Hagel's options include a bid for the 2008 presidential nomination as either a Republican or an independent, a re-election race to the seat he has held since 1996 or retirement from elected office.
Most Republican observers believe that Hagel will announce a bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday in Omaha, but warn that he largely keeps his own counsel, making it difficult to predict his plans.
Mike Buttry, a spokesman for Hagel, was tight-lipped about the senator's forthcoming announcement, saying only, "He will hold a news conference Monday regarding his future plans."
Hagel has risen to political prominence in part because of his increasingly vitriolic criticism of President Bush's approach to the war in Iraq, but his record is reliably conservative on other matters -- a profile that may be appealing to a broad cross-section of potential voters.
"He is a movement conservative with lots of liberal support because of his public criticism of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war," said former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1992 and, like Hagel, is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War.
A major problem for Hagel is that while he may be some Democrats' favorite Republican, it remains unclear whether he could seriously compete for the Republican presidential nomination given his ardent opposition to the Bush Administration's Iraq strategy.
The media will swoon over him, and the more liberal elements of the media - The New York Times, CBS News, NBC, ABC and CNN - will do what they can to promote Hagel as a serious, smart, thoughtful and deserving candidate. You won't hear much from them about his stance on gay marriage or abortion or all the other issues that the media often focuses on with other conservative candidates.
But, mark it down and tape it to your Frigidaire: Hagel is not going to be the Republican presidential nominee. His views on Iraq are out of step with the majority of Republicans - three fourths of Republicans, according to one recent poll, still support President Bush on Iraq and still believe that victory is the only option there.
Hagel may enjoy his support among Democrats and liberals, but they don't generally vote in Republican primaries - and they wouldn't vote for him in November, either. They know he's too conservative for them on all the other issues - issues they consider more important than winning the war on terror - and Republicans who believe winning the war is the salient issue of our day know we can't afford a president who is right on all the other issues but wrong on the one that matters most.
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