Mario CUOMO’S SPEECH Tuesday night fell far short of his performance in 1984. Its impact on the convention floor was dwarfed by Jesse Jackson’s oration a few minutes earlier. But Cuomo, more than any other speaker last week, did succeed in highlighting a fundamental difference — perhaps the fundamental difference — between the two political parties:

“The Republicans — this now, this now is the most important idea of all, in all of this welter of sophisticated notions, in all of this quarreling and quibbling politically, keep your eye on the one big idea. The Republicans are the real threat to the most fundamental of all the ideas, the idea that this nation is at its best only when we see ourselves, all of us, as one family. That is the heart of the matter. That has always been the heart of the matter. That will always be the heart of the matter.”