Obama launches new $25M ad campaign in nine swing states

◼ ...they released a 60-second spot entitled “Go,” an add which touts Obama’s accomplishments and continues the campaign’s “forward-looking” theme. - Amie Parnes/The Hill

More than 340,000 Americans dropping out of the labor force. Silence.

Yesterday, President Obama launched his campaign by telling Americans not to ask if they are better off than they were four years ago, but how they'll be tomorrow. This follows a jobs report that found more than 340,000 Americans dropping out of the labor force and an unemployment rate that remains unacceptably high.

An update: Occupy group plans response to UC on Albany land

◼ Protesters occupying land in Albany used by the University of California at Berkeley for agricultural research missed a weekend deadline to agree to a negotiated departure, but representatives said they would respond Monday. - Peter Fimrite

University officials claim the protesters have disrupted agricultural research by faculty scientists and students in the College of Natural Resources. At one point, Mogulof said, the squatters pruned some fruit trees on the property and explained to the dean of resources that they had to do it because the trees were diseased. Turns out the pruned branches were part of a research project on how diseases affect fruit trees, he said.

The university wants the land vacated by mid-May in order for certain agricultural research studies to be conducted.

"We have stated publicly and made clear to the occupiers that research and a tent city cannot co-exist," Mogulof said.

◼ Earlier post: The farm they seized was not a working farm per se, but rather a “research farm” for the University of California, near its Berkeley campus. The only difference between the way the farm used to be (prior to a week ago) and the way it is now is that the Occupiers have transformed what was essentially a well-maintained and important open-air laboratory into a disheveled and ultimately purposeless pretend-farm for trustafarian dropouts.... via Zombie

Socialist Francois Hollande defeats Nicolas Sarkozy in French presidential election

◼ Socialist Francois Hollande defeated conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday to become France's next president, heralding a change in how Europe tackles its debt crisis and how France flexes its military and diplomatic muscle around the world. - FOX

Sarkozy conceded defeat minutes after the polls closed, saying he had called Hollande to wish him "good luck" as the country's new leader.

(Absentee) Vote-by-mail ballots being sent Monday

◼ The Humboldt County Elections Office will begin mailing out vote-by-mail ballots Monday. - Times-Standard Election RoundUp

Monday is the last day to register to receive a sample ballot booklet in the mail. Voters who submit voter registration cards after Monday will not receive a sample ballot booklet by mail. They'll only receive a notice advising them of their polling location.

Voters can request a vote-by-mail ballot from the elections department Monday through May 29.

Yesterday, after a hundred-something fundraisers and countless other rally-style speeches not officially labeled campaign events, President Obama officially kicked off his 2012 campaign.

◼ President Obama finally starts his 2012 campaign - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin