Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a key player in health care and banking legislation, said Friday he has been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer.

He told a Hartford news conference that he is "confident we're going to come out of this well," and plans to pursue his bid for a sixth Senate term next year.

Dodd, 65, has been chairing the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the absence of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a close Dodd friend, who is suffering brain cancer.

Dodd plans to undergo surgery next month and return to the Senate when it ends its summer recess Sept. 8.

Here's the senator's full statement, from his 2 p.m. press conference:

Thanks for being here.

I wanted to let you know that I’ve been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer.

It’s something that’s very common among men my age. In fact, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their life. And that’s why, every year when I get my annual check-up, I get a routine blood test called a PSA.

This year, the results of that test led my doctor to order a biopsy, and that’s how I learned of the disease.

Now, let me say three very important things, and then I’ll be happy to answer your questions.

First, I feel fine. As you have probably noticed, I’m working some long and hard hours lately. And that will continue.

Second, I’m going to be fine. We caught this early. The biopsies I had showed a minimal amount of cancer, and that it hasn’t spread. My prognosis is excellent.

Third, as a Member of Congress, I have good health insurance. I was able to seek the opinions of highly skilled doctors, consider all the available options, and choose the treatment that’s right for me.

When the Senate adjourns at the end of next week, I’m going to have surgery. After a brief recuperation at home, I’ll be back at work.

My hope is that we will pass the Health Care bill that we passed in the HELP Committee in the Senate so that every American will be able to get an annual physical and talk to their doctor about screening so that problems like this can be caught early and treated.”

The following is a statement on Senator Dodd from Dr. Howard Scher:

“Senator Dodd has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was found in an early stage and the prognosis for his full recovery is excellent. While there are many treatment options available for people with prostate cancer, after consultation with his physicians the recommended course of treatment for Senator Dodd is surgery. He will have the surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is expected to return to full activity within a few weeks of the surgery.”

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Senate's third-ranking Republican, Thursday said he would break with party leaders and vote to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Even though Judge Sotomayor's political and judicial philosophy may be different from mine, especially regarding second amendment rights, I will vote to confirm her because she is well qualified by experience, temperament, character, and intellect to serve as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court," Alexander said in a Senate floor speech.

The Senate GOP Conference Chairman becomes the sixth Republican to back the federal appellate judge, who is expected to win overwhelmingly when the Senate votes, probably late next week. Debate will begin Tuesday.

Alexander said he hoped to help set a tone for the Senate and court.

"Giving broad Senate approval to obviously well-qualified nominees helps to increase the prestige of the Supreme Court and to confirm its impartiality," he explained. "For that reason, until the last few years, Republican and Democratic Senators, after rigorous inquiries into the fitness of nominees, usually have given those well-qualified nominees an overwhelming vote of approval."

He recalled how Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, got only three negative votes, and Justice Antonin Scalia,named by President Ronald Reagan, got no negative Democratic votes. But Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first appointee to the Supreme Court, is expected to get mostly no votes from the GOP.

Nevertheless, said Alexander, "It is my hope that my vote now will not only help to confirm a well-qualified nominee but will help to return the Senate to the practice only recently lost of inquiring diligently into qualifications of a nominee and then accepting that elections have consequences, one of which is to confer upon the President of the United States the constitutional right to nominate Justices of the Supreme Court."

The Senate's top two Republicans, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Jon Kyl of Arizona, have both opposed Sotomayor. Republicans voicing support include Florida's Mel Martinez, Indiana's Richard Lugar, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham and Maine's Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

To read Sen. Alexander's floor statement: http://tinyurl.com/ljl43h

House of Representatives Democrats are preparing for an August lobbying blitz on health care, so Speaker Nancy Pelosi will send lawmakers home with pocket cards full of convenient talking points.

Pelosi, D-Calif., is expecting interest groups and Republicans to be running ads, launching grassroots campaigns and devising other strategies to influence the legislation, which is expected to face a House vote in September. The House is expected to begin a five-week summer recess Friday.

Pelosi's points have ready-made quotes like "(fill in the blank) uninsured constituents would gain access to quality, affordable health insurance." It says in bold, capital letters the Democratic plan would be "putting you and your doctor back in charge_not the insurance companies_to guarantee stability, lower costs, higher quality and more choices of plans."

It also promises a plan that features "no discrimination for pre-existing conditions, like diabetes, a heart condition or cancer" and "no dropping your coverage because you become sick."

What it doesn't say is how all this will be paid for. One of the Democratic leaders' plans is to increase taxes on the wealthy, a plan meeting skepticism among Senate Democrats.

This just in from Air Force One, with Robert Gibbs talking about Thursday's beer summit with the president, Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley:

MR. GIBBS:  The President will drink Bud Light.  As I understand it -- I have not heard this, I've read this, so I'll just repeat what I've read, that Professor Gates said he liked Red Stripe, and I believe Sergeant Crowley mentioned to the President that he liked Blue Moon.  So we'll have the gamut covered tomorrow afternoon.  I think we're still thinking, weather permitting, the picnic table out back.  All right?

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is more popular than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to a new bipartisan poll released Wednesday.

The Battleground Poll conducted for George Washington University found 42 percent of likely voters have a favorable opinion of Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee who stepped down last week as governor of Alaska. The survey found 47 percent had an unfavorable opinion of Palin.    

While Plain trailed behind both President Barack Obama (61 favorable/36 unfavorable) and Vice President Joe Biden (48/38) she easily outpolled Pelosi, the highest ranking elected women in the country.

The survey found 32 percent of likely voters had a favorable impression of Pelosi, a Democrat from San Francisco, and 51 percent had an unfavorable impression.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., trailed them all in personal popularity, with 15 percent holding a favorable impression and 31 percent having an unfavorable impression.  

A majority of Americans now think the country’s on the wrong track, according to a new poll conducted for George Washington University.

The poll found 51 percent of likely voters saying the country’s headed in the wrong direction, while 38 percent said it’s headed in the right direction.

The bipartisan Battleground Poll, conducted by Republican Ed Goeas and Democrat Celinda Lake, found 53 percent of likely voters approving of the way President Barack Obama is doing his job, but 57 percent disapproving of the way Congress is doing its job.

Obama had an advantage over Republicans of 30 percentage points on being honest and trustworthy, 26 points on promoting energy independence, 22 points on reforming health care, 18 points on defending middle class values, and 4 points on sharing voters’ values.
 
Republicans had an advantage over Obama of 12 points on holding down taxes, 11 points on national defense, and 2 points on controlling wasteful spending.

On issues, Democrats had an advantage over Republicans of 21 percentage points on health care, 16 points on promoting energy independence, 14 points on turning the economy around, 13 points on defending middle class values, 11 points on being honest and trustworthy, and 2 points on sharing a voter’s values.

Republicans had an advantage of 24 percentage points on holding down taxes, 20 points on promoting a strong national defense,  and 8 points on controlling wasteful spending. 

Vice President Joe Biden was though of favorably by 48 percent of voters, and unfavorably by 38 percent. His one time rival, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was thought of favorably by 42 percent and unfavorably by 47 percent.

Assistant Attorney General David Kris testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on homeland security and terrorism, reiterating the administration's view that it wants try Guantanamo detainees accused of crimes in civilian federal courts, if possible, reports McClatchy's Grace Chung.

After years of discussion over military commissions and with Congress once again trying to craft a law that would make military commissions seem like something other than kangaroo courts, Kris succinctly stated why civilian courts are preferable.

"Federal courts have, on many occasions, proven to be an effective tool in our efforts to combat international terrorism, and the legitimacy of their verdicts is unquestioned.”

Unquestioned legitimacy is a pretty good standard.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs likes to use quips or one-liners to try to divide or distract the press corps from tough questions during his daily briefings. But Gibbs bristled a little when CBS' Chip Reid today teasingly said he had a follow-up question about the "beer fest" scheduled for Thursday night with President Obama and Cambridge, Mass., rivals police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

Gibbs: "I wouldn't call it the beer fest. . . I know I'm usually the one who makes the jokes in here. I think it's a fairly serious picture."

It's hard to know what's the standard for serious though. Minutes earlier Gibbs had made the scheduled 6 p.m. gathering sound like mostly a photo-op. It's to be held at "the picnic table out back" of the White House, weather permitting. "There's no formal agenda other than cold beer," he's quipped. Gibbs also said the idea was for the men (Gates and Obama already are friends) to "get to know each other and step back from the circumstances that brought everybody together."

Asked what access the press would have, Gibbs said, "I don't know that we'll have any comments during it, but I think we'll certainly - set it up so you guys can see the picture. . . I think the picture alone will communicate that despite the incident, despite what happened, despite what was said after that, we can still sit down and discuss issues that are important like this. . . ”

President Obama today used a "tele-town hall" arranged by the AARP to defend his concept of a national health care expansion and creation of a new public coverage option.

With prospects for a "public option" at least temporarily sidelined in the Senate, Obama sought to reassure Medicare recipients (plenty in the AARP's ranks) that he wants to protect Medicare, not cut benefits. As for the overall changes he envisions, he said that "a lot of people have heard this phrase 'socialized medicine' and they say, 'We don't want government-run health care. We don't want a Canadian-style plan.'

"Nobody is talking about that. We're saying, 'Let's give you a choice. You can choose the private marketplace or this other approach.'

"I got a letter the other day from a woman," the president continued. "She said, 'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'

"You know, I wanted to say, well, you know, I mean, this -- 'that's what Medicare is, is it's a government-run health care plan that people are very happy with.' But, I think that we've been so accustomed to hearing those phrases that sometimes we can't sort out the myth from the reality.'"

"So," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Monday, speaking of health care, "we're on schedule either to do it now or to do it whenever."

In case you were wondering if that meant health care overhaul legislation would be finished this week, well...she's probably going to say, at least at the moment, that it's too soon to say.

"I have said that I wanted a bill to pass before we left for the August recess," Pelosi said. The recess is scheduled to begin Friday.

"In fact" she explained, "I honored a request of the president to make that commitment. But I've also said that our members need the time that they need to not only get the bill written but to have plenty of time to review it.

"And," Pelosi added, "I've also said that we need to see the direction that the Senate is going so that we can do as much work in advance of September so that when we come back, when we go to conference, we're a good way down the road."

As a result, she said,they're on schedule "either to do it now or to do it whenever."