And this may be considered a crazy idea by most of you….Whether this team wins this coming election or not, I would love to see her try to become the first woman President 8 to 12 years from now, if not earlier. By then, she’ll be 52 to 56 years old, and shall have gotten more experience and exposure in the national, if not in the international arena. That is---if she doesn’t mess up (too much!) during the intervening years. 
Most people agree that Sarah Palin's first speech performance was phenomenal—especially considering that this was her very first national live appearance! However, that was not the reason that caused me to make up my mind. I did my own research over the last few days; and I considered a bunch of factors---most of which were qualitative and intangible. Presented BELOW was how I did it.
When I face a relatively difficult decision that involves several choices---like choosing between several similar big items to buy or choosing between several possible solutions to a relatively big problem---I usually resort to an analysis which resembles what is known as Kepner-Tregoe analysis. This simplifies the decision-making process because it sort of creates a level playing field for each choice---by converting everything to numbers. Although subjectivity remains because of built-in personal biases, I would say that it’s a lot better than making decisions based largely on emotions!
Perhaps this also can help some people make decisions—if not for this election, may be for some relatively more challenging choices in the future.
Here are the steps for those of you who are interested.
1. Make a list of CRITERIA that are important to your decision regarding the choices.
2. Put a WEIGHT on each criterion proportional to the degree of its importance or priority to the decision. In order to simplify, I use percents which total 100 vertically.
3. Then GRADE each choice relative to each other (50-100 range) for each criterion.
4. For each criterion, multiply the WEIGHT by the GRADE for each choice to get the POINTS.
5. For each choice, add the points vertically to get the TOTAL POINTS.
6. The higher the TOTAL POINTS, the better is the choice!
(Note: Don’t worry if you don’t get it….other people say, "eenie meenie miney mo" works for them, too!)
Presented below is my own personal assessment. For sure, each one of you will have your own set of criteria and your own grading system. As for me, I have made up my mind! And yes, I am pretty confident about my decision and I don’t have to wait for the speech tonight---nor the other speeches and debates!
TOTAL POINTS SUMMARY (details below):
Palin-----------97.45
McCain---------94.60
Obama---------93.65
Biden---------- 90.80
(...Sorry, I couldn't get the columns below to align for easy reading :oops:
)
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FOR PRESIDENT:
McCain Obama (the first grade/point pair refers to McCain; the second to Obama):
SELECTED CRITERIA Weight Grade/ Points Grade/ Points (respectively)
1.Established leadership ability 10% 100 10.00 95 9.50
2.Established credibility/trustworthiness 10% 100 10.00 95 9.50
3.Clear, sensible, implementable plan 10% 90 9.00 90 9.00
4.Actual executive/decision-making exp. 8% 90 7.20 80 6.40
5.Ability to relate to/inspire people 8% 90 7.20 100 8.00
6.Breadth/depth of experience 5% 95 4.75 90 4.50
7.Strong & tough but nice personality 5% 95 4.75 90 4.50
8.Clear and firm positions on issues 5% 100 5.00 95 4.75
9.Anti-"politics as usual" 5% 90 4.50 100 5.00
10.Proven loyalty and service to USA 5% 100 5.00 90 4.50
11.Eloquence with substance 5% 90 4.50 95 4.75
12.Knowledge & experience: Economy 5% 90 4.50 90 4.50
13.Knowledge & experience: Foreign Affairs 3% 100 3.00 95 2.85
14.Good, strong family background 3% 100 3.00 100 3.00
15.Freshness and vigor 3% 80 2.40 100 3.00
16.Family-oriented 2% 100 2.00 100 2.00
17.Sense of humor 2% 95 1.90 95 1.90
18.Consensus-building ability 2% 100 2.00 100 2.00
19.Positive outlook/openness to good ideas 2% 100 2.00 100 2.00
20.Public/Media relations 2% 95 1.90 100 2.00
TOTAL POINTS McCain 94.60 Obama 93.65
Note: The candidate with the higher points, McCain, gets my vote; and the chance to manage my own company…and that of the USA!
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FOR VICE-PRESIDENT:
Palin Biden (the first grade/point pair refers to Palin, the second to Biden):
SELECTED CRITERIA Weight Grade Points Grade Points (respectively)
1. Established leadership ability 10% 100 10.00 90 9.00
2. Established credibility/trustworthiness 10% 100 10.00 90 9.00
3. Clear, sensible, implementable plan 10% 90 9.00 90 9.00
4. Actual executive/decision-making exp. 8% 100 8.00 80 6.40
5. Ability to relate to/inspire people 8% 100 8.00 90 7.20
6. Breadth/depth of experience 5 % 95 4.75 90 4.50
7. Strong & tough but nice personality 5% 100 5.00 90 4.50
8. Clear and firm positions on issues 5% 100 5.00 95 4.75
9. Anti-"politics as usual" 5% 100 5.00 90 4.50
10. Proven loyalty and service to USA 5% 90 4.50 90 4.50
11. Eloquence with substance 5% 100 5.00 85 4.25
12. Knowledge & experience: Economy 5% 100 5.00 90 4.50
13. Knowledge & experience: Foreign Affairs 3% 90 2.70 100 3.00
14. Good, strong family background 3% 100 3.00 100 3.00
15. Freshness and vigor 3% 100 3.00 90 2.70
16. Family-oriented 2% 100 2.00 100 2.00
17. Sense of humor 2% 100 2.00 100 2.00
18. Consensus-building ability 2% 100 2.00 100 2.00
19. Positive outlook/openness to good ideas 2% 100 2.00 100 2.00
20. Public/Media relations 2% 75 1.50 100 2.00
TOTAL POINTS Palin 97.45 Biden 90.80
Note: The candidate with the higher points, Palin, gets my vote; and the chance to manage my own company…and that of the USA!
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