The Mormon faith of presidential aspirant Mitt Romney requires him to abstain from alcohol. But columnist Timothy Egan says drinkers generally have made better presidents. For example, George Washington liked Madeira wine, and his distillery at Mount Vernon was the most profitable part of his plantation. Franklin Roosevelt liked martinis, and Egan notes: "Solving a Great Depression and crushing the Nazi war machine - aided by the oft-besotted Winston Churchill - is a pretty strong brief." In contrast, he says, teetotaler George W. Bush "seems doomed to have his name forever followed by the words, 'and we know how that turned out.' "

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U.S. Senate candidate John Raese quotes President Reagan: "There is no such thing as partial freedom." But that's nonsense. People aren't free to murder, or rape, or molest children, or steal, or swindle, or pollute, or destroy public treasures, etc. Freedom has many limits.