That stalwart conservative weekly business journal, Barron's, has some words of wisdom for all voters:
Call it "maturity," "seasoning," or some other sweet euphemism, but if Corporate America is any guide, McCain's advancing age is likely to become an issue with the electorate as the primary contests give way to the real deal: Executive-search giant Spencer Stuart says the median age of chief executive officers of Standard & Poor's 500 companies is a much younger 55.
Only 12 S&P 500 corporations have CEOs over 70, and Viagra-maker Pfizer isn't one; its CEO, Jeffrey Kindler, is 52.
And if the response I got from knocking on doors Friday in the wealthy Cleveland suburb of Bay Village is any indication, many R's that read Barron's may be crossing over Tuesday for Barack.
JIM MCTAGUE's D.C. CURRENT column in this week's Barron's has some good laugh lines, but the point he makes are not friendly ones for Sen. McCain.
Barron's DC Current (subscription may be required)
McTague pokes fun at the notion that McCain had the "ability" to keep up with the 32 year old lobbyist while McCain was 62 at the time. And that was ten years ago!
Now at the age of 71,
McCain is roughly a decade older than Hillary Clinton, and 25 years older than that young whippersnapper Barack Obama. He's two years older than Ronald Reagan was when Reagan took office, and Old Ron was known to nod off from time to time, to the consternation of his Oval Office minions.
McCain counters, "Look at Roberta, my 96-year-old mother."
We wonder, "What about your father?"
Pretty incredible when such a staid journal as Barron's, owned by the Wall Street Journal, permits such outlandish comment!
I spent Friday knocking on doors for Barack in Bay Village, Ohio, a very well to do suburb on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie. Yes it was lovely, the lake was frozen and the snow was driving sideways for a while. Several people asked me if they could vote for Obama even though they were Republicans. Of course the answer was yes. In oHIo you just ask for the ballot of the party in whose primary you want to vote.
Even the R's were polite, took the literature and assured me they would look at it.
I can tell you this is going to be a very close race here in the Buckeye State. But I am hopeful that the general election will be a great run for Barack, with issues like this one front and center. You will know age will be a factor when they start talking about his VP candidate with a wink and a nod.