Dear Phoenix Voter,

I'm an independent from California who loves Phoenix - I've been there many times, and love the Suns. Feel free to Google or email me. You're in Arizona, for once a battleground state, and the home of John McCain - exciting! So below is some ideas about the candidates. At bottom, you can let me know if reading the following helped or make a comment. But first, here's info on where you can register and vote.

We all know there's a ton of issues that the candidates must weigh in on - most of them either red or blue. It's tough to even get a true sense of where they stand. So, as an independent, the thing most important to me is the leadership qualities and the track record of the person we choose. From that, we can derive their intelligence and priorities and other important characteristics.

1. Intelligence

• McCain graduated 5th from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy, AND he is computer illiterate. Check out the video below.
  
• Obama graduated Magna Cum laude from Harvard Law School, was editor of the Law Review, and taught law at Columbia University
  
  
  
  

2.) Obviously, schooling isn't everything. Far from it. So, we also need to look at their track records of preparation and decision-making. Let's keep it simple:

• The most important decision McCain has made was the VP pick and he did it in a chaotic, last minute flurry which resulted in the Palin pick. McCain is 71 years old, and according to McCain's own aids, Palin is ill-prepared to be Vice President and not a trust-builder.
• Obama knew Biden very well (McCain did not have a working, trustworthy relationship with Palin) and did extensive vetting.
  
• McCain's campaign ran out of money in the Republican primaries. They almost went bankrupt. Republicans had no viable alternative and vote in conservative groups, so McCain still won the primary.
• Obama has run a history-making campaign, raising record amounts of money and keeping in touch with supporters using new techniques such as regular emails and Facebook.

Its tough though, because Obama hasn't been in the public eye for nearly as long as McCain and doesn't have as much record to look at. So let's look at another important factor: who's vouching for each candidate?

3. Endorsements

• Obama has been endorsed by more than two times as many U.S. newspapers than McCain, including the traditionally republican Chicago Tribune, as well as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.
• Warren Buffet, the richest man in the world, supports Barack Obama
• Other Obama endorsements include Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Colin Powell (Former Secretary of State under George Bush) and Google CEO Eric Schmidt back Obama, among many others.

It's a tough decision - McCain has passion and extensive experience. However, in this day and age, in this truly new world - global, interdependent, technological and very disparate economically - we need someone who "gets" it and realizes that everything is different, and there are incredible challenges, but also opportunities ahead.