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"He's John McCain Junior!"

That was the most frequent comment I heard from Republican activists about U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel while I was working in Iowa politics during the 2004 election cycle. Trust me when I tell you they did not mean it as a compliment.

I have known Chuck Hagel for the past decade, ever since he first kicked off his campaign to become one of my United States Senators. I have always found him to be smooth, charming and arrogant.

Now Hagel thinks he can be president. I disagree. In fact, based on what I have heard from Iowa Republicans, I seriously doubt that he can win that state's first-in-the-nation contest for his party's nomination, even though it is right next door to his home state of Nebraska. Such a loss would be an embarrassment, to say the least.

To be fair, in his eight years in the United States Senate, Chuck Hagel has amassed a fairly conservative voting record, particularly on economic issues. No doubt, he will tout that record if and when he begins his run for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.

But Hagel has the maddening tendency to say the most embarrassing things about Bush Administration policies at the worst possible time. He did it several times during last year's presidential campaign -- once right before the election. So blatant were his comments that they actually caused the media to begin suggesting that he was vying for a spot in a John Kerry Administration, perhaps secretary of defense.

A decorated Vietnam veteran who still carries shrapnel in his chest, Hagel started his political career as chief of staff for a Nebraska congressman in the early seventies. After a stint as deputy director of the Veteran's Administration during the Reagan years, Hagel served as head of the USO before heading back to Nebraska in the early nineties.

Hagel was elected to the U.S. Senate from Nebraska in 1996. By then, he had become the head of an investment-banking firm in Omaha and a millionaire in his own right. This afforded him the luxury of bankrolling a good portion of his own campaign.

During that first race for the Senate, Hagel surprised the political establishment by defeating two experienced Nebraska politicians: Attorney General Don Stenberg in the primary and Gov. Ben Nelson in the general.

Like his fellow Vietnam War hero and former Senate colleague, Bob Kerrey ("Cosmic Bob" to those of us who watched his sometimes off-the-wall behavior as governor and senator), Hagel seems intent on playing the role of the maverick whose one predictable trait is unpredictability. That, combined with his more than ample ego, leads him into political waters few others dare to tread. As you might imagine, this creates massive political heartburn for supporters and party leaders alike.

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