Allow me to offer a rare tip of the hat to CBS News this week for daring to pose a question that should have been on the lips of reporters across the nation following the debacle of the final year (or more) of Joe Biden's presidency. As of tomorrow, there will only be two months left until the presidential election. Early voting is set to begin in some states very shortly and will only ramp up from there over the following eight weeks. And yet we have two major party candidates running for president and neither of them has released comprehensive medical records or the full results of recent physical exams both of them have taken. Neither has released the results of any sort of cognitive tests, though Donald Trump has told reporters he has taken two more of those which he claims to have "aced." Harris also never released any medical records during her first presidential bid in 2019 and 2020. It seems like it wasn't all that long ago when reporters and voters across the nation were quite interested in this sort of information, but now everyone seems to have gone dark on the topic.

With two months to go until Election Day, neither former President Donald Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris has released comprehensive recent medical records, leaving voters in the dark about the current state of their health.

Trump, 78, would be the oldest person to ever assume the Oval Office. And the 59-year-old Harris, who became the Democratic nominee last month and ran for president in 2020, hasn't publicly released the results of a comprehensive physical in either of her bids for the White House. Election Day may not be until Nov. 5, but Americans are beginning to vote this month, with the first ballots being mailed out in North Carolina starting Friday.

Trump told CBS News in an Aug. 20 interview that he recently underwent an annual physical, and said he would release those results "very gladly." Trump also told CBS News he's taken two cognitive tests, which he said he "aced." The campaign has not released those results.

Let's start with Donald Trump since he has a more complete set of medical records (such as they are) having already served as President. As noted above, Trump told CBS only a couple of weeks ago that he'd had a complete physical and he would "very gladly" release those results. Fair enough. So where are they? He also claims to have taken two more cognitive tests and "aced them." In my humble opinion, that's not nearly good enough. As I have shared openly here in the past, I'm getting on in years and my family has a history of related issues. I've taken some of those tests. There are many of them that are used and they all have numeric scores assigned to the patient. They are not easy even for young, agile minds in many cases. Which specific tests were given to Trump and what were his scores? We should be hearing that from his doctor, not from the candidate himself during a casual Q&A.

Then there is Kamala Harris. She certainly seems to be in fairly robust health for a woman of 59. (She'll be 60 before the election) But serious health issues can crop up for anyone, particularly as we get older. If something unfortunate is lurking around the corner that could sideline her for a while during her hypothetical first term and we are going to wind up with Walz as the leader of the free world, even if only temporarily we deserve to know about that. Further, Kamala Harris should not be exempt from taking cognitive tests and releasing the full results. Dementia and related issues are less common at 60 than at 70 and beyond, but it's far from unheard of. I've met patients in her age range who were already experiencing significant cognitive issues. In fact, any Presidential candidate of any age should be willing to voluntarily do the same.

If we're being honest, the Democrats in general and Kamala Harris in particular have brought this shadow over their own houses. People in the media and many voters had been calling for Joe Biden to submit to cognitive testing and release the results long before the disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump that eventually brought him down. The leadership in the Democratic Party and Kamala herself were all part of the coverup, insisting that everything was just fine until it was proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that things were not "fine" in any way shape, or form. Only then did the vultures begin to circle Joe Biden's political gravestone. Why should any of us trust them at this point without documented evidence that would be readily available to release if the candidates were willing to authorize it? 

Yes, the issues of the day are important as are Kamala Harris' plans for a potential first term, though she refuses to talk about them with any specificity. But after the stunning revelations about Biden's cognitive abilities and general health this year taught us, the physical and mental condition of our candidates - particularly the more elderly ones - are also important and could carry significant implications in a moment of crisis or that dreaded "3 a.m. call" that we hear so much about. It would take a constitutional amendment to force all candidates to submit to and release the results of such medical testing, but the media and the voters could turn this into an unofficial requirement for office if the bipartisan will existed to do so.