Freshman Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said Sunday he would vote against confirming Republican Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense -- that's if he had a vote -- and suggested there were qualified Democrats whom Obama could pick. 
 
 "I would vote against him," Cotton said on ABC's "This Week," later noting that the Senate votes to confirm presidential nominees "I'm disappointed the president's nominated Mr. Hagel, and I've urged the Senate to oppose that nomination. Mr. Hagel came out against the surge the week that I returned from Iraq in 2006, said the war couldn't be won. No one had told us that when we were fighting it in 2006. He delayed emergency funding for the troops in 2007. Even after the surge succeeded in 2008, he still said that it wasn't because of the troops addition. 
 
 "When you add that to his dangerous views on Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas and terrorism, as well as his strange hostility towards Israel, I think the Senate should oppose Mr. Hagel as secretary of defense," Cotton added There are many other qualified Democratic defense professionals who the president could nominate. 
 
 Read more about: Chuck Hagel, Tom Cotton ||||| Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says former Sen. Chuck Hagel should be given a “fair” confirmation hearing if he’s picked as defense secretary, but wouldn’t stand by his previous praise of the Nebraska Republican. 
 
 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Obama to pick Hagel for Pentagon) 
 
 “He ought to be given a fair hearing like any other nominee, and he will be,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said during a pre-taped interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “I’m going to wait and see how the hearings go and whether Chuck’s views square with the job he would be nominated to do.” 
 
 When Hagel left the Senate in early 2009, McConnell praised his “clear voice and stature on national security and foreign policy.” But McConnell appeared to back off those comments as Hagel has come under fire from fellow Republicans for not being sufficiently supportive of Israel, especially as it relates to the nuclear threat from Iran. 
 
 “I’m going to take a look at all of the things Chuck has said over the years and review that, and in term of his qualifications to lead our nation’s military,” McConnell said. “He certainly has been outspoken on foreign policy and defense over the years. The question we will be answering,if he is the nominee, is do his views make sense for that part job.” 
 
 Earlier McConnell stated: “Whoever is nominated for secretary of defense is going to have to have a full understanding of our close relationship with our Israeli allies, the Iranian threat and the importance of having a robust military.” 
 
 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: The shortlist for Obama’s top jobs) 
 
 Read more about: Mitch McConnell, Chuck Hagel, Pentagon, Defense ||||| Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin on Sunday defended President Barack Obama’s likely pick for defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, calling him a “serious candidate.” 
 
 Hagel, who could be nominated to lead the Pentagon as early as Monday, has come under fire from some Democrats for insensitive comments he made about gays, which he recently apologized for. And Republicans have questioned his support of Israel in light of past remarks. 
 
 “Chuck Hagel was a Republican senator from Nebraska, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war a person that includes service on the Foreign Relations Committee as well as the Intelligence Committee,” the Illinois senator said. “Yes, he is a serious candidate if the president chooses to name him.” 
 
 And Durbin, who's No. 2 in Senate Democratic leadership, pointed out that Obama won the election and "wants to lead this country." 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Chuck Hagel, Dick Durbin, Pentagon, Defense ||||| Former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee today as he seeks to make the case for why he should be the next Secretary of Defense. 
 
 While Hagel’s nomination has been quite controversial — on both the left and the right — he appears to have weathered the initial storm and, having won the backing of influential New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, seems likely headed for confirmation. 
 
 Still, much rides on Hagel’s performance before the committee today. The committee is packed with opponents (ranking Republican Jim Inhofe has already said he would oppose Hagel’s nomination), former friends (John McCain) and likely supporters who still need to hear a few correct answers to reassure them (Kirstin Gillibrand). 
 
 Below are five senators on the Armed Services Committee worth keeping an eye on — for a variety of reasons — during Thursday’s hearing. Whom did we miss? The comments section awaits. 
 
 1. Ted Cruz: The Texas Republican senator may have only been elected in 2012, but he’s already making waves for his outspokenness in the Senate. (He was a forceful advocate for gun rights in a hearing on gun violence in the Senate Wednesday, for example.) Cruz, who was elected thanks to the power of the tea party movement, has already come out in opposition to Hagel’s nomination; Cruz has said Hagel has “consistently advocated weakness” in matters of foreign affairs. And Cruz was one of only three senators to vote against John Kerry’s confirmation as Secretary of State on Tuesday. 
 
 2. Kirstin Gillibrand: The New York Democrat has given every indication since meeting with Hagel that she will be a ‘yes’ vote but has said she will resist coming out publicly one way or the other until after the hearing. Expect Gillibrand’s questioning to focus heavily on Hagel’s past statements about Israel and the threat posed by Iran — areas of considerable concern not only to her constituents in the Empire State but also of major importance if she wants to pursue national office at some point. Gillibrand, an early sponsor of repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military, is also expected to get Hagel to state publicly that he’ll do whatever is necessary to ensure that the policy is fully repealed. 
 
 3. Lindsey Graham: The South Carolina senator has every reason to give Hagel a hard time. Graham has already called Hagel’s pick an “in-your-face nomination” by President Obama and insisted that the former GOP senator has “long severed his ties with the Republican party.” Graham faces the very real possibility of a primary challenge from his ideological right next year, and the Hagel hearings are a good place to allay some concerns conservatives have with him. 
 
 4. Jim Inhofe: You might think that Inhofe, of Oklahoma, might go easy on his fellow Plains-state senator. You’d be wrong. Very wrong. Not only has Inhofe already gone on record in opposition to Hagel’s nomination, but he has also suggested that voting for Hagel would amount to “giving (Obama) that added impetus to do the things that I think are destroying America.” So there’s that. Now, while Inhofe is expected to hammer Hagel on things like Iran, the two are friendly on a personal level, and so that may limit Inhofe’s aggressiveness. Or it may not. 
 
 5. John McCain: The history of faded friendship between Hagel and McCain makes this perhaps the most intriguing coupling of the hearing. McCain has withheld his endorsement from Hagel to date and said Sunday he won’t decide how he will vote until after the hearing. He and Hagel parted ways during the early part of the last decade over the way forward in Iraq, and in the immediate aftermath of Hagel’s nomination, McCain said he had “serious concerns about positions Sen. Hagel has taken on a range of critical national security issues in recent years.” Will McCain allow a once-close friendship to trump those policy concerns? Or will it be the other way around? 
 
 DCCC raises $1.9 million: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will announce today that it raised $1.9 million since late November, ending the 2012 cycle with nearly $184 million raised, a DCCC aide tells The Fix. 
 
 That figure is actually $20 million more than the committee raised during the 2010 election cycle, when the party was in the majority. 
 
 It also has less debt ($13.5 million) than it did after the 2010 cycle ($19 million), along with more cash ($1.5 million versus $800,000), leaving it in better financial shape to start the 2014 election cycle. 
 
 Cuccinelli sounds like Romney in book: Virginia governor hopeful Ken Cuccinelli (R) is set to come out with a book in which he echoes — in part — Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comment. 
 
 “Sometimes bad politicians set out to grow government in order to increase their own power and influence,” the attorney general writes. “This phenomenon doesn’t just happen in Washington; it happens at all levels of government. The amazing thing is that they often grow government without protest from citizens, and sometimes they even get buy-in from citizens — at least from the ones getting the goodies.” 
 
 He adds: “Citizens will vote for those politicians who promise more benefits each year, rather than the fiscally responsible politicians who try to point out that such programs are unsustainable and will eventually bankrupt the states or the nation.” 
 
 Cuccinelli is very conservative — there is no doubt about that — and Democrats will undoubtedly try to use stuff like this to marginalize him. 
 
 Fixbits: 
 
 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) responds to Erick Erickson’s criticism of his immigration reform push. Meanwhile, Ann Coulter and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) go after Rubio. 
 
 Rubio is moving his family to Washington, and selling his house back in Florida. He will still keep a home in his home state, though. 
 
 Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) says Rubio is “amazingly naive” on the immigration issue. 
 
 Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) says video games are a bigger problem than guns. 
 
 Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is very close to announcing his Senate campaign. 
 
 Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) says allegations that he used prostitutes in the Dominican Republican are “false.” The office of a Menendez ally whose plane that senator has used was raided this week. 
 
 Potential Kentucky Senate hopeful Ashley Judd (D) and her race-car driver husband Dario Franchitti are getting divorced. 
 
 Must-reads: 
 
 “Obama’s Flip-Flops on Money in Politics: A Brief History” — Justin Elliott, ProPublica 
 
 “GOP electoral vote changes going nowhere” — Emily Schultheis, Politico 
 
 “Who would benefit if Electoral College is changed?” — Anthony Salvanto and Mark Gersh, CBS News 
 
 “Mass. governor taps friend to fill Kerry seat” — Nia-Malika Henderson and Sean Sullivan, Washington Post 
 
 “Why Republicans Should Ignore Obama” — Ramesh Ponnuru, Bloomberg 
 
 “Lynch, Markey Ready for Senate Primary Brawl in Massachusetts” — Joshua Miller, Roll Call ||||| Story highlights Chuck Hagel testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday 
 
 The former senator split with the GOP over the war in Iraq 
 
 Some feel Hagel is too cool to Israel, not hard enough on Iran 
 
 He supported the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy 
 
 When the Senate Armed Services Committee is gaveled into session Thursday, Chuck Hagel is likely to face some sharp questions from many of his old colleagues. 
 
 If confirmed as secretary of defense, the one-time infantry sergeant and twice-wounded Vietnam veteran would be the first Pentagon chief to have spent his entire military service in the enlisted ranks. The former Republican senator from Nebraska gets his chance to answer questions Thursday morning during his confirmation hearing, and here are five subjects where he can expect them: 
 
 1. Afghanistan 
 
 If confirmed, Hagel will be tasked with closing out the longest war in U.S. history, one that has now lasted more than 11 years. He opposed President Barack Obama's decision to send another 30,000 troops into the conflict in 2009, telling the National Journal, "I think we're marking time as we slaughter more young people." The Obama administration now plans to pull combat troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, replacing them with a training mission to advise Afghan forces, steps Hagel will oversee if confirmed. 
 
 2. Gays and women in the military 
 
 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – President Barack Obama is nominating Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. senator from Nebraska, to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Hagel served in the military during the Vietnam War , leading him later to tell a biographer, "I will do all I can to prevent war." After coming home from Vietnam, Hagel worked briefly as a newscaster, then had a career in business, before entering public service as a Republican senator for 12 years. Here's a look at his military and government career: Hide Caption 1 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Hagel, pictured in uniform in 1968, volunteered for the U.S. Army, serving a yearlong tour. Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Hagel, right, perched on top of a M113 armored personnel carrier in 1968. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Hagel was a Republican senator from Nebraska from 1997 to 2009. Here, he testifies before the Senate Commerce Committee during a September 2000 hearing on the marketing of violence to children. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military and government career – Hagel discusses the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill with then-Sen. Russ Feingold on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' in March 2001. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Joe Biden, left, then a U.S. senator from Delaware, walks with Sen. Richard Lugar, second from right, and Hagel, center, at a hotel in Baghdad in June 2003. The congressional delegation was on a tour of the Iraqi capital the year the Iraq War began. Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military and government career – Hagel chats with Alan Greenspan, then-Federal Reserve chairman, before the start of a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in April 2005. Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Hagel questions then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her February 2006 testimony on Iran before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Hagel comments on a New York Times article during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee's consideration of a resolution on the Iraq War in January 2007. The GOP senator opposed the troop surge in Iraq. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military and government career – Hagel holds a September 2007 news conference to reintroduce an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Gen. David Petraeus, center, flies with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and Hagel on a July 2008 tour in Baghdad. Hagel joined Obama that year on his tour of parts of the Middle East. Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Candidate Obama and Hagel tour Jordan's historic Amman Citadel in July 2008. Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Hagel presents former President Bill Clinton with the Atlantic Council's Distinguished International Leadership Award in Washington in April 2010. Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: Photos: Chuck Hagel's military, government career Chuck Hagel's military, government career – Hagel, from left, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta attend a Memorial Day event at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington in May 2012. Hide Caption 14 of 14 
 
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 As a senator, Hagel supported the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that kept gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military. He told The New York Times in 1999, "The U.S. armed forces aren't some social experiment." And the nominee's opponents have seized on his 1998 criticism of a Clinton administration State Department nominee as being "openly, aggressively gay," a remark for which Hagel apologized in December. 
 
 Now he's been asked to lead a department that has allowed gays and lesbians since 2011. And he'll be left to implement the plans outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced last week to open front-line combat units to women, which allow the generals and admirals to ask for exemptions for certain posts. As defense secretary, Hagel would have to make the final call on those requests. 
 
 3. The Big One 
 
 Hagel is among the backers of the "Global Zero" movement, which has called for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons under a worldwide regime of inspections. He was a co-author of a 2011 study by the group that called for reducing the current U.S. arsenal of about 5,000 warheads and bombs to about 900, a force Global Zero says would be enough to deter potential attackers while reducing the risk of proliferation or nuclear terrorism. 
 
 That position has raised some eyebrows, since Hagel would be the steward of that American arsenal if confirmed. In a recent statement, Hagel's co-authors say their views and his "are in the U.S. national security interest and squarely in the mainstream," while keeping nuclear stockpiles at Cold War levels aren't. And he's not the only high-profile figure to ultimately endorse the idea of a world without the bomb: Obama held out the same hope in 2009, as have presidents dating back to Ronald Reagan. 
 
 4. Cutting the Pentagon 
 
 Within weeks of taking office, Hagel could be forced to implement steep cuts in the Pentagon budget as a result of "sequestration," the automatic spending cuts set up in the deal that ended the 2011 standoff over the federal debt ceiling. At the beginning of the year, Congress voted to put off those cuts for two months. 
 
 Panetta has called those across-the-board cuts of about 9.4% "potentially devastating" and urged Congress to find another way to reduce spending. But Hagel has called the defense budget "bloated" and said the Pentagon "needs to be pared down." Look for questions about how Hagel would wield that knife. 
 
 5. The Middle East: Iraq, Iran and Israel 
 
 This has been the biggest source of criticism for Hagel since Obama picked him to replace Leon Panetta in December and the rawest nerve for the Republicans with whom Hagel broke over the war in Iraq. 
 
 Hagel supported the U.S. invasion in 2003. But by 2007, he had come to believe it was a "blunder" and joined Democrats who tried to force the Bush administration to withdraw American troops. "He has long severed his ties with the Republican party," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told CNN's "State of the Union." 
 
 Republicans have accused him of being too cool to Israel, the leading U.S. ally in the Middle East, and too soft on Iran. Hagel has called for direct talks with the Islamic republic, which Western powers suspect is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, and he complained in 2007 that the "Jewish lobby" in Washington scared lawmakers away from supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
 
 But others have rallied around him, including his friend Rabbi Aryeh Azriel of Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska. Azriel said Hagel is "definitely a friend of Israel" and "has wonderful, fresh ideas to try to re-engage the discussion about the Middle East." 
 
 An Obama administration official working on the senator's confirmation hearing told CNN that Hagel will testify that he believes Iran is a state sponsor of terror; he supports the president's sanctions strategy against Iran and believes all options should be on the table including the military option. ||||| A bitterly divided Senate panel on Tuesday voted to approve President Barack Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the nation's defense secretary at a time of turmoil for the military with looming budget cuts, a fresh sign of North Korea's nuclear ambitions and drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. 
 
 FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2103 file photo, former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation... (Associated Press) 
 
 The Armed Services Committee voted 14-11 to send the nomination to the full Senate, with all the panel's Democrats backing the president's choice to succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. The committee's Republicans were unified in their opposition to their onetime colleague, a former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska and twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran. 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would move ahead with a full Senate vote despite Republican complaints that he was "jamming it through." A vote is expected on Thursday, and barring any surprises, the Senate is likely to confirm Hagel for the president's second-term national security team. 
 
 Hagel, 66, would take charge of a military facing deep cuts in projected spending; challenges from North Korea, Iran and Syria; and the reduction of U.S. combat forces in Afghanistan. 
 
 Democrats, who hold a 55-45 edge in the Senate, have the numbers to confirm Hagel on a majority vote, but would need the support of five Republicans before an up-or-down vote on the president's Cabinet choice would be allowed. 
 
 More than a dozen Republicans oppose the nomination, and the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, is insisting that any confirmation be based on 60 votes rather than a majority of the Senate. But several Republicans reject what would be an unprecedented effort to delay a vote on a Cabinet nominee for defense secretary. 
 
 Hagel faces fierce opposition from Republicans who have challenged his past statements and votes on Israel, Iran, Iraq and nuclear weapons. Just hours before Tuesday's vote, foes circulated a memo arguing for more information about Hagel's personal finances and highlighting past statements by Democratic senators demanding further disclosures when the Senate considered nominees by Republican presidents. 
 
 The panel's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the GOP demands were beyond the scope of those traditionally asked of previous nominees, Republican and Democrat _ a point echoed by his Republican colleague, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. 
 
 But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continued to demand that Hagel provide personal financial information for the past five years instead of the standard two years of committee and Senate rules, and suggested that the panel doesn't know whether Hagel received compensation from "extreme and radical groups." He also suggested that Hagel was hiding information. 
 
 That angered Levin, who rejected the notion of a different standard for Hagel than for other nominees and said he was "not going to accept your suggestion and innuendo." 
 
 Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., accused Cruz over going over the line. 
 
 "You basically have impugned the patriotism of the nominee" with suggestions that he is cozy with Iran, Nelson said. "You also stated your opinion that you don't think he's truthful. Those are two fairly strong statements." 
 
 Inhofe said reported comments about Iranian leaders praising Hagel backs up Cruz's claim. "You can't get cozier," the panel's top Republican said. 
 
 The testy exchanges about Hagel prompted McCain to interject, "Sen. Hagel is an honorable man. No one on this committee should impugn his character and integrity." 
 
 Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., insisted that the former GOP senator was out of the mainstream. "He's in a league of his own," Graham said. 
 
 McCain, who was a close friend of Hagel's but split over the Iraq war and politics, said Tuesday he would vote against confirmation. However, late Monday McCain met privately with several committee Republicans and urged them not to filibuster the nomination, pointing out that the roles could be reversed someday with a Republican president and GOP-controlled Senate. 
 
 "I'm encouraging my colleagues if they want to vote against Sen. Hagel that's one thing, and that's a principled stand," McCain told a group of reporters. "We do not want to filibuster. We have not filibustered a Cabinet appointee in the past and I believe that we should move forward with his nomination, bring it to the floor and vote up or down." 
 
 All 55 Democrats are expected to back Hagel, and two Republicans _ Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns of Nebraska _ have said they will vote for the nominee. At least five Republicans have said they oppose a filibuster despite their reservations or opposition toward the nominee. 
 
 More than a dozen Republicans have said they will oppose their former colleague, and several others have indicated they are likely to vote no. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday she would vote against the nominee, citing his performance at his confirmation hearing. 
 
 Hagel seemed ill-prepared under withering cross-examination from committee Republicans in nearly eight hours of testimony on Jan. 31. He was repeatedly pressed about past statements and votes on Israel, Iran and nuclear weapons, with GOP lawmakers suggesting he wasn't sufficiently supportive of Israel or anti-Iran. 
 
 In the memo circulated Tuesday, Republicans focused on the 2005 fight over President George W. Bush's nomination of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, and Democrats who tried to stop the nomination. The position is not Cabinet-level, however. 
 
 Faced with a Democratic filibuster, Bush circumvented the Senate and made Bolton a recess appointment. 
 
 Graham has signaled that he would block the nominations of Hagel and CIA Director-designate John Brennan if he doesn't get more answers about the deadly raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in September. 
 
 "I'm insisting that the president answer ... what he did that night. That's all. It would take five minutes to answer my question," Graham told reporters. "It's the only leverage I have." 
 
 The White House pushed back Monday, with spokesman Jay Carney insisting the administration had answered lingering questions about Libya and the president's actions on that fateful day. 
 
 "What is unfortunate here is the continuing attempt to politicize an issue, in this case through nominees that themselves had nothing to do with Benghazi, and to do so in a way that only does harm to our national security interests," Carney said. "Sen. Hagel, Mr. Brennan, they need to be confirmed."
– No sooner had rumors of Chuck Hagel's pending nomination to head up the Pentagon leaked than lips were flapping about what a bad idea it was. Hagel "is an in-your-face nomination by the president," charged Lindsey Graham, who "would be the most antagonistic secretary of defense toward the state of Israel in our nation’s history." Texas Sen. Ted Cruz blasted President Obama as "a president who has drunk the tea. He's high on re-election right now." Mitch McConnell, in an interview taped yesterday, was slightly warmer, saying, "he ought to be given a fair hearing, like any other nominee, and he will be. I’m going to wait and see how the hearings go and whether Chuck’s views square with the job he would be nominated to do.” Elsewhere on your Sunday dial, as per Politico: Dick Durbin on Hagel: “Chuck Hagel was a decorated veteran of the Vietnam war, a person that includes service on the Foreign Relations Committee as well as the Intelligence Committee. Yes, he is a serious candidate if the president chooses to name him.” Freshman Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Hagel: "I would vote against him. Mr. Hagel came out against the surge the week that I returned from Iraq in 2006, said the war couldn't be won. No one had told us that when we were fighting it in 2006." McConnell on a potential challenge from Ashley Judd: "Look, the election is going to occur in 2014. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on the issues we have going on here."