Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have taken up a political cause: their old friend, Barack Obama. In a mass e-mail to friends, the literary power couple is soliciting donations to the candidate's campaign, Michayelet even going so far as to set up their own page on Obama's social network, mybarackobama.com, to collect a projected $25,000. They write:

We know Barack—Ayelet went to law school with him, Michael's met him. We have seen him speak, and were impressed by the restrained, focused eloquence he brings to bear, the way he held and engaged and moved an overcrowded room.... Talk about shock and awe—imagine the signal it would send to the traumatized, impoverished, alienated people of the world (of Africa, of the Middle East) if the face of our country was President Barack Obama.... We believe Barack has what it takes both to win an election and to be president. Come on—you know you want to believe it, too.

But that's not all. In what is either a McSweeney's-esque pop quiz or a tryout for possible Obama administration cabinet positions (speech writers, maybe?), the couple challenges your political motivations with a string of questions. Take their quiz—the questions are aped directly from Michayelet's e-mail—after the jump ...

Have you ever voted for ...

1. ... A presidential candidate you felt was truly worthy of the office?

2. ... A candidate whose ideas seemed tested by a genuine curiosity about history and human nature, shaped by education, by knowledge of law and politics, and also by an understanding of the realities, both bleak and heartening, of everyday American life?

3. ... A candidate who tries to see beyond the confines of received ideas, stale polemic, and his own cultural assumptions? Who acknowledges ambiguity rather than fearing it?

4. ... A candidate whose dynamism and charisma are in service not merely to his own yawning vanity, but to talent and aptitude and the ability to voice the needs and desires of people across racial, political, and cultural divides?

5. ... Have you ever voted for a candidate you really believed in?

6. Don't you want to?

7. Once in your life?

8. Can you even imagine the joy of being able to do that?

ANSWERS: 1. No, 2. No, 3. No, 4. No, 5. No (The couple admits at this point that "We haven't.") 6. Oh yeah, 7. At least, 8. Barely, but yes