Elise Amendola / AP

U.S. Senate candidate Ed Markey shakes hands with a supporter in Boston, Tuesday, April 30, 2013 as he celebrates winning the Democratic primary for the special U.S. Senate election.

The race to fill John Kerry's Massachusetts Senate seat is now set with Republican businessman and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez and long-time Democratic Congressman Edward Markey coming out victorious in primaries on Tuesday.

Markey, who has served in the U.S. House since 1976, defeated fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch after an early endorsement from Kerry who vacated the seat to serve as U.S. secretary of state.

Markey will probably enjoy frontrunner status in the traditionally blue state, but at his victory rally Tuesday night, he and Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned supporters not to take anything for granted.

"This election, ladies and gentleman, will not be easy... [Republican interest groups] are ready to move mountains of money to buy this election for big oil, and the NRA and those who want to turn back the clock on women's rights," said Markey. "Mark my words, these outside special interests are going to march right into Massachusetts beginning tomorrow morning." 

Unlike his Democratic challenger, Gomez is new to politics. The son of Colombian immigrants, Gomez became a Navy SEAL and earned an MBA at Harvard that kick started a career in private equity. He raised significantly more money than opponents U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and state Rep. Dan Winslow.

Steven Senne / AP

Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, Gabriel Gomez, center, celebrates with supporters as he makes his way to the stage to address an audience with a victory speech at a watch party, in Cohasset, Mass., Tuesday, April 30, 2013.

In front of a roomful of supporters Tuesday, Gomez previewed what will likely be the main critique of his opponent heading into the June 25 general election. 

"I want to take you back in time. The year was 1976; 37 years ago.  Gerald Ford was president.  Al Gore had not yet invented the Internet ... That was a lifetime ago. Me, I was just playing little league baseball. And that was when Ed Markey first got elected to Congress," Gomez said.

"Congress has enough politicians.  If we keep sending politicians to Washington we will keep getting the same results," he later added.

Gomez has worked hard to brand himself as a new type of Republican, meaning he's moderate on social issues like gay marriage that could help him make inroads in the largely Democratic Bay State.

The campaign will be of the utmost importance to both parties as the Senate prepares to tackle contentious issues like immigration, federal spending and the continued push for increased gun control.

But despite its importance to the makeup of the Senate, the race failed to garner much attention and had slim turnout, the Associated Press reported. The final days of the campaign were overshadowed by the Boston Marathon bombing, and candidates carefully stepped around the sensitivities of mixing politics in the wake of a deadly attack.

In January, Gov. Deval Partick appointed his former chief of staff, William "Mo" Cowan, to fill Kerry's seat until the June special election.

In solidarity with government employees facing the effects of the mandatory budget cuts under sequestration, Secretary of State John Kerry will follow President Obama’s lead and give 5 percent of his government salary to a charity that benefits State Department employees, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland announced today.

Kerry’s donation will be on top of his regular charitable contributions. The charity or charities haven't been decided yet.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Secretary of State John Kerry

“We have a number of employee charities that serve as -- that benefits folks who have been injured or killed in the line of duty. We have a number of charities that benefit children of our employees. We're still looking at the best choice and whether all of the money will go to one or whether it'll be spread,” Nuland said.

As Secretary of State, Kerry earns an annual salary of $183,500, and 5 percent of his salary is $9,175. But Kerry's wealth -- due to his wife's fortune -- is significantly greater than that salary.

But other major political figures -- including Vice President Biden, House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- have yet to follow Obama's example.

Boehner's office tells NBC News that the speaker hasn't reached a decision yet.

Cantor spokesman Doug Heye says that the sequester has impacted the office's budget, but he declined to answer if the majority leader will give up 5% of his pay.

McConnell's office has so far been unable to answer if the Senate minority leader will give up 5% of his salary. But it maintains that he already returns a significant portion of his office's budget, not just during sequestration. 

NBC also has reached out to the offices of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but has yet to receive a response.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld will not run for the Senate, the latest Republican to decline a bid for the Senate seat vacated by John Kerry.

“While I am grateful for the kind expressions of support and encouragement which I have received, I will not be a candidate for United States Senator from Massachusetts in the special election this year,” Weld said in a statement released Monday.

Weld -- who currently works for the M.L. Strategies in Boston, the government relations and consulting arm of the Mintz Levin law firm -- ran for the Senate in 1996 as the Republican nominee -- and lost to Kerry.

Weld follows former Sen. Scott Brown (R) in declining a run. Brown bowed out of consideration Friday and is widely believed to be mulling a bid for governor next year.

The Boston Herald reported that Mitt Romney's son Tagg is thinking about a run, but insiders don't believe that is likely.

Most believe Brown's exit all but clears the path for the winner of the Democratic primary between Reps. Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch.

Other potential Republicans talked about:

- Former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey
- state Rep. Dan Winslow
- former state Rep. Karyn Polito
- FOX News contributor/talk show host Dr. Keith Ablow
- Gabriel Gomez, ex-Navy SEAL

Updated at 2:20p.m. ET: President Barack Obama’s choice to be secretary of state, Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass, testified Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one day after the same committee conducted a fractious hearing with current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over last September's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Unlike Wednesday’s sometimes-contentious hearings, Republicans welcomed Kerry, who is currently the chairman of the same committee, warmly at the outset.

Sen. John McCain R-Ariz. joined Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren D-Mass. in introducing the nominee, with McCain praising him for “exemplary statesmanship” in his work on an accord to allow opening of normal diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995.

But while the hearing remained cordial, Kerry came under bipartisan pressure on the question of the civil war in Syria in which more than 60,000 have been killed.

Kerry has met several times over the years with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

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McCain, part of a bipartisan group of senators which just got back from a trip to the Mideast and visited camps where Syrian refugees are living, told Kerry they feel “an anger and frustration” and believe that the United States is indifferent to their suffering.

One Syrian teacher told McCain and the other senators, “This next generation of children will take revenge on those that that did not help them.” McCain added, “We are sowing the wind in Syria and we are going to reap the whirlwind.”

He said “We can do a lot more, without putting boots on the ground” – such as a no-fly zone – and he complained that “all I get, frankly, from the (Obama) administration is the fall of Assad is, quote, ‘inevitable.’ I agree, but what about what happens in the meantime?”

Another member of the delegation that toured the Middle East, Sen. Chris Coons, D- Del., complained to Kerry that U.S. humanitarian aid intended for Syrian refugees “has not reached the people on the ground.”

In response to both Coons and McCain, Kerry said “if you have a complete implosion of the state” in Syria after Assad’s fall, it would greatly increase the risk that Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal would fall into the wrong hands.

Kerry also said that “we need to change Bashar Assad’s calculation. Right now President Assad doesn’t think he’s losing -- and the opposition thinks it is winning.” Kerry said the goal of U.S. policy is a peaceful transition to a new government. He said he hoped to confer with the Russian government, a major supporter of Assad, and with others and “increase the readiness of President Assad to see that the die is cast, the handwriting is on the wall….”

Coons told Kerry, “We frankly face a very narrow window to make a difference on the ground in support of the opposition.”  

“I get it,” Kerry answered, saying he did not want to “wind up with them (members of the anti-Saddam Syrian opposition) blaming you” for not doing more to remove Assad from power. But Kerry voiced worry about who would control the country if Assad were forced out of power.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of State, speaks with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., before he testifies at the Senate Foreign Relations committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Jan. 24, 2013.

The committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, asked Kerry about Obama’s nominee to be defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel and his support for Global Zero, a group which calls for the total abolition of nuclear weapons.

Kerry said Hagel would be “a strong secretary of defense secretary” and that Hagel would not weaken the U.S. nuclear arsenal which serves as a deterrent to an attack on the United States.

A world without any nuclear weapons, Kerry said, was a goal “worth aspiring to,” but “we’re not talking about today’s world” and it might take “many centuries” to achieve abolition of nuclear weapons.

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Kerry also addressed Iran's nuclear program.

“The president has made it definitive--we will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” he said in his opening statement to the committee. “I repeat here today: our policy is not containment. It is prevention and the clock is ticking on our efforts to secure responsible compliance.”

He added, “No one should mistake our resolve to reduce the nuclear threat.”

He said Obama “knows that American foreign policy is not defined by drones and deployments alone. We cannot allow the extraordinary good we do to save and change lives to be eclipsed entirely by the role we have had to play since September 11th, a role that was thrust upon us.”

Referring to the impasse over reducing budget deficits and the growing national debt, Kerry said to the committee members that “the first priority of business which will affect my credibility as a diplomat – and our credibility as nation – as we work to help other countries create order, is whether America at last puts its own fiscal house in order.”

In his opening statement, Kerry showed one brief moment of emotion. His voice shook when he referred to his father, who was a Foreign Service officer. Kerry said he was proud that “the Senate is in my blood – but equally proud that so too is the Foreign Service. My father’s work under presidents both Democrat and Republican took me and my siblings around the world for a personal journey that brought home the sacrifices” that American diplomats abroad make or their country.

John Moore / Getty Images

Sens. John Kerry and John McCain during the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 21, 2013 in Washington.

One day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted a sometimes fractious hearing with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over last September's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, the panel holds its confirmation hearing Thursday morning on the man President Barack Obama has chosen to succeed her: Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Wednesday’s hearing with Clinton in the witness chair was marked by some anger and recriminations over the attack in Libya that resulted in the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Clinton at times clashed with Republicans over the administration’s version of events in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attacks, at one point forcefully arguing with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., over the precise origins or motives of the attackers.

She intensely asked, "Was it because of a protest or is it because of guys out for a walk one night and they decide they go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?"

Clinton also sketched the strategic landscape that Kerry will face in his new job if he’s confirmed by the Senate, as is nearly certain.

Clinton told the committee that the United States cannot allow the North African nation of Mali, just south of Algeria, to become a base of operations for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), warning of the risk of AQIM attacks on the United States itself.

“We are in for a struggle,” she predicted. “But it is a necessary struggle. We cannot permit northern Mali to become a safe haven. People say to me all the time, well, AQIM hasn't attacked the United States. Well, before 9-11, 2001, we hadn't been attacked on our homeland since, I guess, the War of 1812 and Pearl Harbor. So you can't say, well, because they haven't done something they're not going to do it.”

She also sounded the alarm about the proliferation of weapons from caches in Libya that were “liberated” after Moammar Gadhafi was toppled, with U.S. and NATO help, in 2011.

“Libya was awash in weapons” before Gadhafi was overthrown, she said. “Obviously, there were additional weapons introduced. But the vast, vast majority came out of Gadhafi warehouses ... and then went on the black market, were seized by militias, seized by other groups, and have made their way out of Libya into other countries in the region, and have made their way to Syria, we believe.”

She said the Algerian terrorists who held foreigners hostage at a natural gas plant last week, killing 37 of them, were armed with weapons from Libya.

Syria a looming challenge
Clinton also highlighted another looming challenge for Obama and Kerry: the civil war in Syria in which 60,000 people have been killed. Obama has decided to not impose a no-fly zone against the regime of President Bashar Assad, but he now faces growing bipartisan pressure to give more aid to the Syrian opposition.

On Tuesday, a group of three Democratic and two Republican senators just back from a trip to the Middle East urged Obama to send more aid to the Syrian refugees; some urged him to impose a no-fly zone and to provide weapons to anti-Assad fighters.

“We are all in agreement that more needs to be done to assist militarily the opposition within Syria,” said one of those senators, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. He added that the debate over what the Obama administration ought to be doing in Syria “is going to be reinvigorated” because the fall of Assad, thought to be imminent a year ago, now is in doubt.

“Clearly now, he is using his air force for nothing more than the slaughter and massacre of his own people,” Blumenthal said. “And the United States ought to be finding a way to either disarm or deflect or somehow diminish that power.”

Clinton said Wednesday in her Senate testimony that, “It is a red line for this administration with respect to Syria concerning the use of chemical weapons. Syria, as you probably know, in addition to having the fourth largest army before this revolution has a very significant supply of chemical and biological weapons.”

The Obama administration, she said, is trying “to prevent those from falling into the wrong hands, Jihadist hands, Hezbollah hands .. .”

She added, “This Pandora's box, if you will, of weapons coming out of these countries in the Middle East and North Africa is the source of one of our biggest threats.”

Kerry, a member of the Senate since 1985, is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but will be ceding that post to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

A Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, Kerry was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 and won 59 million votes, but lost to President George W. Bush.

In announcing the nomination, Obama said on Dec. 21, “John’s entire life has prepared him for this role.  As the son of a Foreign Service officer, he has a deep respect for the men and women of the State Department -- the role they play in advancing our interests and values, the risks that they undertake and the sacrifices that they make along with their families.”  

Related: Clinton takes responsibility in Benghazi attack, clashes with Republicans

Updated 2:20 p.m. -- Saying that his new pick for the nation's top diplomatic job is "not going to need a lot of on-the-job training," President Barack Obama announced Friday his nomination of Senate Foreign Relations Committee head and onetime Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry as the next Secretary of State.

"I think it's fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as John Kerry," Obama said at the announcement at the White House as Kerry stood at his side. "And this makes him a perfect choice to guide American diplomacy in the years ahead."

Kerry, who has been considered the overwhelming frontrunner for the job since U.N. ambassador Susan Rice withdrew herself from consideration, is likely to face few hurdles during his Senate confirmation.

First elected in 1984, Kerry served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy and became a famed demonstrator against the Vietnam War. Since his failed presidential bid in 2004, he has risen to prominence as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, going on high-profile visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and helping to negotiate an arms treaty with Russia.

"Having served with valor in Vietnam, he understands that we have a responsibility to use American power wisely, especially our military power," Obama said of Kerry. "And he knows from personal experience that when we send our troops into harm's way, we must give them a sound strategy, clear mission, and the resources that they need to get the job done."

The former presidential nominee also served as Obama's stand-in for Mitt Romney for debate preparation during the 2012 campaign, a role Obama referenced in announcing Kerry's new assignment.

"John, I'm looking forward to working with you instead of debating you," he joked.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., leads a hearing Dec. 20 on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Rice, the president's reported original pick for the job, faced vehement opposition from some Senate Republicans who questioned information she presented in the immediate wake of the Benghazi consulate attacks in September. Faced with a bruising potential confirmation battle, she withdrew herself from the running for the Secretary of State post on December 13.

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who had been fierce critics of Rice’s potential nomination reacted warmly to the choice of Kerry Friday.  McCain said he has “confidence in his ability to carry out" the job while Graham called Kerry "a solid choice."

If confirmed, Kerry will replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has indicated she will step down from the post early next year.

Clinton was unable to attend the White House announcement, said the president, who noted that she is still recuperating from a reported illness but that she "could not be more excited" about Kerry getting the nod.

In a lengthy written statement, Clinton called Kerry "an excellent choice."

"President Obama and I have often asked Senator Kerry to undertake delicate diplomatic missions and to deliver difficult messages," she said in praising his past diplomatic and political experience. "He has forged strong relationships with leaders around the world.  As I have learned, being able to talk candidly as someone who has won elections and also lost them is an enormous asset when engaging with emerging or fragile democracies."

Assuming Kerry is confirmed and therefore resigns from the United States Senate, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will appoint a temporary replacement for Kerry's seat before a special election held between 145 and 160 days from his resignation date.

Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who was defeated in November by Elizabeth Warren, is possible candidate in that special election, while several Massachusetts House members are also eying a run on the Democratic side.

Jason Reed / Reuters

Sen. John Kerry waves at the end of his speech during the final session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on September 6.

Updated at 7:01 a.m. ET: When he ran for president, many in the GOP slammed Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., pilloried for his late opposition to the Vietnam War and his famed flip on the conflict in Iraq. But, as criticism mounted against U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as the apparent frontrunner to become the next secretary of State, Kerry was publicly embraced by Republican colleagues in the Senate as a comparatively slam-dunk candidate to replace Hillary Clinton.

Now that Rice has withdrawn her nomination to the post, as NBC News reported exclusively on Thursday, all eyes turn to the onetime Democratic nominee. An official close to the process told NBC's Andrea Mitchell late Thursday that Kerry is now almost certain to get the job. "There were two people on the list," the person said. "Two minus one is one." 

In her withdrawal letter to the president, Rice said she was convinced her nomination would prove "lengthy, disruptive and costly" as Republicans have raised questions about her role in the public response to the 9/11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  The exclusive NBC News interview with Rice aired Thursday on Rock Center with Brian Williams.

In a statement, Kerry praised Rice as an "extraordinarily capable and dedicated public servant" and alluded to his own past political battles.

"As someone who has weathered my share of political attacks and understands on a personal level just how difficult politics can be, I've felt for her throughout these last difficult weeks, but I also know that she will continue to serve with great passion and distinction," he said. 

EXCLUSIVE: Rice drops out of running for secretary of state

Elected to the Senate in 1984, Kerry rose to national prominence as a foreign policy expert when he returned to the Senate after his failed 2004 presidential bid. The chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee since 2009, he has made high-profile visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and helped negotiate the new arms treaty with Russia that was signed in 2010.

Respected in the upper chamber and nationally as a shaper of the nation's foreign policy, Republicans have indicated that Kerry would face little opposition to be confirmed to the secretary of State post. "I think John Kerry would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues," said Republican Susan Collins, R-Maine, late last month. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a close ally of former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, declared that Kerry would have "an easy time" being confirmed in the Senate. 

Kerry's confirmation would likely not come without some minor re-litigation of past controversies.  One of Congress's richest members, he was painted as an out-of-touch patrician by his presidential foes. The onetime Navy lieutenant was criticized by opponents during his campaign for his high-profile protests of the Vietnam War, including his nationally-covered challenge to a congressional panel in 1971 to defend the deaths of men "for a mistake."

Kerry worked closely with the president in the just-finished election, playing Romney in debate preparations and had been seen as a potential choice to head either the State Department or the Department of Defense. Earlier today a top Pentagon official told NBC News that former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel appeared to be the likely choice for secretary of Defense.

But the main headache for Democrats if Kerry is appointed will be the triggering of a special election in Massachusetts next year to replace him. Democrats recently celebrated the ousting of Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who won a January 2010 special election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Elizabeth Warren bested Brown in the heavily blue state by a margin of 54 percent to Brown's 46 percent.

If Kerry is picked, Brown will be viewed as a formidable Republican candidate to replace him. A wider bench of Democrats, including former Senate candidate Martha Coakley, may vie for the nomination.

But whoever wins the potential replacement race would have a grueling path, as would voters weary of statewide contests. Another special election would be the state's second in three years, and Kerry's successor would be up for re-election again in 2014.

It’s not just Benghazi anymore.

One of the most controversial energy projects in the nation also has become a flash point in the drama surrounding who may become the next secretary of state – and it’s coming from the left instead of the right.

Back on Nov. 28, “OnEarth,” published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, dug into U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s financial disclosures and found that she and her husband have a stake in TransCanada, the company pushing for the Keystone XL Pipeline to be built.

NRDC officials say it's an important issue that must be discussed during the nomination process. But the timing of the report raises questions, as it is being surfaced by an environmental activist community that has previously given support to another potential secretary of state candidate – Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

The decision on whether to approve the pipeline goes through the State Department.

“If confirmed by the Senate, one of Rice’s first duties likely would be consideration, and potentially approval, of the controversial mega-project,” Scott Dodd at “OnEarth” wrote. “Rice's financial holdings could raise questions about her status as a neutral decision maker.”

Dodd noted that “Rice owns stock valued between $300,000 and $600,000 in TransCanada, the company seeking a federal permit to transport tar sands crude 1,700 miles to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, crossing fragile Midwest ecosystems and the largest freshwater aquifer in North America.”

Bill McKibben, an anti-pipeline activist, told the publication: “It’s really amazing that they’re considering someone for Secretary of State who has millions invested in these companies. The State Department has been rife with collusion with the Canadian pipeline builders, and it’s really distressing to have any sense that that might continue to go on.”

Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, the NRDC's director of international programs, sounded a less strident tone a day later: "What's most important is that she rid herself of her holdings in TransCanada and other tar sands-related companies, and we're confident she will do that ... What's most important is that we have a good, thorough review done.”

Danielle Droitsch, a senior attorney for the NRDC and director of the Canada Project, told First Read: “We think Ambassador Rice has the credentials to be secretary of state, but if she were nominated, and then appointed, these holdings would have to be addressed.”

She added that “high-level officials dealing with Keystone should not have any conflicts of interest.”

The likelihood is that, if nominated, Rice will have to divest herself of her TransCanada investment to avoid a conflict of interest.

The environmental group’s effort to shed light on Rice’s financial interest in TransCanada could be just an attempt, if Rice is nominated, to get a “thorough review” and make sure it has a staunch ally in trying to thwart the project, as Casey-Lefkowitz said.

But could it also be a signal that the NRDC prefers another candidate for the job – Kerry, the other of the final two candidates reportedly being considered for the post?

After all, environmental groups have strongly supported Kerry in the past and have a long working relationship with him. Like they would for most Democrats in a presidential election, for example, the NRDC and the League of Conservation Voters, among others, ran ads in the 2004 election boosting Kerry.

LCV even endorsed Kerry before the New Hampshire Democratic primary that year, although it has notably not spoken out about Rice.

Droitsch, however, would not address whom the NRDC prefers for the job.

“We’re trying to signal that the pipeline decision has to be conflict-free,” Droitsch said. “That would pertain to any potential nominee. The president has the prerogative to nominate the person he believes is best for the position.”

The Senate will then raise questions, however, she said. And “now is important to raise the issue ... We want to make sure that anyone who’s being considered would be free of those conflicts. That’s our primary interest right now.”

The NRDC, which has been very involved in efforts to block Keystone, is the environmental interest group most pressing the issue of Rice’s financials.

But others might not be as keen to see Kerry leave Capitol Hill. After all, consider that green groups already spent a lot of money trying to oust Republican Scott Brown from the Senate – and were successful.

But if Kerry becomes secretary of state (or even defense secretary), his seat would become vacant, raising the potential for a costly and competitive special election.

“Who cares if the U.N. ambassador has a TransCanada stock. Who cares if the head of the FDA has TransCanada stock,” said a Democratic strategist and ally of the administration who is a veteran of confirmation battles.

“If she [Rice] were to be nominated, she would go through a process by which we look for financials conflicts. Maybe this stock would be identified as something that posed a conflict, and she would sell," the strategist said. "But she hasn't gone through that process, because she's not a nominee to anything. If they want to say that if she is the nominee, she should sell the stock, that's fine. But you can't legitimately hit her for having it now. And that is likely why NRDC backed off and no other environmental groups have piled-on.”

What really is going on here likely has less to do with Rice and whether she should ascend to secretary of state, and more with the NRDC leveraging pressure on the president and the administration to make sure the pipeline is rejected again once it comes up for approval. And that could be soon.

The next step in that approval phase, in fact, could come as early as next week, Droitsch said. TransCanada has applied for a shortened pipeline in hopes of having that approved – something the NRDC strongly opposes. A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement could be released by the State Department as early as next week, Droitsch said.

“It is critically important for there to be independent decision-makers, free of conflict of interest, who can take an independent view,” she said.

She then tied the administration’s decision on the pipeline to climate change, an issue that has regained prominence as a result of Hurricane Sandy. In the days following Sandy’s landfall, in fact, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed President Barack Obama for his leadership on climate change.

How Obama decides on the pipeline “signals where the U.S. is headed in terms of importing dirty fuels, inconsistent with an administration that is committed to fighting climate change,” Droitsch said.

“We’re confident President Obama understands the seriousness around the issues surrounding this pipeline. Approving it sends the wrong signal about our country’s commitment to climate change. Yes, he’s under a lot of pressure, but the public is very concerned about this. It’s not a decision I know he’ll view lightly.”

HEMPSTEAD, NY -- Sen. John Kerry took the somewhat unusual step of spinning reporters before a presidential debate Tuesday, arguing that President Barack Obama accepts responsibility for a terrorist attack in Libya while hitting Republicans for politicizing that incident.

Kerry, a top debate adviser to Obama, told reporters in the hours leading up to tonight's second presidential debate that Republicans had turned last month's attack on a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi -- which left four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya, dead -- into a "political football."

"My view is that the people of the United States understand that when there is a tragedy that involves the loss of life at an embassy and people go through what we've gone through you bond together as a country and you don't make it a political football," Senator John Kerry told reporters here when asked if the issue of Libya was a vulnerability for Obama. "I don't remember a political football when 3000 people died about 40 miles away from here and you had 9/11."

"There was no political football," Kerry continued. "We came together as a country. And I think its disgraceful to be trying to make this a political issue."

Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and current Romney stand-in in Obama's debate preparations, said that despite Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's assertion in a series of interviews Monday night that she bore ultimate responsibility for the attacks in Benghazi, that the president too, took responsibility.

"The president takes responsibility and Hillary Clinton have taken responsibility. That should be enough for people, and its a disgrace to come out and make that a political issue. A disgrace," Kerry said, adding later "[Secretary Clinton's] accepting responsibility as the secretary of state and I'm confident the president accepts responsibility. I know he does, as President of the United States."

Asked later whether the proverbial buck stops with the president, the senior Massachusetts senator responded tightly: "Of course it does. Absolutely."

Kerry's comments on the attacks last month in Libya, which have emerged as a GOP talking point designed to undermine the president on national security issues, could have the effect of a pre-buttal to the evening's debate should Romney bring up the issue in tonight's debate, as he has on the stump in recent weeks.

"The vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of State Department officials," Mr. Romney said at a rally in Richmond, Va last Friday, referring to Vice President Biden's assertion that he and the president had not been personally aware of requests for more security at the consulate on 9/11. "He's doubling down on denial."

Romney advisers have been coy on whether or not Mr. Romney would target the Libya issue in tonight's debate, with one senior member of Mr. Romney's team saying it was "hard to predict" whether the issue would come up. Romney himself has only brought up the issue sporadically, not yet fully integrating it into his typical attacks against Obama, which still focus primarily on economic issues.

Updated 6:40 p.m. - CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Sen. John Kerry will launch a broadside against Mitt Romney this evening on an issue -- foreign policy -- that has largely taken a backseat to a weeklong focus on the economy.

Jason Reed / REUTERS

Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry, D-Ma., stands at the podium during a walk through of the stage area ahead of the second session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 5, 2012.

Kerry, the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will cast GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's foreign policy as either incomprehensible or a retread of the Bush administration.

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"In this campaign, we have a fundamental choice: Will we protect our country and our allies, advance our interests and ideals, do battle where we must, and make peace where we can?" Kerry will say, according to advance excerpts of his speech. "Or will we entrust our place in the world to someone who just hasn't learned the lessons of the last decade?" 

Slideshow: Democratic National Convention

Democrats have criticized Romney for barely referencing foreign policy in his nomination acceptance speech last week in Tampa, making no reference at all to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that stretched must of the last decade. (Romney has defended himself by pointing to remarks he delivered the day before that focused largely on issues of foreign policy and national security.)

Ahead of tonight's speeches, the Romney campaign argued Thursday would be an excercise in rewriting history in Obama's record.

"An inventory of his record shows that by nearly all measures, President Obama has diminished American influence abroad and compromised our interests and values," wrote Romney policy director Lanhee Chen.

Foreign policy hasn't been at the forefront of this week's Democratic National Convention, but Kerry will look to turn the spotlight tonight to that issue, on which Obama owns an advantage over Romney in the polls.

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Kerry will take aim at two of Romney's central criticisms of Obama in the speech, relating to Israel and the management of the war in Afghanistan. (Romney has accused Obama of throwing Israel "under the bus," and has criticized Obama's timetable for withdrawing from Afghanistan too dangerous, though Romney wouldn't keep a full level of troops there for that much longer.)

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"Barack Obama promised always to stand with Israel -- to tighten sanctions on Iran and take nothing off the table. Again and again the other side has lied about where this President stands and what this President has done," Kerry will say.

On Afghanistan, the Massachusetts senator (and potential future secretary of state in the Obama administration) will say: "It isn’t fair to say Mitt Romney doesn’t have a position on Afghanistan. He has every position."