WASHINGTON – Responding to questions following Thursday night's debate in Miami, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said that the "generational argument" made against him and former Vice President Joe Biden smacked of discrimination.

"I think that's kind of ageism, to tell you the truth," said Sanders when asked about the criticism that he and Biden, 76, are too old to lead the country.

"Judge people on the totality of who they are: what their ideas are, what their experience is, what their record is," said Sanders, who at 77 is the oldest candidate running for president.

The reporter's question he was answering had alluded to comments made on the debate stage by California Rep. Eric Swalwell, 38, who called on Biden to "pass the torch to a new generation of Americans."

"I'm still holding onto that torch, I want to make it clear to you," Biden replied.

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During an interview with CNN on Thursday, Swalwell, the second-youngest candidate in the race, said "we can't have a candidate whose ideas are staler than Donald Trump's" and "I don't think we can nominate a candidate who has been in government for longer than 20 years."

Biden was first elected to Congress in 1972, Sanders in 1990.

"I'll be a president that will actually have to live with the decisions that I make," Swalwell said.

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Sanders said Thursday it would be wrong if he were to apply the same standard to someone like Swalwell and tell them, "You're not qualified because you're only 35 or 36 or something like that, you don't have the experience."

"What we are trying to do, what all of us are trying to do, is to end discrimination in this country against women, against minorities, against the LBGT community and I think on ageism as well," Sanders said.

"At the end of the day what the people of this country have got to determine is what candidate is going to stand up and fight for the best interests," he continued. "It doesn't matter whether you're old, you're young, you're black, you're white, you're a woman, a man. You've got to take a hard look at the candidates and what they stand for."

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