Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Chuck Hagel, nominee for U.S. secretary of defense, listens to a question during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 31, 2013.

From Bloomberg Government’s Congress Tracker blog:

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin will seek a vote by the panel tomorrow on Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Defense secretary, according to a committee aide who asked not to be identified.

Senate Democrats are working to overcome Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s nomination of Hagel to replace the retiring Leon Panetta as the Pentagon’s top official.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham said yesterday that he may place a hold on the nomination until he gets answers about what the president did personally to encourage military action at the time of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

A committee vote could pave the way for a vote by the full Senate later this week, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide who also asked not to be identified when discussing the plans.

Original post is Panel Said to Plan Hagel Vote Tomorrow by Political Capital.

Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Accompanied by CIA Spokesperson Marie Harf, former Senator Chuck Hagel leaves the Capitol Hill offices of Sen. John McCain after the two Vietnam War veterans met on Jan. 22, 2013 in Washington.

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel’s drive to win confirmation as Defense Secretary got an added push today as a group of former Secretaries of State, Defense and National Security Advisers sent all 100 senators a letter of endorsement.

“His approach to national security and debates about the use of American power is marked by a disciplined habit of thoughtfulness that is sorely needed and these qualities will serve him well as Secretary of Defense at a time when the United States must address a range of international issues that are unprecedented in scope,” said the letter,signed by 13 former top officials that included Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, and Melvin Laird, Defense Secretary under President Richard Nixon.

“Our extensive experience working with Senator Hagel over the years has left us confident that he has the necessary background to succeed in the job of leading the largest federal agency,” the bipartisan crew wrote.

Other signatories included George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan; Samuel Berger, National Security Adviser underl Clinton; and Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Adviser under President Jimmy Carter.

Meanwhile, Hagel continued a round of one-on-one meetings with  senators today, picking up endorsements from additional Senate Democrats. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that will hear his testimony next week, said in a statement that Hagel has won her over with his “strong, unwavering support of Israel” as well as his commitment to building relationships with NATO and other allies.

Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, also a member of the Armed Services panel, said Hagel can count on his support, too.

“Chuck is a combat veteran and foot soldier who has a unique understanding of the challenges faced by our men and women in uniform, and a practical leader who understands the need for common sense in military spending and national security strategy,” Manchin said in a prepared statement.

Original post is Hagel Draws Bipartisan Backing from Past Secretaries of Defense, State by Political Capital.

Photograph by Mandel Ngan/AFP via GettyImages

President Barack Obama greets troops after delivering remarks inside the 1st Aviation Support Battalion Hangar on Aur. 31, 2012 at Fort Bliss, Texas.

President Barack Obama is taking in almost twice as much in campaign contributions from U.S. military personnel as Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is collecting, despite Romney’s promises to boost defense spending and his campaign attacks over military cuts set to take place in January.

Obama has received $536,414 from military donors, compared with Romney’s $287,435, according to research by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington. The group’s study includes donations through August.

The Department of Defense is the Democratic president’s top supporter among the armed forces, with employees there giving $176,121. Army personnel rank next, with $165,646. Romney’s top military contributor is the Army, with $115,458, with the Air Force not far behind with $90,611 in donations.

Obama’s advantage probably comes in part because some of the armed forces personnel are political appointees of his administration, according to Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who has studied military personnel and their impact on elections.

“One party owns the executive branch right now, so the impact could be potentially quite large,” he said. Yet Obama also may be winning a broader battle for support in an election that has seen both candidates “assiduously” courted the military, he said.

“It appears that he does have a small but energetic supporter base in the military,” Feaver said.

The pro-Obama tilt comes despite Romney’s promises to boost defense spending to 4 percent of gross domestic product and to build 15 new Navy ships per year, and also his attacks on Obama over $500 billion in across-the-board cuts to military programs pver 10 year that begin January 2 unless a budget impasse with Congress is resolved in time.

Earlier in the election cycle, military personnel donations were overwhelmingly tilted toward Republican hopeful Ron Paul, until Obama began to overtake him in March, the CRP has found.

Original post is Military: Obama Tops Romney Almost 2-1 in Campaign Donations by Political Capital.

Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Sen. Richard Lugar outside the Senate chamber in Washington.

Indiana Senator Richard Lugar is getting extra help from some powerful people as a May 8 Republican primary nears.

YG Network Inc., a non-profit independent expenditure group led by former aides to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, two days ago spent $104,628 on a mailing designed to help the sixth-term senator who is facing his toughest re-election ever. Lugar, who faces off against Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, is battling against attack ads funded by super-PACs and outside groups like Club for Growth and FreedomWorks. Both groups say Lugar is too supportive of expanding the scope of government.

Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for YG Network and Cantor’s former communications director, said the Indiana primary is “a natural first playing field” for an effort by the nonprofit group to educate voters about lawmakers like Lugar it believes will help boost U.S. energy production without endangering the environment.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, a Republican who backs Lugar, has also elevated his profile in the race, appearing in an April 23 ad to make light of the outside groups who seek to define Lugar.

“It’s funny in a way, folks from elsewhere here telling us who’s a real Hoosier,” he said in the ad shot from Lugar’s Indiana farm and aired in Indianapolis. “I can’t think of anyone so reflective of the thinking, principles and ideals of our state.”

He could use the help. Majority PAC, a super-PAC run by two former top aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, spent $17,500 on online advertisements attacking Lugar, Federal Election Commission filings show. Majority PAC is working to defend the Democrats’ 53-47 Senate majority, and surveys show that the Democratic nominee, Representative Joe Donnelly, may be more competitive against Mourdock than against Lugar.

Greg Giroux contributed to this post.

Original post is Outside Groups Influencing Indiana Senate Primary by Political Capital.

Photograph by Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images

Senators Joe Lieberman, left, and Lindsey Graham, conduct a news conference.

With only a few hours left before polls close in today’s two Southern contests, Newt Gingrich may not appreciate comments by fellow Republican southerner Lindsay Graham.

Graham told reporters that politicians are undercutting the forces on the ground when they push to speed up the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

“We’re war-weary, but I’m looking for a leader who won’t play into a war-weary public,” he said. Gingrich told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that it’s time for the U.S. to withdraw.

A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Graham pointed to Gingrich as one of the politicians who wants to be “the drum beat of withdrawal.”

“I want to be part of a Republican party that understands the strategic consequences of winning and losing in Afghanistan, and will back up a general who has earned the right to be backed up,” he said.

Graham was referring to U.S. Marine General John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

“This General Allen has a plan to withdraw and transition that should be supported by both parties,” he said. “I think it is a very doable plan, and the only way it will fail is to undercut the guy. That includes the Republicans.”

Original post is Gingrich Gets Afghanistan Rebuke From Graham by Political Capital.