• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defying congressional opposition, President Barack Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary, setting up a potentially contentious confirmation fight over the former Republican senator's views on Israel and Iran.
• The president will announce Hagel's nomination from the White House Monday, a senior administration official said, requesting anonymity in order to discuss the nomination ahead of Obama. Hagel, 66, served in the Senate with Obama and the two grew close during congressional trips overseas.
• A moderate Republican and decorated Vietnam veteran, Hagel would add a whiff of bipartisanship to Obama's Cabinet if confirmed. But the former Nebraska lawmaker has faced withering criticism from Congress -- Republicans in particular -- since emerging as the front-runner for the Pentagon post. Still, GOP lawmakers have stopped short of saying they might try to block the nomination.
• Hagel is the second straight Obama favorite for a top national security post to face criticism from Capitol Hill even before being nominated. United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state amid charges from GOP senators that she misled the public in her initial accounting of the attacks on Americans at a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.
• After Rice withdrew, Obama named Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, to lead the State Department. Kerry is expected to be easily confirmed by his longtime Senate colleagues.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Struggling for the upper hand in the next round of debt talks, Republicans and Democrats this weekend drew lines in the sand they said they'd never cross when it comes to the U.S. debt limit.
• The tough talk on the Sunday morning talk shows doesn't bode well for voters who are frustrated by the political gridlock.

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