If commuting is going to be the primary purpose of your bike you might want something a little beefier than a typical road bike. If road / club rides are going to be the main thing you want to do with the bike, and you also want to do a commute on it then you may want to go with something that clamps onto the seat post (if you aren't carrying too much weight) to make it easy to remove when you just want to ride the bike fast.
If you like the Devincis but want drop bars, try the Caribou. Its a touring bike, has the eyelets, and is a lighter than most touring bikes. It comes with 700x28 tires which I think are great for commuting. I wouldn't want to use racing bike tires for commuting unless your roads are really smooth.
Also keep in mind though you can use P-clamps to mount a rack on any road bike, with the geometry of some of them you'd be stuck using a really tiny pannier or else striking your heel on the bags.