Washington ( CNN ) -- Major decisions abroad for President Obama , a peek inside Pat Roberts ' new campaign playbook , and reminders of how important Nevada and Iowa are in national politics -- just some of the topics that emerged from our trip around the `` Inside Politics '' table . Plus , a digital extra from Politico 's Maggie Haberman shows new signs that Hillary Clinton supporters are ready to get more aggressive . Chamber 's next play : Iowa 's Senate battle . The Chamber of Commerce continues to be a major player in the 2014 fight for control of the Senate , with its next move to be a multimillion-dollar ad buy for Republican Joni Ernst in Iowa 's Senate contest . Ernst is running against U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley . The Iowa play comes on the heels of a Chamber ad buy in New Hampshire featuring a Mitt Romney testimonial for GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown . With 58 days to Election Day , one reason Republicans feel good about their odds of capturing the Senate majority is the fact that Iowa and New Hampshire , two states President Obama won handily twice , remain within reach for the GOP . Inside Pat Roberts ' new playbook . Robert Costa of The Washington Post spoke with insiders in the Kansas Republican Party and they say that Roberts is shaking up his entire campaign . `` He brought in Chris LaCivita , who got to Kansas this weekend , a consultant from Virginia , and they got rid of Leroy Towns , Roberts ' longtime confidant and campaign manager , '' said Costa . `` And look for them this week to try and define ( Greg ) Orman , the independent candidate . '' Who is behind that effort to define Roberts ' opponent ? Costa reports that Lee Atwater protege Gary Maloney is coming in to help with opposition research and get Roberts back on track . Nevada gets help from ambitious Democrats . Politico 's Manu Raju took us inside Sen. Harry Reid 's strategy of turning the national political importance of his state , Nevada , into a boon for local political causes . Hillary Clinton , he reports , is in discussions to raise money soon for the Nevada Democratic Party . Maryland Gov . Martin O'Malley and Vice President Joe Biden already have attended fund-raisers of late . `` The reason why that 's important for Harry Reid is that he needs his candidates in this November 's location , local candidates , to win , '' said Raju . `` Because if they do , his chances of survival in 2016 really improve . '' The key race in Reid 's Election-Day calculations is the lieutenant governor 's race . Reid is concerned that Republican Gov . Brian Sandoval may try to grab his Senate seat in 2016 . The thinking is that if a Democratic lieutenant governor is elected this year , Sandoval wo n't want to leave the Governor 's Mansion in two years and hand it over to a Democrat . GOP leadership on 'pins and needles ' over budget showdown . Will another budget deadline at the end of this month lead to another government shutdown ? Molly Ball of The Atlantic reports that no one expects a shutdown , but the GOP leadership is on pins and needles about being able to get the continuing resolution passed . `` They do n't have a game plan for how they are going to get House conservatives to fund the government , '' said Ball . `` As we mentioned on immigration , it 's riled up the right and emboldened a lot of conservatives to make demands . The Export-Import Bank is also a really tough issue and the leadership has signaled they 're going to try to get it reauthorized in the continuing resolution . '' So there may be fireworks on Capitol Hill this month -- stay tuned . The 'Putin Problem ' is n't going anywhere . Peter Baker of The New York Times shared smart insights suggesting the `` Putin Problem '' is likely to carry over into the next administration -- even if the newly announced ceasefire in Ukraine holds . `` The problem is that that does n't end the story ; it does n't solve the fundamental issues , '' said Baker . `` That 's why what I think we 're going to see is what we call 'frozen conflict , ' as we see elsewhere around the former Soviet Union , in which it remains a continuing set of tensions and frictions basically for now and the next few years to come . '' Clinton gets a little help from her friends . We knew the onetime pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA had morphed into a pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC . But after a relatively quiet 2014 , Politico 's Maggie Haberman shared reporting that the group is prepared to get more aggressive , meaning prepared to inject itself into the 2016 Democratic primary competition . `` It was made very clear at a private meeting of people involved with it several weeks ago that they are prepared to spend in the primary to defend her , '' said Haberman . `` That means this is much more like what we saw with Mitt Romney and the super PAC that went after Newt Gingrich in a devastating way in the 2012 election cycle , and less like something that 's just on hold to attack the Republican nominee . ''
Chamber of Commerce a major player in the 2014 fight for control of the Senate . Insiders in the Kansas GOP say Pat Roberts is shaking up his entire campaign . Harry Reid turns his state 's national political importance into a boon for local political causes . No one expects a budget shutdown but GOP leadership is on pins and needles .