Reply #21: Here's my guess from having a whole lot of Republican friends & family... >>

[TexanDem]

Living in Texas, it seems I'm the outcast politically speaking. But be that as it may - most of the Republicans I know (probably all more in your mother-in-law's age group than yours - I'm guessing) are against a Dem candidate because of value things such as abortion, gay rights, prayer in school, government handouts to people who can work for it (the old pull yourself up by the bootstrap mentality), efforts to take "God" out of the pledge, "handing everything over to the illegals," -- these things seem to go against their moral fiber. I really don't think it's racial. It could have something to do with his "Muslim" name -- just about all the Republicans I know, that bothers them. They still worry about him not saying the pledge. And they still bring up Wright and the 20-years bit. So, that's my guess where she's at.
There's not much you can do to convince them otherwise, at least that I've found, and I've tried everything I know. I do try to weed out the false things, like the pledge and the "Muslim," and make comparisons to Wright with radical evangelists, but all the rest is still there. The approach I'm trying now is saying, "Look, you don't have to be a Democrat to support him. Many, many Republicans are moving over to support him because McCain is so bad. They know they will never agree 100% with any one candidate. They'll never give up their party, they're just realizing that Obama is trying to unite us all, bring Dems and Republicans together and has even said he will almost surely have a few Republicans in his cabinet."
Otherwise, my advice is to be gentle, and don't push. It's not worth the friction in the family. Many in my circle, we have to just avoid the topic of politics-- and usually religion, too. Their couple of votes won't mean he'll lose.
Good luck