ALEX CHADWICK, host:
You know this is the season for the people who make an art out of analyzing presidential candidates, but at Slate.com, Emily Yoffe is making a science of it, or a quasi-science anyway. Emily has taken a series of psychological tests on behalf of the three leading candidates - that would be Senators Clinton and Obama, and Senator McCain - to reveal, well - Emily Yoffe, welcome back from Slate.com. To reveal what?
EMILY YOFFE: Their basic personality types and what we can expect.
CHADWICK: Let me just add here that we have links at our Web site, NPR.org, to your piece, which in turn has links to explain this psychological test. It's called Myers-Briggs. It splits people out into, I think, 16 different kinds of categories and they refer to all of them. And your headline for this piece at Slate.com is "The Supervisor, the Champion, and the Promoter". So who's who? Who is the supervisor?
YOFFE: No question, Hillary Clinton. She's an EFTJ. Let me translate that really quickly. Extroverted, concrete thinking, tough minded, loves schedules. This is the kind of person who likes to drill down in details, makes organizations run. The world can't exist without them, and they like to remind you of that.
CHADWICK: OK, Senator Clinton is the supervisor. How about the champion?
YOFFE: That's Barack Obama. Some psychologists divide these 16 types into four groups. His overarching type is - no surprise: the idealist. Senator Obama is a champion, an ENFP. Extrovert, intuitive, a feeling person, and also doesn't like to be ties to schedules. This type have tongues of silver, very much believe in the power of words. They tend to be leaders of movements, not politicians. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the best known idealists.
CHADWICK: You write that these people very seldom wind up in executive positions. They seldom wind up anywhere because there aren't that many of them; only about 2 percent of the population are in this category. Whereas about 30 percent of people who are executives or managers would fit Senator Clinton's profile.
YOFFE: That's right. We all know many more people who are good at details, get the paperwork done, than we do people who give you a thrill up your leg, as Chris Matthews says about Barack Obama.
CHADWICK: All right, thrill me with the promoter. That must be Senator McCain. He's the only one left here.
YOFFE: He is a promoter. EFTP. Extrovert, concrete thinker, tough minded, doesn't like to be tied to schedules. This type is very decisive, big risk taker, likes to improvise their way out of situations; people of action, want to make impact. He might sound like a familiar type: George W. Bush is also a promoter, EFTP.
CHADWICK: Did you learn more about these politicians after you went through this Myers-Briggs process with them? Because each of them actually does come out I think in the way you might have expected.
YOFFE: Well, yes, because I'm looking at something that's studying them as types and can tell you their strengths and weaknesses. So it can kind of prepare you for what to expect, and also different types suit different times.
CHADWICK: Your piece has been up at Slate for a couple of days now. Have you heard from any of the campaigns, by any chance? Has someone written in to say you got my boss or you really didn't?
YOFFE: No, I haven't heard from anyone. And I really think of the three types, only Barack Obama, the idealists who are intensely introspective, very much concerned with their own personal authenticity, would even be interested in taking this test and finding out what it reveals. I think the other two would say I don't have time for this.
CHADWICK: I'm too busy running the world.
YOFFE: Right.
CHADWICK: Emily Yoffe at Slate.com. Her piece is "The Supervisor, the Champion, and the Promoter," a psychological insight, maybe, into the people who would be president. Emily, thank you.
YOFFE: My pleasure.
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