I received a great email this morning from my friend Lorraine Charles. More and more I am seeing friends who are tired of being considered a "foregone conclusion" as a vote for a particular party because of the group they belong to. I can very much relate to Lorraine's thoughts here.

Last weekend I had dinner with old friends I hadn’t seen in awhile. My mind was only half engaged though--I’m an election year enthusiast and to top it off, it was the night of the South Carolina primary. I tried to wait until at least our food was served, but shortly after the server took our order I blurted out, “so which candidate do you like best?” Their response was something to the effect of, “Huckabee—he’s a Christian”. As both my friends and I are “born-again”, Protestant, Bible-believing Christians, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at their response. Nonetheless, a strong sense of dismay and disappointment came over me. I did my best to smile and ask polite questions about their choice, but I became even more horrified during the conversation when I needed to explain that no, Barack Obama is not a Muslim.