[wideawake]

Ronald Reagan was elected President at age 69 almost 30 years ago, in an age when medical care was less advanced than it is now and life expectancies were lower.

And he was shot to boot. Yet he lived well past his second term.

McCain's mom is 97 and McCain's physical toughness is a matter of public record.

Paul Tsongas was progressive Harvard grad only two years older than Barack Obama when he won the Democrat primary in New Hampshire.

He was dead at 55.

[Verginius Rufus]

McCain's mother will be 97 next February. Her father lived to 95 and her mother to 87. McCain's father lived to 70. McCain has an older sister who is a breast cancer survivor.

Barack's mother died at 52 and his father at 46, so one would think he'd be the one with the shorter life expectancy, except that his mother died of ovarian cancer and his father died in an automobile accident (drunk driving).