"The success of a party means little except when the nation is using that party for a large and definite purpose," said Woodrow Wilson in his first inaugural. "No one can mistake the purpose for which the nation now seeks to use the Democratic Party."

When a nation fights for its life, ideology goes by the board.

President Barack Obama obviously is scrambling in his attempt to win re-election.

Political pundits of a certain stripe have been lamenting the disappearance of Republican moderates for years. It's time now to lament the disappearance of moderate Democrats.

Because one of them will be the 18th lieutenant governor of the great state of Florida, we offer our sincerest condolences to Rod Smith and Jennifer Carroll.