Obama and McCain: The Wrinkly Issue of Age

Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) celebrated his 47th birthday Monday at a fundraiser in Boston. His rival for the White House, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), will turn 72 on Aug. 29. McCain has already made Obama's lack of experience an arguing point in the election, but will McCain's age become an issue as well?

Obama has already faced the inexperience issue. While facing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.) in the Democratic primary, the Clinton campaign cast her as an experienced, battle-tested politician and Obama as inexperienced. The strategy, formulated by her infamous chief strategist, Mark Penn, worked insofar as Clinton was generally accepted as capable to be the commander-in-chief.

However, the inexperience attacks on Obam failed to damage his momentum. He developed a core bloc of supporters with African Americans, college kids and upper-middle class whites that stuck with him state after state. He also attracted significant numbers of independents in addition to Democrats. Many of his supporters saw his newness and message of change as a critical part of his appeal.

In essence, Obama's fresh face has boosted his candidacy. Many voters have become cynical and tired with the ways of Washington politicians -- just last week Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska) was indicted -- and want someone who isn't a Beltway insider.

Obama's birthday wish? To win three important swing states: Colorado, Indiana and Virginia, according to a report in The Washington Post. The goal appears to be within reach. Democrats have made considerable gains in voter registration compared with Republicans. According to a report in the New York Times, Democrats have been gaining for more than three years now. Swing states like Iowa and Nevada have probably gone blue, and only a few very red states have gained more Republicans than Democrats, including Oklahoma, Kentucky and Louisiana.