The state of play on Leon Panetta's nomination to lead the CIA looks far more even-keeled than yesterday, when unexpected criticism from the incoming and outgoing leaders on the Senate intelligence committee looked to be throwing the pick off-course.

Still, while the politics of this don't point to big trouble for the Panetta pick, it does reflect a deeper substantive rift than mere ruffled feathers on the part of Feinstein and Rockefeller. CIA field operatives were voicing complaints about his lack of intelligence experience that parallel Feinstein's (although the skepticism among intel veterans was by no means universal).

I'm going to keep talking to intel committee members today about that potential split in the agency's ranks, and whether it could resurface before -- or during -- Panetta's confirmation hearing.