Climber Gore, runner Bush show-off fitness in marathon — political race

Gore, 52, has not taken a sick day leave in eightyears he has been vice-president. He has run a full marathon in 1997, climbed Mount Rainier in 1999, and is generally known to be a fitness freak.

Less is known of Bush’s health, but the Republican contender told a television late show last week that he ran regularly – usually three miles at seven and half minutes a mile.

"Pretty good for a man of my age, huh?" Bush asked the host David Letterman, who last year underwent a triple bypass surgery.

The health of the US President, and also USPresidential candidates, is a matter of debate,scrutiny and openness in the American system. TheWhite House releases reports about an annual medical check-up the President has to undergo and papers like the New York Times also routinely scrutinise the health of presidential contenders.

In a recent report about Gore’s health, the New York Times disclosed, among other things, that the vice-president wears contact lens for distance, had a generally nonspreading type of cancer, a basal cell, removed from his skin last year, and tested negative for HIV as part of applying for life insurance in 1997.

If a politician in the U.S is known to keepindifferent health, it diminishes his chance of being elected. Unlike in India, where a dying politician — and often a dead man’s widow — wins in a landslide.

In an interview, Gore also revealed that he used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day as a senior at Harvard. But he quit after five years, because "I realized that it was just awful for me, quite some time before I finally stopped."

Bush has also disclosed that he had a drinking problem in his past, but has since overcome it. He does not smoke cigarettes.

Gore’s doctor says he has a slightly above-normalcholesterol level (231 against a recommended 200) butit is non-threatening. Gore says he drinks veryoccasionally and moderately.

The vice-president also runs five to six days a week,either outside or on a stairmaster. He does a strengthworkout of 150 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and weightlifting everyother day.

The Clinton-Gore team was arguably the youngest andthe fittest team in US Presidential history. At 53,the outgoing President is younger than Bush. He tootrained regularly to keep fit although he often had tofight to keep his weight in check.

Like Clinton, Gore too is a six-footer (six feet one;195 lbs). Bush is in the shorter side.

Amid increasing awareness and emphasis in Americansociety on fitness and health, the days of electingolder – if wiser – presidents appears to have passed.Although the US Senate has venerable figures like the98-year old Strom Thurmond and 80-year old JesseHelms, Americans seem to prefer young and energeticmen for executive duty.