The AWOL story may not matter much to the public at large--

[Jackpine Radical]

especially since many of them may not really appreciate the significance of shirking duty during wartime & having your misbehavior "sugarcoated." But one group that is really paying attention is the active-duty military, as witness the prominent placement of the AP story in pubs like the sister-publications Army Times & AF Times.

IMHO, the real potential for this story is in terms of its power to turn off the military vote, which went overwhelmingly to Bush last time. This story compounds a problem created by the Smearboat buzz, which I imagine also pissed off a lot of military people.

Remember-Rasmussen, Gallup & Zogby aren't out there polling the military every day, so the Pubbies may not even realize what they're doing to one of their core constituencies.