John McCain an 'alpha geezer'

WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- The age of Republican presidential candidate John McCain is an issue to some voters, but studies say he may live at least five years beyond term limits.

If elected in November, McCain, R-Ariz., would be the oldest U.S. president ever at the age of 72, but Dr. Jay Olshansky, an expert on aging at the at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, said he has "a very good chance for a very long life," The Sunday Times said.

Olshansky said the latest studies on aging suggest McCain will live to be at least 85 years old -- over five years longer than the eight-year presidential term limit.

McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War and suffered skin cancer, but Olshansky puts him in the category of "alpha geezers," the one-third of the U.S. population living longer than 85 years.

Olshansky also points to family history as an indicator of longevity, pointing to McCain's 96-year-old mother, Roberta.

Aside from his historically unprecedented age, history notes that the last president to die of natural causes while in office was Franklin Roosevelt in 1945.