Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor meets Tuesday with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sen. Harry Reid D-Nev., praised Sotomayor as an extraordinarily well-qualified Supreme Court nominee whose background as an “underdog” appeals to Americans.

Washington ? Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday paid her first Capitol Hill visits to key senators who’ll be voting on her confirmation. She found Democrats enthusiastic and Republicans wary and somewhat skeptical.

While Republican senators vowed to ask tough questions about affirmative action and judicial activism, however, few were willing to rule out backing the 54-year-old federal appellate judge.

Nominated last week by President Barack Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter, Sotomayor spent the day in private conversations with senators that lasted about half an hour each.

They quizzed her on the controversies that have surfaced in recent days, notably her views on abortion rights and her 2001 comment that a “wise Latina woman” could reach “a better conclusion than a white male.”

Democrats, who control 59 Senate seats, emerged largely satisfied and unsurprised by what they heard.

“I don’t think she’s vulnerable at all,’ said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

“Is there a serious impediment to her nomination? I don’t see it,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a committee member who met with Sotomayor.

Republicans on the committee were less enthusiastic.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he thought that the “wise Latina” comment “was not an isolated incident,” while Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, thought that “some of the things that have been said are troubling.”

However, because senators historically are reluctant to oppose Supreme Court nominees whom they regard as qualified, and because an important political constituency has embraced Sotomayor as the first Hispanic nominee, there was little outright opposition to her.

“Nothing’s a deal breaker at this point,” said Cornyn, who heads the Republican Senate re-election committee.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., pointed to her 2005 comment at a Duke University Law School conference that the court of appeals is “where policy is made.”

He said, “Judicial activism … it doesn’t get any worse than that.”

The ultimate Senate vote, however, “is just a done deal because she’s a woman and a Hispanic,” he said.