I picked one person. Not sure if I was crazy or just needed a challenge. His name is Michael. He’s a born-again Christian, conservative Republican. He grew up in Mississippi but now calls Las Vegas home. He doesn’t agree with homosexuality, strongly opposes abortion for any reason, and I’m quite sure, owns his very own pair of bootstraps.

Oh boy, did I have my work cut out for me.

I will save you the suspense and tell you that I was not successful. Try as I might, I was not able to convince him Barack Obama was the best choice for President. Michael cast his vote for John McCain (though I’m still holding that small spark of hope that he secretly did vote for Obama and just didn’t tell anyone).

We did, however, spend several weeks emailing back and forth, discussing political issues we each found important. And although I wasn’t successful in my goal of convincing Michael to vote for Obama, I do believe I made some inroads — for him to consider the possibility that not all democratic views are wrong, not all democratic policies are erroneous, and maybe liberal isn’t such a bad word (at least, this is what I’m hoping). If nothing else, I know for sure that I convinced him of the importance of universal health care. That means a lot to me.

I spoke to Michael last night after the election was called, Barack being named the President-Elect. He was sweet to offer congratulations. He said he would try to be open minded about Obama as President — optimistic yet cautious were his words.

I’ll take that. I think cautiously optimistic is promising. President-Elect Obama will have to prove to Michael, just as he proved to me during the primary and then the election, that he is capable and competent; that he is strong yet compassionate; that he is a leader even Republicans can be proud of.

I believe Barack will do just that.

So all-in-all, though I wasn’t able to accomplish this goal, I think I can check it off my list as complete. I sure did try. And though I will never know, maybe I was successful — after all, I spoke to anyone who would listen. I sent emails, made phone calls, posted blogs and made donations. I would like to believe that among all of that, I may have influenced at least one person to vote for Obama.

And who knows, maybe I can convince Michael to vote for Obama for his second term. Better yet, maybe I won’t even have to convince him.