BOB DOLE: I THINK I’VE MOVED WITH IT

On the eve of his 72nd birthday, the candidate talked in his Capitol office with correspondents Michael Duffy and Karen Tumulty about the cycle of age, experience and shifting politics

TIME: You’ve said that you thought a lot about your age before you decided to plunge into the presidential race. Can you tell us a little about how age figured into your decision?

Dole: You want to be pretty certain you can do it. You have to be honest with yourself. Am I stretching it too far? Can I do this? I never worried much about it, but I at least wanted to think about it. It’s certainly important to the American people, and important to my family.

I feel good about it. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I had the stamina and the energy and the health. I don’t think age is just a state of mind … A lot of it is if you’re lucky and you have good genes and you’ve just sort of worked all your life and been active. I think the records show that people who sometimes retire fade away pretty quickly. I remember my dad used to tell me, “Boy, how many times can you sweep the walk and empty the trash?”

TIME: Does 72 feel very different from 62? Dole: [Chuckles] According to Gail Sheehy, you just take off 10 years. [According to] her new book New Passages, if you’re 70, you’re 60; if you’re 60, you’re 50. Your second adulthood starts when you’re 45.

I don’t know. I assume it’s happening to everybody. We’re getting older every day, all of us, but I don’t notice any marked change. I still like to come to work in the morning. I like to see the Capitol. I like to see it lighted up at night; that’s generally when we go home. I like what I do, because every day is different. It takes a lot of patience sometimes. You don’t win them all.

TIME: In the party, people say the real issue is whether you are from another era and have a different kind of politics. Is that a legitimate criticism?

Dole: Everybody goes through different generations, different cycles-whether it’s music, whether it’s history, whether it’s politics. I think I’ve sort of moved with it. I haven’t stayed where I was in 1961, when I came to Congress, obviously. And I think that the fact that I’ve had the opportunity to be a committee chairman over here in the early ’80s, then being in the leadership for 10 years, I’ve kept moving.

In fact, I’ve told some of the House freshmen they remind me of the cavalry that came in the old western days. They’re riding to the rescue. We’ve been fighting the lonely battle over here in the Senate, the Republican side, of cutting spending. They’re bound to have some different ideas, I suppose.

TIME: Have you seen a change in Newt Gingrich? He was able to throw bombs at will as a backbencher. Has he had to make a transition into leadership?

Dole: I think we all change. It seems to me that when you become the Speaker of the House, or even the leader of the Senate, you need to weigh what you say a little more carefully, because somebody is going to interpret it-properly or improperly-and it sometimes has meaning. I think we all have got to be responsible.

TIME: And what about Bill Clinton? Is he too young to be President?

Dole: Oh, I think we’re both in good health. I read his statistics today. He’s got to get his cholesterol down a little. [Laughs] We’re different generations, no doubt about it, but I think on the plus side, I’ve had more experience. When you live longer, you hopefully learn more and see more and become sensitive to some things and maybe change your views on others. Our generation certainly made great contributions, not just to America, but freedom around the world. We had our flaws and faults, just like any generation. I think it would be a good contest.