This morning on MSNBC Andrea Mitchell asked Obama strategist David Axelrod about rumors that Hagel will accompany the senator on his Middle East trip:

I've written before that whoever goes with Obama (if anyone) will immediately vault into the first tier of Obama's veepstakes. Hagel, however, seems like a longshot. As with McCain and Lieberman, an Obama/Hagel ticket is intriguing, but apart from his antiwar stance, Hagel is very much a conservative. The Left will tolerate some degree of "lurching" -- in Bob Herbert's phrase today -- from Obama, but to put the White House within a heartbeat of a Republican is a bridge too far. As with a McCain/Lieberman ticket, the convention delegates might revolt if Obama picks Hagel.