Media myths, once they're set, are notoriously difficult to shake.
But the media's conviction that Sir Menzies Campbell was too old to lead the Lib Dems was astonishing in the speed with which it took hold, in the doggedness with which it was pursued, and in its consistent cruelty.
It was virtually impossible to read an article about him without his age being mentioned, and jokes being made about it (he was variously described as a 'tortoise', 'skeletor', and a 'fossil fuel'). And the barbed jibes and sarcastic asides came from almost all papers.
Just at the beginning of this week Bruce Anderson wrote in the Independent that, 'A lot of Liberals want Ming Campbell to act his age. They would like to see "pensioner crisis'' headlines which do not refer to their party's leadership'.
A few months back Tim Hames wrote in The Times that 'Poor old Ming Campbell smells as if he is two poor by-election results short of earlier retirement than he expected'.
Simon Heffer talked about how Sir Ming Campbell 'clambered out of his tomb'.
Even David Blunkett, himself a sprightly 60 year old, could not resist poking fun at Campbell's age commenting, when the pensioners' band the Zimmers was doing well in the charts that 'It may even be the new beginning Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has been looking for!'
The obsession with his age seems all the more bizarre if you look across the Atlantic at the Republican candidates for President. Where Campbell became leader of the Lib Dems at 64, Rudy Giuliani - if chosen by the Republicans - would become the party leader at 63, Mitt Romney at 60, Fred Thompson at 65 and John McCain aged 71.
Keywords: Ming Campbell, media, age