Tony Leys

The Des Moines Register

Ruline Steininger’s political endorsement might not come with star power, but it exemplifies staying power.

Steininger, 102, of Pleasant Hill, expects to vote this fall in her 20th presidential election. She hopes to cast her vote for Hillary Clinton, whom she considers one of the best candidates she’s ever seen.

The retired teacher came to Grand View University to hear the former secretary of State speak Friday. She backed Clinton in the 2008 Democratic caucuses and plans to do so again Monday.

“I think she’s the best qualified. She has so much experience,” Steininger said, shortly before the candidate took the stage.

Steininger recently wrote to Clinton, offering her encouragement.

“In my first century of life I have seen many incredible things: A pandemic, two worldwide depressions, a cure for polio, the first Catholic president, a man on the moon, the end of smallpox, an attack on American soil, and a black president,” she wrote. “In my second century, I look forward to seeing a woman president. It will be an extreme pleasure to support you in the upcoming Iowa caucuses and to vote for you in November.”

Steininger invited Clinton to attend her neighborhood caucus at Pleasant Hill Elementary School on Monday. The candidate, who at 68 is a relative whippersnapper, responded by inviting Steininger backstage before Friday’s speech at Grand View. The two women chatted as a campaign photographer took a picture for posterity.

“It was wonderful!” Steininger said a few minutes later, after she took a seat near the stage amid 700 other voters. “I told her I was going to be at the caucuses for her Monday night and that she was going to win, and she thanked me and said that was encouraging.”

Steininger said she also likes Clinton’s main Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders. “I think he’d be a good president, but Hillary’s more qualified,” and is more likely to win the general election, she said.

Steininger, who lived much of her life in Dubuque, has voted for Democrats in every presidential election since Franklin D. Roosevelt walloped Republican Wendell Willkie in 1940. Has she ever been tempted to vote for a Republican for president?

Steininger scrunched her face at the question, as if she someone had passed sour milk under her nose.

“No,” she said, “I can’t say that I have been.”

Anyone who hopes to follow Steininger’s path should heed her secret to longevity: “I just keep not dying.”