I remember reading somewhere that Dooku said that if Yoda turned to the Dark Side, Sidious wouldn't stand a chance. That would make them equal. Yoda only lost because he wasn't concentrating on getting the height advantage as much as Sidious. Both were of tremendous power and, undeniably the most powerful Force-Users of their time.
Also, Dooku only dies because the idiots decide to make Anakin draw as much as he can from the Dark Side. That gave him the strength to defeat Dooku. If he weren't using the Dark Side, Dooku would have mutilated him and executed him, lest Palpatine decided to push him out of a window, use the Force to seal it off and try and help Anakin finish off Obi-Wan.
Concerning Mace vs. Palpatine, I do believe it would be more interesting than this. The duel would have gone longer had Anakin not shown up and Sidious not used the Force. We can say with the greatest certainty that Palpatine did fake at the end when he
threw his lightsaber out of the window and in the Force throughout the fight, and this is explicitly stated in the Ep. III novel, but the lightsaber duel its self is hazy to put it lightly. If you watch the duel on Youtube, watch 1:02-1:05. You will see that Palpatine has Windu in a bad possition. He also didn't need to step back to avoid having his head hacked off and could have impaled Mace on the spot. In the end, if they were to use lightsabers only, I do believe it would be a draw or Palpatine barely coming out on top. Mace was one of the greatest duelists in the Order, and dueled on the same level as Yoda and Dooku. They both were as good as each other, and Yoda tied Palpatine in a duel (although I do hold the belief that Yoda may have disarmed Sidious; his lightsaber didn't have a belt clip and he'd be hacked up if he tried to put it up his sleeve again). We can only assume, then, that Mace was just as good as Palpatine.
EDIT: Quickly, at kevo, Grievous simply had repairs done on him and was fulfilled to his former glory before Obi-Wan destroyed him in a duel. The coughing was actually from when his body was scorched from the accident which caused him to be turned into a cyborg.
Edited by CIL, 25 May 2009 - 07:02 AM.
I'm creeping, not gone.