'Experience' talk could be code for age differences

ST. PAUL, MINN.

For some, age is just a number or a state of mind.

This election season, it has become a subtext for criticism of both major-party presidential candidates, who are 25 years, and generations, apart.

Republican Sen. John McCain, 72, has critics who question whether he can handle the pressures of presidency at his age, and Democrat Barack Obama, 47, has been criticized for not having enough years to be ready for the job.

Instances of perceived racism or sexism, given the presence of female and minority candidates in the race, has drawn strong attention, but there has been less concern among voters for negative perceptions about the candidate's age, some observers say.

That's because "people generally acknowledge (ethnic and gender) prejudices are wrong," said Old Dominion political science professor Jesse Richman. But age discrimination "has less of a developed negative valance," he said.

"Age is very subjective," Richman said, noting that while some voters see advanced age as a liability, others assign similar limitations to youth.

Indeed, debates over policy differences between the candidates have been simplified into ageist code, "inexperience" for Obama and "out of touch" for McCain.

Not all age-based critiques have been serious, however.

The silly side of the issue has provided material for the monologues of late-night TV hosts and Web sites that mockingly list things younger than McCain - McDonald's hamburgers, for example - and older than Obama, whose congressional tenure one Republican famously said has been shorter than the stay of "leftovers in my refrigerator."

In a "long political season," there is room for humor about topics of the day, including age, said Drew Nannis, spokesman for AARP, an influential lobbying group with 40 million members older than 50.

Ultimately, Nannis said, voters will not decide the presidency by "how many candles you have on your birthday cake," even if the age issue is on some minds.

A Pew Research Center poll from last year found that almost half of respondents indicated they would be less likely to vote for candidates in their 70s.

More recent polling tells a different story, showing a precipitous drop in voter concerns about the age of the Arizona Republican.

Whichever man wins, the White House occupant will be on one of the extreme ends of the presidential age spectrum.

If it's McCain, he would become the oldest person to assume the presidency. Obama, if elected, would be one of the youngest - only Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton were younger.

One age advantage for McCain may be that a greater proportion of older Americans consistently shows up at the polls on Election Day.

In 2006, voters older than 50 cast half of all the ballots in those elections, Nannis said, noting that adults in that age bracket represent about one-third of all Americans.

McCain surrogates cite his battle scars as a former prisoner of war in Vietnam to address age concerns and remind people about his life experience and vitality, despite past health problems.

One supporter who isn't worried is entertainer Pat Boone, who is 74.

Boone, who spent time with the Virginia delegation this week, recalled similar doubts about whether Ronald Reagan, who was nearly 70 when he took office in 1981, was too old.

"It turned out he wasn't," Boone said.

Still, ageism is an issue, insists state Del. Bob Tata, R-Virginia Beach, who at 78 has felt its sting. Some young politicians "can't wait for the old-timers to go," Tata said. "They don't know why they're not governor yet after just two years."

When longtime state Sen. Chuck Colgan, D-Prince William, was confronted with criticism about his 81 years by his 53-year-old opponent in the 2006 election, he came at it head on. "I said to him - he was a bit portly - 'How about you and I running a hundred-yard dash and let's see who wins?' "

His opponent never took the challenge, said Colgan, who won re-election and is in his 33rd year in the state legislature.

Pilot writer Kerry Dougherty contributed to this report.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com