A reader writes:

I thought I'd pass on an anecdote about my daughter and other kids I've come into contact with during this ungodly long election cycle.

I voted for McCain in the primary. As a political reporter and columnist in Michigan, I have the news on in our house with some frequency. That's how my now 6-year-old got to know Barack Obama. And she loved him. She asked to tag along when I went to cover his events. Maybe it's the smile, the calmness. But she felt very assured by the idea of this man being president, long before I was ready to switch my vote. She was the one trying to convince her grandparents to vote Obama last winter.

And I've found that Obama has the same effect on lots of kids, whether they come from liberal or conservative homes. He is a rock star with the under 10 crowd, believe me. And I have to say, as a journalist, I found their reactions fascinating in light of both the race debate and the fact that kids tend to be carbon copies of their parents. So that Scholastic poll doesn't surprise me at all.

So the next time you see a kid with an Obama shirt, she just might have asked for it for her birthday, like mine, instead of having it foisted upon her by overbearing parents.