1. "This isn't really real."

2. "I have never found this fun. I'd rather be at soccer practice."

Just two more reasons to like Luksik.

How many pols openly admit the fantasy-nature of politics and lament campaigning even while doing it?

Luksik, in her third try for governor, is no ordinary pol. Nor is she a kook.

She begins an interview talking about daughter, Molly, 12, who just passed an international dance test and is headed to summer sessions with the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet. She says Molly should dance for herself, chase only her own dreams, and so forth.

It's like talking with a real person. A neighbor once gawked, surprised that Luksik was shovelling snow. "But you're on TV!" said the neighbor. "People forget we're people," said Luksik.

Of course, she has no chance of being governor. She's never held office, has no real money, is not at double-digits in known polls. But despite the view she'll do worse this time than before, just the fact she IS "people," could get her further than most predict.

She turns 43 tomorrow. She's from Johnstown, the Constitutional Party candidate against Republican Gov. Ridge and Democrat challenger Ivan Itkin. The party's hers. Grew out of the unprecedented 13 percent, nearly half a million votes, won as a third-party candidate in '94. She picked the name. Says the Constitution "always stood for limits on government."

In 1990, Luksik rocked Republicans by nearly upsetting GOP-backed Barbara Hafer in the primary, winning 46 percent of the vote. She's a darling of the right, as in conservative AND "what's right."

Slight, petite, peppy, a gray-haired mother of six (ages 16, 12, 11, 9, 7 and 4), a former teacher, and founder and CEO of Mom's House, non-profit service programs for single mothers.

She also is founder and head of the National Parents Commission, which calls for less government in schools. And she's one of the state's foremost anti-abortion activists. Ridge and Itkin are pro-choice. She opposes gun control, supports the death penalty, supports school choice. Mostly, she's Mrs. "family values" and Pennsylvania's "Church Lady."

Over a pasta lunch in a crowded restaurant, she blesses herself before eating and says she's never seen Saturday Night Live's "Church Lady."

"I don't watch TV . . . but I am a church lady."

She has an easy manner, quick mind and rapid-fire delivery. "Who is the center of society? Is it the government or is it the family? We used to be a family-centered society. We are becoming a government-centered society. And that's in every issue, from 'life,' where government decides when life begins and when it ends, when it's worth protecting and when it's not, to education and who runs education? Washington? Harrisburg? Or parents and teachers at the local level?"

Luksik is running her usual grass-roots, shoestring effort, but this time with a little more. She spent $47,000 in 1990; $370,000 four years ago; and this year predicts she'll spend $1 million.

She runs on "life" and less government. She doesn't read press clips because "I need to stay focused." And, she says "at some level all candidates are pretend" and risk getting wrapped-up in the trappings of politics: "you can win an election and lose your soul on the same day."

I, for one, always liked her. Enjoy talking with her. Think there's little "pretend." Some say she's wasting time and missing her kids for no real gain. I say Pennsylvania has enough predictable, phony politicians who believe in nothing the polls don't tell them.

Luksik might not carry the day, this year, next year or ever. But she brightens it. She's an intelligent alternative. And the broader the bright spot is, the better for the body politic.