Senator John F. Kerry spent this morning working in his Capitol Hill office amid a swirl of speculation that he will be nominated to be the next secretary of state.

President Obama had a light official schedule today - only his daily briefing at 10:15 a.m. and a 12:30 p.m. private lunch with Vice President Joe Biden were listed - but White House officials confirmed that he had added an unscheduled “fiscal cliff” meeting with House Speaker John Boehner that began about 11 a.m.