You never know how long you’re gonna live. Ole Strom didn’t start a family until he was almost 70, and he got to see those kids live to adulthood and to become a grandfather from them. Some could become parents in their teens and die young. The two kids (Fred’s youngest with the second wife) are 12 and 9. Curiously, the death of Fred’s daughter by the first wife in early 2002 spurred on Fred to remarry, start another family and to retire from the Senate that year.
I voted for Fred in 08, even after he had dropped out and the contest was down to McCain and Huckabee in my state.