Hearings before the Judiciary Committee on a domestic partner bill (LD1118), and Maine's marriage equality bill (LD 1120) begin at 9am today at the Augusta Civic Center. Hundreds are expected to attend. A new poll shows Mainers divided on the issue, according to the Bangor Daily News: "The poll, conducted by a Portland-based firm earlier this month, showedthat 47.3 percent of those surveyed support changing Maine statutes toallow marriage licenses to be issued to any two people regardless oftheir sex while 49.5 percent oppose it. The rest of the Maine residentspolled hadn’t made up their minds on the issue. The poll has a marginof error rate of 4.9 percent...The polling firm compared data from a similar poll on the same subjectin March 2004. Since then, support for same-sex marriage has increased9 percent while support for same sex unions has risen just 1 percent."BDN has more analysis of the poll specifics.The marriage bill has 64 co-sponsors. Read the full text HERE.Watch a live stream of the hearings, AFTER THE JUMP...