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Who will replace Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.), the fourth-ranking Republican, when he retires at the end of this term? There are several complicated answers:

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle isn't creating a particularly positive impression in his home state. A majority of South Dakota voters (52 percent) say the Democrat has been "too negative" over President Bush's handling of the war on terrorism, according to a new survey commissioned by the United Seniors Association. Among South Dakota voters over 50, a slightly larger majority, 53 percent, considers the senator "too negative." Some 61 percent believe Sen. Daschle is obstructing the president's agenda on the economy, the judiciary, and homeland security.

Jordan's King Abdullah arrives in Washington in late July for a series of high-level meetings with President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and top national-security officials. The hot topic: Jordan's potential role in a U.S.-led coalition to bring down Saddam Hussein's regime. The Pentagon is considering using up to 250,000 American troops, some of whom the United States would like to base out of Jordan.

The problem is that Jordanian officials are anxious about an explosion of regional hostilities and about being caught in an Iraqi-Israeli crossfire, one that could involve missiles and weapons of mass destruction. The king's fifth meeting with TeamBush in the past two years follows a May 8 meeting with Vice President Cheney and recent talks in Amman with CENTCOM Gen. Tommy Franks.

Democrats in Congress increasingly seem to support military action against Iraq, mirroring public opinion. A June Gallup poll found 61 percent of all Americans "favor sending American ground troops back to the Persian Gulf in order to remove Hussein from power in Iraq." Nearly half of all Americans (47 percent)-including 45 percent of all Democrats-believe regime change in Iraq should be a "very important U.S. foreign policy goal." Still, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Joe Biden is skeptical. He's planning to grill Bush administration officials on Iraq strategy in congressional hearings next month.

A whopping 531 congressional staffers earn more than $100,000 a year, and that number is up a remarkable 62 percent since 1998, according to a new study by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. Dozens more staffers just barely miss the list but make $90,000 a year or more. In the Senate, the number of staffers earning six-figure salaries has jumped a stunning 83 percent, and "the most generous bosses included Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Joe Biden (D-Del.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)," according to The Hill, another D.C.-based newspaper. According to the 2000 census, the median household income in the United States is $42,000.