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  Despite Youth Support, Democrats Having A Senior Moment
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ContributorScottĀ³ 
Last EditedScottĀ³  Jul 11, 2013 07:23am
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AuthorALAN GREENBLATT
News DateWednesday, July 10, 2013 01:00:00 PM UTC0:0
Description"Democrats aren't getting any younger. At least, their top leaders aren't.

Voters under the age of 30 were key to President Obama's electoral success. But Obama's going gray and his most prominent potential successors aren't paragons of youth.

Hillary Clinton, who would be the presumptive Democratic favorite for president the minute she decided to run, will be 69 in 2016. Vice President Biden is already 70.

The party's congressional leaders aren't spring chickens, either. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California are both 73. Pelosi's top two lieutenants in House leadership are also septuagenarians.

Overall, the average age of Democrats in Congress tops 60, with the party's caucuses in both the House and Senate skewing older than the Republicans.

"Their leadership is out of step with their base," says GOP consultant David Carney. "It's also very white and main-line religious."

Despite all this, Democrats harbor little doubt that they can continue to run up big margins among young voters.

The party has been an easier fit for a generation that tends to be more liberal than the country as a whole on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, as well as the role the federal government ought to play in American life."
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