That Horse is Dead, Podnuh.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A Republican official who worked with George W. Bush in an Alabama campaign in 1972 said Thursday she recalled him talking about his National Guard duty and seeing him in uniform before the election that year.

Jean Sullivan, an Alabama GOP leader who worked with Bush in the Senate campaign of Winton "Red" Blount in 1972, said she recalled even then hearing rumors about whether Bush was fulfilling his Guard obligations.

She blamed those rumblings on some within the Alabama Guard who were resentful because Bush was from Texas and was spending only the minimum amount of required time on duty.

"It was just some idiots," said Sullivan, who is about 70 but wouldn't give her exact age. "He didn't do anything wrong," Sullivan, a former Republican national committeewoman from Selma, told The Associated Press as the election-year flap about Bush's Vietnam-era service persisted.

Sullivan said she was so upset at the time that she called an Alabama Guard commander - she couldn't recall his name - to explain that Bush was doing all he could while working "like a dog" on the campaign.

"The man called me back and apologized. I thought it was gone forever," Sullivan said. "And then I started hearing all this stuff a couple of weeks ago."

Of course, being a Republican, the Dems would state that only the testimony of three Democrats will suffice.

The headline? "Dentist Doesn't Remember Treating Bush"

You read it and tell me why. It's not in the story.

Is AWOL a dead horse? Or just among intelligent people?

Here's another "guess the headline": The ABC News-Washington Post poll found that 52 percent felt Bush was trustworthy, while 42 percent did not.

The headline? Poll: Public's Trust in Bush Hits New Low