"It was my understanding that Jefferson left the party a long time ago..."

That's a paraphrase of what former vice-president Dick Cheney (and the first VP to shoot a guy since Aaron Burr, TJ's veep) said about former Secretary of State Colin Powell, discussing how Cheney didn't think Powell was really a Republican anymore. But the same could easily be said about Thomas Jefferson, the first Republican president. Compare this list of facts to what you know about today's Republican party; Thomas Jefferson

--loved the French. Drank French wines.

--spent government money on art (Houdon's sculpture of Washington in the Virginia capitol building).

--was, among his many accomplishments, proudest of (it's one of the few things listed on his self-designed tombstone) his authorship of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. In fact, he

--founded the University of Virginia so that schools could teach free of religious influence.

--was a big fan of science, and used government money to fund the Lewis and Clark expedition.

--used powers not necessarily reserved for the Executive branch in order to make the Louisiana Purchase, circumventing the Constitution to do so (although he did draft an amendment that would have made it OK, time was ticking).

Now, this list is a touch biased. Parties evolve (I'm grateful that the Democrats are a far cry from Andrew Jackson, too). But it's interesting to see how political parties--which come into existence for the Adams-Jefferson battle of 1796--have evolved away from their origins. Jefferson might have been the first president to campaign on a platform that changed when faced with the realities of the office, but he wasn't the last.