PRESIDENTIAL POOCHES Texas Gov. George W. Bush poses with his dog Spot in this 1998 photo. Spot is the daughter of former First Dog Millie. Vice President Al Gore poses with family pets Daisy, left, and Shiloh in this photo taken by Tipper Gore.

Meet Spot Fetcher Bush, the Texas governor's English springer spaniel, daughter of George and Barbara Bush's famous Millie. The younger Bush also has two cats, including six-toed Ernie.

Should Vice President Al Gore win, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be home to Daisy, a mixed breed partial to flower beds, and Shiloh, a black Labrador retriever named for the Tennessee town, site of a Civil War battle.

Tough-talking Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan has a 14-year-old cat named Gipper. He "brings out Pat's softer side," said campaign spokesman Neil Bernstein, who often sees the brown cat perched on Buchanan's lap during staff meetings at the former Republican's home.

Kissing babies and petting puppies has often softened a political image. President Clinton has been known to arrange Kodak moments with the current first pets, Buddy the dog and Socks the cat.

This election's Democratic and Republican contenders could do the same. After all, the pets in both families have their touching tales.

Gore's son Albert found Daisy during a family vacation to Center Hill Lake in Tennessee. The family called her Inspector Turnip, until Tipper regularly found her sleeping in the daisies and gave her a new name.

Daisy, a gray and white mutt, now lives at the vice president's residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory as does Shiloh.

The Bushes also took in a stray, Ernie, an orange and white kitten that Spot found in a tree. The name comes from Ernest Hemingway, the author who had a cat with six toes, like the kitten.

Ernie and Spot, now friends, reside in Bush's Texas residence with a short-haired black cat named India, aka Willie.

Why Willie? "It's Texas. Everybody has a nickname," said Anne Trenolone from the governor's press office. "The governor gives everybody a nickname, even his cat."

To date, the candidates' pets have mostly stayed out of the limelight, though Gore has been photographed running with Daisy.

Unlike Millie, who dictated a book to first lady Barbara Bush, Spot and the cats have no books in the works, Trenolone said.

Spot, however, does have a section on the governor's Web site that includes a reading list for kids.

"Governor Bush's top priority for Texas is to make sure every kid can read by the third grade and continue to get better at reading every year," Spot says on the site. "My owner is pretty cool!"

Presidential pet expert Ron Elmore, an associate dean at Kansas State University's veterinary college, thinks the candidates' pets can be an electoral boon.

Indeed, more American households have pets than children. "History shows that people identify with pets," he says.

During the 1944 campaign, Franklin D. Roosevelt reportedly turned a destroyer around when he discovered his dog, Fala, was left behind on an Aleutian island. Republicans howled at the expense to taxpayers.

"I don't resent such attacks and my family doesn't resent such attacks, but Fala does," Roosevelt said.

He won.

Richard Nixon, aiming to be vice president in 1952, successfully defended an alleged slush fund, saying the only gift he accepted was Checkers, his dog.

The man's-best-friend defense worked beautifully.