Senate Judicary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have divergent ideas about when committee hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court should take place.

While admitting hearings in June would be too soon, Leahy indicated that by July he hoped to begin hearings -- particularly so Sotomayor can publicly defend herself from "some of the most vicious" attacks Leahy said he's ever seen.

The Senate is out of session for the month of August, so hearings would have to wait until September, just a month before the Supreme Court enters a new session -- and when there would be a vacancy should Sotomayor not be confirmed by then.

Sessions, who said he really enjoyed his conversation with Sotomayor, feels that July hearings would not give members of the Judiciary Committee enough time to look over her extensive record. "I hope the chairman keeps an open mind," Sessions said to a scrum of reporters waiting outside his office, as Sotomayor exited a side door on her way to her next appointment.

Asked about some of Sotomayor's comments that have stirred controversy, Leahy said, "Of course life experience shapes you," whether you're from the South Bronx or South Burlington, Vermont. Sotomayor told him that "ultimately and completely, as a judge you follow the law."

First, the Washington Post endorses him. Now, Creigh Deeds, the forgotten man in the race for governor of Virginia, finds himself out in front with a week to go until the Democratic primary.

A survey released this morning by PPP finds Deeds leading with 27%, followed by Terry McAuliffe with 24% and Brian Moran 22%. With a quarter of voters still undecided and turnout expected to be extremely low, the race has to be considered even between the three candidates -- but with the amount of money McAuliffe has raised and Moran's years of public service in populous Northern Virginia, that in itself is a feat.

"We've been saying for months this was anyone's game and it's more true now than ever," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. "All three candidates have a perfectly reasonable chance of coming out on top next Tuesday."

Campaign finance reports turned in last night show McAuliffe with $3 million left in the bank for the last week of the primary campaign after raising $1.8 million in the last two months. Since May 27, though, the last day of fundraising included in the report, McAuliffe has raised at least another $130,000.

Moran raised $844,000 from April 1 to May 27, leaving him just more than $700,000 in cash, while Deeds raised $678,000 and has $522,000 left to spend.

From The Fix:

New York Rep. John McHugh is President Barack Obama's choice to be the new Secretary of the Army, a decision likely to set off an extremely competitive special election for the Republican's 23rd district House seat.

A senior White House official confirmed that Obama had chosen McHugh for the post, news that was first reported by the New York Times' Carl Hulse this morning.

McHugh has served in Congress since 1992 and has served on the House Armed Services Committee since 1993; he is currently the ranking minority member on the committee.

The 23rd covers the farthest reaches of upstate New York, from Plattsburgh in the Northeast to Oswego on Lake Ontario.  The Northeastern counties along the Canadian border have a strong Democratic tilt to them, while the remainder of the district is more Republican.  The district went narrowly for Barack Obama over John McCain and for George W. Bush over John Kerry.  It is fairly characterized as a swing district.

The special election to replace McHugh will be a tea-leaf-reading festival for pundits.  The district is slightly more Democratic than the neighboring 20th district, which Republicans lost in 2006 and failed to take back in early 2009.  If Republicans were able to hold the 23rd, they would attempt to propogate a meme that Republicans are primed to come back in the Northeast.  A loss would be taken as further proof that Republicans are doomed to at least semi-permanent minority status.  Republicans occupy most of the state-level offices, so they should be able to run a competitive candidate, but that did not help them in the 23rd.

It is also noteworthy that this is the second northeastern Republican from a competitive district that the Obama Administration has enticed into leaving his seat -- the first being Senator Judd Gregg.  There's nothing new here; the Bush Administration famously tried, without success, to convince Ben Nelson to join his Administration (which would have given Republicans 56 Senators beginning in 2005), and reportedly came close to snagging John Breaux as Energy Secretary in 2001 (the seat went to David Vitter after Breaux retired).  What's new is Obama's success.

In the long run, this won't matter much.  As the Fix notes, New York is slated to lost a Congressional seat in 2010 and is on the cusp of losing a second.  McHugh's district is a prime candidate for pruning, and whoever wins could be in for a short Congressional career (especially if it is a Republican).  But in the short run, the continuation of the theme that Republicans are on their heels is priceless for the Obama Administration.

Charlie Rangel manages the rare feat of putting his foot in his mouth while apologizing for having put his foot in his mouth yesterday.

The polls are now open in New Jersey, home to the first of two gubernatorial primary contests taking place this year. The main event is on the Republican side, and an FDU Public Mind poll released yesterday shows that the race is former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie's to lose.

Primary Election Matchup
Christie 54 (+11 from April)
Lonegan 30 (+9)
Merkt 1 (-1)
Undecided 11 (-21)

In typical New Jersey fashion, voters were late in choosing sides – nearly a third of voters were undecided one month ago. Those who have made up their mind since then appear to have split fairly even between Christie, the moderate establishment favorite, and Lonegan, the conservative former mayor of Bogota. The poll was conducted from May 26-30, surveying 561 likely Republican primary voters, and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.

The survey asked New Jersey Republicans about some national topics as well; when given a list of party figures, 20 percent said John McCain is the leader of the GOP at this time, followed closely by Michael Steele (16 percent) and Dick Cheney (15 percent). President Obama has just a 21 percent approval rating among these Republican voters.

For a roundup of late news in the Garden State race, check out today's Strategy Memo over at Politics Nation.

A majority of Americans (54%) do not want to see the detainee prison facility at Guantanamo Bay closed and will be "upset" with the Obama administration if it continues to move forward with plans to shutdown the facility, according to a poll released this morning by Gallup. (UPDATE: Having just looked at the internals of the poll, it appears the write up in USA Today didn't give the entire picture.  A large majority, 65%, say the US should not close down Guantanamo Bay.  Of those, 54% - the number given in the USA Today article - say they will be "upset" if the administration continues its plans to close down the facility, while the additional 11% who also believe the Gitmo should not be closed down showed more indifference toward the administration pursuing its stated goal (ie. they would "not be upset) of shuttering Gitmo by next January.)

By an even greater margin of three-to-one, respondents said they oppose the administration's plans to move some of the detainees to prison facilities within the United States.

Lastly, the poll shows that Vice President Cheney clearly won the national security "showdown" on Guantanamo Bay with President Obama last month. Forty percent (40%) of those surveyed agreed with Cheney's belief that the prison at Guantanamo Bay had helped make America safer. Only 18% agreed with President Obama's assertion that the housing of detainees at Gitmo had made America less safe.

As Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) says he's likely to enter the race, a new poll shows that a majority of Pennsylvania Democrats want to see Arlen Specter earn the party's nomination in a contested primary.

A Susquehanna Polling and Research survey finds that 63 percent of Democrats believe the Republican-turned-Democrat should face a challenge for the Senate nomination, while 28 percent said he should be the party's nominee. The firm did not test a Specter-Sestak race; other polls have shown Specter with a comfortable edge at this point.

They did test a Specter-Toomey general election:

Senate General Election Matchup
Specter 46%
Toomey 37%
Undecided 13%

The poll was conducted May 26-30, surveying 700 registered voters (the Democratic primary sample was 364 voters). Among “super voters” who have voted in three of the last four general elections, Specter leads by just 3 points, 42-39 percent. Susquehanna reports that Toomey leads in the “T” region, the Lehigh Valley and the Harrisburg area, while Specter leads in the Southwest, Southeast and Allegheny County regions, in addition to his immense 81-10 margin in Philadelphia.

In an early matchup of potential candidates for governor, Attorney General Tom Corbett (R) has a slight lead over Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato (D), with nearly a third of voters undecided. Neither has officially announced their candidacy, and there will likely be additional candidates from each party.

Governor General Election Matchup
Corbett 34%
Onorato 29%
Undecided 32%

Just released from White House:

On Tuesday June 2^nd, Judge Sotomayor will visit Capitol Hill to meet with the following Senators:

Majority Leader Reid

Republican Leader McConnell

Senator Leahy

Senator Sessions

Assistant Majority Leader Durbin

Assistant Republican Leader Kyl

Senator Schumer

Senator Hatch

Senator Feinstein

Senator Gillibrand

Over at The Daily Beast, columnist Richard Wolffe excerpts his new book, "Renegade," by describing two behind-the-scenes encounters on the Obama campaign trail: with Hillary Clinton on the Reagan National Airport tarmac one month before the Iowa caucuses and a secret meeting at the Chicago home of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright shortly before the Basketball Primaries.

The murder Sunday of George Tiller, one of the nation's few late-term abortion doctors, has shoved abortion back into the political debate in its most crass form.

Abortion quickly devolves into a conversation of polar views. Mainstream anti-abortion activists deplore Tiller's death. Then some abortion activists insinuate the anti-abortion movement's atmospherics are culpable for the murder of Tiller. Pushback follows. “Pro life” activists fight any effort to shame their cause.

The murder of a doctor at the fore of the abortion rights movement, like those of the 1990s, catalyzes a conversation of extremes. Abortion becomes either murder or freedom. It is either an issue of abolition or liberation.

But most Americans occupy the middle ground. The nation appears more divided because of how we frame the issue. Americans are asked about abortion in polarized terms. So they pick sides. Are you “pro life” or “pro choice?” Gallup found that 51 percent claim “pro life” and 42 percent claim “pro choice.”

There is a notable rise in the “pro life” view. The 51-percent finding won headlines because it was the first time, since Gallup began asking the question in 1995, that a majority identified as “pro life.” Recent FOX News and Pew Research Center polling show a similar trend.

The slight turn against abortion is partly explained by young voters. Pew data shows that voters under age 30 are more anti-abortion than voters age 30 to 64. By contrast, men and women hold generally similar views on abortion.

But Americans don't view abortion like activists.

Gallup asked the abortion question another way: whether abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal under certain circumstances or illegal? Fifty-three percent of Americans said legal only under certain circumstances. The public has consistently favored this middle ground since Gallup first asked the question in 1975, only two years after the Roe v. Wade decision.

An April Quinnipiac University Poll illustrates the same trend. Americans believe abortion should be always legal (15 percent), usually legal (37 percent), usually illegal (27 percent) and always illegal (14 percent).

But abortion, like much in politics, is an issue where the extremes are so loud the vast middle is drowned out. The contributing factor is talk radio, cable news and blogs. Explosive issues are presented in the most explosive terms. The case is argued by ideologues.

The broadcast host: up next, the culture war takes blood. We know how the debate goes.

Cases like Tiller aggravate this polarized dynamic. Anti-abortion activists do not want the Tiller case topping the abortion conversation; someone from the “pro life” movement just took a life. Groups defending abortion rights do not want to talk about late-term abortions. About 65 to 75 percent of Americans, Pew and others have found over the years, believe late-term abortions should be illegal.

The public is more apprehensive about abortion. But Roe v. Wade still has broad support. A May CNN found that 68 percent of Americans do not want Roe overturned.

This is where the public stands. Americans are far away from supporting the abortions Tiller was willing to perform. But they are even further away from the reasoning that led a man to kill him.