I was wondering what the needle should read when its fully hot. Here is a picture of mine fully hot. I personally think it should be straight up and down.

 

what are you worried about? if that is fully heated to running temp your doing good
Might have a 180 deg. t-stat in it or had been changed. is this a one owner car? or have you or anyone else changed teh T-stat in it?
If not then i would say your good to go just keep a eye on it and make sure it dont go to the other side of the mid way point and look like that then it is to hot

 

that's usually about where mine is running @

 

I just bought it a week ago. It has 16k miles on it. Damn good for a 2000. It was owned only by one other guy. I just worry cause of the fact I had a grand am before this and it always had a coolant problem.

 

That is where mine runs @!

 

That's about where mine runs, maybe a little lower, but definitly a little higher if I'm really working the supercharger.

I'm not sure what year your Grand Am was (or if the 2000 MC might have the same engine), but don't forget that those 3100 and 3400 engines were very prone to gasket leaks, and thus coolant issues. My family has 3 mid 90's Grand Prixs ALL have had the intake gasket replaced.

 

Welcome to MCF Shawn!!!

That's where a stock T-Stat should be running on an idleing engine.