GOP Won't Rule Out Filibuster on Court Nominee

President Obama can avoid a Republican filibuster over his Supreme Court pick by choosing a judge who isn't "outside the mainstream," says Sen. Jeff Sessions, the GOP's ranking member on the Judiciary Committee. Asked on Meet the Press about whether a "big fight" looms, he responded, "It's in the president's hands." Politico rounds up other highlights from today's talk shows:

• Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates scoffed at rumors of drug use by Hamid Karzai, and Clinton played down the significance of Benjamin Netanyahu skipping Obama's nuclear summit.
• Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour thinks Republicans would retake both the House and Senate if elections were held today, and he dismissed the flap in Virginia over the governor's slavery apology as a "nit."
• Gates says Iran isn't "nuclear capable" yet and insists the US isn't resigned to that happening.

(More Jeff Sessions stories.)