MARK MY WORD: GIRL WONDERS ABOUT 'SECRET GUYS' IN BUSH WHITE HOUSE

President Bush can't count on Becca's vote. She's too young.

But at age 9, our oldest daughter still has an opinion.

She thinks the president should cut taxes. She recently said so in a letter she wrote to the president as part of a class project.

"I really am glad you won, but I want to cut taxes and the Electoral College," she wrote.

Like many politicians, Becca's letter doesn't get bogged down with details. She hasn't offered any advice on the size of the tax cuts.

But I'm sure she figures a tax cut would spur economic growth by providing more money for parents to spend on important stuff like Game Boys and cool clothes for the kids.

Becca pointed out that she and her classmates were learning about "the vote" in social studies class.

Third graders aren't political experts, but they do wonder just why it took so long to count all those votes and declare a winner.

Becca pointed out that Bush was the overwhelming choice among third graders at her school.

They say all politics is local, but I'm not sure what George W. Bush did to win over the peanut butter-and-jelly crowd. I'm not aware that Bush has promised better lunch menus or more school recesses.

Most Americans probably wish Washington would take a permanent recess.

As for Becca, she routinely takes her lunch to school so improved school lunches wouldn't do much to win her vote.

Still, I'm sure the president is thrilled that he has such solid support.

"I hope you get to stay eight years instead of four," Becca told the president in her letter. "I know you will be great."

Becca thinks it would be wonderful to be president, particularly if you're Dabney Coleman. She recently saw the Disney movie, "My Date With the President's Daughter," in which Coleman starred as president and the concerned father of a precocious teen-ager.

Actually, Becca really liked the adventures of the president's daughter and all those Secret Service guys who chased her and her boyfriend around Washington, D.C.

It made her laugh, which is something you can't say about most affairs of state.

"Do you have any secret guys?" Becca asked Bush. "I saw `My Date With the President's Daughter' and they had secret serves," she wrote.

Becca's not a student of politics, unless you count the Disney version of what goes on in the White House and in Washington area shopping malls.

To crusty cynics, this may be Mickey Mouse stuff.

But clearly it's more fun than talk of tax cuts, Medicare and Social Security, and all those Beltway political issues that get talked about and talked about on all those TV public affairs shows. There's plenty of noise on such shows, but little real conversation.

Those talking heads spend all their time pontificating about politics when clearly "secret guys" in the White House is a lot sexier issue. I'm sure Jerry Springer would jump all over this.

As for Becca, she wants to know if George W. Bush likes being president, and she's not afraid to ask.

Kids have a way of boiling things down to the important stuff like whether a job is fun.

Of course by the end of her one-page letter, Becca apologized for asking so many questions and volunteered that she was "probably wasting his time."

She signed her name, Rebecca, noting that it was "Becca for short."

She sent along her home address. "P.S. Write Back," she advised.

That's the great thing about youth. At Becca's age, she expects the leader of the free world to write back.

Dabney Coleman would.