Coble says he's old, but not too old
From a story in Sunday's paper:
GREENSBORO -- Howard Coble will be the first to admit he's no spring chicken -- or any other cliché you want to use."Let's face it, 76 is getting long in the tooth," Coble said Friday after driving home from Washington the day before.
The Greensboro Republican has reached an age when most of his peers think about retiring rather than asking the voters for another term.
It's possible that during the upcoming election campaign, voters could start thinking about the fact that Coble will be 79 before the next Congress adjourns in 2010.
"Surprisingly enough, I don't recall a constituent ever saying that," Coble said.
According to the House clerk's office, the average age of a U.S. representative when the current term began was 55, and the average congressman had served 9.3 years. Coble was first elected in 1984 and was out of high school before that average congressman was born.
While he said he is "nearing the end of his legislative career" and won't "be up there eternally," Coble also said he intends to win another term.
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Coble refused to say when he might retire, so I'll put it to you. How old is too old to be knocking about up in D.C.?