FT. LEAVENWORTH, Ks. — So here I am, on the second floor of a Days Inn just across the Missouri River, in a place where gas goes for an impressive $1.90/gallon. In an hour I’ll be at the Army/Marine Corps counterinsurgency conference for the Washington Independent and it’s not clear to me whether I’ll be posting during the day. Let me suggest going to our website for a massive amount of election coverage. And why not start out with this new piece of mine about how John Kerry is on the short list to become Obama’s secretary of state?

Obama campaign advisers declined to comment on the record for this story. Nor would many Democratic foreign-policy experts who might join an Obama administration. But off the record, Obama aides made clear that Kerry’s name is on a very short list of contenders to become the country’s top diplomat. Another person talked up by the great mentioner is Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a Vietnam War veteran whose foreign-policy views align surprisingly well with Obama’s.

 That, of course, is rather contingent on what happens today. The Windy will have a mass groupblog/quasi-Twitter going this evening that I’ll be a part of. Also I hear that Jezebel will have fun things happening for election coverage, starting with a special Facts Of Life-style reunion Crappy Hour at the 10 o’clock(ish) hour.