7 and Counting

With less than seven days to go until the election, I still am a bit surprised (especially with debates 2 and 3 aging beyond weeks) at the number of people who are undecided. I suppose I shouldn't be, but with all those campaign problems (advisors calling Palin "rogue," several top Republicans backing Obama, and McCain's personality/leadership issues), sometimes it's hard for those who have made up their mind to be patient. Please don't blame me, patience is truly a virtue!
However, I still believe that people should vote for the best candidate--in their mind. Everyone, including me, will try to convince you to vote a certain way, but in the end, it's your vote, don't let anyone (including yourself) tell you different.
However, it's interesting: we have so many rights (such as that to vote), but nobody really teaches you how to vote! Think about it. Everyone will tell you how important your vote is, but rarely does someone think about teaching good ways to determine who gets your vote. Well, you say, they taught be example and by practice. Really? High school elections are supposed to be exemplary of a political election? Well, I suppose they kinda are, however, if you are still undecided as of today, go on over to Scott Berkun's blog. There, he has written an essay describing the most effective methods on voting. I'll summarize my favorites here:

- "how can it make sense for everyone to vote solely on what suits themselves best? It’s not a United States of Me." [It's interesting to me how many people vote always only for their good.]
- "Many people make their list of positions on issues and try to find a candidate that best matches those positions. This is the idealists approach to decision making: so what if candidate A matches all your positions if they do no possess the skills required to deliver on supporting any of those issues while in office?" [This is what it seems almost everybody who is pro-McCain is doing. They like his values (or don't understand Obama's) and therefore, their vote is completely based on moral judgment, regardless of the person's capability to lead, which, in fact is job #1 of president)]
- "Fred I. Greenstein, Professor of Politics Emeritus at Princeton University, calls out 6 attributes most related to success in office, a veritable scorecard for our use:

1. Effectiveness as a public communicator
2. Organizational capacity
3. Political skill (well duh, but he explains specific traits)
4. Vision
5. Cognitive Style
6. Emotional Intelligence"

Now, we also shouldn't be completely concerned only with the presidential election...how many people who live here in Utah realize that we have a gubernatorial race as well?