Hillary Clinton is too old to run for President. There, I said it.

[Jim Lane]

147. Some data on the age factor

A while back I got curious about age and put together some numbers. The primary purpose is to have the data, not to make a case for or against any particular candidate.

Some possible Democratic nominees, with age at last birthday as of January 20, 2017
Jerry Brown, 78 years old
Bernie Sanders, 75 years old
Joe Biden, 74 years old
John Kerry, 73 years old
Jim Webb, 70 years old
Hillary Clinton, 69 years old
Howard Dean, 68 years old
Elizabeth Warren, 67 years old
Sherrod Brown, 64 years old
Brian Schweitzer, 61 years old
Sheldon Whitehouse, 61 years old
Andrew Cuomo, 59 years old
Martin O’Malley, 54 years old

This field definitely skews older than the historical average. For comparison:

The last six Presidents’ ages at first inauguration
Jimmy Carter, 52 years old
Ronald Reagan, 69 years old (oldest ever)
George H. W. Bush, 65 years old
Bill Clinton, 46 years old
George W. Bush, 54 years old
Barack Obama, 47 years old

Not since Harry S. Truman (64 when inaugurated in 1949 for his full term) have the Democrats won the election with a candidate who had turned 60.

I expect that many swing voters would have at least some misgivings about an older candidate. As against that, as people have noted in this thread, age isn’t what it used to be. People live longer and maintain their faculties longer. Those swing voters are likely to be personally acquainted with people in their sixties or seventies who are still quite lively.

I went into more detail in this post.

As for the comparison between Clinton and Warren, I think Warren seems younger primarily because, in terms of her national exposure, she is much younger. Hillary Clinton has been a national figure for more than 20 years. Elizabeth Warren is finishing her second year in the Senate, and is still far behind Clinton in name recognition. Warren is, to many people, the fresh new face, which gives the impression that she's the fresh young face. In terms of public perceptions, that's more important than the actual 20-month difference between them.

Let's not pretend that age is irrelevant. Jerry Brown is the successful Governor of the largest state and just won a smashing re-election victory. Joe Biden is the Vice President in an administration that's generated good economic news and hasn't gotten us into any new wars. Both of them have sought the Presidency in the past, and both would be obvious prospects for 2016 -- except for age. I'm virtually certain Brown won't run, partly because of his age. Biden, if elected, would be the oldest President ever, several years older than Reagan. In addition, Sanders is interested in running but his age has been prominently mentioned as an obstacle. Raising the question of age is not just a thinly veiled excuse for an attack on Hillary Clinton.