I'm old enough to remember when American liberals cherished the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. They celebrated especially the freedom accorded those with unpopular beliefs and protested attempts to squelch the expression of differing opinions.

Looking back over the last century there were two great coalition builders in presidential politics: FDR and Richard Nixon.

Franklin Roosevelt broke the Lincoln lock on the presidency that had given Republicans the White House in 56 of the previous 72 years. From 1932 to 1964, FDR's party would win seven of nine elections.

Here recently, the Republican Party of Florida has been going after Charlie Crist about his and his wifes tax returns. Crist revealed some of his tax returns, but through his campaign spokesperson, Kevin Cate, has said that his wifes returns are off limits.