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Hillary Clinton: AP Photo \ Matt Rourke, File

(AP Photo \ Matt Rourke, File)

Hey, there, hipsters. The Republican Party is where it's at, cuz Hillary Clinton is old, y'all.

As the 2016 presidential contest heats up in its predictably policy-free and horserace-heavy way, this seems to be the initial theme.

Republicans have a habit of nominating the next guy in line, who's often rather advanced in age -- see Ronald Reagan in 1980 (69), Bob Dole in 1996 (73) and John McCain in 2008 (71).

That's helped feed perception that the GOP (whose most consistent voting bloc is senior citizens) is out-of-touch.

So every even year, some Republican leader declares they'll be doing an unprecedented outreach to young and minority voters, which never really goes anywhere. The only way it's ever really a success is if said voters don't show up to vote at all, like in 2014.

But this time, Republicans may buck the fuddy-duddy nominating trend, unless they settle on Mitt Romney (67) again.

Republicans have a bevy of middle-aged male contenders to choose from: Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker and Rand Paul (No, I'm not adding Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to the list, because the only people clamoring for that are on his staff or regularly appear on "Off the Record.")

Meanwhile, the Democrats, which have made big inroads with millennials in the last two presidential elections, currently look poised to nominate Hillary Clinton, who's the same age as Romney.

The other far less likely Democratic contenders are also in a similar age demographic: Joe Biden (70), Elizabeth Warren (65) and Bernie Sanders (73).

Republicans clearly think they have a winning issue in harping about Hillary's age -- they won't stop yapping about it.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dismissed Democrats as the cast "The Golden Girls." Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal smirked the D's are offering "old, tired candidates."

The comments, of course, are particularly pointed at Clinton as the presumptive nominee. And let's not pretend that her gender isn't part of it -- there's a reason why the image of '80s TV show old biddies was invoked.

The question has even been raised if Clinton can balance being a new grandmother with running for president.

That's right. Can someone really manage the huge responsibility of being a grandma -- which basically amounts to stuffing kids with a dozen cookies and cooing, "Don't tell your parents" -- and running the free world?

Needless to say, this is another question men never get asked, like Matt Lauer asking General Motors CEO Mary Barra if she can be good at her job and a good mom at the same time.

In 2012, no one asked Romney -- who's pictured here with about two dozen grandkids (note: Clinton only has one grandkid to spoil) -- if this would impeded his ability to deal with Vladimir Putin or unemployment.

And why in the world would they?

But the rules are different for men and women. Let's not pretend otherwise.

We live in a society where breathtakingly beautiful actresses vanish from movies at age 40 when they're considered overripe (and are subjected to endless ridicule if they try to defy nature with plastic surgery, a la Renee Zellweger).

Naturally, Republicans -- who have prayed for decades that Clinton would disappear (and take her liberal, feminist ideas with her) -- are hoping that voters will be similarly repulsed by her since she's now eligible for Social Security.

Sadly, they appear to be out of luck. Not even young voters care that Clinton will be 69 on election day, according to a Bloomberg News poll. Clinton actually fares better with 18-to-29 voters than those over 30.

Now don't expect the GOP's anti-Clinton age cracks to stop anytime soon. But they'd better start thinking up some better material.

Susan J. Demas is Publisher and Editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a nationally acclaimed, biweekly political newsletter. She can be reached at susan@sjdemas.com. Follow her on Twitter here.