Opinion: McCain courts the youth vote -- and finds it isn’t easy

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Amid the strife and turmoil that have afflicted his presidential bid, John McCain has persevered, hoping to again catch the lightning-in-a-bottle that propelled his big victory in the 2000 New Hampshire primary. As he started a two-day swing through the state where he once sparked palpable excitement, what he caught was grief from high-schoolers.

During a student forum today at Concord High School (a questionable setting for a struggling candidate to begin with, since part of the audience won’t be eligible to vote in the 2008 primary), one teenager suggested that the 71-year-old Republican might be too old to handle the demands of the presidency.

McCain, the Associated Press reports, responded with one of his trademark wisecracks: ‘Thanks for the question, you little jerk. You’re drafted.’

He also made fun of himself. ‘I think it was one of my sons that alleged I’m getting to the point I hide my own Easter eggs,’ McCain said.

And in a more direct effort to defuse concerns raised by the student (McCain would be the oldest person elected president), he referred to his mother, who is featured in a new video for McCain that the students were shown. ‘When you saw my 95-year-old mother, you saw the kind of genes I have,’ he said.

He makes a strong case there: Roberta McCain’s appearance unquestionably belies her age.

-- Don Frederick