The Trail

Lamont said he had not decided whether he would seek to fill Lieberman's seat in an eventual special election if Lieberman did become vice president or take another role in a McCain administration -- word is that he would love to be secretary of defense. Lamont noted that there are many more Democrats in the state now who would want to try for the seat than when he launched his challenge.

"That was a lonely vigil," he said of the 2006 race, before taking off to do battle with the key card.

-- Alec MacGillis

'MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER IS 8'

McCain Beats Leno to the Old-Guy Jokes

BURBANK, Calif. -- Bowing to the inevitability that Jay Leno would crack jokes about his age, John McCain came armed with one of his own.

"I've got one," McCain told Leno during a taped appearance on the "Tonight Show," which aired Monday night. "My Social Security number is 8."

If he expected to be razzed about his age -- McCain turns 72 on Friday -- he was right.

In his monologue, Leno introduced McCain and Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, 41, by saying: "They're not here because of politics or Olympics. I just like being around successful people who were told they were too old for the job."

And to McCain, Leno apologized for not having a birthday cake because "the fire marshal said that many candles . . ."

McCain's appearance on the show -- his 13th, by his own count -- was timed to coincide with the first night of the Democratic National Convention in an attempt to steal at least a bit of the opening-night thunder.