The Loop looks at fat-cat congressional spouses (of both sexes), and Al Kamen announces the Loop's 2012 "Pick the President" contest

It's time (or possibly past time) for putative prognosticators to get their predictions down for this year's presidential election.

by Ken

Our pal Al Kamen, of the Washington Post "In the Loop" franchise, has been studying Roll Call's annual list, published Thursday, of the 50 richest members of Congress, and is intrigued to find ("The lawmakers' richer halves") that a fair number "got their money the old-fashioned way -- by marrying into it." (Al prefaces his reporting of the Roll Call numbers, by the way, with the caution that "most of the lawmakers in question are far wealthier even than listed, since disclosure forms may not reveal the extent of their holdings and since Roll Call uses the minimums of the ranges they report.) Links onsite.

Take the very flushest, Rep. Mike McCaul. Most of the Texas Republican's vast fortune -- a minimum of $305.96 million -- comes from his wife, Linda McCaul, whose family's business is a little establishment called Clear Channel Communications. In fact, according to number-crunching Roll Call reporter Amanda Becker, the congressman's net worth "jumped from at least $73.75 million in 2009 to at least $294 million in 2010" thanks to a generous "gift" from his in-laws.

Or Sen. John F. Kerry , the second most affluent, who has ketchup and a spouse to thank for his wealth, estimated to be at least $231.23 million. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is the "widow of the late Sen. H. John Heinz III of the Heinz ketchup fortune," Roll Call notes. Sen. Richard Blumenthal 's wife is the source of most of his $79.61 million, which puts him at No. 6 on the list. Cynthia Blumenthal is the daughter of a New York real estate mogul.

Some women on the list, too, enjoy the financial perks of marriage. Two prominent California Democrats, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (No. 9) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (No. 13), have wealthy husbands. And a newcomer to the top 50, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), gained admittance into the elite club (she's No. 12) with her marriage to financier Donald Sussman.

Seems there might be something to that retro-sounding advice about it being just as easy to marry rich as it is to marry poor. Pass the chardonnay.

SPEAKING OF THE LOOP, IT'S TIME (MAYBE PAST
TIME) TO PREDICT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Our pal Al has also been waxing nostalgic over election crises past, citing the comparison made by his paper's Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, between the Incorporated Willard's mangling of the violence in Libya and "statements from a past Republican presidential ticket -- Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush -- after President Jimmy Carter's disastrous effort to free the hostages being held in Iran during the 1980 campaign."

"This is a difficult day for all of us Americans," Reagan said. "It is time for us . . . to stand united. It is a day for quiet reflection . . . when words should be few and confined essentially to our prayers."

Bush said: "I unequivocally support the president -- no ifs, ands or buts. . . . He made a difficult, courageous decision."

But that's so very, very old-school, back in a time before winning the daily news cycle became the only important thing.

Which brings Al to his important announcement: It's time for the Loop's "Pick the President" contest.

Simply predict:

* The winning candidate.
* The number of electoral votes he'll receive.
* His percentage of the popular vote.

Up to 20 entries choosing the correct candidate will win -- the 10 closest to the electoral-vote total and the 10 closest to the popular-vote percentage (specify to the tenth of a point). Ties go to entries received first.

As usual with Loop contests, each winner will get a "highly coveted" Loop T-shirts. (I've made no secret of the fact that I for one covet one.) Now we come to a bit of a speed bump:

Send entries -- only one set of predictions per person -- to intheloop@washpost.com. Be sure to provide your name, profession, mailing address and T-shirt size (M, L or XL), in case you're a winner.

(Congressional and Obama administration aides may enter "on background.")

You must include a phone number -- home, work or cell -- to be eligible. Deadline for entries is midnight Friday.

Since this column only went up online Thursday, and I'm guessing in the paper yesterday, I can't help feeling that a date has been left off after "midnight Friday," which would thus not mean that the deadline was midnight Friday as in last night.

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Where would you put those new missiles that "fiscally prudent" House Republicans are eager to dump new billions on?

According to the Congressional Budget Office (if I'm reading this right -- no guarantees!) we could rig up 20 interceptor missiles on the East Coast for a measly $3.6 billion. At that rock-bottom price, no wonder spending-slashing House GOP-ers are all for it.

by Ken

It's another "Loop" contest, and we always try to keep track of those -- if only in the (probably vain) hope that a DWT will enter and win the coveted prize of an "In the Loop" T-shirt and feel ethically obliged to share it with the people who told him/her about the contest in the first place. (I guess you can't easily "share" a T-shirt, so perhaps we're talking about forking said T-shirt over as a sort of finder's fee.)

First, you have to admit it -- you lose sleep over the possibility of nuclear-equipped missiles launched by North Korea or Iran reaching the East Coast of the U.S. Yes, we're tallking about the East Coast, for the simple reason that the West Coast already has its missile defenses in place, in two sites: a site in Alaska (with 27 missiles) and one in California (with three). This presumably explains why those dastardly North Koreans, once they beef up their missile technology a bit, would be aiming their missiles at the East rather than the West Coast.

As Al Kamen points out, in announcing the new contest in today's Washington Post "In the Loop" column,

the Iranians and North Koreans don't have long-range missiles (yet), and the Iranians -- best we can tell -- don't have any nukes.

And sure, the general in charge of the North American Aerospace Defense Command has said "today's threats do not require an East Coast" site and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said last week that we don't need one.

But what do they know?

Which I guess is why those hard-headed masters of reality the House Republicans are getting to work on the issue.

The House is scheduled this week to take up a bill that would require the Pentagon to start work on a missile defense system to protect the East Coast from Iranian or North Korean long-range nuclear missiles.

The bill would require the Defense Department to conduct an environmental-impact statement by the end of next year with an operational site in place "not later than the end of 2015."

Seems a bit speedy, but there's a quick $100 million in the bill for surveys and planning and such.

And $100M isn't much when you consider that the missile-interceptor program has a "price tag about $24 billion so far" -- and if you don't consider that so far it "doesn’t have a great track record knocking down missiles in tests."

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday estimated that the cost for 20 interceptors would be only $3.6 billion from 2013 to 2017 -- missiles, site prep and facilities included. That's a bargain!

At that price it sounds like something we can't afford not to do. (No, I don't know whether the missiles come in an assortment of designer colors. But at these bargain-basement prices, can we afford to be picky?)

WHICH BRINGS US TO THE LOOP CONTEST:
WHERE SHOULD WE PUT THE INTERCEPTORS?

After all, Alaska deployment is easy. Our coast is a bit more congested.

Loop Fans can help keep America safe!

Yes, it's the Loop "Pick the Site" contest. Where should the missiles go?

Maybe we could circle Manhattan with interceptors to protect the job creators on Wall Street? Or group them at the Baseball Hall of Fame in central New York to protect the national pastime? Hide them in the Epcot theme park in Orlando? Put a few in Chincoteague to protect the wild ponies?

Which just leaves the matter of the contest nitty-gritty:

You can leave your entry as a comment on our blog (washingtonpost.com/intheloop) -- you may want to double-check that there’s an active e-mail address associated with your washingtonpost.com log-in.

You can also e-mail us at intheloop@washpost.com. (Please make sure you include a phone number -- home or cell -- so we can contact you.)

The top five winners will receive a coveted In the Loop T-shirt and the usual bragging rights when we announce winners. (If you need to enter "on background," that's fine.)

Don't delay. Contest deadline is May 25.

ONE WORD OF CAUTION, IN CASE YOU'RE
ALREADY EXCITED ABOUT THOSE MISSILES

Al notes: "House Republicans may have the votes to pass the bill, though the Democratic Senate will probably neuter it, as it did last year." It's one thing to be fiscally prudent. After all, who's more fiscally prudent than the House Republicans? But to turn a deaf ear to vital matters of national defense? Maybe we need to be checking those traitorous House Dems' bith certificates?

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"H-1-N-What? We Can Do So Much Better, People," says our pal Al Kamen, announcing the latest Loop contest

"The media seem to be pretty much sticking with swine flu," Al writes in today's "In the Loop" column, "and that's bad news for the country's 67,000 pork producers." But maybe we just need some swine-friendlier imagery. Like, who would want to bust Porky Pig's chops?

by Ken

It was our Washington Post "In the Loop" pal Al Kamen who clued us in to the e-mail sent out to all Democratic press secretaries by House Ag Committee communications director April Slayton with the "request" to "avoid using a pig in any graphics for the current flu outbreak that you are creating for your website and other media," and in general to avoid use of the pork-unfriendly moniker "swine flu."

The press secretaries may have gotten the message, but the press hasn't, and the public sure hasn't. Quick, what's the appropriate CDC-sanctioned name for the new flu? "N1H1," you say? Oh, that's so close! But I'm afraid you're eliminated. Thanks for playing our game.

"The letter-number thing won't stick," Al insists. "H1N1 is just too cumbersome and wholly lacking in imagery. You can't get the public to focus on, and take measures to prevent, something they can't even remember, let alone visualize."

Loop fans to the rescue, says Al.

It's time for the Loop Name the Flu contest. Yes, simply come up with a better name -- more accurate than swine flu, less wonky than H1N1 -- for the virus. Something that people can remember, that might help remind them to wash their hands regularly, stay home if they have symptoms and so on.

The 10 winners will receive one of those coveted, fine-quality, In the Loop T-shirts.

Details on-site. The deadline is midnight, Wednesday, May 13. As long-time readers know, we take Loop contests seriously. (We want us one of them Loop T-shirts.) Come on, DWT gang, let's get those thinking caps on.

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