Over the course of an hour on Wednesday afternoon, West Virginia’s most prominent political figure greeted well-wishers while clad in a pink tutu and sparkly birthday hat.
Babydog, the English bulldog that trails after Sen. Jim Justice in the Senate hallways, celebrated her 6th birthday on the 15th day of the government shutdown. Hundreds of Capitol Hill staffers and a few members of the public came to mark the occasion. The turnout stunned Justice’s staff, as a line wrapped around the fifth-floor hallway of the Hart Senate Office Building before the guest of honor had even arrived.
“Babydog is stuck in traffic,” legislative aide Aves Mocek called out to the line at 1:09 p.m. “She’ll be here very soon. Very soon!”
