Will McCain simply tire?

[afleitch]

Regardless of the campaign, is McCain capable of physically and mentally going the distance all the way through to November? To slightly misquote from Doctor Who (but I can't put it better myself ); where he threatened to whisper the four little words that could destroy a politicians career:

'Doesn't he look tired?'

Spotlights, meet and greets, stump speeches, the debates - I am beginning to think McCain will simply get tired and look tired (and trying to cosmetically cover it up looks even worse) We saw snippets of this before the attack ads and change in campaign gave him some breathing room, just a few little slip ups here and there spoken without a major audience. Once or twice his voice croaked just a little.

Yes it's age and yes he probably has more vitality than most men his age, but not of men like Obama. No matter how invigorated the campaign is, if the candidate begins to slow down, or be 'rested' while Obama can survive on a few hours sleep a night then McCain will have a serious problem.

[© tweed]

such is why God made amphetamines and other stimulants.  Ed Muskie and Hubert Humphrey were big into that type of thing in '72.

[True Democrat]

He's been campaigning since early 2007, and he doesn't look that tired yet.  I doubt it'll happen in the last few days.

He outcampaigned his primary opponents, so I don't see why he can't at least stay even with Obama.

[cp]

I doubt he'd actually tire out, but the question is whether he will *appear* tired. This is a real possibility.

On purely physiological metrics, McCain has a lot of drawbacks as a candidate. He's at least 4 inches shorter than Obama. This is accentuated by his tendency to hunch his shoulders when walking. He looks fine at the podium but when he moves on his feet the restricted mobility in his arms weighs him down a bit.

What's worse is his lighting. McCain's white/balding hair makes him appear wispy on camera. His face isn't nicely framed and his rather sallow jawline (also somewhat jowly, but not as bad as most men his age) makes it hard to distinguish his face. The sum total is to make him look something like a toadstool rather than a Republican. By contrast, Obama was practically born for the camera. Besides his somewhat flapping ears he wins on all the marks for photogeneity.