. The challenger is Mormon, and thus, a religious minority. What if you’re one of the one million Americans who is both black and Mormon? How does identity factor in? Two African-American Mormons join us today to share their thoughts.

President Obama has come out swinging on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital. As the NATO Summit came to a close on Monday, President Obama defined the presidential election in terms of his economic vision for the country compared to Mitt Romney’s. Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich joins us to answer: Where does the campaign go from here?

In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens and others without a warrant. Congress officially legalized this once-secret program with the passage of the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but civil libertarians claim that warrantless wiretapping is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a case on this very issue. Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for our partner The New York Times, explains what's at stake.

Apart from Washington, D.C., Chicago is the first American city to host the NATO Summit. As world leaders arrived for the Summit yesterday, they were greeted by thousands of protesters and just as many police officers. Chicago Police have arrested five protestors who allegedly planned to throw Molotov cocktails at President Obama’s campaign headquarters and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home. 

Historian David McCullough is known for his biographies of monumental American figures: John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman. But McCullough second book, published in 1972, explored American history not through the eyes of a Founding Father or a President, but through one of the most important public works projects of all time: the Brooklyn Bridge.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in New York to a throng of cheering supporters on Saturday. He will soon begin a fellowship at New York University Law School's U.S.-Asia Law Institute, and he spoke to the crowd at NYU about his plight: "After much turbulence, I have come out of Shandong," he said, through an interpreter. "This is thanks to the assistance of many friends." Bob Fu is a Chinese human rights activist and pastor, living in the United States. He was instrumental in publicizing Chen Guangcheng's case and helped negotiate his release.

The NATO Summit spurs protests in Chicago all week, while European leaders continue talks that began at the G-8 conference over the weekend. The insider trading case against former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta begins this week in New York, as the Senate Banking Committee starts a round of Dodd-Frank hearings. Also, just a few weeks after President Obama declared his support for gay marriage, the NAACP followed suit. The impact on African-American voters remains to be seen. Molly Ball, staff writer covering politics for The Atlantic, and Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, explain the stories of the week. 

On February 4, 1983, Wanda Lopez was stabbed to death in a Texas gas station. A jury convicted Carlos Deluna for the murder five months later and Deluna was executed in December 1989. But this week, nearly 30 years after Wanda Lopez’s death, a new investigation into Deluna’s conviction and execution poses serious questions about Deluna’s guilt, and challenges the fairness of our justice system.

We all know that we're living in the era of the super PAC. And we're now facing the first presidential election since the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, the ruling that the American government couldn't stop political spending by large corporations and labor unions in election campaigns. According to our partner, The New York Times, there's a costly advertising plan underway to attack President Obama in ways never seen before.

You've probably heard pundits point to various attributes of each presidential candidate, Obama's likeability or Romney's stance on the economy, for instance, as explanations of why they appeal with different demographics, or to explain rises and falls in the polls. But it could turn out that none of these factors make much of a difference.

Richard Tisei is running to represent Massachusetts' 6th congressional district, against Democratic incumbent, John Tierney. If he's successful, Tisai will be the first gay Republican to be elected to the House of Representatives and to have come before an election.

Not surprisingly, President Obama’s announcement last week in support of same-sex marriage appeared to mobilize his gay supporters. But, contrary to what some might expect, it also appeared to mobilize his Latino supporters, regardless of their sexual orientation.

It’s hard to imagine the Senate without the filibuster, but now the non-profit group Common Cause is filing a lawsuit against the Supreme Court claiming that the notorious senate procedure is, in fact, unconstitutional. The Takeaway talks with the plaintiff’s attorney Emmet Bondurant and filibuster scholar Gregory Koger to find out where the filibuster came from, what good it’s done us, and whether it’s going to stick around.        

President Obama's campaign attacked Mitt Romney's record on Bain Capital with an add that paints a picture of Romney as a job killer. In response, Romney team has put out its own ad, hailing Romney as a job creator who can save struggling American cities. Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich reviews the competing ads and assess whether which character description of Romney is more likely to stick with voters.

In response to losses at JPMorgan, lawmakers are citing the Dodd-Frank Act, which, if passed, would impose new rules for banks, including more transparency when it comes to risky trading. But are more regulations the answer? We talk to financial expert and author Terri Duhon.

California’s deficit has grown to $16 billion, and the governor says this means massive cuts to state institutions. Discussing how the state got to this point is Chris Megerian, a political reporter with the L.A. Times. Adam Swart, chief of staff in the UCLA student government, explains what the cuts could mean for his school.

On the agenda this week: France's new president Francois Hollande travels to see German Chancellor Angela Merkel within hours of being sworn in. And both leaders travel to Camp David at the end of the week for a G8 meeting. Also, gas prices are down, and JP Morgan executives are leaving —will the campaigns continue to discuss gay marriage, or will the focus turn back to the economy?

The biggest campaign fundraiser in history raised $15 million and packed a star-filled house of Hollywood millionaires in LA with the President at the center of it all. A huge chunk of the money came from people who were entered in a drawing for a chance to see it all, to hang out with George Clooney, Barbra Streisand, Robert Downey Jr., producers like Jeffery Katzenberg, and director Stephen Speilberg.

Who would want to be a nobody at a party like that? We wanted to find out, so John Hockenberry crashes the Clooney dinner in this audio essay.

There’s been a lot of big money moving around this week that could have big consequences for the country — both on the presidential campaign front and in the GOP budget passed Thursday in the House of Representatives — and our Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich has been following it.