Race, Gender and Now, Age

You no doubt have been following the contretemps between Hillary (and Bill) Clinton and Barack Obama on the sensitive issues of race and gender. It will be instructive to see how these play out in tomorrow's Democratic primary in South Carolina.

Now, as if there's not enough going on already, Chuck Norris, the action-adventure movie guy and a big supporter of Mike Huckabee, has weighed in on "the age thing." Norris, no spring chicken himself at 67, has opined that John McCain, the winner in the Republican South Carolina primary, will be too old (72 at the time of next January's inauguration) to serve as president. McCain's come back injected a little humor into the fray. When told of Norris's statement, McCain responded by saying he was going to get his mother, very active and agile at 95, to "wash Norris's mouth out with soap." Mr. Norris hasn't been heard from since.

Questions to analyze and discuss:

1. Should these issues of race, gender and age be legitimate topics for consideration in the presidential election process?

2. Who do you think is helped or hurt by these issues? Why do you think so?