Secret Service Pre-Planned Party at Colombian Hotel  —  ABC News' Reena Ninan, Christine Romo and Mary Bruce Report:  —  CARTAGENA, Colombia — Secret Service officials planning a wild night of fun in Colombia did some of their own advanced work last week, booking a party space at the Hotel Caribe …

Jim Webb: Health-care law represents a leadership failure for Obama  —  President Obama's new health-care law will be his greatest liability as he attempts to once again win the critical swing state of Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) warned Wednesday.  —  “I'll be real frank here,” Webb said at a breakfast organized by Bloomberg News.

TPMDC  —  Obama To GOP: Abide By Debt Limit Deal Or Else Face A Govt Shutdown Right Before The Election  —  In a major escalation of a slowly building fight over funding the government, the White House has warned House Republicans, in no uncertain terms, that the government will shut …

Big Lead With Women Gives Obama An Edge On Romney, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Christie, Rubio, Ryan Top GOP Running Mate List  —  President Barack Obama holds a thin 46 - 42 percent lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

Letter details allegations of sexual harassment at N.C. Democratic Party  —  A former staffer accused the Democratic Party's executive director of showing him a picture of a penis, caressing his leg and discussing his sexual exploits, according to a new document obtained by The News & Observer.

The coming conservative landslide  —  Wishful liberals and Chicken Little conservatives who watch the weekly fluctuations in the presidential polls have concluded that President Obama is a shoo-in for re-election.  They point out that Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee …

Vatican orders crackdown on American nuns  —  WASHINGTON — The Vatican has launched a crackdown on the umbrella group that represents most of America's 55,000 Catholic nuns, saying that the group was not speaking out strongly enough against gay marriage, abortion and women's ordination.

How Mitt Romney Learned To Love Twitter  —  “Twitter is as it happens, and Facebook is the next day, and you optimize everything else for Google the day after,” says a Romney aide.  Another Republican worries you can win the day, but lose the week.  —  Source: s3-ec.buzzfed.com

Why the U.S. Economy Is Biased Against Men  —  That women earn 77 cents for every $1 earned by a man is a popular refrain.  But look closer.  Prejudice against guys in the economy is real and widespread.  —  You've just landed on Planet Zuto.  —  The Intergalactic Equal Employment …

OWS Celebrates Holocaust Day w/ Antisemetic Cartoons  —  To give them their due, there are a lot of people in the comments pissed off about the picture.  But, there are also 43 likes and 59 people sharing the photo (as of this writing).  —  So, is this a one-offer that we who already …

Morning Jay: Obama the Underdog  —  Sean Trende has an important column that connects presidential job approval to reelection results.  You really should read the whole thing, but here is the big take home point: … This is exactly right, and something I have been discussing for some time now.

Perry Interested In Another Run For President  —  PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - Governor Rick Perry's first campaign for President did not finish as he planned.  But during a one-on-one interview with CBS 11 News reporter Jack Fink in Plano on Wednesday, it sounded like he wants to give a run for the White House another try.

The most amazing Supreme Court chart.  Maybe ever.  —  While browsing around the Pew polling site this morning — and, yes, we do a fair amount of that — we came across a chart on the Supreme Court that reminded us, for the billionth time, that assuming the average person follows …

Jobless data suggests slowdown in job creation  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits for the first time fell only slightly last week, dampening hopes of a pick-up in job creation in April after March's slowdown.  —  Initial claims for state …

Rep. West doubles down on Communist ‘ideology’ of progressive caucus  —  Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) on Thursday maintained that the “the strategy, the tactics, the ideology” of progressive caucus members in Congress are the same as that of the Communist Party.

2 Years After the BP Oil Spill, Is the Gulf Ecosystem Collapsing?  —  The Gulf Ecosystem Is Being Decimated  —  The BP oil spill started on April 20, 2010.  We've previously warned that the BP oil spill could severely damage the Gulf ecosystem.  —  Since then, there are numerous signs …

Dick Clark: 10 Ways He Changed Pop Culture Forever  —  Will anyone be as influential over pop culture as Dick Clark was?  Not likely.  —  Yes, musicians like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson revolutionized popular music, and TV owes its very bones to innovators such as Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin.

TOURÉ, 9/11 TRUTHER  —  It now appears that Touré, an MSNBC contributor, is a 9-11 conspiracy crank.  Writing after Van Jones, the former White House green jobs czar, was fired in 2009, Touré took to Twitter to defend Jones's outlandish statements with some of his own.