Talk Elections

1976 - Gerald Ford - 63
1980 and 1984 - Ronald Reagan - 69 and 73
1988 and 1992 - George H.W. Bush - 64 and 68
1996 - Bob Dole - 73
2000 and 2004 - George W. Bush - 54 and 58
2008 - John McCain - 72
2012 - Looks set to be either Mitt Romney (65) or Newt Gingrich (69). Two other possibilites are Ron Paul (77) and Rick Perry (62).

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And you wonder why the GOP tends to do poorly among the 18-29 age group.

Wow Mittens is 65? I thought he was in his 50s.

<<insert gloating Politico post here>>

Bush won 45% of the youth vote in 2004, and IIRC Reagan won young voters as well. DEMOGRAPHIC SOLIDARITY FTW is just as fallacious when, as Rubio says, some assume that "a last name ending in a vowel" gets you the Hispanic vote. Software is what you're trying to sell, hardware is a bonus.

Compare voting size between twenty somethings and seniors. Although there is obviously a point at which this is no longer true, the GOP is wise to choose older candidates. And this becomes even more the case as the Baby Boomers age.

Jesus Christ, Romney is 65? Not to go all Politico, but he looks at least ten years younger.

Jealous you won't be able to afford to have all the same plastic surgery when you're 65?

The blood of virgins that all Mormons bathe in probably does wonders for the skin.

This trend also reverses in 2016.

Democrats:

Hillary Clinton- 69
Andrew Cuomo- 59
Brian Schweitzer- 61
Russ Feingold- 63
John Hickenlooper- 64
Martin O'Malley- 53


Republican

Chris Christie- 54
Mike Pence- 57
Bobby Jindal- 45
Paul Ryan- 46
Scott Walker- 49

Of the ones listed, I think the only people considered as plausible candidates at this (obviously) early stage are Cuomo, Christie and possibly Jindal. Is Scott Walker really considered a potential Presidential nominee?

I used OurCampaigns as my source for both. Certainly all the Democrats listed have been talked about, especially Feingold, O'Malley and Cuomo. For the Republicans, all except Walker have been mentioned in a presidential contest.

Wow - Jindal is 45, it didn't think he had to shave yet :)

The Dem candidates tend to be old white men -- except Obama of course -- as well.  And anyways, it's not like being forty-something makes you any more in touch with the young people than being in your sixties or seventies.

Ron Paul does much better with younger voters than older.

president born in 50s baby boomer sh**t big generation ltos of people born not a given

In 2016. Jindal is only 40.

He's 64 currently. But yes, he is a well preserved wax figure.

I guess there will never be a president born in the 50's then.

There will probably be several candidates born in the 50s that run in 2016.

Just for comparision, Democratic nominees since 1976 by age (at election day, since some were nominated before their election year birthdays)

1976: Jimmy Carter (52)
1980: Jimmy Carter (56)
1984: Walter Mondale (56)
1988: Michael Dukakis (55)
1992: Bill Clinton (46)
1996: Bill Clinton (50)
2000: Al Gore (52)
2004: John Kerry (60)
2008: Barack Obama (47)


I'm standing with my opinion that at least one of the two major nominees in 2016 will be someone we barely heard or consider of at this moment.

And vice presidental nominees by age

Republicans:

1976: Bob Dole (53)
1980: George H. W. Bush (56)
1984: George H. W. Bush (60)
1988: Dan Quayle (41)
1992: Dan Quayle (45)
1996: Jack Kemp (61)
2000: Dick Cheney (59)
2004: Dick Cheney (63)
2008: Sarah Palin (44)

Democrats:

1976: Walter Mondale (48)
1980: Walter Mondale (52)
1984: Geraldine Ferraro (49)
1988: Lloyd Bentsen (67)
1992: Al Gore (44)
1996: Al Gore (48)
2000: Joe Lieberman (58)
2004: John Edwards (51)
2008: Joe Biden (65)