I have learned that there is currently a limitation with respect to date based workflow rules. If you want to have a workflow trigger based on a date you have to either create or edit the record on the date that the workflow is supposed to trigger.

It would be much more useful for the workflow to have the ability to track dates "behind the scenes". In other words, if I create a Potentials record on 2/1/10 and I select a closing Date of 2/13 then I want to have  workflow rule that will send an alert to the record owner on 2/13 or some other date if that record is not updated. The only way I can have that alert sent under the current workflow limitations is if I open and edit the record on 2/13.

This would give me similar functionality to escalation rules in Cases. If a case isn't handled by a certain date than it gets escalated to a supervisor.