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is also expected to get Hagel to state publicly that he’ll do whatever is necessary to ensure that the policy is fully repealed. 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. 

 Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator tapped to become the next secretary of defense, has gone on a charm offensive in the lead-up to his confirmation hearing on Thursday, attempting to beat back a well-funded, aggressive campaign that has sought to depict him as an anti-Israel, homophobic politician eager to gut the Pentagon’s budget. 
 
 Hagel’s pushback during meetings with more than 50 senators and leaders of special interest groups this month appears to have been effective, said an official helping him prepare for the hearing. 
 
 The effort to vilify Hagel and his record, which began when his name was first floated for the job in December, has remained at a buzz but has not reached the type of crescendo that has doomed high-profile political nominations in the past. 
 
 “We’ve had a very aggressive strategy for tackling some of the issues that have been raised,” the Hagel aide said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the nominee’s outlook. “I think we’re in a good place.” 
 
 That’s not to say Hagel’s confirmation is a forgone conclusion, supporters concede. Critics have piled onto the initial critiques with charges that Hagel’s ties to defense contractors and other private-sector firms may create conflicts of interest. They also have criticized his support for a global movement to eliminate nuclear weapons. 
 
 Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hagel will face tough questions about his past statements. Democrats outnumber Republicans on the panel 14 to 12, but committee insiders say they are not assuming that Hagel will get the vote of every Democrat. 
 
 “The confirmation will not be an easy one,” Levin said in a recent interview. “On the other hand, a lot of people who have worked with Hagel remember him as someone who was effective here, involved in foreign affairs, well-qualified.” 
 
 Hagel, 66, a Vietnam veteran, is counting on those bonds, the aide said. 
 
 “If you read the tea leaves, I think he might get more Republican votes than people might think,” the official said. “Those relationships are important.” 
 
 After Thursday’s hearing, senators can submit additional written questions to Hagel. The committee and the full Senate could vote next week. 
 
 Hagel’s opening remarks will offer a blunt rebuttal to his critics, including conservative groups formed to foil his nomination. The official helping Hagel prepare said he also intends to offer a clear-eyed view of the Pentagon’s fiscal challenges, convey his commitment to preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons and voice strong support for the U.S. alliance with Israel. 
 
 Opposition from gay rights advocates over disparaging remarks Hagel made in 1998 about an openly gay man nominated for an ambassadorship has largely subsided. James Hormel, the former diplomat Hagel disparaged as “aggressively gay,” endorsed him this week, saying he believes that Hagel’s views have evolved. Hagel has said he is committed to expanding benefits to same-sex military couples. 
 
 The former senator will also say that he will try to avoid the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, which will come into effect March 1 if the White House and lawmakers do not reach a deal — a prospect that appears increasingly likely. 
 
 Sen. James M. Inhofe (Okla.), the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he and other senators who oppose Hagel have not been convinced by his efforts to clarify, retract or expand on previous positions. 
 
 He said Hagel’s perceived lukewarm commitment to Israel’s security will probably be the nominee’s chief vulnerability. 
 
 Inhofe and five other Republican lawmakers opened a new line of inquiry this week, asking Hagel in a letter to answer detailed questions about his ties to several companies that together paid him more than $1 million last year. 
 
 M.I.C. Industries, a Reston firm, paid Hagel $120,000 last year. Since 2008, the company has received more than $50 million in Defense Department contracts, according to federal contracting records. 
 
 Hagel received $116,000 last year from Chevron, which has billed the Defense Department more than $1.5 billion since 2008. 
 
 It is not uncommon for high-profile former lawmakers to land lucrative consulting fees and posts on company boards. Following protocol, Hagel has agreed to divest his stocks in Chevron and the McCarthy Group, a financial firm he ran after leaving the Senate in 2008, and sever ties with other organizations, including Georgetown University, where he has taught since 2009. 
 
 Hagel became a star professor at the university’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where his geopolitics class routinely had a waiting list. Michael Podberezin, 27, who took the class last fall, said students admired Hagel’s informed, nuanced views on current events. 
 
 Podberezin, an Israeli citizen who served in his country’s armed forces, said he debated with Hagel on policy issues, including whether Israel should attack Iran’s nuclear program and the United States’ response to Syria’s civil war. 
 
 The student said that he was more hawkish than Hagel on both but that the former senator was never dismissive of his views. 
 
 “He is very open to hearing other people’s opinions,” Podberezin said. “But he’s very upfront about what he believes, and he doesn’t sugarcoat it.” 
 
 Julie Tate contributed to this report.
– Chuck Hagel heads to Capitol Hill for his confirmation hearing today, and one thing we can say with confidence: It won't be a John Kerry-esque cakewalk. Hagel's facing skepticism and outright opposition from both sides of the aisle over past stances, particularly on Israel and nuclear proliferation. But he also has friends from his Senate tenure, and has been going on what the Washington Post terms a "charm offensive," meeting with more than 50 senators and special interest group founders. A look at how things stand going into today's hearing: There are 14 Democrats and 12 Republicans on the Armed Services Committee, but insiders say there's no guarantee Hagel will get all the Democrats. "If you read the tea leaves, I think he might get more Republican votes than people might think," adds one aide. A number of senators have seen their states pelted by ads from groups funded by anonymous donors opposing Hagel—including one that sprung up weeks ago for expressly that purpose, the Wall Street Journal reports. "This is unprecedented," says one Democrat. "This is not a presidential campaign." Hagel will offer a "blunt rebuttal" of his critics, the Post says. He'll also voice his support for Israel and his view of the Pentagon's fiscal challenges. Gay rights groups have largely dropped their complaints over Hagel's "aggressively gay" comment; the ambassador who was on the receiving end of that slur has even endorsed him. But questions persist over Hagel's commitment to Israel, despite endorsements from friends like Rabbi Aryeh Azriel of the Temple of Israel in Omaha, CNN reports. Major Hagel foe James Inhofe says Israel is Hagel's biggest vulnerability. But it's far from his only one. Many are also skeptical of Hagel's views on nuclear proliferation (he co-authored a study calling for the US to drop 900 of its roughly 5,000 warheads), defense spending (he's called the Pentagon budget "bloated"), and Afghanistan (he criticized the 2009 surge by saying the US was "marking time as we slaughter more young people"). Inhofe and five other Republicans also asked Hagel in a letter this week to explain his ties to several companies with Defense Department contracts. Hagel has promised to divest himself of all such ties. Other senators to keep an eye on: John McCain, a former Hagel buddy who has been cagey about how he'll vote; tea partier Ted Cruz, who recently said Hagel had "consistently advocated weakness" on foreign affairs; and Lindsey Graham, who has been outspoken about his opposition to Hagel, calling him an "in-your-face nomination" who had "long severed his ties with the Republican party."