**President Obama
*The pick comes today, at 10:15 am, per a White House official.

*In listing the "final four" this morning, the New York Times noted that the candidates, including Sotomayor, "are liberal on most issues that divide the court -- and surely too liberal for many Republican senators -- but have not been the outspoken leaders of the legal left that advocates crave."

*Obama told C-SPAN this weekend: "What I want is not just ivory tower learning. I want somebody who has the intellectual firepower but also a little bit of a common touch and a practical sense of how the world works."

*North Korea: UN Ambassador Susan Rice made the rounds of the morning talk shows today to talk North Korea. AP: Rice said "that China's growing increasing concern about North Korea's nuclear tests presents the international community with a stronger diplomatic card to play against the Pyongyang regime."

*Yesterday, Obama said: "As a result North Korea is not only deepening its own isolation, it's also inviting stronger international pressure -- that's evident overnight, as Russia and China, as well a our traditional allies of South Korea and Japan, have all come to the same conclusion: North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons."

*Cillizza notes that Obama's stop in Las Vegas today is part of a string of fundraising visits already. "The Reid event is the fourth fundraiser Obama has done for the party -- he raised money for the Democratic National Committee in March at the Warner Theater in Washington and again in Indiana last weekend. During that same weekend in Indiana, Obama held an event to benefit four Hoosier State House Members: Reps. Joe Donnelly, Brad Ellsworth, Baron Hill and Andre Carson."

*Just more than half of Michigan voters think Gov. Jennifer Granholm would have made a fine Supreme Court Justice, according to a Detroit News poll

**Congress
*WSJ: "U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the past one of China's sharpest critics, Tuesday promoted common ground with China in the fight to combat global warming. 'I think this climate crisis is game changing for the U.S.-China relationship. It is an opportunity we cannot miss,' Ms. Pelosi told the U.S.-China Clean Energy Forum, which brings together experts and businesses from both sides to come up with recommendations on climate-change policy."

*"The congressional drive to bring tobacco under Food & Drug Administration control -- given new life in the Senate last week -- is poised to approach the finish line in the Senate in June, but not without a bipartisan fight from North Carolina's two senators," The Hill reports.

**Republicans
*Everyone's favorite game: CNN's latest poll shows that Colin Powell has a much higher favorability rating (70 percent) than Dick Cheney (37 percent) or Rush Limbaugh (30 percent).

*And Tom Ridge weighed in on the internal battle this weekend, telling CNN: "I think for the American public, for the Republican Party to restore itself, not as a regional party, but as a national party, we have to be far less judgmental about disagreements within the party and far more judgmental about our disagreement with our friends on the other side of the aisle. "

**Campaign Stuff
*NY Daily News: "Former Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio today took the first formal step toward a 2010 run for governor by filing paperwork with the state Board of Elections to create a new campaign committee."

*Denver Post: "Michael Bennet's record U.S. Senate fundraising pace is built on out-of-state donations, Colorado donors concentrated in Denver, and well-heeled associates from his past endeavors in politics and business."

*One of the Republicans' top candidates to challenge Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D), Tim Griffin, is out.

*PA Sen: Rep. Joe Sestak told the Philly Inquirer he's "leaning very much toward getting in" the Democratic primary for Senate, despite the endorsement of Sen. Arlen Specter by Obama, Gov. Ed Rendell and Sen. Bob Casey.

--Mike Memoli and Kyle Trygstad