Without trying to be political: a president's "mandate" *used* to mean overwhelming public support in a lopsided election, like FDR vs. Landon or Nixon vs. McGovern. If 51% is a "mandate," then Gore had one in 2000.

People who voted last year were almost evenly divided between Kerry and Bush. We don't know about the millions who didn't bother, but presumably they either didn't care or were so thoroughly undecided as to further undermine the idea of a "mandate" in 2004.

Anyone in the media who identifies a *real* mandate in the last two elections either doesn't know what they're talking about (a real possibility wheer journalists are concerned) or else has an ulterior motive.