FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
When it comes to John McCain, his age is an issue with some people. The senator from Arizona is 71 years old. If he is elected President of the United States he would be 72 on inauguration day…making him the oldest person ever sworn in for a first term. If McCain served his full two terms, he would be 80 when he left office.
McCain spent MORE THAN five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and has suffered several bouts of melanoma…a potentially fatal form of skin cancer. His doctors assure us McCain is healthy and cancer-free…but so far his campaign has refused to release all of his medical records. We are told they will be made public some time next month.
In the meantime, reporters who are half McCain's age say they can barely keep up with the septuagenarian as he campaigns for the nation's highest office. Fourteen-hour days climbing on and off airplanes and buses and giving one speech after another are not uncommon.
And yet doubts persist. Being president ages a person in ways no other job does. The responsibilities are so big…the problems so important, that trying to handle them can take years off your life. Look at pictures of any president on inauguration day and compare them with pictures of the same man when he leaves office, and the effects are immediately apparent.
Here’s my question to you: John McCain have a better chance of being elected if he promised to only serve one term in office?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Jayne from New Hampshire writes:
Having barely survived the Bush years, there is nothing that would cause me to vote for John McCain. I don't want him serving one day, let alone one term. Any candidate who stands in front of a boarded up steel factory and tells the voters how wonderful our trade policies are should be run out of town on a rail.
David from San Bernardino, California writes:
No! I would like to see McCain serve a term for his involvement in the Keating scandal. Why is nothing ever said about that?
Mike from Houston writes:
McCain shouldn't have to promise to serve only one term. He will have the right to run for a second term. I would prefer to live with eight years of McCain than eight minutes of Obama or Clinton.
Al from California writes:
First of all, he could live to be 100. Second, I recently underwent cancer surgery, and I am able to perform MY job. This ‘old man’ seems to get around pretty good. I don’t see any wheelchairs or walkers. And third, who would run on the platform of "I promise to only serve one term"? Jack LaLanne is pretty old, and he is in better shape than many of us a third his age. If the only thing to attack McCain on is his age, doesn’t that say something?
Bob from Richmond, Virginia writes:
The only way I will consider voting for McCain is if Hillary steals the Democratic nomination.
Jerry from Fayetteville, Tennessee writes:
I don't think a promise to only serve one term would add any extra votes to McCain – far more important to his chances will be his choice for vice president – Americans will want to know who they're potentially voting for.