Is John McCain too old to be president?

Elderly Florida voters, or at least those quoted by Sasha Issenberg of the Boston Globe, are saying no: The possibility of electing a president who would be 80 at the end of two terms has been greeted with little of the fanfare that surrounds potential pioneers of race and gender, but elderly voters supporting McCain ...

Elderly Florida voters, or at least those quoted by Sasha Issenberg of the Boston Globe, are saying no:

Elderly Florida voters, or at least those quoted by Sasha Issenberg of the Boston Globe, are saying no:

The possibility of electing a president who would be 80 at the end of two terms has been greeted with little of the fanfare that surrounds potential pioneers of race and gender, but elderly voters supporting McCain often speak a language of self-affirmation.

"I think he has the experience and the expertise we need, and you get that as you grow older," said Mary Butterfield, 76, a retired educator in Fort Lauderdale.

"He's surrounded by young people," said Grace Kunz, 91, gesturing to staff and press as they filed into the theatre in Sun City where McCain held his meeting. "That's what keeps you young."

Conversations about McCain yield a Hallmark shop's worth of insights about the aging process. In Sun City, a voter rose to cheer up McCain with the news that 70 is the new 60.

"Thank you for that new math on my age," McCain said. "I'm very interested in that formula."

Perhaps Florida's elderly voters have been reading FP.

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