by Kristen Soltis

In Jon Stewart's 2004 satirical textbook on government and politics, America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, the chapter on elections features an illustration of a graveyard of political parties, complete with an archway sign reading "abandon political viability all ye who enter here." There, next to the Whig and Bull Moose parties, was a freshly dug grave with a tombstone reading "Democratic Party 1828 - ".
Oh, how things have changed.

USA Today

As Congress considers an overhaul of the nation's health care system, pressure is mounting on a small circle of Senate moderates who helped advance President Obama's economic stimulus this year.
Centrists in both parties, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. — both of whom played a critical role in shaping the stimulus — are being courted by interest groups and the White House as lawmakers seek a way to provide health care to 46 million uninsured people.

LA Times
The dust-up between Rush Limbaugh and Colin L. Powell over whether Powell is still a Republican is more than the political equivalent of a show-business feud. It reflects the perennial -- but for Republicans in 2009, painfully pertinent -- question of whether it's good for a major political party to be a big tent or whether too much inclusiveness turns it into a three-ring circus.

by Chad Crowe
"Let's play grown-up." When I was a child, that's what we said when we ran out of things to do like playing potsie or throwing rocks in the vacant lot. You'd go in and take your father's hat and your mother's purse and walk around saying, "Would you like tea?" In retrospect we weren't imitating our parents but parents on TV, who wore pearls and suits. But the point is we amused ourselves trying to be little adults.
And that's what the GOP should do right now: play grown-up.

By Douglass K. Daniel
The conservative vs. moderate split threatening to rupture the Republican Party played out across the airwaves yesterday, with Colin L. Powell and Tom Ridge denouncing shrill and judgmental voices they say are steering the GOP too far right.
Karl Rove challenged Powell to lay out his vision and "back it up" by helping elect Republicans.
At stake is the GOP's status as a major party, Powell suggested.

By Reid Wilson 
Voters who call themselves Republicans or Democrats are increasingly turning a deaf ear to each other as partisan views harden, making the growing ranks of independents key to any long-term political gain.
Those independent voters, according to data from the Pew Research Center and the Gallup Organization, are becoming more socially liberal while dividing between liberalism and conservatism on the economy.

FoxNews.com

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell took on Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh Sunday, shooting down their accusations that he had abandoned the Republican Party while continuing to dish out advice to the GOP.
Powell, speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," touted his Republican credentials and urged his party to be more moderate and inclusive. He was answering back after Limbaugh called on him to join the Democrats and Cheney said he thought Powell had already left the GOP.

By Naftali Bendavid
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party underscores the clout of Club For Growth, a conservative group that targets Republicans it brands insufficiently committed to low taxes and small government.
The move also has inflamed a debate within the party: Are the group's tactics good or bad for Republicans?

by David Frum
Jon Huntsman will resign as governor of Utah to accept a posting as ambassador to China.
It's a fine appointment from the point of view of the national interests of the United States. Huntsman speaks the language and knows the region (he previously served as ambassador to Singapore). His standing as a former governor and a possible future presidential candidate will enhance his clout in a capital where clout matters.

by Peter Robinson
This past Saturday, Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana, delivered a commencement address at Butler University. Unlike nearly every other commencement address you'll read about this spring, Daniels' speech was good--witty, profound, pointed, moving.