Expect Cruz to hound McConnell

• Obama may get a lukewarm welcome in China


• Cruz expected to track McConnell's every move in the 2015 Senate


• Will Landrieu invite Obama down to Louisiana for the runoff?

Washington (CNN) -- CNN's John King and other top political reporters empty out their notebooks each Sunday on "Inside Politics" to reveal five things that will be in the headlines in the days, weeks and months ahead .

One last Campaign 2014 maneuver and several intriguing post-election shifts and calculations made for a fun trip around the table.

1. New ground troops -- in Louisiana

There is one more round in the 2014 election, and Republicans are heavily favored: the Louisiana runoff for the U.S. Senate between Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy.

So put this one in the "taking nothing for granted" file: A GOP source tells CNN the Republican National Committee is sending in 350 field workers to help with the December 6 get-out-the-vote effort.

Democrats, too, say they will bolster their staff there now that all the other campaigns are over. But Landrieu faces a bigger question: whether to invite President Obama down for the runoff.

He has been persona non grata during the election, but many party strategists think Landrieu's only chance is sky-high African-American turnout.

2. Watch out, McConnell: Cruz's 2015 plans

If Mitch McConnell, the presumed new Senate majority leader, is ever trying to find Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, he might just want to turn and look over his shoulder.

Cruz's 2015 playbook

The freshman tea party favorite makes no bones about believing that McConnell is too establishment and too accommodating. Jonathan Martin of The New York Times chatted with Cruz on election night and came away with the distinct impression Cruz will be tracking every McConnell move.

"I asked him about whether or not the party should try to sort of back off the repeal of the Affordable Care Act or try to compromise on immigration," said Martin. "He said emphatically not, and in fact he said the only way to keep faith with the folks that elected them was to stand by the issues that had done so. And he said the biggest two issues for his party of the cycle were, A, repealing Obamacare, as he called it, and B, stopping the President's illegal executive action, as he called it, on immigration."

Next year, Martin points out, McConnell might be wishing Cruz finds himself in Iowa more often than in Washington.

3. And memo to McConnell: Enjoy it while you can

It long has been his dream job. Now, as McConnell prepares to rise to majority leader, the 2016 lineup suggests he might want to savor every minute.

Politico's Manu Raju notes that the 2016 map is to Republicans what the 2014 map was to Democrats -- as in tough.

"There are a number of Republican senators that we are going to be looking at very closely on whether or not they decide to run again," said Raju. "People like Richard Burr of North Carolina, Dan Coats of Indiana, Mark Kirk in Illinois. There are several others -- Chuck Grassley in Iowa."

Raju notes that if those GOP senators retire, then the Democrats have a chance to take those seats -- and maybe take back the Senate majority.

4. How Obama tries to get over a bad election -- head to Asia

Asia trips are a long haul -- a drain on any president. But Obama perhaps is dreading this one a little less, because it gets him out of a Washington buzzing about how the midterm election further weakened his political clout.

Obama'a less than warm Asia welcome

So off he goes, but not without reminders that news travels fast these days. Julie Pace of The Associated Press notes that the Chinese, before they roll out the red carpet, apparently are eager to tell their people it is a weakened U.S. president coming to visit.

"Officials are right now increasingly nervous about the reception he is going to get in China," said Pace. "There's a newspaper in China that's connected to the government that wrote a story before he left saying that the American public had 'downgraded' the President and was tired of his 'banality.'"

5. Same leaders on Capitol Hill but ...

Debbie Wasserman Schultz faced buzz in the middle of the campaign that the White House was less than thrilled with her performance as Democratic National Committee chairwoman.

Now, as Democrats sort through the rubble of the results from their perspective, the ambitious Florida congresswoman is getting even more heat from fellow Democrats. Nia-Malika Henderson of The Washington Post took us inside the debate over whether -- or when -- the DNC would be under new leadership.

"She has said she wants to serve out her term -- it ends in January 2017 -- and in some ways there's questions about whether or not she's close enough to Hillary Clinton, and whether she'd want her to stay on," said Henderson.

"But it'll be interesting to see whether or not she's able to stick it out or move on."