EXCLUSIVE: First photos of Colombia escort in explosive Secret Service hooker scandal  —  24-year-old single mom is known as Dania, she says agent offered $30 for $800 service  —  CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA - The Daily News can reveal the first photo of the 24-year-old Colombian call girl whose encounter …

Obama has small lead; Christie would help Romney  —  PPP's newest national poll finds Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 49-46.  A similar poll in February found Obama leading 49-42.  Obama's not losing support but Romney is consolidating it as it becomes more and more clear that he will be the Republican nominee for President.

Pelosi: Amend the First Amendment  —  (CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday endorsed a movement announced by other congressional Democrats on Wednesday to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow Congress to regulate political speech when it is engaged …

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JON STEWART BEGINS  —  Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:  —  Jon Stewart refused to apologize last night for the unprecedented assault on Christian sensibilities he launched on April 16.  In that episode, “The Daily Show” featured a naked woman …

Ted Nugent booted from Fort Knox concert line up  —  Fort Knox  —  The artist lineup for the Fort Knox annual summer concert scheduled for June 23 no longer includes right-wing rocker Ted Nugent.  —  Co-headliners REO Speedwagon and Styx remain scheduled to perform.

Brian Schweitzer: Mitt Romney's ‘Family Came From a Polygamy Commune in Mexico’  —  Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer says Mitt Romney's roots in Mexico will hurt him with female voters.  —  The Daily Beast contacted the office of Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer today to talk about whether his state …

The Questionable Prosecution of  —  John Edwards  —  John Edwards, the Dorian Gray of the Democratic party, is one of the most loathsome characters in American politics, corrupt himself and a source of corruption in others, a preening, moralizing fraud who went so far as to have a staffer claim paternity …

Levon Helm, Drummer in the Band, Dies at 71  —  Levon Helm, who helped forge a deep-rooted American music as the drummer and singer for the Band, died on Thursday in Manhattan.  He was 71 and lived in Woodstock, N.Y.  —  His death was announced by a spokeswoman for Vanguard Records, for which he had recorded several albums.

York:Obama faces defeat on pipeline as Dems defect  —  U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the southern site of the Keystone XL pipeline on March 22, 2012 in Cushing, Oklahoma.  (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)  —  While much of the political world obsesses over Twitter fights and Seamus the dog …

Romney's Cookie Comment Bites Back  —  In a campaign stop Tuesday outside Pittsburgh, Mitt Romney made what many locals considered a tasteless remark about cookies from a local landmark bakery. … Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, met with four couples …

Crossroads groups raise $100M  —  American Crossroads, the pro-Republican super PAC co-founded by Karl Rove, and its nonprofit affiliate Crossroads GPS, will announce $100 million raised for both so far through the 2012 cycle, officials told POLITICO.  —  The cash haul runs through all of 2011 …

North Carolina a Front in Democrats' Battle for House  —  CONCORD N.C. — Representative Larry Kissell slid into a diner booth here and sought to explain — with no small amount of irritation, since he has apparently been asked many times — his decision to run in his newly configured House district …

Worker injured during sex gets compensation payout  —  A WOMAN who was injured while having sex in her hotel room during a work trip is entitled to compensation.  —  In the Federal Court today Justice John Nicholas ruled that the woman was injured during her “course of employment”.

Fears Rise That Recovery May Falter in the Spring  —  WASHINGTON — Some of the same spoilers that interrupted the recovery in 2010 and 2011 have emerged again, raising fears that the winter's economic strength might dissipate in the spring.  —  In recent weeks, European bond yields have started climbing.

If It's Sunday, It's Meet The Republican White Men  —  An exhaustive new study by media watchdog Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting shows that the Sunday morning talk shows have been dominated over the last eight months by white, Republican men.  —  Between June 2011 and February of this year …

Pollster's Phone Call Saves NYC Woman's Life  —  Bobby Berlin was going into diabetic shock when she answered the call from Marist pollsters  —  When pollsters call, people usually don't want to answer — but for one Upper West Side woman, the call from Marist College pollsters helped save her life.

Bachmann's “Tar Baby”  —  Ah, Michelle Bachmann, we've missed you!  The fiery wingnut from Minnesota has not been much in the public spotlight since her presidential campaign crashed and burned, and she has given way to multiple members of the Class of 2010 as a symbol of extremism in the U.S. House.

Romney hires national security spokesman  —  Mitt Romney has hired Richard A. Grenell, a veteran Republican communications strategist who served in the George W. Bush administration, as his national security and foreign policy spokesman, a campaign official said Thursday.

Cantor Suggests Raising Taxes On The Poor: 'You've Got To Discuss That Issue'  —  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) revived one of the GOP's favorite talking points this morning, telling attendees at a Politico-sponsored breakfast event that it was imperative that Congress address the …