In reading Dusty Rhoades' Sept. 7 column on the experience of Gov. Sarah Palin, and listening to discussions on the lack of experience of both Sen. Barack Obama and Palin, I chuckled as I read the following passage from David Herbert Donald's book, "Lincoln."

"To all outward appearances he was less prepared to be president of the United States than any other man who had run for that high office. Without family tradition or wealth, he had received only the briefest of formal schooling. Now 50 years old, he had no administrative experience of any sort; he had never been governor of his state or even mayor of Springfield. A profound student of the Constitution and of the writings of the founding fathers, he had limited acquaintance with the government they had established.

"He had served only a single, less than successful term in the House of Representatives, and for the past 10 years had held no public office. Though he was one of the founders of the Republican Party, he had no close friends and only a few acquaintances in the populous Eastern states, whose vote would be crucial in the election. To be sure, his debates with Douglas had brought him national attention, but he had lost the senatorial election both in 1855 and in 1859."

Most of the surveys I have seen rated Abraham Lincoln as our greatest president. How is it possible for someone so inexperienced to become our greatest? He simply rose to the challenge.

Clarke Conlon

Pinehurst