McCain Seeks `Antidote' to Age Concerns as He Launches Campaign

By Edwin Chen

April 25 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain has backpacked down one side of the Grand Canyon and up the other. When he's in Washington, he works as many as 16 hours a day, sometimes seven days a week -- then does the same on the campaign trail.

Displays of stamina may be commonplace over next 18 months for the 70-year-old Arizona Republican, who plans to formally announce today that he is running for president. As the oldest candidate in the race, McCain is laboring to allay concerns about his age -- an issue that, along with his unwavering support of the Iraq war, may be his biggest obstacle.

If elected in 2008, McCain would become, at 72, the oldest man ever to assume the presidency. The current record-holder, Ronald Reagan, was 69 when he took office in 1981.

``Polls show pretty conclusively that voters, particularly older voters, have real concerns about electing a president who is over 70,'' said Charlie Cook, an independent political analyst and newsletter publisher in Washington.

The age question largely explains the frenetic pace of McCain's announcement tour, which will take him from New Hampshire today to South Carolina, Iowa, Nevada and Arizona over four days, each stop packed with up to six events.

``There's a presumption that McCain's too old, too burdened by the war,'' said Mark Salter, his longtime Senate chief of staff and a campaign adviser. ``The antidote is to put him out there.''

Falling to Third

McCain, an early front-runner in 2008 public-opinion surveys, fell to third place among Republican candidates in a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll this month. He trailed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 62, and actor and former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, 64, who hasn't declared his candidacy.

Reagan, who faced age questions when he ran in 1980, memorably defused them during his re-election bid in 1984 when he promised not to ``exploit, for political purposes,'' the ``youth and inexperience'' of his 56-year-old Democratic challenger, Walter Mondale.

Members of Reagan's campaign staff were sometimes grateful that questions about age diverted attention from policy issues such as missile defense or budget deficits. Similarly, McCain may find it easier to answer questions about his age than about his support for the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

`Pretty Good Shape'

``If that's all they're saying is wrong with you, you're in pretty good shape,'' said John Sears, a former Reagan campaign manager.

McCain and his advisers ``are sensitive to the issue'' of age and ``are trying to confront it head-on,'' said Republican strategist Scott Reed, the manager for the 1996 campaign of former Senator Bob Dole, who started his White House bid at 73 and was plagued by questions about his age.

McCain, who has had three bouts of melanoma, also is preparing to release his medical records. He regularly brings up his age, often joking about it and casting it in the positive context of life experience. He also is quick to note that he gets regular checkups and is healthy.

That open approach -- and a vigorous campaign schedule -- make sense, said Robert Blendon, a pollster at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ``You have to look very energetic to overcome that concern,'' Blendon said.

Over-Scheduling

Still, Reed warns of the dangers of over-scheduling. A weary campaigner is prone to make mistakes, and any stumble might be attributed to McCain's age.

Salter acknowledged that potential pitfall, though he said McCain would thrive on a grueling campaign schedule. During the 2006 election cycle, McCain campaigned so tirelessly for fellow Republicans across the country that ``we had to rotate staff to keep up with him,'' said Salter, who collaborated on several of McCain's books, including ``Faith of My Fathers,'' his 2000 memoir.

McCain has a slight limp and limited use of his arms, the result of injuries he suffered during the Vietnam War and his 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He also has a scar on his left cheek, the result of skin-cancer surgery,

That hasn't slowed him down, he told CBS's ``60 Minutes'' last month. ``I work seven days a week, 12, 14, 16 hours a day,'' he said. ``It's how you conduct yourself. That's going to be the key.''

Dole's Fall

Cook predicted that McCain's age wouldn't have much impact ``so long as nothing happens to underscore his age and raise the issue.'' He said Dole's age became a liability when the candidate fell off a stage while campaigning against Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996. Photographs of the incident showed Dole laid out on his back, dazed and with a pained look on his face.

Clinton's re-election campaign was also able to capitalize on Dole's age by portraying him as behind the times, citing his Senate votes against the creation of Medicare, the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.

Clinton ``succeeded in underscoring how old Dole was and how long he had been around,'' said Tony Fabrizio, who was Dole's pollster during the campaign. ``You don't have to be hip, but you can't be so disconnected that it makes you look old.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Edwin Chen in Washington at echen32@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 25, 2007 00:09 EDT

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