5 Things to Watch for This Week: 7/27

1) How inappropriate will Sarah Palin's first post-office tweets be?

2) What will the response be from Iran's interior ministry to yesterday's request from Mir Hussein Mousavi to hold a memorial service on Thursday for those killed in the Iranian protests.

3) What's going to happen when Bob Gates visits the Middle East this week? Is it to discuss military options with Iran?

During a visit that will last about six hours on Monday, Gates is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to discuss those and other bilateral defense issues, a senior U.S. defense official said.

"We're talking about the threats and challenges that we see in the region," the official told a small group of reporters on Friday. He said the Israelis were "antsy" about Iran but were not leaning on the Obama administration to halt its effort at expanded direct diplomatic engagement with Tehran.

4) Over the weekend, the U.S. announced that it will no longer provide the death tolls of militants in Afghanistan. Who will push for access?

5) Now that the dust has settled, what will happen with the New Jersey-Brooklyn corruption sweep of last week?