Washington DC’s favorite quadrennial parlor game is underway. Who will Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain choose as their running mates?

While the needs of Obama and McCain are vastly different, the structure of their decisions are essentially the same. Each needs to weigh a range of criteria, including experience, the ability to attract constituencies, and things like age and various intangibles.

I’ve constructed a model to help each determine what really matters when choosing the right running mate, and I need your input. This isn’t an exercise to identify the best candidate, but to determine the criteria they should use when evaluating the candidates (I can add in candidate evaluations, so let me know if you’re interested in blowing this out).

This process helps eliminate the biases and personal preferences that can corrupt the decision-making process. I also feel that with these results, the right candidates will become self evident.

I’ve utilized Expert Choice’s Comparion platform for this exercise. It’s typically employed for collaborative decision-making in organizations, and I’ve had to do a little re-engineering for our purposes here.

It takes about five minutes to do, and I think you’ll find it interesting and hopefully a little enlightening. I wish I could automatically update the results here on the blog…but I’ll be updating them here daily.

Click Here to Participate in the Survey

Click the two images below to view the preliminary collaborative results. Some interesting results so far…

- Much more emphasis is placed on the need for “Experience” regarding Obama’s Veep than McCain’s.

- McCain needs to focus more on a Veep that can attract the conservative base than Obama needs to worry about the liberal base.

- McCain needs someone that has business/management/economics experience, but people don’t think Obama needs the same. That said, Obama may need someone with foreign affairs experience.

- McCain may need to worry more about picking someone with negative baggage.

- Both candidates shouldn’t ignore the need for their running mate to help carry a specific state or region.

I’ve pasted the model for Obama and McCain below. Note that I’ve kept it rather simple for the sake of time and having fun with it. I’m open to suggestions or criticisms.

Sen. Obama
Experience (primary criteria)

- Brings foreign affairs and/or military experience to the ticket (sub criteria)
- Brings business, management, or economic experience to the ticket
- Brings political and/or policy achievement to the ticket

Constituencies
- Attractive to the liberal base
- Attractive to the women vote
- Attractive to the middle class
- Can help carry a swing state or region

Intangibles
- Age (brings balance to the ticket)
- Gets along with Obama / a team player
- Lack of negative baggage

Sen. McCain

Experience (primary criteria)

- Brings foreign affairs and/or military experience to the ticket (sub criteria)
- Brings business, management, or economic experience to the ticket
- Brings political and/or policy achievement to the ticket

Constituencies
- Attractive to the conservative base
- Attractive to the women vote
- Attractive to the middle class
- Can help carry a swing state or region

Intangibles
- Age (brings balance to the ticket)
- Gets along with McCain / a team player
- Lack of negative baggage

The Deciders…