WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are finding little they like about President Barack Obama or either political party, according to a new poll that suggests the possibility of a "throw the bums out" mentality in next year's midterm elections.

The AP-GfK poll finds few people approve of the way the president is handling most major issues and most people say he's not decisive, strong, honest, reasonable or inspiring.

In the midst of the government shutdown and Washington gridlock, the president is faring much better than his party, with large majorities of those surveyed finding little positive to say about Democrats. The negatives are even higher for the Republicans across the board, with 4 out of 5 people describing the GOP as unlikeable and dishonest and not compassionate, refreshing, inspiring or innovative.

Negativity historically hurts the party in power — particularly when it occurs in the second term of a presidency — but this round seems to be hitting everyone. More people now say they see bigger differences between the two parties than before Obama was elected, yet few like what either side is offering. A big unknown: possible fallout from the unresolved budget battle in Washington.

The numbers offer warning signs for every incumbent lawmaker, and if these angry sentiments stretch into next year, the 2014 elections could feel much like the 2006 and 2010 midterms when being affiliated with Washington was considered toxic by many voters. In 2006, voters booted Republicans from power in the House and Senate, and in 2010, they fired Democrats who had been controlling the House.

"There needs to be a major change," said Pam Morrison, 56, of Lincoln, Neb., among those who were surveyed. "I'm anxious for the next election to see what kind of new blood we can get."

Morrison describes herself as a conservative Republican and said she is very concerned about how her adult children are going to afford insurance under Obama's health care law. She places most of the blame for the shutdown on the president, but she also disapproves of the job Congress is doing. "I don't think they're working together," Morrison said.

"Congress needs to take a look at their salaries, they need to take a cut to their salaries and they need to feel some of the pain the American people are feeling," said Morrison, who is married to a government worker who she said has been deemed essential and is still on the job.

People across the political spectrum voiced disappointment.

Suzanne Orme, a 74-year-old retiree and self-described liberal who lives in California's Silicon Valley, says the shutdown is more the Republican Party's fault. "The Republicans seem to be a bunch of morons who aren't going to give in for anything. I just don't get it with them. They are just crazy," she said.

But she also said she strongly disapproves of the way Obama is handling his job, and doesn't find him likable, decisive, strong, honest, compassionate, refreshing, ethical, inspiring or reasonable. The only positive attribute she gave him was innovative.

"It sounds like he's kind of weak. He says one thing and does another," Orme said after taking the survey. For example, she said Obama hasn't made good on his promise to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and changed his position on whether people should be penalized for failing to get health insurance.

"I voted for him, and he's turned out to be a big disappointment," she said. "I mean, what's the alternative?" Orme said it just seems to her that Washington is run by lobbyists and consumed by financial greed.

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Graphic shows AP-GfK poll on government approval; 2c x 6 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 165 mm;

A bad sign for Democrats is that Obama has bled support among independents — 60 percent disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, while only 16 percent approve. As he began his second term in January, independents tilted positive, 48 percent approved and 39 percent disapproved.

Neither party can win without the support of independents, with only about a third of the poll's respondents identifying themselves as Democrats and about a quarter as Republicans.

Obama has held onto support from Carol Cox, a 59-year-old independent from Hartville, Ohio, who says she feels the president helps people in need. She is happy to see his health care law that offers coverage to the uninsured and to people with pre-existing conditions, although she thinks the rollout could have been better. "I think he's doing an OK job," she said of the president.

But she is not happy with either party in Congress. She said the shutdown is affecting her family's investments and she's concerned about the future of Social Security. "I'm really angry and frustrated. I can't believe how mad I am about this."

As for next year's congressional election, she said, "I would love to see just a total turnover."

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted Oct. 3-7, 2013, using KnowledgePanel, GfK's probability-based online panel. It involved online interviews with 1,227 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points for all respondents.

The survey was designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Respondents to the survey were first selected randomly using phone or mail survey methods and later interviewed online. Those who didn't otherwise have access to the Internet were provided with the ability to get online at no cost.

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News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

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Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler and Jennifer Agiesta at http://twitter.com/JennAgiesta

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Online: AP-GfK Poll: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

President Obama, the Democrats, and especially the Republicans take a beating in a new AP survey.
'Throw the bums out' mentality

ND farmer finds oil spill while harvesting wheat

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota farmer who discovered an oil spill the size of seven football fields while out harvesting wheat says that when he found it, crude was bubbling up out of the ground.

Farmer Steve Jensen says he smelled the crude for days before the tires on his combines were coated in it. At the apparent break in the Tesoro Corp.'s underground pipeline, the oil was "spewing and bubbling 6 inches high," he said in a telephone interview Thursday.

What Jensen had found on Sept. 29 turned out it was one of the largest spills recorded in the state. At 20,600 barrels it was four times the size of a pipeline rupture in late March that forced the evacuation of more than 20 homes in Arkansas.

But it was 12 days after Jensen reported the spill before state officials told the public what had happened, raising questions about how North Dakota, which is in the midst of an oil boom, reports such incidents.

The spill happened in a remote area in the northwest corner of the state. The nearest home is a half-mile away, and Tesoro says no water sources were contaminated, no wildlife was hurt and no one was injured.

The release of oil has been stopped, state environment geologist Kris Roberts said Thursday. And the spill — spread out over 7.3 acres, or about the size of seven football fields, — has been contained.

Jacob Wiedmer, who was helping Jensen harvest his wheat crop, likened the Sept. 29 discovery to the theme song from "The Beverly Hillbillies" television show.

"It was just like Jed Clampett shooting at some food ..." he said of the oil coming from the ground. "Except we weren't hunting, we were harvesting."

Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who says he wasn't even told about what happened until Wednesday night, said the state is now investigating its procedures for reporting spills.

"There are many questions to be answered on how it occurred and how it was detected and if there was anything that could have been done that could have made a difference," Dalrymple said Thursday, when questioned at a news conference on a separate topic.

"Initially, it was felt that the spill was not overly large," Dalrymple said. "When they realized it was a fairly sizable spill, they began to contact more people about it."

Jensen said he had harvested most of his wheat before the spill, but the land is no longer usable for planting.

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Map shows pipeline and location of spill; 2c x 3 inches; 96.3 mm x 76 mm;

"We expect not to be able to farm that ground for several years," he said.

Tesoro Logistics, a subsidiary of the San Antonio, Texas-based company that owns and operates parts of Tesoro's oil infrastructure, said in a statement that the affected portion of the pipeline has been shut down.

"Protection and care of the environment are fundamental to our core values, and we deeply regret any impact to the landowner," Tesoro CEO Greg Goff said in a statement. "We will continue to work tirelessly to fully remediate the release area."

Wayde Schafer, a North Dakota spokesman for the Sierra Club, said the spill is an example of the lack of oversight in a state that has exploded with oil development in recent years.

"We need more inspectors and more transparency," Schafer said. "Not only is the public not informed, but agencies don't appear to be aware of what's going on and that's not good."

Eric Haugstad, Tesoro's director of contingency planning and emergency response, said the hole in the 20-year-old pipeline was a quarter-inch in diameter. Tesoro officials were investigating what caused the hole in the 6-inch-diameter steel pipeline that runs underground about 35 miles from Tioga to a rail facility outside of Columbus, near the Canadian border.

Roberts said it may have been caused by corrosion.

Roberts said state and federal regulators are monitoring the cleanup, and Tesoro estimated it would cost $4 million.

A natural layer of clay more than 40 feet thick underlies the spill site and has "held the oil up" so that it doesn't spread to underground water sources, Roberts said.

"It is completely contained and under control," Roberts said Thursday. "They got very lucky."

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Follow James MacPherson on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/macphersonja

North Dakota farmer's Jed Clampett moment

After Steve Jensen discovered a massive oil spill, the public wasn't told for another 12 days.Dwarfs the Arkansas accident

Air Force Fires Two Star General in Charge of Nuke Missiles

The Air Force's two star general in charge of the units responsible for its 450 nuclear missiles has been fired "due to a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership and judgment."

Maj. Gen. Michael Carey has been removed from command of the 20th Air Force, according to an Air Force statement. That command is responsible for the three wings that maintain control of the 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles scattered in missile silos across the northern plains.

Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, made the decision because of what the statement said was a "loss of trust and confidence.

The statement added that Kowalski made the decision to relieve Carey based on information from an Inspector General investigation into Carey's behavior during a temporary duty assignment which is the military's term for business travel. "The allegations are not related to operational readiness or the inspection results of any 20th AF unit, nor do they involve sexual misconduct," said the statement. Carey has been reassigned to an undetermined job within the Air Force pending the results of the investigation.

"20th AF continues to execute its mission of around-the-clock nuclear deterrence in a safe, secure and effective manner," Kowalski is quoted as saying in the statement. "It's unfortunate that I've had to relieve an officer who's had an otherwise distinctive career spanning 35 years of commendable service."

Brigadier General Les Kodlick, the Air Force's chief spokesman, said the ongoing Inspector General's investigation had been triggered by "reports of personal misbehavior" during that temporary duty assignment.

Kodlick would not specifically reveal where the personal misbehavior may have occurred or may have consisted of though he said it did not involve criminal behavior.

Kowalski's command is responsible for two-thirds of the nation's nuclear triad, including Air Force nuclear missiles and long-range bombers.

Kodlick explained that personal behavior is important in nuclear commands because "it's a position of great trust and responsibility." He added that "the nuclear deterrence mission is one of great focus and discipline. Personal behavior is vital to that, especially from a commander.

Earlier this week President Obama relieved of command the number two officer at U.S. Strategic Command, which among other things oversees the military's nuclear forces. Vice Admiral James Giardina had earlier been suspended from that command following a criminal probe into his potential use of counterfeit poker chips at an Iowa casino.

Obama became involved because only the president can relieve a three- and four-star officer from his post. Giardina has been reassigned to an undetermined position within the Navy.

The Air Force statement indicated that the move was unrelated to the inspection results of the 20 th Air Force.

Earlier this year, two of the three missile wings under Carey's command received unsatisfactory ratings in regular annual inspections.

In August, the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, failed its third inspection in five years.

In May ,the 91st Missile wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota suspended 19 missile officers for retraining after that unit received an unsatisfactory rating for one aspect of its inspection.

Head of all U.S. long-range nukes fired

Maj. Gen. Michael Carey oversaw 450 nuclear missiles at three Air Force bases.
'Loss of trust and confidence'

Washington (AFP) - American troops have captured a senior leader of the Pakistani Taliban, a US official said Friday, in what could prove a major blow to the group amid moves to boost peace efforts in Afghanistan.

"I can confirm that US forces did capture... terrorist leader Latif Mehsud in a military operation," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said, describing him as a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

She gave no details of the operation and did not say where or when his capture took place, as the news filtered out during a surprise visit to Kabul by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Pentagon officials, however, said Mehsud was still inside Afghanistan, without specifying where.

"As part of the armed conflict against Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces, authorized by Congress in the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, Mehsud was captured and is being lawfully held by US military forces in Afghanistan," said Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith.

The Washington Post reported, however, that he had been seized recently in eastern Afghanistan, and was snatched away from Afghan intelligence operatives who had been trying to recruit him as a possible go-between for the struggling reconciliation efforts between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban.

US officials would not immediately comment on the report.

The TTP, which is based in the lawless areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan, is closely linked to both Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, a separate group led by Mullah Omar, which was toppled from power in Kabul in the 2001 US-led invasion.

Mehsud's capture will be "helpful" for US-Pakistan relations as Islamabad has been "calling for more help in going after the TTP in Afghanistan," said Seth Jones, a former adviser to US special forces and analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank.

"For regional cooperation, the US picking up a TTP commander in Afghanistan has got to be looked at in a positive way in Islamabad," Jones told AFP.

News of the capture came as Kerry landed in Kabul for difficult talks about leaving a residual US force behind in Afghanistan after international forces withdraw by the end of 2014. The US has imposed a deadline of October 31 to secure the bilateral security deal.

A US official said Friday's meeting between Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who said earlier this week that he was prepared to walk away if Kabul was not satisfied, were "constructive."

"It is fair to say that the differences that exist were narrowed on the vast of majority of the outstanding issues," the official said.

It was unclear whether Karzai had raised the issue of Mehsud's capture, after reports that he had been angered by the incident.

"The Americans forcibly removed him and took him to Bagram," a Karzai spokesman, Aimal Faizi, told the Post.

Bagram air base is a military base that includes a detention facility where the United States continues to hold more than 60 foreign fighters among about 3,000 detainees.

Mehsud had only agreed to meet with agents from Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security after months of conversations, he said.

"Mehsud is a senior commander in TTP and served as a trusted confidante of the group's leader Hakimullah Mehsud," Harf told reporters, adding the group had claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of Times Square, New York, in 2010.

The group "had also vowed to attack the US homeland again," she said.

It was not immediately clear if Latif Meshud is related to Hakimullah Mehsud, who took over as the commander of the Pakistani Taliban in 2009 after his predecessor was killed in a US drone strike.

Botched efforts by the United States in June to launch peace talks with the Afghan Taliban infuriated Karzai when the Taliban briefly opened up an office in Qatar.

Pakistan's tribal districts near the Afghan border are rife with homegrown insurgents, Al-Qaeda agents and Taliban, who are understood to use rear bases in Pakistan to plot attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.

The mountainous region lies outside direct government control and US drone strikes on militant commanders in the region are a key plank in the US strategy to defeat Al-Qaeda and reverse the insurgency in Afghanistan.


U.S. says it has captured top Taliban leader

Senior Pakistani commander Latif Mehsud was reportedly snatched away from Afghan intelligence operatives.
'Forcibly removed'

Eastern India braces for impact of major cyclone

BHUBANESHWAR, India (AP) — Officials ordered tens of thousands of coastal villagers to flee their homes Friday as a massive cyclone that filled nearly the entire Bay of Bengal gathered strength and headed toward India's eastern seaboard.

Officials canceled holy day celebrations and stockpiled emergency supplies in coastal Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states, with forecasters saying Cyclone Phailin will hit the region Saturday evening.

The Indian Meteorological Department warned that Phailin was a "very severe cyclonic storm" that was expected to hit with maximum sustained winds of 210-220 kilometers (130-135 miles) per hour.

However, the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii forecast maximum sustained winds of 269 kilometers (167 miles) per hour with gusts up to 315 kilometers (196 miles) per hour.

U.S. meteorologists said this is a storm that is flirting with historic sized power.

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In this Thursday Oct. 10, 2013 photo, fishing boats are pulled off to the shore following a cyclone …

"If it's not a record it's really, really close," University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy told The Associated Press. "You really don't get storms stronger than this anywhere in the world ever. This is the top of the barrel."

To compare to killer U.S. storms, McNoldy said Phailin is near the size of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people, but with the much stronger wind power of 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which was a Category 5 storm at landfall in Miami.

The storm shows no sign of weakening and has an impressive eye, said Ryan Maue of the private weather firm Weather Bell. He called it a "critically dangerous situation with a rare Category 5 landfall," which he said in that region has a history of being catastrophic.

If the storm continues on its current path without weakening, it is expected to cause large-scale power and communications outages and shut down road and rail links, officials said. There would also be extensive damage to crops.

Satellite images of the storm showed its spinning tails reaching nearly 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the east coast of India to the west coast of Myanmar, an area roughly the size of France.

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In this Thursday Oct. 10, 2013 photo, a fisherman walks on a beach during a cyclone alert on the Bay …

Using trucks and buses, authorities evacuated 40,000 people from 40 villages to government-run shelters, schools and buildings in five districts of Orissa state, said Surya Narayan Patra, the state revenue and disaster management minister.

Patra said officials plan to take another 100,000 people to safer areas before the cyclone hits.

"No one will be allowed to stay in mud and thatched houses in the coastal areas," he said.

The government also began evacuating 64,000 people from the low-lying areas of three vulnerable districts in neighboring Andhra Pradesh state, said state Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy.

Officials have been stockpiling emergency food supplies, and setting up shelters for people expected to flee the heavy winds and rains. The Indian air force said four transport planes and 18 helicopters were being kept ready for relief operations in the region.

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Indian fishermen sort their fishing nets after they return with their catch on the Bay of Bengal coa …

Weather forecasters had been predicting waves up to 2 meters (7 feet), but warned that the storm has been gaining strength and its impact could be severe.

What makes this storm so fearsome is that there's no wind shear to weaken it and the water that is fueling it is warm and deep, McNoldy said. Those are the ingredients for a record storm.

The Bay of Bengal has been the scene of some of the deadliest storms in recent history. A 1999 Orissa cyclone killed 10,000 people.

This storm could get as deadly, but the region Phailin is aiming at is not quite as low lying, so that's something that might lessen its death toll, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the private Weather Underground.

"This is as bad as it gets," said Masters, who used to fly into hurricanes. "This is a top end Category 5 cyclone. You don't get these very often."

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Indian fishermen on a country boat negotiate the waves as they return with their catch on the Bay of …

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Associated Press writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

India braces for Cyclone Phailin

Tens of thousands are ordered to evacuate as a storm so large it fills nearly the entire Bay of Bengal approaches.
'Very severe cyclonic storm'