While walking the halls of the Capitol “was pretty much what I expected,” 2013 Miss America Mallory Hagan says she was surprised by one thing about lawmakers: “They go from meeting to meeting to meeting.”

The pageant queen got a taste of the meeting-filled days of Congress as she visited Capitol Hill on Thursday on behalf of the National Children’s Alliance.

While she’s been to Washington four times this year for speaking engagements, the trip to the Rayburn House Office Building was a first for the 24-year-old, who was pushing to raise awareness for the platform she competed on: child sexual abuse prevention.

Check out the latest tweets on the White House Correspondents' Association dinner (#WHCD). 

Check out the latest tweets from the celebrities expected for Saturday night's White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, N'Sync's J.C. Chasez, and Captain Picard himself — "Star Trek" actor Patrick Stewart — will all be guests at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Lawmakers lost to the media at Thursday night's Political Pursuit trivia contest and the questions that stumped them the most were ones about members of Congress.

Three teams of players — Press Pass, made up of journalists; Members Only, consisting of lawmakers; and Insiders, containing political strategists/consultants — pitted their political knowledge against one another in an event sponsored by the National Journal's Hotline.

The weekend of festivities surrounding the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner got off to a rocking start Thursday, as Neuprofile and FinePoint PR teamed up with Rock the Vote for “The Spin Room” party.

A sea of little black dresses and suits and ties packed the swank Heist lounge in downtown Washington at the kickoff to the annual action-packed social event weekend.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman knows what it takes to get to the top of the gymnastic world — and she sees some promise in the Obama family, particularly the females.

On Capitol Hill Thursday for a Cannon House Office Building event held by the Century Council — a non-profit created by distillers to battle drunk driving and underage drinking — Raisman says President Obama has some potential, but she’s not completely convinced.

“I’d like to see [him try gymnastics],” she says with a giggle. 

The president hosted Raisman and the rest of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the Oval Office last summer, after they took home gold in the 2012 Olympic Games. 

When asked by The Hill if Michelle Obama could be a good gymnast, Raisman replied with a concise, “Yes!”

When it comes to the Obama daughters — Sasha, 11, and Malia, 14, — the Massachusetts native says, “I’d love to help them out with gymnastics!” Read more...

Joe Biden — Hollywood is calling.

Actress Kate Walsh says of anyone in the nation’s capital, she’d like to share a film scene with the vice president himself.

“I’m going to say Joe Biden,” she says after careful consideration. “I think he’d be a good cowboy.”

While Walsh might envision Biden as a rugged cowboy on land, these days, she’s paying particular attention to what’s going on at sea.

The “Private Practice” and “Grey’s Anatomy” star was on Capitol Hill Thursday, lobbying lawmakers on behalf of Oceana, an international ocean advocacy group. The entertainer, 45, is pushing to stop offshore drilling (her visit is tied to the third anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) and to expand offshore wind energy.

“We just knock on doors, whoever answers, lets us in,” Walsh says with a laugh. Read more...

Being a White House photographer is a tough gig full of long, labor-intensive hours. But an even harder job? Being on “Barney patrol.”

Eric Draper, who served as the official chief White House photographer under former President George W. Bush, recalls one time at the then-commander in chief’s Texas ranch when he was put in charge of the presidential pooch by Bush himself.

“Barney is Barney. You cannot put a leash on him or tell him what to do,” Draper says of the late Scottish Terrier. “I followed Barney probably about a mile away from the ranch in some field ... I had to dig him out of a hole, and he bit me because he didn’t want me to touch him.”

“And I thought, well that would be my last day at the job. Imagine the headlines: ‘Photographer Loses President’s Dog!’ ”

Fortunately for Draper (and the first dog), the two made it back to the ranch safely. Read more...