This Year's Presidential Decision

is not much different from any I have voted, except maybe for the sheer amount of information available, due to today's technology - internet, 24 hour news channels, etc. Bottom line: we seem to always try to pick the lesser of two evils, the candidate who will hurt us least.
I always lean a certain way, but I have a quick exercise I use as a sanity check against my own biases: I mentally reverse the party alliance for each candidate. That is, Obama becomes an R, McCain becomes a D, etc. This way, if I am leaning toward voting R, Obama becomes my favorite guy; I am biased for him. Now examine the candidate from a positive point of view, rather than negative.
For example, if you are Republican, pretend Sarah Palin is a Democrat running against a Republican Joe Biden. Do you still like/dislike both's qualifications, ideas, track record, etc. equally? From a Republican perspective, what things make Biden the better candidate?
I find this exercise forces me to vote the person rather than the party. If you prefer a certain candidate, should party make a difference? Or do you vote simply because of party affiliation? As an independent at heart, I have voted both sides of the fence using this way.

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