Is John McCain's age a problem for him

[sunset]

getting elected?

[Aught Six]

I think the mean age of registered voters is about 46 years old, so it could be a problem. Still,I think Obama's youth will be even more of a problem for the Democrats.

[Champlain Islander]

It will as soon as Obama starts to campaign against him. The debates should be ugly. I watched many of the GOP debates and at that time McCain was written off in the polls. His ability in debates was just about dead last as compared with most of the other candidates. Often his answers were short bursts of bad humor rather than an answer. How he went from that point to front runner is still a mystery to me.

[bigdawgwill44]

Didn't hurt Reagan

[salukipv1]

I think so, yet another reason I won't / wouldn't vote for him.

Jesse Ventura also agrees, why are all gov't employees forced to retire at 65? yet not the president, only the most important gov't job.....? Laws need more standardising/less exceptions etc...

[Griswold]

ORIGINAL: bigdawgwill44

Didn't hurt Reagan

McCain is no Reagan.

[Griswold]

ORIGINAL: salukipv1

I think so, yet another reason I won't / wouldn't vote for him.

Jesse Ventura also agrees, why are all gov't employees forced to retire at 65? yet not the president, only the most important gov't job.....? Laws need more standardising/less exceptions etc...

Who was the last president whose ability to do his job was hindered by his age?

To answer the question: Yes, I think it'll have a bit of an impact, if only because the guy on the other side of the ballot is garnering a lot of support with his youth. But there will be much more fundamental issues in this race than Obama's youth and McCain's advanced age and those will dictate who wins and loses in November.

[bergall]

ORIGINAL: Griswold

Who was the last president whose ability to do his job was hindered by his age?

To answer the question: Yes, I think it'll have a bit of an impact, if only because the guy on the other side of the ballot is garnering a lot of support with his youth. But there will be much more fundamental issues in this race than Obama's youth and McCain's advanced age and those will dictate who wins and loses in November.

I think you're right, and would add the following to this 'cocktail'....

Obama has energized the youth of this country which has the attention span of a gnat. Let's see how
many of 'em actually put down the Game Boy and go out to vote in November. Lots of this misguided 'youth' is away at college. They will need to either register as residents of the state they attend college, or apply for an absentee ballot before election day. Poof...those votes are vapor.

I believe we will see an election along racial lines, as ugly as that sounds. Obama, while getting 98% of the black vote (can he truly be THE right candidate for 98% of the blacks in this country, or are they voting on racial lines ?), still needs the white vote. I think he's destroyed that in large regard, by sitting in that pew in the Rev.Wright's church of Hate. I think his wife is hurting him by her angry black woman diatribes to supporters which REEK of Rev.Wright's anti-white, anti-American hate.
I think Obama's going to be lacking the number of white voters he's going to need to beat McCain.
Nobody wants McCain in office...he's old, he's middle-of-the-road. But I don't know a single white person who is going to vote for Obama, and that's a direct result of his association with a racist minister and an anti-US, unrepentant terrorist bomber from the 1960s. Black people need to get behind a serious candidate, not a clown like Obama.

[sachiko]

I'm pretty young but I don't see McCain's age as a problem. To be honest, I think it's an advantage.

[heavy hitter]

no, his policies are. it does give him something to cry about apparently.