Washington ? Fifty years after its founding by a retired high school principal, AARP is a premier lobbying power in Washington. Its 40 million members, many of them more than capable of finding a voting booth on Election Day, make it the country’s single largest organization – that is, if you don’t count the Catholic Church.

As it began its three-day anniversary party in Washington on Thursday, AARP didn’t rent out a bingo hall for its opening ceremony. Try the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where stars of the over-50 set – actress Sally Field, moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and NASCAR speedster Richard Petty among them – encouraged people over 50 to live their dreams, demand affordable health care, be each other’s keeper and remember that age is just a number.