Mandate?

Bush Claims Mandate for War, Tax Agenda : "WASHINGTON - President Bush claimed a re-election mandate Wednesday after a record 59 million Americans chose him over Democrat John Kerry"

As it stands at this moment, Bush has 59,096,083 votes (51.4%) to Kerry's 55,532,210 (48.3%). Nader has 391,018 (0.3%).

So Bush's margin is 3.1%, which is hardly remarkable, let alone anything approaching a "mandate". In the 34 Presidential elections from 1872 to the present (the period for which popular-vote data are available), there have been only eight closer contests. The average margin of victory has been 9.9%.

The 59 million votes for Bush is indeed a record, but this is, as much as anything, a reflection on the size of the overall turnout. Bush is probably not talking about the fact that Kerry's 55 million votes sets a record for most votes for a non-winner. Further underscoring the size of overall turnout, Kerry's 55 million 2nd-place votes are more than any past winner has received.

source of all past election data: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781450.html