As they get older, many men find themselves making more nightly trips to the bathroom. They may fear that this sort of problem is an unavoidable consequence of aging, or - worse - a sign that they have prostate cancer.

Americans' choice for president in 2004 will have a direct impact on the lives of seniors. The policies that surround this year's campaign issues will determine whether retirees can afford health care and have enough money to live on. They will shape how we are cared for in the future by funding - and providing guidelines for - research into defeating the diseases that shorten and degrade our lives.

Consider this: In the year 1902, if it had been somehow possible to gather together everyone in America who had reached the age of 85 or older, that population would have scarcely made up a single Zip Code in today's Sun Belt. Today, the numbers of people age 85 and above, about 5 million Americans, will increase four-fold with the aging of the Baby Boom. People aged 100 or more - currently some 70,000 - will increase 10 times before we are halfway through this century. This demographic tsunami will affect every institution and every community, and will touch all of us personally.