Is John McCain Too Old to Be President?

Or Will His Position on Iraq Do Him In?

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- John McCain is the first to tell you: He's old, his fund-raising has lagged, and he strongly supports an unpopular war according to an article in the Boston Globe.

However McCain is officially running for President. McCain kicked off a five-state announcement tour by telling supporters and bystanders that his time in the military and in Congress has given him wisdom about the world that no other candidate can claim.

McCain, 70, said that if elected president,he would "use every lesson I've learned through hard experience and the history I've witnessed."

"I know how the world works; I know the good and evil in it," he said. "I know how to fight, and I know how to make peace. I know who I am and what I want to do."

One-fifth of New Hampshire residents surveyed in a recent University of New Hampshire poll said McCain's age would make them less likely to vote for him.

Aware of the political risk in supporting the Iraq war, McCain was critical during his announcement speech of how the Bush administration has conducted it.

"My friends, we all know that the war in Iraq has not gone well," he said, arguing that the United States made a grave mistake of waging a war it wasn't fully prepared to fight or finish. "We must never repeat that mistake again."

Asked by reporters later whether the United States would have invaded Iraq had he been president, McCain said he didn't know. But he was sharply critical of Senate majority leader Harry Reid for saying the war had been "lost."

Wayne Berman, a senior McCain adviser, said the candidate's three recent speeches -- on Iraq, energy, and fiscal policy -- have helped improve fund-raising.

The crowd at the Portsmouth event, which numbered between 300 and 400, did not quite live up to the campaign's expectations. Attempts at building momentum before McCain pulled up in his bus fell flat. One supporter at the microphone was not able to get the crowd to chant "McCain, McCain, McCain."

A handful of antiwar protesters showed up, a reminder that McCain is linked to what happens in Iraq.

"This is what free speech is all about," McCain said. "Live free or die.