McCain Jokes to Play Down Age As Issue

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., addresses the GOPAC Fall Charter Meeting lin Washington in this Nov. 16, 2006 file photo. McCain, 70 and scarred, cannot deny his age. So he jokes about it. "I'm older than dirt, more scars than Frankenstein, but I learned a few things along the way," he quips (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) (J. Scott Applewhite - AP)

"He's as alert as he was 18 years ago when I went to work for him. He's as healthy as a horse," said Mark Salter, a longtime aide.

The campaign plans to release his updated health records to prove it. Aides are confident that voters will see it for themselves as the senator steps up his campaigning.

Regardless of his current fitness, nobody knows how McCain would fare during his years in the Oval Office given his age and medical history. If he were nominated, his age would make his selection of a running mate even more critical.

Physicians unaffiliated with him say as people get into their 70s they face the increased risk of mental impairment, ranging from mild memory loss that doesn't affect judgment to full-blown dementia that inhibits a person's ability to function in daily life. They also have a higher chance of chronic physical ailments such as high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and cancer.

"If there is not clear evidence of serious progressive medical disabilities or cognitive impairment, I think age should not at all disqualify someone from being a candidate," said Dr. Eric De Jonge, chief of geriatrics at Washington Hospital Center.

Now 83, Bob Dole recently said McCain will face "constant questions about his fitness and ability to serve." The former Senate majority leader speaks from experience. Dole had suffered war wounds and was a cancer survivor when, at 73, he ran for the White House as the 1996 Republican presidential nominee challenging the then 50-year-old President Clinton.

A dozen years earlier, Ronald Reagan _ who was 69 when he was first elected and 73 during his re-election race _ neutralized the question of whether he may be too old for the job. In a debate with the 56-year-old Democrat Walter Mondale, a former vice president and senator, Reagan deftly quipped: "I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience."

Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease just six years after leaving office.

For McCain, Republican strategists say, a release of health records as well as his appearance while campaigning will be the keys to deflecting suggestions that he may not be fit to serve.

"McCain has as much energy as he did six years ago and possibly more," said Scott Reed, a Republican consultant who ran Dole's campaign. But, he said, "The campaign will have to pace him properly to make sure he's not run down, doing too many events and looking tired because the camera doesn't lie."