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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Solyndra Building for Sale!  —  The 411,618 square foot Solyndra building in Fremont, California has been put on the market:  —  The office area of the grand compound are “LEED Gold Standards,” according to a website set up to sell the building.  It's “Expandable to 739,232 square feet.”