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ByJuliePaceandKen Thomas TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON Democrats closed ranks around Hill- ary Clinton on Wednesday after her public explana- tion of her email practices — yet party officials in im- portant election states ap- peared resigned to the pros- pect that her all-but-certain presidential campaign will be saddled with drama and controversy. The mood among Dem- ocrats around the country suggested Clinton has work to do to bolster party en- thusiasm as she nears the launch of her 2016 cam- paign, though there's still no sign she'll face a robust primary challenge. Brady Quirk-Garvan, the Democratic Party chairman in Charleston, South Caro- lina, said the intense focus on Clinton's use of her pri- vate email account as sec- retary of state leaves him concerned that side issues could overshadow the par- ty's message. "Every time we talk about emails, we aren't talking about how to grow the economy and the fact that President Obama has created jobs for the last 60 months straight," Quirk- Garvan said. In Iowa, Cerro Gordo County Democratic chair- man John Stone said he ex- pected the email issue to "burn out." But he raised the possibility that "there will be more things" to come. Clinton's closest advisers have been quietly reaching out to Democratic leaders and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill, as well as influ- ential progressive groups, in an effort to allay con- cerns. In conference calls over the past week, support- ers in turn pressed Clinton to break her silence on the email disclosures, which she eventually did Tuesday in a 20-minute news confer- ence at the United Nations. "Those of us who strongly support her, we certainly have been given informa- tion," said Sen. Debbie Sta- benow, D-Mich. "I'm satis- fied with what I've received." Much of the outreach has been led by longtime Clin- ton aide Huma Abedin and press secretary Nick Mer- rill. Clinton herself does not appear to have spoken directly to top Democratic lawmakers or surrogates since her use of personal email and a private server as secretary of state was re- ported last week. Two Democratic leader- ship aides and others famil- iar with the Clinton team's outreach described the ef- forts, insisting on anonym- ity to describe the private communications. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he wasn't aware of any conversations between President Barack Obama and Clinton about the former secretary of state's email use. Even as Clinton's advis- ers do status checks with wary Democrats, her team has been moving forward with plans to formally an- nounce her candidacy next month, perhaps in a swing state or on a college cam- pus. Newly hired staff mem- bers are moving to New York, where the campaign will be headquartered. The skeleton team that has been traveling with Clinton for the past year has also been expanding, with Kristina Schake, a for- mer communications direc- tor for first lady Michelle Obama, seen accompany- ing Clinton to an event in Washington last week. Still, the email issue has essentially served as the Clinton campaign's opening act, thrusting her squarely onto the political playing field she has been trying to avoid. It's also provided fresh fodder for congressional Re- publicans who want to keep their investigations into the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, alive through the presidential campaign. Rep. Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who chairs a House com- mittee investigating the at- tacks, said Wednesday that he wants an independent review of Clinton's email server. The House Oversight Committee also said it will seek access to the electronic versions of Clinton's emails, not just printed copies, and was prepared to issue a sub- poena if necessary. However, in a sign that the matter isn't shaking up the Democratic primary field, Clinton has faced no public criticism from any of the candidates who seem most likely to chal- lenge her. Former Mary- land Gov. Martin O'Malley again passed up an oppor- tunity to weigh in Wednes- day. In fact, the party has spent little time cultivating other potential candidates should her bid for the White House implode. Still, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of swing state New Hampshire was restrained in her defense of Clinton Wednesday, saying it "remains to be seen" how the email matter will affect her state. EMAIL CONTROVERSY DemocratsstandbyClinton, but with some reservations By Steve Peoples The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Asso- ciated Press on Wednes- day sued the State Depart- ment to force the release of email correspondence and government documents from Hillary Clinton's ten- ure as secretary of state. The legal action follows repeated requests filed un- der the U.S. Freedom of In- formation Act have gone unfulfilled. They include one request the AP made five years ago and others pending since the summer of 2013. The suit in U.S. District Court comes a day after Clinton broke her silence about her use of a private emailaccountwhileshewas America's top diplomat. The FOIA requests and the suit seek materials re- lated to her public and pri- vate calendars; correspon- dence involving aides likely to play important roles in her expected campaign for president; and Clinton-re- lated emails about the Osama bin Laden raid and National Security Agency surveillance practices. "After careful deliber- ation and exhausting our other options, The As- sociated Press is taking the necessary legal steps to gain access to these important documents, which will shed light on actions by the State De- partment and former Sec- retary Clinton, a presump- tive 2016 presidential can- didate, during some of the most significant issues of our time," said Karen Kai- ser, AP's general counsel. Said AP Executive Edi- tor Kathleen Carroll: "The Freedom of Information Act exists to give citizens a clear view of what gov- ernment officials are doing on their behalf. When that view is denied, the next re- sort is the courts." State Department spokesman Alec Gerlach declined to comment. He had previously cited the department's heavy annual load of FOIA re- quests — 19,000 last year — in saying that the de- partment "does its best to meet its FOIA responsibil- ities." He said the depart- ment takes requests "first in, first out," but noted that timing depends on "the complexity of the request." Carroll said the AP was filing additional requests Wednesday using FOIA and othertoolsfollowingthedis- closure last week that Clin- tonhadusedaprivateemail account run on a server on her property outside New York while working at the State Department. Clinton on Tuesday said she sent and received about 60,000 emails from her personal email address in her four years as Presi- dent Barack Obama's sec- retary of state. She said roughly half were work- related, which she turned over to the State Depart- ment, while deleting tens of thousands more that were personal in nature. The department has said the emails in their possession will be posted online once a review of their contents is completed — a process that will take several months. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednes- day that means "it is not necessary for new FOIA requests to be filed or old FOIA requests to be recon- sidered in order to get ac- cess to those records." The AP had sought Clin- ton-related correspon- dence before her use of a personal email account was publicly known, al- though Wednesday's court filing alleges that the State Department is responsible for including emails from that account in any public records request. "State's failure to ensure that Secretary Clinton's governmental emails were retained and preserved by the agency, and its fail- ure timely to seek out and search those emails in re- sponse to AP's requests, indicate at the very least that State has not engaged in the diligent, good-faith search that FOIA requires," says AP's legal filing. Specifically, AP is seek- ing copies of Clinton's full schedules and calendars from her four years as sec- retary of state; documents related to her department's decision to grant a special position to longtime aide Huma Abedin; related cor- respondence from advisers Philippe Reines and Cheryl Mills, who, like Abedin, are likely to play central roles in a Clinton presidential cam- paign; documents related to Clinton's and the agen- cy's roles in the bin Laden raid and NSA surveillance practices; and documents related to her role oversee- ing a major Defense De- partment contractor. STATE DEPARTMENT AP s ue s, s ee ki ng access to records RICHARDDREW—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Hillary Clinton answers questions at a news conference at the United Nations, on Tuesday. By Emily Swanson The Associated Press WASHINGTON Americans' confidence in all three branches of government is at or near record lows, ac- cording to a major survey that has measured attitudes on the subject for 40 years. The 2014 General Social Survey finds only 23 percent of Americans have a great deal of confidence in the Su- preme Court, 11 percent in the executive branch and 5 percent in Congress. By con- trast, half have a great deal of confidence in the military. The survey is conducted by the independent re- search organization NORC at the University of Chicago. Because of its long-running and comprehensive set of questions about the pub- lic, it is a highly regarded source of data about social trends. Data from the 2014 survey was released last week, and an analysis of its findings on confidence in institutions was conducted by The Associated Press- NORC Center for Public Af- fairs Research and the Gen- eral Social Survey. Five things to know about Americans' low con- fidence in the government and other institutions: DROP IN SUPPORT FOR PRES- IDENCY DRIVEN BY REPUBLI- CANS The 11 percent who say they're confident in the presidency approaches a record low measured by the same survey in 1996, when just 10 percent said they had a great deal of confidence in the executive branch. The 44 percent who now say they have hardly any confidence at all is at a record high. Historically, and not sur- prisingly, the survey has found that Democrats have more confidence in the ex- ecutive branch when the sitting president is a Dem- ocrat, and Republicans have more confidence when the president is a Republican. In the 2014 survey, just 3 percent of Republicans say they have a lot of confidence in the presidency, down from a record high 45 per- cent who said so in 2002, when overall confidence in the presidency was also at the highest point the sur- vey has measured, at 27 percent. Then, President George W. Bush was still riding a crest of support in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But confidence among Democrats has dropped some in recent years, too, from 25 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2014. Just 1 in 10 independents expressed a lot of confi- dence in the presidency in 2014. SUPREME COURT CONFI- DENCE FALLING ACROSS PARTY LINES The 2014 survey finds that confidence in the Su- preme Court has fallen among Democrats, Repub- licans and independents since 2012, driving confi- dence in the court to a 40- year low overall. The 26 per- cent of Democrats with a lot of confidence in the court is a record low in the history of the survey, while Repub- lican confidence in the high court, at 22 percent, is also near an all-time low. Independents are the least likely to have a great deal of confidence in the court, at 20 percent. Overall, 2 in 10 say they have hardly any confidence in the court, a record high, while more than half have only some confidence. ___ NOBODY LIKES CON- GRESS If there's one issue than unites Americans, it's that hardly anyone has much confidence in Congress, the survey shows. Over half of Americans express hardly any confidence at all, while only 7 percent of Demo- crats, 5 percent of indepen- dents and 3 percent of Re- publicans have a great deal of confidence in Congress. Younger Americans — those under 35 — are a bit more likely than older ones to express confidence in Congress, but even among that group only 10 percent say they have a lot of con- fidence in the legislative branch. POORMARKSFORMEDIA,TOO Confidence has decreased since the 1970s, when about a quarter of Americans ex- pressed a great deal of con- fidence in the press. Now, a record low of 7 percent have a lot of confidence, while 44 percent have hardly any confidence at all. Republicans are the least likely to express a lot of con- fidence in the press, at only 3 percent, but Democrats aren't far behind at 10 per- cent. Only 1 in 10 has a lot of confidence in television, which is also near a re- cord low. FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS REBOUND BUT STILL LOW Americans' confidence in banks and financial insti- tutions reached an all-time low of 11 percent in 2010, but has rebounded slightly since then, with 15 percent now expressing a great deal of confidence. That's still far from the survey's all-time high of 42 percent in 1977. Just 18 percent have a great deal of confidence in major companies, up a bit from 13 percent who said so in 2010 but down from 31 percent who said so in 1984. Only 1 in 10 Americans has a lot of confidence in organized labor. ___ The General Social Sur- vey is administered by NORC at the University of Chicago, with financing from the National Science Foundation, primarily us- ing in-person interviewing. The GSS started in 1972 and completed its 30th round in 2014. The typical sample size was 1,500 prior to 1994, but increased to 2,700-3,000 until 2008, and decreased to 2,000 for the most recent surveys. Resulting margins of error are between plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the smaller sam- ple sizes and plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for the larger sample sizes at the 95 percent confidence level. The 2014 survey was conducted March 31-Oct. 11, 2014, among 2,538 Ameri- can adults. The GSS 1972- 2014 Cumulative File was used to produce the statis- tics presented. RESEARCH GROUP Su rv ey fi nd s re co rd l ow c on fid en ce i n go ve rn men t RUNNINGS ROOFING SheetMetalRoofing ResidentialCommercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane Ownerisonsiteoneveryjob ServingTehamaCounty 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 No Money Down! "NoJobTooSteep" " No Job Too Flat" FREE ESTIMATES CA. 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