Whatever happened to all those concerns about the age of candidates?

Remember back in 2008, when Democrats were hootin’ and hollerin’ about how old John McCain was? I remember writing this post arguing that if elected he was almost certain to be perfectly fine for his first term and probably even a second, and explaining why. And here he is, eight years later and still in the saddle at 79, although I know that a lot of people wouldn’t mind if he dismounted (in the job sense, that is, not in the fuller sense).

Now the orthopedic shoe is on the other, more Democratic foot, and they are mostly silent about it. Hillary Clinton is 68 but would be 69 by election time, and Bernie Sanders (who would also be the first Jewish president, something else we don’t hear much about) is 74 but would become 75 by the time of the election. That would make him the oldest president ever, and the oldest presidential nominee. The oldest previous president at first inauguration was Ronald Reagan, who was just a few days shy of 70 on taking the oath of office for the first time. McCain was only the second oldest nominee at 72, the first having been Bob Dole at 73 in 1996. Note that Dole is still alive (and seemingly functional, although you wouldn’t want to hand him the Oval Office) to this day.

Even if Joe Biden were to be called on to run in a somewhat-unlikely scenario, this would most certainly not help the Democrats in that regard. He’s 73, and would be 74 at inauguration.

But that doesn’t mean Republicans are home free. Kasich (63), Bush (63), and Carson (64) are very close to each other in age, in the range (early-to-mid-60s) that’s not uncommon for contenders. Cruz and Rubio are 45 and 44 right now; it’s just that Cruz looks older than his age and Rubio younger. But the frontrunner, Donald
Trump, is currently 69 and would be 70 if he were to become president, the oldest president ever.

Trump does not project an image of near-70, and his age is barely ever discussed. It ordinarily would be almost certain to come up if he were the nominee—the Democrats will be eager to bring up every negative thing about him, of that you can be sure. But if his opponent is either Clinton or Sanders or Biden (and it’s hard to see how it could be anyone but one of those three) Democrats won’t breathe a single word about Trump’s age—although they’ll have plenty other flaws to talk about, of that you can be sure.

It’s not that 70 is so very old in the scheme of things, particularly not these days. At least, I hope it’s not, for personal reasons. The ages of these possible nominees do make their VP choices even more important than usual, however.

And I have no idea—none—how any of these candidates keep up the pace of the seemingly endless campaign. Young or old, it seems inhuman, and some of them (particularly the younger ones) keep up a schedule in the weeks close to each primary of up to four or five appearances a day.

Something drives them, though, and drives them hard. Ego is certainly part of it, and the adoration of the crowds feeds that. I imagine that those who drop out—especially if, unlike Scott Walker or Chris Christie, they have no current office to return to—feel a certain amount of withdrawal pain. Nevertheless, I hope against hope that we’ll see at least three dropouts after South Carolina. I doubt that particular wish of mine will be granted.