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'Just Too Darn Old:' Sanders, Biden Confront Age Concerns

Associated Press

   MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA -- Bernie Sanders insists he feels better than ever
   less than a month after heart surgery, but his return to the campaign
   trail this week sparked new questions about the unusually old age of
   the Democratic Party's leading 2020 presidential candidates.

   Both Sanders, 78, and Joe Biden, 76, suggest their age isn't a major
   issue, but voters, particularly older voters, aren't so sure.

   Gordon Lundberg, a 71-year-old retired Lutheran pastor from Ames, said
   candidates' health is a key issue for him because he understands how it
   feels to age. He's leaning toward Sen. Elizabeth Warren of
   Massachusetts because, even though she's 70, "she's the most liberal
   and she's not got one foot in the grave yet."

   "Bernie's just too darn old. And so is Biden," Lundberg said. "They
   look old, they sound old, they are old. They fall in the shower, and
   they get heart attacks!"

   Lundberg is not alone.

   Polling has suggested that a significant number of Americans believe a
   candidate in his or her late 70s is too old to be president. If
   elected, Sanders would take office having already exceeded the average
   U.S. life expectancy of 78.6 years, according to data from the Centers
   for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health
   Statistics. Biden would be just a few months away.

   While Biden, the former vice president, has often laughed off questions
   about his age, the issue is one that Sanders has been forced to
   confront more directly as he returned to Iowa this week. Sanders, a
   senator from Vermont, is traveling with his wife and campaign manager,
   whose responsibilities include ensuring that he take modest precautions
   not to over-exert himself, takes daily walks of at least half an hour
   with no phone calls and sticks to a healthier diet.

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