Senior administration officials are telling NPR, The Associated Press, The New York Times and other news outlets that President Obama will today announce he is nominating Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to be his next secretary of state.
Kerry's name has been atop most lists of likely successors to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, especially since U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice removed her name from consideration.
Kerry, you'll recall, was the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. He is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Kerry is 69.
Clinton has said for months that she planned to step down early the president's second term.
