CHARLOTTE, N.C. – You only have to step outside the Democratic National Convention center in downtown Charlotte where vendors and special interest groups are hawking their goods to realize that the Democrats have become the party of hard-edged social issues, not the GOP.

While the Republicans have largely tried to follow former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ suggestion that they stick to economic issues, the Democrats have gone hog wild on social issues like abortion, contraception and same sex marriage.