“I have the solution,” said a muffled voice as I walked out of the downtown library.

It was my friend K.C., buried deep inside a dark blue parka, his face barely visible beneath the insulated hood.

“A solution for what?” I asked. “Did you figure out how to keep the federal government from imploding like the Death Star in a ‘Star Wars’ movie?”

“No,” he said. “Nobody’s going to figure that out anytime soon.”

“Can you keep Virginia politicians from acting like teenage mutant idiots?” I asked.

“Virginia’s problem is its governors are limited to one four-year term,” K.C replied. “The constant churn thins the state’s political gene pool. Virginia is the best argument you’ll find against term limits.

“So what can you fix?” I asked.

“Too many Democrats,” he said. “There are too many Democrats running for president. It’s impossible to keep them straight.”

“I know what you mean,” I said. “In addition to all the old white men, there are also large contingents of middle-aged candidates, women and minorities.

“Exactly,” said K.C.

“Do you know how many Democrats are running, or thinking about running?” he asked.

“Well,” I said, “the Register had a graphic recently with 25 faces. They only had 23 names, but that was a copy editing problem.”

“I know how to narrow the field,” K.C. said. “You start by eliminating anyone who would be 70 years or older when he or she takes the oath of office.”

“Science shows our brains deteriorate as we age,” he continued. “Plus, we haven’t had a lot of luck with older presidents. Just look at Ronald Reagan’s second term and Donald Trump. Trump will be 73 in a few months. He would have been disqualified if we had an over-70 rule in 2016.

“If you take out candidates who would be 70 or older on Inauguration Day, you eliminate Bernie Sanders, who would be 79; Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg, who would both be 78; Elizabeth Warren, who would be 71; and Eric Holder, who would be 70.

“Next, you eliminate anyone who doesn’t have at least a decade of elected political experience. That gets rid of Andrew Yang, the whiz kid entrepreneur from New York; Tulsi Gabbard, the Army-veteran congresswoman from Hawaii; California Congressman Eric Swalwell; Pete Buttigieg, the rising-star mayor of South Bend; activist/author Marianne Williamson; and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who ought to be eliminated anyway because he’s from Virginia.

“I’d also rule out anyone who has no executive experience in elective office or from running a substantial business. That eliminates Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, Texan Beto O’Rourke and Sen. Kristen Gillibrand of New York.

“Now we’re down to 11 candidates that you can look at more closely to determine whether their ideas and styles align with your values,” K.C. said.

The Democrats left in K.C.’s pool are Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Jeff Merkley of Oregon; Congressman John Delaney of Maryland; Govs. Steve Bullock of Montana and Jay Inslee of Washington; former Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado; former HUD Secretary Julian Castro of Texas; and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

“To beat Donald Trump,” K.C. continued, “you need a candidate with two things Trump does not have – empathy and a sense of humor. Trump’s a narcissist, so empathy is totally foreign to him, and his sense of humor never developed beyond the junior high locker-room stage.

“For my money, the Democrats who score best on empathy and humor are Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar,” K.C. said as he stepped over a pile of snow and into the street.