DSCC: Not playing 'age card'

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:28:30 -0400

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says it is not playing the age card.

In an e-mail to Dome, spokesman Matthew Miller said that a new TV ad featuring two old men in rocking chairs talking about whether U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is "93" or "92" is not intended to remind voters of the Republican senator's age.

"It's not that Elizabeth Dole is too old, it's that after 40 years in Washington she's too ineffective," he writes. "Dole should remember her own words from two years ago, when she said that voters should elect a candidate with 'fresh leadership' over one who'd been in government for 40 years."

Miller was referring to Dole's Nov. 5, 2006, appearance on "Meet the Press," when she argued that Maryland voters should support Lt. Gov. Michael Steele over the Democrat, a longtime Congressman.

"You look in Maryland and you’ve got a fresh leadership here in Michael Steele in terms of wanting to really shake up Washington," she said, according to an official transcript. "And his opponent, Ben Cardin, has been in government for 40 years."

Correction: An earlier version of the post misstated the Maryland opponent's position.