Politics

(Charles Dharapak - AP) Our post Tuesday about which Cabinet secretaries visit the White House the most often--and least often--triggered outrage in some quarters.

It’s true that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton only showed up on visitor logs 33 times. But her spokesman, Philippe Reines, informed us that’s only a fraction of the 681 trips his boss has made to the storied structure.

The Post’s database of White House visitor logs doesn’t tell the whole story. The logs only reflect the information the White House chooses to record. It certainly doesn’t show what regular guests some Cabinet secretaries are at the campus centered around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.--which we explained by noting that “bigwigs...most often get waved in,” rather than having to get logged in like the rest of the commoners.

Cabinet secretaries sometimes get the formal log-in treatment at official events at the White House--often when they are accompanied by spouses or other family members to events like state dinners or barbeques.

So in case it wasn’t clear, Clinton, and other members of the Cabinet, are hardly strangers to the White House. Just, apparently, to the visitors’ logs.

Former U.S. senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) (Jonathan Ernst - Reuters) Alan Simpson. We miss him every day. He was the most colorful quote-meister ever when he was the distinguished Republican senator from Wyoming.

And he clearly hasn’t lost a step since his retirement in 1997.

Take, for example, a letter he sent last week to the California Alliance for Retired Americans, which had protested an appearance in Oakland in March by Simpson and former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles.

The two appeared in Oakland to tout the Simpson-Bowles budget-cutting plan, which included proposed cuts in Social Security benefits. The protesters handed out fliers at the event that apparently upset Simpson a teensy bit.

He dictated a letter — date April 7, but delivered last week — to the group.

“Your little flyer entitled ‘Bowles! Simpson! Stop using the deficit as a phony excuse to gut our Social Security!’ ” he wrote, “is one of the phoniest excuses for a ‘flyer’ I have ever seen.”

(Carlos Osorio - AP) Here’s what the Loop is reading this morning:

Tomato, to-mah-to — One man’s “vampire” is another’s “job creator.” Our colleagues David A. Fahrenthold and Tom Hamburger take a look at how both Republicans and Democrats are talking about private equity firms, a la Bain Capital.

Anatomy of a scandal — This nifty timeline illustrates the events of Secret Service prostitution scandal--just as the head of the agency is set to testify today on Capitol Hill.

Just your type — There’s Gipper worship, and then there’s just plain creepy. We’ll put this story in the latter category: an online auction site is selling a vial of blood purportedly from the late former President Ronald Reagan.

Taste of K Street — Lobbyist John Scofield is keeping things spicy. The former longtime Hill staffer is one of three winners of the Post Food section’s barbecue-sauce contest.

(Marlon Correa) The deadline approaches!

The Senate looks like it’s not going to go along with the House’s approval last week of an East Coast missile-defense system.

The House, in passing the $642 billion defense authorization bill for fiscal 2013, included a requirement that the system be operational by 2016. But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday he’s “skeptical” about the proposal, CQ Today reports.

If McCain, the key national security Republican in the Senate, is skeptical, then the idea is in deep trouble. And that means that those of us who live on the East Coast will be vulnerable to Iran long-range missiles — if they get them — and maybe really long-range North Korean ones that might somehow slip through the West Coast system.

But maybe McCain would be in favor of it if he knew exactly where the system would be installed? That would give him a better idea of what national treasure it would protect.

That’s why it’s important to enter the Loop contest to pick the best site for the system. We’ve gotten great entries but could always use more — and the deadline is Friday.

Seamus, the Irish setter that Mitt Romney famously strapped to the roof of the family car, has inspired dozens of Gail Collins columns in the New York Times and at least one political action committee.

Now the pooch is the muse behind a new book of illustrations and verse, “Dog on the Roof! On the Road with Mitt & The Mutt,” written by NPR writers Bruce Kluger and David Slavin. The book follows the Romney family, packed in a Chevy station wagon, on an imaginary cross-country trip. At each stop, Mitt Romney waxes eloquent about the scenery, while Seamus bemoans his precarious position.

A sample from the book: In New York, Mitt enthuses, “Wall Street’s a temple,/our nation’s salvation./ And we are among/its elite congregation,” while Seamus frets: “As long as you’re talking/ ‘bout wheeling and dealing,/a bailout is needed/ on top of this ceiling!”

This is one sleeping dog that won’t lie.