I use my Mercian touring bike as a daily rider. Works for me. Most of the roads I ride on are pretty terrible. It's made from a modern OS Reynolds tubeset, and it's actually more spritely than my old racing bike, but the ride is more smooth.

I had for a long time I had a Univega Specialissima, which is the same frame as a Miyata 1000 with different decals. That bike was pretty sporty as well. It was very nice as a daily rider as well as a packed tourer, as some of you have discovered. I got it when I worked in a shop that was a Trek and Univega dealer. Some of the Trek touring bikes tended to have a more truck-like ride by comparison, ie the 720. Maybe nowadays I'd like that. 620 is more sporty.

Anyway, yeah touring bike for regular riding can be nice.