Dome has heard that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is 23.

Twenty-three, you say? That's right, she's the 23rd oldest person in the U.S. Senate.

Although a recent TV ad implies that Dole is in her 90s, there's only one senator who's that advanced in age: Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who was born in 1917.

Five senators are in their 80s: Sens. Ted Stevens, Frank Lautenberg, Daniel Inouye, Daniel Akaka and John Warner.

And 19 senators, including Dole, are septuagenerians. The list includes Sens. Dianne Feinstein, Dick Lugar and Ted Kennedy, who are all older than the North Carolina's senior senator, and John McCain and Jay Rockefeller, who are younger.

The average age of a U.S. senator is currently about 63 years old, as is the median, although those numbers will drop a little in the next few years with the possible departures of Kennedy, who has a brain tumor, and Stevens, who has been indicted.

At 43, the youngest is Sen. John Sununu; the third youngest at 47, Sen. Barack Obama.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole also ranks poorly compared to the rest of her class.

Of the nine senators elected in 2002 still in office, Dole is ranked eighth in power rankings put together by the nonpartisan Congressional data company Knowlegis.

Here's the ranks of her classmates:

Lamar Alexander: 32nd
Lindsey Graham: 60th
Saxby Chambliss: 61st
Mark Pryor: 62nd
John Cornyn: 80th
Norm Coleman: 82nd
John Sununu: 89th
Elizabeth Dole: 93rd
Lisa Murkowski: 96th

Except for Pryor, all of Dole's 2002 classmates are Republicans.

Knowlegis cofounder Brad Fitch said that comparing senators to others who took office in the same year is the best way to gauge their power, since seniority gives senators more power.