President Barack Obama heads to Florida today to thank members of the military for their service — but given the deadly violence in Afghanistan, the commander-in-chief might use the opportunity to reflect on strategy in the region.

Before Obama takes off, he’ll meet with his foreign policy and national security team to discuss the situation and troops on the ground.

Afghanistan will also be on the agenda at the State Department, where Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew will talk about progress made in hiring civilians there. The topic could come up at the Council on Foreign Relations too; Sen. John Kerry’s speaking there around midday.

But domestic matters could take the top spot, with Senate Democrats reportedly close to securing enough votes to move a national healthcare plan forward. A proposed bill could be sent to the Congressional Budget Office for an official cost estimate. A Thomson Reuters report indicates the U.S. healthcare system is just as wasteful as Obama says it is, but reforms could be paid for by fixing inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud.

In Washington, it’s the day after the Marine Corps Marathon, a massive road race that this year drew more than 20,000 finishers.

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Photo credit: REUTERS/stringer (U.S. military personnel watch as a U.S. helicopter flies over a military base in Ghazni province, October 26, 2009)

Senator John Kerry, who once aspired to host meetings in the Oval Office, will be visiting President Barack Obama in that room Wednesday to talk about his recent trip to Afghanistan.

Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was credited with playing a key role in convincing Afghan President Hamid Karzai to agree to a second round of voting in a disputed national election.

A picture of him whispering into Karzai’s ear on Tuesday was splashed across the major U.S. newspapers on Wednesday and news programs gave detailed reports on Kerry’s behind-the-scenes shuttle diplomacy.

ABC news said over the last five days in Afghanistan, Kerry acted more like a secretary of state than a senator as he played a central role in brokering the agreement with Karzai and his main rival Abdullah Abdullah.

In Kabul on Tuesday after hours of talks with Karzai, Kerry said the Nov. 7 run-off would be difficult and made a point to praise the Afghan leader for endorsing the vote.

Now Kerry has a chance to give advice and his impressions to Obama, who has been meeting with his war council to make a decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. Obama administration officials have stressed that a credible and legitimate government in Kabul is essential for Washington to be able to succeed in Afghanistan.

A new Washington Post-ABC News public opinion poll showed that Americans are evenly and deeply divided over whether Obama should send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, as requested by his top military commander there.

The poll showed 47 percent in favor of a troop buildup in Afghanistan while 49 percent oppose it. The survey also found a large majority of Americans believe the administration lacks a clear plan for dealing with the problems in Afghanistan.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Ahmad Masood (Kerry and Karzai at news conference in Kabul)

Old habits are hard to give up, and that seems especially true for newly-minted Democratic Senator Arlen Specter.

As he entered the chamber through the Republican side for a vote on an amendment to a war funding bill, he stopped at the Republican desk where aides put information about the pending measure.

Democratic Senator John Kerry, standing by the Democratic desk, called out across the chamber to Specter: “Arlen, Arlen, we’re over here!”

Specter looked up from the desk and, with a sheepish grin on his face, walked over to the Democratic side of the Senate chamber.

And even though he has made it clear that he will not always vote with his new Democratic friends, Specter did vote with them to reject a Republican amendment that would have stripped out President Barack Obama’s request to extend up to $108 billion in credit lines to the International Monetary Fund.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Specter with Obama assembling care packages for U.S. troops at the White House)

WASHINGTON - Thirty-seven years ago, dressed in old battle fatigues, John Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as a young hero and a critic of an unpopular war that divided Americans and radicalized a generation.
 
“We are angry because we feel we have been used in the worst fashion by the administration” of President Richard Nixon, Kerry testified on behalf of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
 
Now 65 and a senator from Massaschusetts, Kerry will take over next month as chairman of that committee, which raised questions about the war that ultimately helped lead to the end of the decade-old conflict.
 
“I am honored to serve as chairman of a committee which I know from my own experience as a young man can impact the course of our security and help advance our values and interests in the world,” he said in a statement.
 
Kerry’s remarks on Monday came after Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid named him to head the panel.
 
Kerry had been on the short list of potential nominees to be President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of state.
 
But with Obama deciding instead to go with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York as his top diplomat, Reid, as anticipated, recommended to a Democratic steering committee that Kerry lead the Foreign Relations panel. Kerry is virtually certain to get the job.
 
He would replace Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, who is stepping down to be sworn in next month as Obama’s vice president.
 
Kerry will be one of only a few new Senate Committee chairs as recommended by Reid.
 
The others include Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who is stepping down as chairman of the Commerce Committee to take over as head of the Appropriation Committee.
 
He will replace Robert Byrd, 91, the longest serving senator, who agreed to move aside as head of Appropriations because of concerns about his health and age. Inouye is 84.
 
Reid recommended that Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia take over as chairman of the Commerce Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California replace Rockefeller as chair of the Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York replace Feinstein as chair of the Rules Committee.

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Photo credit: Reuters/POOL (Kerry meets Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad in 2006)

WASHINGTON - When all is said and done with the 2008 presidential election, one of the contenders will be returning to the U.S. Senate,  a harsh reality after coming so close to the White House.

For the first time in 48 years a senator will capture the White House, either Republican Sen. John McCain or Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, while the other will go back to being one of 100 in the deliberative body.

But over 48 years, it has happened many times, most recently in 2004 when Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry lost to George W. Bush.

Kerry told Reuters in January 2005, after the inauguration where he watched his rival be sworn in again as president, that he did not dwell on losing as he resumed his job in the Senate. He quickly began working on legislation aimed at expanding health care for children.

“It would be a silly waste of time to just sit around. I’ve got a great job. Did I want a different job? You’re damn right I did. Would I have been happier with a win? Of course,” he told Reuters at the time.

Both McCain and Obama are up for re-election in 2010.

This year, a few Democrats returned to the Senate after losing their fights for the presidential nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, though Biden ended up as the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

In late June Clinton was greeted back in the Senate by her colleagues with cheers, a couple of tears and hugs after she lost a tough fight with Obama for the Democratic nomination.

Dodd dug into the financial crisis as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Biden as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held court on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The hardest thing to do is to sort of adjust your pace from speaking to the nation and sometimes even to the world about what you want to get done, and then to come back and settle into the pace of the Senate,” Kerry told reporters in June after Clinton returned.

- additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro

- Photo credits: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain enters the Senate building in early October); Molly Riley (Obama in the Hart Senate office building in September).

DENVER - John Kerry, the failed 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, took the stage at this year’s party convention on Wednesday to praise Illinois Sen. Barack Obama – whose career he helped launch — and lambaste John McCain.

Kerry, who said he had been friends with McCain for nearly 22 years, used tough words to criticize the Arizona senator’s evolution from a maverick legislator to a presidential candidate.

“Before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself,” Kerry said, listing what he described as McCain’s shifts on tax cuts, immigration, and climate change.

“Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding?” Kerry said. “Talk about being for it before you’re against it!”

The last line was a send-up of a gaffe Kerry himself made about being in favor of funding for the Iraq war before he was against it.

Many felt the line, which Republicans used to mock him, helped cost the Massachusetts senator the election four years ago.

Kerry gave a big boost to Obama’s career by giving the then-state senator a prime-time speaking role at the ‘04 convention.