WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Friends of Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Senate's sharpest critic of President Bush's Iraq policy, say there is no chance he will endorse a Democrat for president this year.

That does not mean, however, that Hagel necessarily will back the Republican candidate, his friend John McCain. That could depend on whether McCain devises an Iraq exit strategy. Hagel and McCain, who occupy offices in the same second floor corridor of the Russell Senate Office Building, have been spotted conferring on two recent occasions.

A footnote: Although the conservative Hagel is an unlikely running mate for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, he conceivably could end up as secretary of defense for either Democrat.

HILLARY FOR V.P.

As Hillary Clinton's presidential odds lengthen, feminist supporters have begun arguing that she must be the vice presidential candidate if Barack Obama wins the presidential nomination.

Obama was not responsive to this question on Wednesday's ABC network debate, but his advisers say it is out of the question. Clinton as vice president, they say, would weaken rather than strengthen the ticket.

A footnote: Many Democrats would like to see a military man as Obama's running mate, and specifically mention retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni. CENTCOM commander in chief (covering Iraq) during the Clinton administration, Zinni is a critic of President Bush's national security policies. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark is a vice presidential prospect who, unlike Zinni, has a little political experience. He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and actually won one primary (Oklahoma).

OBAMA'S PASTOR

Prominent Democrats in Michigan made no public outcry but were appalled to learn that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's radical former minister, would keynote the annual NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner in Detroit April 27.

Democrats carried Michigan for president by relatively modest margins in 2000 and 2004, and party insiders worry about Obama's problems getting the white workingman's general election vote in Midwestern industrial states. They fear that Wright will alienate Michigan's white workers by what he says in Detroit.

A footnote: Hillary Clinton's Michigan backers blame her national strategists for ruining chances for a re-voted primary in Michigan that probably would have benefited her over Obama. Continued...