It looked like the ultimate GOP rally on Constitution Avenue and 3rd Streets, NW Tuesday afternoon, as a row of elephants marched down the street towards the Verizon Center and stopped in front of the Capitol and waved to the tourists.

But it wasn't a political rally. The elephants were courtesy Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, which strode into town today for a three week-long run in D.C. and Va.

Perhaps out of sensitivity when visiting a bipartisan town, the elephants were followed up by a few miniature horses and some of the full-size show ponies, but no actual donkeys.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) on Tuesday let her Twitter followers know that she is going to be ready to take to the diamond. 

During a Monday night appearance on the O'Reilly Factor, Karl Rove said Democrats probably won't pass healthcare reform, but added, "I wouldn't bet the ranch on it."

O'Reilly asked, "Do you have a ranch?"

After a pause, the GOP strategist responded that he has a "mini" ranch, noting that many people in Texas have ranches.

Rove said the chances of comprehensive reform passing this year are 40 percent.

That’s because Mikulski, often called the “dean” of the Senate ladies, was transporting the sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits, as it is sometimes jokingly known, to the Baltimore Hilton for a special fundraiser she hosts every six years, at which her fellow female members sing her praises at an event her campaign told ITK honors “the great women that lead the efforts of Maryland, and the great men who stand behind them.”

Scheduled to hop a ride on the Super Senator Shuttle with Mikulski at press time were Sens. Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.). Can you pick them out in the photo above?

As for whether Mikulski will repay the favor, her spokeswoman Simone Ward said she’s willing to campaign for anyone who asks her to.

According to "Courage and Consequence," the former White House political adviser was 25 years old at the time and working for the Virginia Republican Party. Taylor was on her seventh marriage, this one to former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who asked Rove to come by one morning and discuss a speech he was giving.

Rove writes that he arrived at their house for the meeting, but instead of being greeted by Warner, Taylor answered the door — “Herself. Alone. In a revealing dressing gown and lingerie. I was agog. Her eyes really were violet.” We’re glad to know he was only looking at her, um, eyes.

While Warner went upstairs to change, Rove and Taylor settled down to eat breakfast. “I had breakfast with one of history’s most beautiful women,” Rove recalls, “sitting across the table from me in her nightie, making small talk about her husband’s appearance later that morning. She was thinking politics, I was not.”

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) taunted Sarah Palin Monday afternoon as a "wild Alaskan dingbat" who knows nothing about policy.

The comments come in response to Palin's speech at a Republican fundraiser in his home district on Friday.

At the time, Palin had this to say:

"[W]hat can you say about Alan Grayson? Piper is with me tonight, so I won't say anything about Alan Grayson that can't be said around children. But thank you, Florida, for allowing candidates in a contested primary to duke it out over ideas and principles and values, all with the same goal, and that is unseating those who have such a disconnect from the people of America. That's what the goal is here in this race against Alan Grayson. Please fight hard, and do this for the rest of the country. Fight hard, and send a conservative to Washington, DC."

Grayson responded with a snarky email to supporters.

"I look forward to an honest debate with Governor Palin on the issues, in the unlikely event that she ever learns anything about them," he said.

The email continues: "Scientists are studying Sarah Palin's travel between Alaska and Florida carefully. They hope to learn more about the flight patterns of that elusive migratory species, the wild Alaskan dingbat.

Maybe it's the good hair, or the manly jawlines. But the number of attractive Republican politicians from Massachusetts has grown recently, and for at least for one voter, it's getting confusing.

As Sen. Scott Brown told a gathering at a St. Patrick's Day breakfast on Sunday, a woman recently paid him a high compliment. Sort of.

"I know you," she said, approaching Brown, "you're that handsome Republican from Massachusetts."

Brown, who's admittedly a good-looking guy, took the compliment in stride, "I'm pleased to meet you," he said to her.

The woman replied, "I'm pleased to meet you too, Mr. Romney."

The line got a good laugh, although the resemblance between Brown and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is a bit of a stretch.

No Brown appearance would be complete without the joke that never dies: Life-sized posters of Brown's nude Cosmopolitan magazine photo were photoshopped with the heads of his fellow Bay State politicians, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) and state Sen. Jack Hart (D), superimposed on the photo of Brown in his birthday suit.

Brown, Hart, and Patrick were even joined on stage by Attorney General Martha Coakley, in what was her first joint appearance with Brown since January's special Senate election, which Brown won in an upset.

With the defeat is still fresh in political memories, Coakley bravely told a well-worn campaign joke, which helped to relieve some of the tension. "I want to thank you to everyone from Southie who voted for me," she said to the crowd of more than 1,000, "and I think both of them are here, actually."

The Florida Republican tweeted that he's taking the mound at a pre-season MLB game:

     MLB Spring Training is a great Florida tradition. I'm on my way to throw out 1st pitch at Pirates vs. Yankees. #fb #mlb

Both Pittsburgh and New York have spring training facilities in Buchanan's home state.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel took a break from tense healthcare negotiations this weekend to get a little sweaty on the running trails of Rock Creek Park.

An ITK spy spotted Emanuel running through the wooded paths on Sunday at midday, dressed in long black running tights and trailed by one security officer.

"Looked like he was going fast," said the spy.