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GREENSBORO — Howard Coble will be the first to admit he's no spring chicken — or any other cliché you want to use.

"Let's face it, 76 is getting long in the tooth," Coble said Friday after driving home from Washington the day before.

The Greensboro Republican has reached an age when most of his peers think about retiring rather than asking the voters for another term.

It's possible that during the upcoming election campaign, voters could start thinking about the fact that Coble will be 79 before the next Congress adjourns in 2010.

"Surprisingly enough, I don't recall a constituent ever saying that," Coble said.

According to the House clerk's office, the average age of a U.S. representative when the current term began was 55, and the average congressman had served 9.3 years. Coble was first elected in 1984 and was out of high school before that average congressman was born.

While he said he is "nearing the end of his legislative career" and won't "be up there eternally," Coble also said he intends to win another term.

"I have avoided setting a date (for retirement) because I don't know myself," Coble said.

If history is a guide, his age won't be a factor.

"It's not so much chronological age, but health and vigor" that voters will look at, said Chalmers Brumbaugh, a political science professor at Elon University.

Plenty of congressional figures have remained in Congress long into their octogenarian years. The most famous examples from these parts are former Sens. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, who was 81 when he left office, and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who was 100.

The fact that Coble was born before the Great Depression bottomed out, he said, won't matter to voters much if they see him keeping up with his job.

Coble shows no signs of begging from his public schedule, which includes a healthy helping of walking in parades this time of year. He said his health is good, and he plays tennis once or twice a week.

But at least one of the three Democrats lining up to challenge him said voters should look twice.

"I have noticed him leaving early at times," said Jay Ovittore, pointing to a spate of votes Coble missed on Aug. 4 and 5 this year before Congress' traditional summer recess. "Maybe it was past his bedtime or he had a hot date."

Coble said he was still on the job, traveling back to Greensboro for a long-scheduled constituent appointment.

"When I have to go back early, I always check with my whip," Coble said, referring to the party leadership position that counts votes. Coble said he won't leave if his absence will change the outcome on a certain bill.

According to his office, Coble has made more than 98 percent of his votes while in Congress.

Ovittore could face the opposite end of the age question. Although 10 years older than required for service in the U.S. House, at 35 he is a good 20 years younger than the typical federal legislator.

"I think I have a lot of perspective on what actual real people are feeling and the kinds of things that affect them," Ovittore said.

It is this question of perspective, rather than age, that Ovittore said he hopes to campaign on.

Ovittore is a house painter by trade and part-time musician, which he said makes him more of a working man that Coble. The incumbent is a lawyer, something he has in common with many of his congressional colleagues.

"He's been there 12 terms, more than 20 years. No matter if you're a garbage man or a congressman, that's the kind of time when you start to get cynical and corrupt, and I'm not saying (Coble) is corrupt," Ovittore said.

He pointed to a recent dustup between Coble and the High Point Enterprise, whose editorial board claimed Coble promised to only serve about a decade before leaving Congress.

"I don't see myself staying in the House more than six or eight years," Ovittore said.

Coble said that he never promised to limit only himself, although he has backed bills that would impose term limits on all of Congress.

"I made it clear that I would support term limits as long as they were universally applied," Coble said.

As for the implied question of whether serving so long in Washington has created a disconnect with his constituents, Coble points to his 12 elections.

Lately, he has won with vote totals of 70 percent or better in general elections.

"I think constituents have obviously not thought I've lost touch," he said.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com.