Multiple national news sources are reporting that former Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel is the leading candidate for Secretary of Defense. NBC News says Hagel “is likely to be President Obama’s” pick, Bloomberg News says the President spoke with Hagel about the nomination last Tuesday, and CNN says he’s met with both Mr Obama and vice president Joe Biden.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined to comment Thursday on whether Obama is considering the 66-year old Hagel…a professor at Georgetown University and chairman of the Atlantic Council international affairs think tank…saying only that the two-term former GOP lawmaker is widely respected.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts – like Hagel, a Vietnam veteran – had also been seen as a top candidate for defense, but with Susan Rice withdrawing from consideration as Secretary of State, Kerry’s now seen as the leading choice there.

Hagel angered many Republicans with his frequent criticisms of President Bush’s handling of the Iraq War, his perceived tacit support for Obama against John McCain in 2008, and his jabs at the foreign policy credentials of VP nominee Sarah Palin…anger that rekindled with his endorsement of Nebraska Democratic Senate candidate Bob Kerrey.

As Hagel campaigned Kerrey’s unsuccessful Senate bid, several Nebraska Republicans, including Hagel’s successor…fellow Republican Mike Johanns…accused him of endorsing Kerrey because he was angling for a job in a second Obama administration.

Hagel blasted Johanns at the time in a news conference saying “Mr. Johanns is all-knowing and understands everything,” “If that was my motive, what the hell am I doing in Nebraska?” Hagel…who has been co-chairman of Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board…told reporters he had been some offered “pretty senior jobs” by Obama but had turned them down.

Nebraska Republican Party Chairman Mark Fahleson says Hagel “burned the last timber in the bridge that remained between” him and the party when he endorsed Kerrey.