I want to get a wide angle 28mm or less compact digital camera with aa batteries any suggestions?

I'm not finding any current models for you. And, it seems that "compact," "28 mm," and "AA" are mutually exclusive.

Go to http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.... and enter <28 mm in the window for Zoom Wide (W) and you'll see the array that I found.

You should be able to get that with most digital cameras. Canon and Sony make good dependable smaller digital cameras. Make sure to get optical zoom (better than digital zoom)

go to yahoo shopping
digital cameras
digital camera guide
it will find one for you

digital cameras are notorious for not being very good with wide angle, often starting at 35 mm.
Many real estate agents want a camera with a wide angle so they can photograph house without breaking walls and still fit the whole room on one photo.

You can get a camera that accepts a wide angle adapter. That is usually done with a thread in front of the lens where you would attach filters or teleconverters.

Also cameras that use AA batteries are getting more seldom.

Anyway, i tried your criteria on imaging resource advisor (http://www.imaging-resource.com/cgi-bin/... and it came up with:
Canon PowerShot A530 : 35-140, AA batteries $149

Not very wide. The other choices were worse in terms of lens.
So basically you can have wide or AA but not both.
I recommend you get camera with AA batteries and add a wide angle adapter. Othewise, your best bet is to look for a used camera older camera were more commonly using AA batteries.

There are only a few compact digital cameras on the market that have a 28mm lens. The Canon SD800, SD60, SD70, SD80, Panasonic DMC-FX30, and Fuji E510 come to mind. Some of them are discountined models. The only one I know for sure is avaiable in a store is the Canon SD800. The Fuji E510 uses AA batteries, but it's an old model. Panasonic is also coming out with two models but it does not list AA batteries so I think it'll be using a lithium ion recharagable. Lumix DMC-TZ3 and Lumix DMC-FZ8. These should be avaiable this month.