The heated rhetoric is flying in Florida, ahead of today's primary.

Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney traded blistering attacks in Florida on Monday morning, a day before the state’s Republican primary.

Mr. Romney questioned Mr. McCain’s commitment to conservatism, citing a series of bipartisan bills Mr. McCain sponsored with Senate Democrats, while Mr. McCain accused the former Massachusetts governor of flip-flopping on major issues.

Mr. McCain, speaking at a shipyard in Jacksonville, swatted aside Mr. Romney’s charge that he is a “liberal Democrat” by saying: “He is consistent. He has consistently taken both sides of every major issue. He has consistently flip-flopped on every major issue.”

He cited Mr. Romney’s support as governor for a regional greenhouse gas emissions control program, for a lenient policy toward illegal immigrants and for campaign finance revisions, all positions he has reversed as a presidential candidate. “People, just look at his record as governor,” Mr. McCain said. “He has been entirely consistent. He has consistently taken two sides of every major issue, sometimes more than two. So congratulations.”

Now this sort of stuff has got to be dialed back and toned down if we are to have any sort of chance at unifying the party. Charges and counter-charges can't be papered over today like they were in decades past -- anyone with a modem can find them all on the internet, and I'm sure that the Democrats are archiving a great many stories full of juicy quotes. We need to let the Democrats continue their self-destructive race between Hillary and Obama while unifying around a consensus candidate -- and possibly a ticket with both of these men on it.