The rapidly unfolding prostitution scandal involving as many as a dozen Secret Service agents has upstaged President Obama’s trip to Columbia, where he is discussing trade and the economy with 32 other heads of state, the Washington Post reports.

“Though the agency has said Obama’s security was not compromised, the allegations of misconduct have brought intense scrutiny to an agency that had not had any major lapse since 2009, when two party crashers entered the White House uninvited. But the incident continued to grow Saturday when the Defense Department announced that five military personnel, who also are staying at the Hotel Caribe, violated curfew Wednesday night and have been confined to their rooms.”

New York Times: “Much remained murky, including the precise number of agents under scrutiny and the timeline, and officials emphasized that the investigation was still in its early stages.”

Vice President Joe Biden offered a frank assessment of his career in remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in Chicago last night, according to the Washington Examiner.

Said Biden: “I never had an interest in being a mayor ’cause that’s a real job. You have to produce. That’s why I was able to be a senator for 36 years.”

“It could be better. It could always be better. I haven’t had that much communication.”

— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), quoted by The Hill, responding to a question about President Obama’s outreach to lawmakers.

“I think I can say… no president, and I would argue in the 20th century and including now the 21st century, has had as many serious problems which are cases of first-instance laid on his table. Franklin Roosevelt faced more dire consequences, but in a bizarre way it was more straightforward.”

— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by ABC News.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) came to President Obama’s defense saying that Mitt Romney’s recent criticism of the president was inappropriate while Obama was abroad, National Journal reports.

Said Boehner: “Clearly while the president is overseas, he’s at a conference, and while the president is overseas I think it’s appropriate that people not be critical of him or our country.”

Politico says Newt Gingrich was asked today if he was concerned about polls that find people continue to think President Obama is a Muslim.

Said Gingrich: “Why does the president behave the way that people would think that? You have to ask why would they believe that? It’s not because they’re stupid. It’s because they watch the kind of things I just described to you.”

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio tells the Arizona Republic that a media conspiracy “bigger than Watergate” is purposefully downplaying his investigation of President Obama’s birth certificate.

Said Arpaio: “I’m not going to drop this. You don’t think I did a press conference and let it die? I’ll make a decision real quick where to send the evidence we have. There are not many options. You do know this is complex. Many conflicts of interest from the White house to the Attorney General. I can go on and on.”

For the third time this month, someone fainted during one of President Obama’s speeches, the New York Times reports.

“Fainting spells have come over people during Mr. Obama’s speeches since at least 2008, when he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination” but he “appears to have gotten used to it.”

In New Hampshire last week, Obama said, “Folks do this all the time at my meetings.”

The latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll finds President Obama’s approval rating rose to 51%, up from only 44% in each of the previous polls taken in October and December.

“That’s Obama’s highest approval rating in the Heartland Monitor since the survey taken immediately after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May. Other than that, the new survey marks the first time that Obama’s approval rating in the poll has crossed the critical 50 percent threshold since September 2009.”

This survey completely contradicts a CBS/NYT poll earlier this week that found Obama’s approval sinking to a new low.

White House Chief Information Officer Brook Colangelo revealed in a talk with Computerworld that, upon taking office, “Over 82% of the White House’s technology had reached end of life. Desktops, for instance, still had floppy disk drives, including the one Colangelo delivered to Rahm Emanuel.”

“On taking his new position on inauguration day, he and his staff put in 80 hour weeks, ‘if not more.’ And in his first 40 days on the job, the White House email system was down 23% of the time.”

The White House organized a conference call with “two senior administration officials” to preview an announcement by President Obama about a a China trade issue but told reporters that no one could be quoted by name.

However, the AP ignored the instructions — reporting the officials were U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and the deputy national security adviser Michael Froman — stating Obama promised his administration would be “the most transparent in American history.”

For the first time since early July, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds more Americans approve of the job President Obama is doing than disapprove, 50% to 48%.

Some other polls have shown a recent dip in Obama’s approval rating, and linked that to rising gasoline prices.

A new Bloomberg poll shows Obama’s approval at 48%.

“Had he failed in that audacious mission, he would’ve been a one-term president.”

— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by The Hill, on President Obama ordering the mission to kill Osama bin Laden.

First Read looks at the dramatic drop in President Obama’s approval rating found in last night’s CBS/NYT poll but suggests it may be an outlier since there’s no major event which occurred in the past month to account for this drop.

“It’s probably worth waiting for a few more national polls before reaching the conclusion that something has happened to Obama’s standing in the past month.”

The latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows President Obama’s approval rating has hit the lowest level ever and “may be partially attributable to rising gas prices.”

Key finding: Just 41% of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 47% disapprove of his performance.

This follows a new Washington Post/ABC News poll that found President Obama’s approval rating dropping to 46%. 

The New York Times learns of a lunch between New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Obama at the White House a few weeks ago:

“Over a long private lunch at the White House, President Obama posed a question to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg: what are you interested in doing next? Mr. Bloomberg’s precise response is unknown. But their meeting a few weeks ago, confirmed by aides to both leaders and previously undisclosed, was potentially significant for both men, as Mr. Obama seeks support for his presidential campaign and Mr. Bloomberg ponders his post-mayoral career.”

“Mr. Obama, facing a bruising re-election fight, is eager to attract the kind of centrist, independent voters drawn to Mr. Bloomberg’s brand of politics. Mr. Bloomberg, confronting the end of his career in elected office, is grappling with how to exert the kind of influence over public discourse that he has had as mayor of the nation’s largest city.”

Ezra Klein notes there’s a lot of evidence that presidential persuasion isn’t effective when applied to the public. In fact, it’s often counterproductive during times of divided government when a stirring presidential speech on a particular bill can make it harder, rather than easier, for the opposition party to support it.

The implications are fairly radical: The power of the presidential bully pulpit is wildly overrated in the Beltway, and overrated in a way that actually makes it harder for voters to hold legislators accountable and for politicians to get anything done.

The White House posts a photo that when enlarged shows the edits President Obama made to his State of the Union address earlier this year.