In the June 29 Sunday Monitor, Katy Burns speculated that John McCain's age might make him too old to serve as president, based on the myth that McCain takes weekends off.

I have a unique perspective. I have known John McCain for more than 20 years. This year I have the privilege of serving as one of the four people who travel with him full time on the campaign (contrary to the speculation of some, I actually do more than wear funny hats and wild T-shirts). Unknown sources started a buzz a week or two ago that McCain does not campaign weekends, and the suggestion was that this was somehow age-related. It is not.

The Burns column was apparently based in part on that myth.

Sen. Barack Obama, according to his public schedules, undertakes on average one substantive event a day. John McCain frequently does at least two and sometimes three. In a five-day week, Sen. McCain does more events on average than Sen. Obama does in his usual six-day weeks. A review of the public schedules will confirm this. I offer this not as a criticism of how Senator Obama campaigns, because he certainly is an exciting campaigner and his style and pace have served him well, but rather as tangible rebuttal to the suggestion that McCain takes weekends off.

Further, Sen. Obama rarely if ever meets with the press informally, preferring instead periodic news availabilities. McCain does them almost every other day - a challenge to match wits with some of the world's most aggressive skeptics and cynics. This is akin to adding another full event to a schedule. It is a heck of a lot tougher to sit for an hour or two on a plane or bus and field all questions than to perhaps read a teleprompter speech. There is a reason

so many of the press who travel with McCain sport a bumper sticker that says: "Tough? You want tough? I travel with John McCain."

As someone who travels with McCain full time, I know the assumption he takes all weekends off is not true. For example, two weeks ago we undertook back-to-back 21-hour days. The week "ended" on Saturday morning in Sedona, Ariz., at 3 a.m. Although the weekend was technically a downtime weekend, McCain participated in more than 10 phone calls, ranging from interviews with the press, to speaking with advisers, to two substantive campaign-related meetings.

Beyond that, he attended church, which should not be but is a campaign event. And he spoke at a military base to deploying troops - a non-campaign event but something McCain does regularly.

This past weekend, he campaigned both Saturday and Sunday in public events. He has been keeping a similar schedule since he secured the nomination on March 4, even though many said it was unnecessary.

Clean bill of health

Beyond the implication from the myth that McCain doesn't campaign weekends, the health of a candidate is fair inquiry.

Given the fact that McCain is older than most candidates, it is a fair question for voters to ask if he is healthy enough to serve. I would argue that the fact he out-campaigned (in sheer hours) all his Republican rivals and that he maintains such an aggressive schedule answers that question.

Beyond his vigorous schedule, to further put voters' minds at rest on this question, McCain has released more than 2,000 pages of medical records and made his doctors available to answer questions. The consensus view is that while McCain suffered horrific war injuries that impacted his shoulders and one knee, none of those impair his ability to serve.

Likewise, although he bears the scars of cancer surgery to remove a melanoma, his prognosis is excellent as his treatment was considered extremely aggressive.

Let's face it: He has great genes. His 96-year-old mother regularly campaigns with us, and any member of the press who knows Roberta McCain can attest to her sharp mind and body.

4 years at a time

Finally, another factor that may confuse some is the unspoken assumption in the Burns column that we are electing a president for eight years. We are not. It is a four-year term. Anyone elected president who undertakes the radical change this country faces, from developing a policy to create energy independence, to restoring fiscal sanity, to reforming the bankrupt entitlement programs, to restoring a peaceful and safe world, may well find that four years is enough.

In any event, the voters get another chance to review the fitness of a candidate after four years.

These are two remarkable candidates, each in his own way. The energy - physical and mental - of John McCain should not, in my view, be an issue. While there are some people who at 71 are old, or older than their age, John McCain is not one of them. He is 71 going on 55. Take it from a 55-year-old of reasonable fitness, who ran a half marathon last fall, who struggles to keep up with McCain.

(Steve Duprey of Concord is an adviser to the McCain campaign.)