The Age Card

Suggesting that McCain is too old to be president, a new TV advertisement tries to scare voters away from him because of his bouts with Melanoma.

‘‘John McCain is 72 years old and had cancer 4 times,’’ the ad’s text says over a black-and-white image of McCain with the left side of his face bandaged after surgery in 2000. ‘‘Why won’t McCain release his medical records?’’

The ad is being produced and run only on a liberal news network - by two liberal groups.

The 30-second ad, so far airing for $50,000 only on MSNBC, is paid for by Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, a political group headed by James Dean, the brother of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.