KID STUFF : Out of the Mouths of Pundits

What do those who are not yet old enough to vote make of presidential campaigns and elections? One youngster thinks the job of political convention delegates is to “resent” their states.

Another child says people who are expected to help the President once he’s elected sometimes are locked up in his Cabinet.

These young political pundits are quoted in “The World According to Kids!”--a compilation of 32 years of children’s wit by retired teacher Harold Dunn of Ballwin, Mo.

Another explained that a split ticket is when you don’t like any of the candidates on the ticket so you tear it up.

“I call them youngsterisms instead of boners because most of the time they aren’t really mistakes but facts that are phrased in the beguiling way of children,” said Dunn, 62. “They have a way of putting a backspin on their answer, saying something that seems to make little sense but actually is quite sensible.”

Here’s some advice from the mouths of babes:

* Thin-skinned is good in apples but bad in candidates.

* Political ties are just to get elected and not to wear.

* Political strategy is when you don’t let people know you have run out of ideas and keep talking anyway.

* A candidate should renounce his words carefully.

* The campaign is when the candidate tells what he stands for and the election is when the voters tell if they can stand for him being elected.