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A mandate?
Does this election give the Bush crowd a mandate to do whatever they like for the next four years? Dick Cheney has already started to suggest that. If you've looked at the electoral college map of the country, you may be thinking that the Democrats are very isolated. If you saw the electoral college map broken down by county in today's Globe, you might be feeling under siege.
Just remember this: You are not alone. 48% of the country voted for Kerry. Politely remind any triumphal Republicans you may meet of this fact. Another million or so voted for Nader and other candidates (roughly half for Nader). The winner-take-all nature of these maps is misleading in several ways. The whole state is shown red (or blue) even if 49.9% of the state voted for the other candidate. The other misleading feature of these maps is that big empty states show up very prominently and small populous state are de-emphasized.
It's only a mandate if we allow it.
Just remember this: You are not alone. 48% of the country voted for Kerry. Politely remind any triumphal Republicans you may meet of this fact. Another million or so voted for Nader and other candidates (roughly half for Nader). The winner-take-all nature of these maps is misleading in several ways. The whole state is shown red (or blue) even if 49.9% of the state voted for the other candidate. The other misleading feature of these maps is that big empty states show up very prominently and small populous state are de-emphasized.
It's only a mandate if we allow it.