Jet setting around the nation to campaign for president is a tiring job, but 76-year-old Rep. Ron Paul has found the secret to maintaining his energetic spunk: exercise and reading the news.
"He's seriously fit," says his national campaign chair Jesse Benton, who's also married to Paul's granddaughter. "He still takes the stairs two at a time."
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If 61-year-old Texas Gov. Rick Perry's yawning debate performances are any indication, campaigning is terribly hard work: Candidates have to appear capable, intelligent, and quick on their feet, despite grueling travel schedules.
This weekend alone, Paul will be hitting the stump in Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota. But Benton knows how his boss and grandfather will stay on his game.
"He's very disciplined about his exercise," Benton says, and he also "makes sure to get a little bit of down time every day so he can get caught up on all the latest financial and political news."
And that exercise is no hop around the block.
Benton says Paul walks three miles a day and, when he has time, he also bikes 15 miles a day.
"He does both when he's home, but when he's on the road he has to pick one or the other," Benton says. "He likes to exercise twice a day if possible."
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Rick T Justice of TX 12:44AM December 15, 2011
Rick T Justice of TX 12:42AM December 15, 2011
barefootjourney of VA 11:08AM November 18, 2011