Sen. Kerry eyed for Secretary of Defense, Rice for State

>>> but we have to begin with breaking news out of washington. "the washington post " is reporting tonight that president obama is considering massachusetts senator john kerry as his new secretary of defense. that's right, defense. putting the decorated veteran and former presidential candidate in charge at the pentagon and not at the state department , as had been widely speculated. "the washington post " is sourcing its reporting to unnamed senior administration officials. senator kerry is also not commenting tonight. if senator kerry does move to the cabinet for defense or any other post, there will be an immediate political question for the democrats as to what happens to his u.s. senate seat in massachusetts. senator kerry had mostly been talked about as a potential replacement for secretary of state hillary clinton . the post reporting tonight that that nomination for secretary of state is instead almost certain to go to united nations ambassador susan rice . republicans tried to make into a scandal susan rice 's comments after the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. her comments that the attack was thought to be linked to islamist protests rather than an organized terrorist attack . but the administration and the intelligence committee have stepped up to defend her remarks that sunday. and if she is tapped by president obama to replace secretary clinton as secretary of state that would imply that the president is willing to keep backing susan rice up all the way. the current defense secretary is leon panetta . he used to run the cia where he was succeeded by general petraeus . now that seat is also available. the same administration sources talking to "the post" also tell ing that the job is his. the job has made his desire to leave public service , but if he does reconsider, apparently the cia chief job should be his. if mr. brennan decides he does not want the job, the current acting director michael morell looks likely to keep the job. we'll have more on the questions surrounding the petraeus scandal and his abrupt departure later on in the show with a reporter who broke the story, andrea mitchell .