Originally Posted by joshbaumgartner

It certainly bears thinking about. I don't really know anyone personally who is worked up over having a Mormon running for president, even the media keeps acting like its one of the defining aspects of his candidacy. I have read the writings of some right-wing religious people who have declared unequivocally that they will never vote for a Mormon, but I doubt this is a huge segment.

Frankly I think the same is true about Hillary and Obama. I don't think the percentage of people that "would have a problem with" or "would never vote for" a woman or a black man is nearly as high as you would think given the hub-bub surrounding the issue.

For me, really, I don't think religion is an unfair thing to discuss, but I don't like it being painted as a thing that would keep people away from a candidate.

Personally, I'd like to see less focus on why I shouldn't vote for a candidate and more focus on why I should vote for them. We complain that the main candidates don't really tell us anything substantive, but the current culture is so set on finding reasons to NOT vote for someone, I don't know if I can blame them. If you come out and aren't afraid to take strong positions, then for the most part we look at that guy likes he's some kind of nut job.

Originally Posted by joshbaumgartner

Perhaps. I'd like to think of myself as rather objective, but I'm not perfect. Though I suppose I wonder in what way the conversation changes...