I've heard of being downright neighborly, but can this possibly work? Can the Elephant and the Donkey be friends?

That's the question after the Tulare County Democratic Central Committee announced today that its 2008 campaign headquarters will open Saturday at 540 N. Lovers Lane in Visalia -- smack next door to the local Republican headquarters.

Dare we read anything into the coincidence that their addresses are on Lovers Lane?

Both offices are tucked into a small retail strip mall just south of Highway 198, nearly hidden behind a 7-Eleven convenience store and a Chinese restaurant. The old real estate adage tells us it's all about "location, location, location," but it's clear that for both the Democrats and Republicans, utility and economy -- not visibility -- are the key benefits of their offices.

While the front window of the Republican storefront is festooned with campaign signs for GOP presidential nominee John McCain, incumbent Congressman Devin Nunes and state Assembly candidate Connie Conway, the digs next door are absent yet of any Democratic propaganda (somehow the sign for the previous tenant, a lingerie store, lacks the same cachet as more traditional party literature).

Sure, the offices are a little out of the way, but on the plus side, there's plenty of room out back with a vacant field if the parties want to bring in the traditional party symbols, the GOP pachyderm and the Democratic donkey.