A conservative senior advocacy group has complained about an ad targeting U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

The 60 Plus Association, which styles itself as the "conservative alternative to the American Association of Retired Persons," called a recent TV ad "rude and frankly insulting to senior citizens" in a press release today.

The group was responding to a recent ad by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that features two older men arguing whether Dole is "92" or "93," though it turns out they are talking about her effectiveness ranking and the percentage of votes she cast that agreed with President Bush. Dole is actually 72.

"I know Senator Dole personally and she is a classy young lady," said 60 Plus President Jim Martin in a statement. "Exaggerating her age by 20 years in a thinly veiled attempt to question her competence and dedication is an attack on real seniors and is insulting to North Carolina voters. Playing the age card is bad enough, fibbing in order to play it is an outrage."

He noted that there 50 members of Congress who are between 72 and 90 years old.

The association, which advocates for abolishing the inheritance tax and reforming Social Security, has been supportive of Dole in the past.

Update: Martin is also 72 — four months older than Dole. In an e-mail to Dome, he said his comment was "kind of a tongue in cheeker."

Richard Moore wants more seniors to qualify for property tax homestead exclusion.

Moore said he wants to double the income limit from $25,000 to $50,000 for those wishing to qualify for the property tax exclusion. According to his campaign, this would cut about 100,000 seniors citizens' tax bill in half.

He has also proposed freezing property values for residents over 65 who have lived in the same house for more than 20 years and those that have an income less than $50,000 a year.

The homestead exclusion currently reduces the value of qualifying residents' homes by $25,000 or 50 percent, depending which is greater. Moore says raising the income limit would open the option to 200,000 additional senior households in the state.

The income limit rose to $25,000 from $20,500 at the beginning of 2008.

Beverly Perdue got her Ph.D. for studying how seniors could do better in college.

Senior citizens, that is.

The lieutenant governor earned a doctorate in education administration from the University of Florida in 1976. Her thesis was on the then-new field of "educational gerontology."

The 249-page thesis focuses on training teachers to work with the elderly and offering new opportunities for seniors to study at a college level.

"Education should be seen as a lifelong process," she wrote. "Institutions of  higher education in Florida should provide some type of educational experience for adults of all ages, including the elderly."

For her study, Perdue sent a questionnaire to Florida's state universities and community colleges to see what they were doing for seniors. She determined they were not doing enough.

John Edwards wants to help older Americans.

Edwards this morning released his "Declaration of Independence" for older Americans, promising to protect Social Security and Medicare, make prescription drugs more affordable, protect seniors from predatory lending and offer more choices in long-term care.

Americans are living longer than ever before - but our social policies haven’t changed to reflect this shift. Our housing policies too often force seniors to choose between isolation or institutionalization and our health care system is set up to treat the worst problems instead of promoting health and quality of life. We must fix the broken system in Washington that has not done more to address these issues.

The full text of Edwards's "Declaration of Independence" after the jump.

   Comments (0)

Sen. R.C. Soles Jr. just wanted to look at rampaging growth among the older population in Brunswick and a few other Eastern counties.

But when the Tabor City Democrat brought a bill before the House Aging Committee today, members from other parts of the state said they faced the same questions: How many people over 65 would be living in their counties in decades to come? And what would that mean for county services? Soles had opened the proverbial can of worms.

"In Guilford, our numbers are climbing as well," said Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat.

Not only that, Dennis Streets, director of the state's Division of Aging and Adult Services, said the kind of detailed demographic and economic analysis the bill calls for is really more the province of academia or a private consultant. DAAS routinely keeps counties informed of demographic shifts, but not at the level indicated in the bill, Thomas Goldsmith reports.

Faced with members who wanted data about their own counties, too, Soles withdrew the bill for more study.

A billboard will be following legislators to dinner tonight.

The mobile billboard, which is on the side of a Fairway advertising truck, will be circling the General Assembly building for six hours today.

The N.C. Association of Long Term Care Facilities is arguing for an increase in the rates that assisted living facilities get from the state.

After a short break, the mobile billboard will circle local restaurants tonight, in order to catch lawmakers at rest as well.

Roger Bone, a spokesman for the association, said they're targeting high-end restaurants popular with legislators — Sullivan's Steakhouse, 18 Seaboard and Bloomsbury Bistro.

In the wake of recent ethics reforms, they're also aiming low — K&W Cafeteria in Cameron Village.

"We've not been able to bring the attention to this issue that it needs," he said. "So we've got to try something different."

State Rep. Cary Allred thinks older adults should be able to keep their licenses longer.

The Burlington Republican tried to amend a bill making minor changes to drivers' licenses this afternoon to allow North Carolinians up to the age of 65 to get a license for eight years.

Under the law, adults over age 54 can only get a license for five years at a time.

Allred, who is 60, said that "discriminates against senior citizens," especially since 18-year-olds can get an eight-year license.

"Who is more mature: The 18-year-old or the 59-year-old?" he asked.

The amendment failed 36-80, and the bill passed unanimously. It now heads to Gov. Mike Easley.