By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Barbara Boxer, the scrappy junior senator from California, is up for re-election to a fourth term in 2010, and she's taking pains to scare off a circling foe by raising lots of money. The potential challenger: former Hewlett-Packard boss and 2008 John McCain adviser Carly Fiorina, who's recovering from a bout with cancer. Boxer's not waiting. She's sent donors at least seven fundraising warnings about the likely Fiorina challenge.

By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers

As if the life of genuine nice guy Bob Schieffer, boss of CBS's Face the Nation, isn't hectic enough, this summer he's piled on the role of mentor and Washington cultural ambassador to a Russian student. And not just any kid: Twenty-one-year-old Dariya Fadeeva was late to school on Sept. 1, 2004, when terrorists attacked her Chechen school, injuring her sister and killing more than 300, half of them children.

Pollster John Zogby regularly updates our Obamameter. Each week, Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis, and interaction with major players to come up with a rating of between 1 and 100. The Obamameter, however, is not a poll-based job approval number. Instead, the Washington Whispers Obamameter is Zogby's judgment on the performance of the president once multiple factors are considered. In this week's Obamameter, Zogby looks at the hurdles to major legislation and ties in the election of Sen. Al Franken and Obama's outreach to gays.

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

As public support drops for President Obama's agenda and Republicans hype their claims that he's creating a socialist environment, the GOP is seeing more ideological House candidates jump in for the 2010 midterm elections. "These candidates have a simple message," says a GOP strategist helping to recruit House challengers. "It's 'Somebody has to stop this guy.' " Before the "angry candidates" began signing up to run, Republican officials say the dominant challengers were the "practical" ones who were playing the odds that a new president historically loses several House seats in the midterms.

Forty-nine years ago in July, a young senator from the state of Massachusetts won the Democratic nomination for president and pulled his former Senate rival onto the ticket. John F. Kennedy and running mate Lyndon B. Johnson began gearing up for a tough campaign against Vice President Richard Nixon. Whispers reported that as Kennedy was accepting the nomination, he was already thinking about challenging Nixon to a televised debate. Nixon was trying to lose some pounds, while Kennedy was trying to gain them. And Kennedy was making overtures to "Rockefeller Republicans" who were upset that their moderate Republican candidate did not make it on to the presidential ticket.

By Amanda Ruggeri, Washington Whispers

As chair of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii oversees the VA's healthcare system. But that doesn't mean the World War II veteran uses it himself. "All these years I've used my own private system," he says, going to his doctors in Hawaii. But that's because it's "easier," not because he doesn't like or trust the VA. Akaka notes that he's worked for the government for years, first for the state, then in the House, and eventually in the Senate, so he's chosen to use government healthcare. Akaka also wasn't eligible to use VA benefits when he first left the service and isn't eligible now, although he has been for a handful of years in the past. He says, "It's not that I don't want to use the VA system. . . . From what I know about the VA today, I would tell you their system is good, and I would tell you that the VA generally provides high-quality care for millions of veterans across the nation."

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Despite some media reports that suggest new Minnesota Sen. Al Franken won't be sworn in for at least a week, Democratic leadership sources tell us it will happen early next week. "Either Monday or Tuesday," said an aide to Majority Leader Harry Reid. "There will be no delay," he added, dismissing media speculation that it might take two weeks for Franken to officially replace ousted Sen. Norm Coleman. It will most likely come early since Franken is eager to come to Washington and Reid has set aside next week for floor consideration of key appropriations bills, which he wants to speed through so that the Senate can take up the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

By Andrew Burt, Washington Whispers

Yesterday was a busy one for Obama adviser David Axelrod, so it's only fitting that he ended the day nestled in one of the city's hot spots with some healthful comfort food. Just hours after reading to school kids, Axe was seen in the up-and-coming Logan Circle section of the city, dining at the popular Logan Tavern. The restaurant is known for its wasabi meatloaf and portobello and tofu burritos. Axelrod chose a turkey steak, a house salad, and chardonnay. From the window of the tavern, it's not too hard to see a red and blue mural of Obama's face that overlooks an alley just across the street. Maybe Axelrod, comfortable under the eyes of his longtime friend and boss, will report good things back to the president, always on the lookout for a new date-night hot spot.

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

We're hearing lots of buzz about another Republican who plans to challenge Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, named just this year to replace Ken Salazar, who was plucked from the Senate by President Obama to run the Interior Department. The word is that this potential candidate, Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier, is part Obama, part Reagan.

Frazier is an African-American, father of three, and board member of Engineers Without Borders, group that helps underdeveloped communities in Africa and South America. Friends say he has the focused passion for his ideas of an Obama. As a small-government, lower-taxes Republican who cofounded a charter school, he has the views of Reagan.

By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers

Bob Schieffer's Face the Nation hasn't quite toppled David Gregory's Meet the Press in the Sunday show ratings race, but it has nudged a bit closer in recent months, leaving the Face host a bit perplexed. "I have no idea. We have not changed a thing," he tells Whispers about the better ratings. "We are doing what we've always done, just to try to get the key newsmaker of the week and ask them the obvious question." And Schieffer's right: The two long-running programs have hardly changed a thing in terms of format. "These programs, Meet the Press and Face the Nation, are the oldest and second-oldest broadcasts on television, and they are the two programs that have changed the least in all the years they have been on TV," Schieffer says.

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

It's going to be hard to do, but the administration and some lawmakers are interested in using an international grading index for American schools. Reason: It shows how well, or poorly, U.S. students are doing compared with others around the world, a key to President Obama's effort to boost math and science stores to levels of high-performing countries. The hurdle: state and local officials who sneer at international grading benchmarks. Still, the administration has taken a keen interest in a new American Institutes for Research study that reveals the shortfalls of U.S. education compared with other countries. How bad is it? Asian students outperform ours in math. We do our best in Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kansas, and Vermont, where fourth graders perform at B levels on the international scale. The study by the influential nonprofit provides a pathway for schools to implement the standards.