Counting Up the Years, and the Votes

SACRAMENTO —  You won’t hear about it in TV ads or straight from the candidates’ lips, but we all know it’s huge in the presidential race: It’s the quiet issue of Sen. Bob Dole’s age.

Ageism is politically incorrect, so his rivals scratch at the issue subliminally with code words. They ostensibly raise only the more acceptable question of political longevity and stagnation: He’s “Beltway Bob” with “no ideas,” responding merely to “the in-box.”

The fact that the subject is not addressed directly matters little. Voters don’t need candidates to remind them of the age factor. Start a conversation about this presidential race and listen how quickly the talk turns to Dole’s age.

At 72, Dole is 23 years older than President Clinton. He’d be 73 when elected, the oldest man ever to win the White House, four years older than Ronald Reagan was.

There is hard data to back up the anecdotal evidence of public concern heard around water coolers.

A Times exit poll in the New Hampshire primary found that 43% of Republican voters thought Dole was too old to be president. In most primaries, one in three GOP voters have told network exit polls that Dole’s age would hurt him as president. In a nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center, people were asked for a single-word description of Dole and 66% said “old;” 22% “too old.”

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When Reagan was gearing up to run for president in 1980, doing weekly radio commentary and writing a syndicated column in Los Angeles, some advisors fretted about the age issue. He would be running at age 69, after having already been around the track and having lost in 1976.

Imager Mike Deaver had a solution: Reagan should promise to serve only one term. I remember him explaining his strategy to me during an off-the-record lunch.

Reagan could say this would allow him to make presidential decisions without worrying about their political impact on a reelection bid, Deaver noted. He would also be devoting himself full-time to the job and not be distracted by campaigning. But more important was the unstated message--voters shouldn’t stew about Reagan’s age because he’d be leaving the White House before his mid-’70s. There was an aside for GOP rivals: Relax, the job will be open again in four years, so climb aboard and try to become vice president.

“It didn’t go anyplace,” Deaver recalled recently. “Nobody else--including Reagan--thought it was a great idea. Others said, ‘Who wants to go through all this just to elect him for one term?’ He’d be an instant lame duck. Reagan’s argument was: ‘I’m not old. I know more about being young than I know about being old.’ He’d just come back from Asia and met with all those leaders, and said, ‘Those guys think I’m too young.’ ”

Reagan defused the age factor by poking fun at himself. He had a stock of one-liners, including: “I can remember when a hot story broke and the reporters would run in yelling, ‘Stop the chisels.’ ”

During the 1980 campaign Reagan did tell a New York Times medical writer that he would be willing to take periodic tests for senility and resign the presidency if there were signs of mental deterioration. He apparently never took any such test, however, and told me in a 1983 interview that he had not thought it necessary.

Deaver at that moment had interjected: “A press conference is the best test for senility.”

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Dole not only is older than the 1980 version of Reagan, he constantly reminds us of it. He dodges debates, sometimes seems cantankerous or confused when he does debate and--most important--does not articulate clearly the course he wants to lead America. That’s mostly because of Dole’s politics and personality, but when you’re 72, voters tend to lump it all in with the age factor.

Last year, Dole considered but rejected a one-term-only commitment.

I asked several old Reagan hands how they would handle Dole’s age.

“Turn it into a virtue,” Deaver replied. “Say we’ve got a young president now who changes his position every day. He doesn’t have the experience to be settled about who he is and where he’s going. Age does give you a longer view.”

Speech writer Ken Khachigian: “Run a high profile campaign. Be seen on television, give a lot of interviews, offer to debate more. It shows self-confidence.”

Strategist Lyn Nofziger: “Just brush it off. Say, ‘Hey, the people can judge.’ Don’t knuckle under to any of this stuff about senility tests.”

Consultant Stu Spencer: “Pick a vice president who’s young and vital and acceptable. Name the person early so voters know what they’re going to get. . . . Don’t get sick. Try a little bit of humor.”

Steal some of those classic Reagan one-liners.