When I was mayor of Normal in the 1970s, the town was five times bigger than Sarah Palin's Wasilla, Alaska, where she was mayor for six years. Believe me, my experience would not have prepared me to be a heartbeat away from the president.

I do not mean any disrespect to any mayor of a small town, but no matter how many years in office, it is no experience for helping run U.S. domestic and foreign policy as vice president - or, heaven forbid, becoming the president.

Palin becoming Alaska's governor is like moving up to be mayor of a bigger city. Alaska is less than 1 percent of the population of our nation and she has only been in office a year and a half. Illinois has 19 times as many people as Alaska.

The best I can say is that it is an insult to good Republican women with political experience and an insult to the electorate in general that John McCain thinks he can pass this woman off as anything but a joke of a candidate.

If McCain wants people to know him as a man of good judgment, not a befuddled old man, then he certainly missed by "hiring" an inexperienced person he hardly knows - met her twice.

In contrast, Barack Obama has 10 years as state legislator and 3½ on national and foreign policy issues as a senator - almost twice as many years, and at a higher level, than Palin.

Obama used good judgment in choosing for vice president a man who has even more years in the Senate than John McCain, thereby adding more knowledge and experience to the team of Obama-Biden.

Together, McCain and Palin do not equal the years of experience of Biden alone.

Carole A. Reitan

Normal