AP Photo/The Tyler Morning Telegraph, Sarah A. Miller/AP Rep. Ralph Hall, 91, of Texas has a narrow lead in the polls over John Ratcliffe for the Republican nomination. But this is arguably the toughest race he’s faced in his 34-year congressional career. 
 
 Only two World War II veterans remain in Congress. One is retiring, and the other will learn Tuesday whether he’ll be on the ballot this fall. 
 
 Rep. Ralph Hall, 91, of Texas, is in a tight race against Tea Party favorite John Ratcliffe for the Republican nomination in a Dallas-area district. 
 
 AP Photo/Matt Slocum/ASSOCIATED PRESS Tea Party favorite John Ratcliffe is in a tight race with Rep. Ralph Hall. 
 
 The winner likely will be elected in November, given the district’s Republican registration edge. 
 
 In the late 1970s, more than four out of five members of Congress were veterans. Most of those vets served in World War II. 
 
 Today, there are no World War II vets left in the Senate, and just two in the House: Hall and Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who is not seeking reelection. 
 
 Hall is the oldest person ever to serve in the House. 
 
 Polls show he is holding a single-digit lead, but it is arguably the toughest race he’s faced in his 34-year congressional career. ||||| ROCKWALL, Texas (AP) — When he was a boy and working in a pharmacy in this town east of Dallas, Ralph Hall once sold cigarettes and Coca-Cola to Bonnie and Clyde, the notorious bank robbers who would later die in a hail of lawmen gunfire. 
 
 In this April 11, 2014 photo, U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall mingles with fellow military veterans at a weekly "Band of Brothers" happy hour he attends nearly every week in his hometown of Rockwall, Texas. A 90-year-old... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this April 11, 2014 photo, U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall mingles with fellow military veterans at a weekly "Band of Brothers" happy hour he attends nearly every week in his hometown of Rockwall, Texas. A 90-year-old... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this April 11, 2014 photo, U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall mingles with fellow military veterans at a weekly "Band of Brothers" happy hour he attends nearly every week in his hometown of Rockwall, Texas. A 90-year-old... (Associated Press) 
 
 Now 90 and the oldest-ever member of the U.S. House, Hall is facing a potential political shootout of his own — against a Republican primary challenger barely half his age, backed by national conservative groups and well-schooled in digital- and data-heavy modern campaigning. 
 
 It's shaping up to be a test of whether old-style, face-to-face campaigning can prevail against the new election engineering and organizational techniques that are coming to dominate American politics. Is Hall's vast political experience still an asset or simply proof he's out of touch with today's conservatives? 
 
 "I'm doing the same thing that I've always done," the 17-term incumbent said amid a "Band of Brothers" happy hour at a Rockwall country club. Most Friday afternoons, Hall, who flew Hellcat fighters during World War II, hops a plane from Washington to Texas, then heads straight to the weekly gathering of U.S. military veterans. 
 
 That routine may no longer be enough. Hall's district is safely Republican but he captured just 45 percent of the vote against five challengers in last month's primary, and has been forced into his first runoff since being elected to Congress in 1980. His opponent, 48-year-old former U.S. attorney John Ratcliffe, won 29 percent and has been endorsed by powerful tea-party-aligned organizations, including the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club for Growth, who see Ratcliffe as the race's only true conservative. 
 
 A former mayor of the town of Heath, Ratcliffe said he knows he's challenging an institution in the district of big-city suburbs and small towns that stretches to the Louisiana and Arkansas borders. 
 
 "I'm running against a guy who has an airport, highway and lake named after him," Ratcliffe said, referring to Rockwall's municipal airport, and a nearby expressway and man-made lake project. 
 
 Hall, who turns 91 before the May 27 runoff, shrugs off tea party suggestions he's a Washington insider. 
 
 "I just tell them, 'Look at my record. I vote with my party when I can. I vote with my district every time," said Hall, who described his campaign strategy as "walking through every courthouse and walking the cities in the district." 
 
 An avid jogger, Hall moves at a brisk pace as he meets passers-by, stopping frequently to chat or hand out pennies fitted with a special silver band bearing his name. He also mails the coins around the district, and when aides tried to scrap the program for something more-modern, they got an earful from supporters wondering about pennies they were used to receiving. 
 
 Known in Congress for promoting NASA and energy production, Hall largely forgoes formal campaign stops, instead attending Republican breakfast gatherings or just encountering voters while out and about. Joe Lynch, 65, says he'll remain a Hall supporter for life after running into him at Wal-Mart. 
 
 "I saw him coming up the aisle by himself just as unassuming as he could be," Lynch said. "His car with House plates was in the parking lot. How many members of Congress do you think actually shop at Wal-Mart?" 
 
 Ratcliffe, by contrast, exploits Web-based advertising and has hired an analytics firm for micro-targeting. 
 
 "We've tried to use that to better define and identify the voters within this district and folks that would be supportive of me," Ratcliffe said. He said he hasn't made Hall's age an issue but, "I put him in a class of career politician that has gone to Washington, stayed too long, promised too much and become part of the problem." 
 
 In 2012, Hall went skydiving two days before the Republican primary. This time, he made a playful television ad calling his wrinkles political battle scars. 
 
 Since the primary, his campaign hired a former Reagan administration media relations director, as well as a veteran of the Republican National Committee chairman's office. 
 
 The congressman recently lent his campaign $100,000, his first personal loan in recent memory. Ratcliffe, meanwhile, has given his campaign about $575,000 and said he's ready to spend more. He's also expecting outside groups to spend enough to shape the race. 
 
 Hall knows his age is an issue. He even referred to a rumor that his congressional office still uses typewriters (it doesn't.) 
 
 But he's not reluctant to describe his brush with Bonnie and Clyde, who Hall remembers from the early 1930s when they "bought two cartons of Old Golds, two Coca-Colas and all the newspapers we had." 
 
 "He was a funny looking little guy. She was acceptable looking," Hall said. "I saw them. But I don't think it's that unusual. They were a lot of places." ||||| AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A 91-year-old Texas congressman who first won his seat when Jimmy Carter was president faced the toughest test of his political career Tuesday from a Republican primary challenger barely half his age. 
 
 Ralph Hall, who first ran for political office in 1950 and is the oldest-ever member of the U.S. House, has promised that should he win an 18th term, it'll be his last. But his opponent, John Ratcliffe, 48, was seeking to oust him in a primary runoff — claiming he's the stronger conservative. 
 
 With no Democratic candidate, the winner will be unopposed in November. 
 
 Hall's district stretches from suburban Dallas to the Louisiana and Oklahoma borders and features an airport, expressway and man-made lake project named after him. 
 
 In the March primary, Hall won 45 percent of the vote compared to Ratcliffe's nearly 29 percent, but since no one won a majority in a six-way race, Hall was forced into the first runoff his congressional career. Second rounds of voting often feature low turnout — especially following a holiday weekend. That could favor Ratcliffe since fierce anti-incumbent voters may be more motivated to turnout. 
 
 A former U.S. attorney, Ratcliffe has used modern analytics to better target would-be voters. He also has won the support of powerful national conservative groups with strong tea party ties, including the Club for Growth and Senate Conservatives Fund. 
 
 Hall has relied on a more-traditional campaign, using direct mailings and walking the district, interacting with voters and handing out pennies fitted with bands bearing his name. Since 2010 alone, campaign finance records show Hall spent more than $34,000 on hams from Honey Baked Foods — which aides were gifts to constituents. 
 
 As an indication of how seriously Hall is taking Ratcliffe, the congressman recently loaned his campaign $100,000, the first such loan in at least a decade. 
 
 Hall, though, bristles at the notion that he's not conservative enough. He's been endorsed by tea party favorite and Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota and leading Christian conservative voice and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. 
 
 Last week, conservative grassroots superstar and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas praised Hall's courage while presenting him an award for his military service. Hall is the only World War II veteran left in Congress seeking re-election. 
 
 "He's running against my birth certificate," Hall said of Ratcliffe. 
 
 An avid jogger, Hall went skydiving when facing a 2012 primary challenge and had planned to do so twice this year but canceled due to icy conditions. Instead, he made a playful television ad pointing to the wrinkles on his face and calling them scars of congressional fights with liberals. 
 
 Ratcliffe has said repeatedly he hasn't made age an issue, arguing instead that Hall has become too cozy with the GOP establishment after 34 years in office. He conceded though, that in addition to Hall's record or wanting to send an anti-incumbency message, some voters "specifically cite his age." 
 
 "I think it's fair to consider that," Ratcliffe said. "They're raising it as a reason."
– Ralph Hall, already the oldest person ever to serve in the House of Representatives, is seeking a final term but the 91-year-old faces a tough challenge today from a 48-year-old opponent. John Ratcliffe is backed by conservative groups with strong Tea Party ties in the Republican primary runoff and he says he is the stronger conservative, the AP reports. But Hall, who first won his Dallas-area seat in 1980 and switched from Democrat to Republican in 2004, says the younger man is "running against my birth certificate." The contest will be a test of whether Hall's old-school, face-to-face campaigning style can hold up against his opponent's modern, digital, and data-heavy techniques, the AP noted last month. Hall—who once sold cigarettes and Coca-Cola to Bonnie and Clyde when he worked in a pharmacy as a boy—served in the Navy from 1942 to 1945 and if he does prevail, he will be the last World War II veteran in Congress, reports the New York Daily News. There are no veterans of the war still serving in the Senate and the only other World War II vet in the House is Michigan Democrat John Dingell, who is not seeking re-election.