WASHINGTON – The bank account is thin, but the future looks pretty good.
A whopping 82 percent are optimistic about what the new year will bring for their families, according to the latest AP-GfK poll. Nearly two-thirds think their family finances will worsen or stay about the same next year. And fewer than half think the nation’s economy will improve in 2010, even though Americans rated 2009 as a huge downer.
Flanigan, 36, is unemployed after selling a family business that faced increasing competition.
The poll found that nearly three-fourths of Americans think 2009 was a bad year for the country, which was rocked by job losses, home foreclosures and economic sickness. Forty-two percent rated it “very bad.”
The survey that year found that 58 percent of Americans felt the nation had suffered a bad year, and 39 percent considered it a good year.
Behind the gloominess, however, are more hopeful views that seem to reflect Americans’ traditional optimism or, perhaps, wishful thinking.
Some 72 percent of Americans said they’re optimistic about what 2010 will bring for the country. Millions of Americans saw their savings or retirement accounts shrink, and many are rethinking how long they will have to work, and where they might find income.
Marcia Andrews of Blairsville, Pa., was a high school nurse until budget cuts eliminated her job.
Preliminary FBI figures for the first half of 2009 showed crime falling across the nation, with robberies down by 6.5 percent.

Americans are not optimistic, however, about the nation’s two wars. Thirty-one percent think the situation in Afghanistan will get better, while 67 percent think it will stay the same or get worse. Only 10 percent of Republicans said 2009 was a good year, compared with about one-third of Democrats and independents. A robust 87 percent of Democrats are optimistic about what 2010 will bring for the country, compared with 53 percent of Republicans and 73 percent of independents.

People’s views of their personal circumstances divide along partisan lines, too.

Only one in five Republicans think their family’s finances will improve in 2010. Nearly half of Democrats and 40 percent of independents hold that view.

Steve Bishop, 59, of Middletown, Calif., said he’s pleased the government is trying to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

H. June Clark, a Republican retiree in Fort Wayne, Ind., is not as cheery. Some family members are still out of work, she said.

Clark thinks the nation is headed toward socialism, and she wants a wholesale change in elected officials, no matter their party affiliation.

“I don’t care if we get independents, populists, whatever. The AP-GfK Poll was conducted Dec. 10-14 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media and involved landline and cell phone interviews of 1,001 adults nationwide. AP-GfK poll: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

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Associated Press writers Dennis Junius, Natasha Metzler, Ann Sanner and Trevor Tompson contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON – CIA employees are believed to be among the dead in Wednesday’s suicide bombing inside a base in eastern Afghanistan, a congressional official said.
U.S. officials said the attack occurred at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province, killing eight American civilians and wounding others.
CIA officer Micheal “Mike” Spann was killed in a prison uprising in November 2001. An agency officer died in a training exercise in 2003, and two contractors operating out of a CIA base in Shkin were killed in 2003.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska’s political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday.
“We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed,” South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and the 12 other attorneys general wrote in the letter to be sent Wednesday night to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision,” they wrote.
In a rare Christmas Eve vote, Senate Democrats pushed sweeping health care legislation to the brink of Senate passage, crushing a year-end Republican filibuster against President Barack Obama’s call to remake the nation’s health care system. The letter was signed by top prosecutors in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington state. All are Republicans, and McMaster and the attorneys general of Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania are running for governor in their respective states.
Republican U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint of South Carolina raised questions about the legislation, which they said was amended to win Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson’s support.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said the letter was a political ploy.
“If Henry McMaster wants to write federal law he should run for Congress not governor.”
While it’s not uncommon for states to challenge federal laws in court, one legal expert said political bluster was likely behind the letter.

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Nearly three-fourths of Americans think 2009 was a bad year for the country, which was rocked by job losses, home foreclosures and economic sickness. Forty-two percent rated it “very bad,” according to the latest AP-GfK poll.
The survey that year found that 58 percent of Americans felt the nation had suffered a bad year, and 39 percent considered it a good year.
Some 72 percent of Americans said they’re optimistic about what 2010 will bring for the country. Curiously, however, nearly two-thirds think their family finances will worsen or stay about the same next year.
Flanigan, 36, is unemployed after selling a family business that faced increasing competition. Rather than seek new work, however, she is thinking of returning to school to become a social worker. “I’d rather make less money and do something I love,” Flanigan said, noting that happiness and optimism are not strictly tied to finances.
Every corner of the country saw steep job losses this year, and the national unemployment rate stands at 10 percent. Marcia Andrews of Blairsville, Pa., was a high school nurse until budget cuts eliminated her job.
Despite signs that the nation is edging away from the worst aspects of a severe recession, people remain largely downbeat about the economy. James Lewis, who just retired in Alton, Ill., called 2009 a “financial disaster” for America, and he fears 2010 won’t be much better.
Everybody losing their 401(k). Some people losing their house, their retirement.”

He is pessimistic about 2010, pointing blame at financial institutions and government officials.

“They’ve made a mess and they’re going to have a hard time cleaning it up,” said Lewis, who calls himself a political independent. Government regulators, he said, “dropped the ball.”

Lewis said 2009 wasn’t too bad for him personally, but some members of his family “can’t find a job that pays enough to live.” Americans are not optimistic about the nation’s two wars. Thirty-one percent think the situation in Afghanistan will get better, while 67 percent think it stay the same or get worse. Only 10 percent of Republicans said 2009 was a good year, compared to about one-third of Democrats and independents. A whopping 87 percent of Democrats are optimistic about what 2010 will bring for the country, compared with 53 percent of Republicans and 73 percent of independents.

People’s views of their personal circumstances divide along partisan lines, too.

Only one in five Republicans think their family’s finances will improve in 2010. Nearly half of Democrats and 40 percent of independents hold that view.

Steve Bishop, 59, of Middletown, Calif., said he’s pleased the government is trying to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

H. June Clark, a Republican retiree in Fort Wayne, Ind., had similar family experiences but is more downbeat than Bishop. Some family members are still out of work, she said.

She and her husband lost several thousand dollars in the stock market, Clark said. Clark thinks the nation is headed toward socialism, and she wants a wholesale change in elected officials, no matter their party affiliation.

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted Dec. 10-14 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media and involved landline and cell phone interviews of 1,001 adults nationwide. On the Net: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

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Associated Press writers Dennis Junius, Natasha Metzler, Ann Sanner and Trevor Tompson contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK – A New York Senate committee met Tuesday to decide whether a state senator convicted of assaulting his girlfriend should remain in office, but reached no immediate conclusion.
The special committee adjourned into an executive session without announcing any decision on the fate of Sen. Hiram Monserrate. The Queens Democrat was sentenced earlier this month to probation for injuring his girlfriend by dragging her through his apartment lobby on Dec. 19, 2008. Earlier that evening, Monserrate smashed a glass into Karla Giraldo’s face, causing bloody injuries that required 40 stitches. Sen. Andrew Lanza, a Republican member of the committee, said the process has been bipartisan and fair.
Sen. Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat who chairs the committee, said there is no firm date on when a draft report will be finalized.
Monserrate did not attend. Monserrate, 42, was sworn in as a state senator weeks after the incident. A former Marine and New York City police officer, he was elected in 2001 to the New York City Council.
Including Monserrate, the Democrats hold a 32-30 Senate majority. The committee is made up of five Democrats, including Schneiderman, who represents part of Manhattan and the Bronx. Others are Sens. Ruth Hassell-Thompson of the Bronx, Diane Savino of Staten Island, Toby Ann Stavisky of Queens and Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Yonkers.
Besides Lanza of Staten Island, Republican members of the committee include John Flanagan of Long Island, James Alesi of Monroe County and Catharine Young of Jamestown.
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Associated Press writer Michael Virtanen in Albany contributed to this report.

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