Lots of email from Republicans who are considering voting for Obama, including this from an official member of RFO (Republicans For Obama):

Hey, Tom,

Thanks for your recent discussions of the "phenomenon" known as Republicans for Obama. We at RFO found your analyses to be refreshingly accurate and a nice change from the hyped "look at all the GOPs flocking to Obama" approach.

To answer your question,

"And, again, a lot of it has to do with who the Republicans nominate. I'm particularly interested in hearing from Republicans who would pull the lever for Obama over Giuliani in the general. The polling data I cited this morning suggests that describes about 8-10% of Republicans. If you're among this group, send me an email."

I cannot speak for the group as a whole, of course. Some are sold on Obama all the way through the general election, whereas others are pulling for him in the primary and will "wait and see" whom the GOPs shake out.

If you wish for a personal point of view. I am very concerned that the GOP candidates, with the exception of McCain and Paul, are all on record as supporters of "enhanced interrogation" (read: torture), and seem little concerned over the slow abridgment of constitutional rights we've seen from this administration. This issue represents the very heart and soul of this nation. Do we or do we not respect human dignity? The Geneva Convention? Constitutional rights?

At the recent debate you heard Romney "I think we oughtta double Gitmo" and Tancredo "I'm looking for Jack Bauer." The others offered similar sentiments. There is no reason for a Republican candidate to subscribe to this kind of thinking. This platform has nothing to do with (in some respects is the polar opposite of) the traditional party line. So as long as they cling to this end-justifies-the-means security platform, or even equivocate on the issue, I will be looking elsewhere for a candidate to support, even if it means one with a record and platform as liberal as those of Obama.

I threw that together pretty fast so I don't know how "real" or "clear" it is, but I hope it helps.

~"Barbara Gordon"
lead blogger, Republicans for Obama

Barbara also responds to my original post here, though I think she misreads both the intent and some of the particulars of what I wrote.

Here's another from a Republican-leaning Independent, which I think captures both Obama's allure and the frustration many people felt in 2006 - and still feel toward the GOP:

While I am not actually a Republican, I have in the past usually voted Republican in federal elections. However, in recent years I have become increasingly disgusted with the major parties, both of which seem to consistently put the welfare of the party over the welfare of the country. Most of their candidates seem willing to stoop to almost anything to get elected.

Based on what I've seen so far, I find Obama to be a refreshing change. I don't agree with every position, but I am excited by his more rational and objective approach to the issues. In an era where the typical political argument essentially consists of "We're right, and they're evil," I love to hear Obama actually mention arguments on both sides of an issue before stating his opinion. I also love to hear him give speeches to special interest groups and tell them things that they don't want to hear. I would be more than willing to accept our differences on particular issues in hopes that he can restore some reason to the political process.

Note, however, that this does not mean that I've become a fan of the Democrats in general. If anything, I find them to be even less principled than the Republicans. Since the recent election, they seem to have elevated hypocrisy to an art form.

Finally, two opposing emails on the question of voting for Obama over Giuliani in the general election.

First, Brad Porter from The Crossed Pond, who writes:

Hi Tom. I've been a registered Republican all my life, but Giuliani vs Obama isn't a difficult choice for me at all. It's not even close.

Rudy, to my mind, is an authoritarian megalomaniac. I don't like his positions, I don't like him personally, I don't like the choice that the Republicans nominating him would represent (throwing everything under the bus for one more round of cheap capitalizing on 9-11 and campaigning entirely on machismo and fear). Even his one big selling point, his strength on national security, is flimsy at best. He's got about as much national security knowledge and experience as Obama does (I'm knocking them both there, for the record). Rudy's just so much swagger covering up so much sociopathic insecurity. He's Bush and Cheney rolled into one, with a massive ego and chip on his shoulder and even less substantive ideas. He might be the worst candidate running, of either party.

Obama, on the other hand, strikes me as a much more inherently conservative politician. Don't get me wrong, his positions are rather staggeringly liberal, and I disagree, in substance, with most every one. But if there's anything we've learned in the last several presidencies, big policy ideas tend to matter a lot less than the basic character of the guy (or lady) running. When push comes to shove, it's who do you want to wake up with the next morning. Obama is smart, has a lot of fight in him, he's humble, he's skeptical, he's the opposite of reckless (and that will include his propensity to push through a bunch of crazy giant liberal programs, like, ahem, the Medicare bill), he has the capacity to win over people (most any people), he's cautious, he values working together rather than ramming himself and his ideas down everybody's throats. He's got a lot of characteristics that this country is in some sore need of.

If you gave me a set of box scores on Giuliani vs Obama related to their various policy positions, I would be far closer to Rudy. But it's impossible to even get to the policy minutiae when the measure of the men is so clear. When you put the two MEN up against each other, like I said, it's not even close.

On the other hand, reader CS, a 22 year-old Republican male Mississippian transplanted from Pennyslvania, writes:

I will not vote for Obama especially if Rudy Giuliani is the candidate. Rudy Giuliani is the true person to transform politics in this country. He stands on principal and his beliefs regardless of the current political winds. That is a rare commodity in this...half century.

Most people in my Mississippi office are beginning to take a hold of Giuliani (at my initial urging and bumper stickers). They are beginning to realize that social policy means nothing without a country in which to implement it.

Regarding your article, Obama is the only democrat candidate that I could feel would competently run this nation. But, even he is lacking with the crucial experience factor.

For me to vote for a democrat, he/she would have to not completely want to put us back on our heels with regard to terrorism. Just because our current president isn't executing does not mean he isn't on the right track. I think most people would agree that we just want someone who will execute this very real War on Terror efficiently and effectively.