The Wall Street Journal is providing one week’s free access. No fees, no signup. Among the interesting content is this election day quiz. Arrghh! I only got 13 out of 20!

The Voice of America provided election-night coverage in 44 languages and seen by a staggering number of people:

• 268 million in Indonesia
• 50 million in Thailand
• 100 million in India

This list goes on:

Far-flung VOA programming reached Ukraine, Russia, Serbia-Montenegro, Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Cyprus, Haiti and Africa, among others. KBC, the only national TV station in Kenya, broke away from CNN to carry a VOA report on the latest developments in English — and Swahili.

“This intense interest only proves the importance of explaining who we are as a people, and how we live,” Mr. Jackson said. “Our mission is not to promote the Voice of America, but to explain U.S. policy and give accurate news to people who may not have access to anything reliable.”

Their message must compete against anti-American propaganda, he said, and the cultural vacuum created when there is no news available at all….

“I got a recent call from a viewer in Johannesburg, South Africa,” Mr. O’Connell [VOA spokesman] said. “He just wanted to congratulate America for setting an example for the world.”

Fundrace 2004 has map of funding to each political party and even individual candidates. You can view by county, 3-digit zip code or entire state. Interesting.

If for no other reason, you have to admire Democrats for their dogged adherence to the party line.

I have lost count of the number of times I have heard “not a mandate” in the last 12 hours. They clutch this tired rhetoric to their chest like a tattered battle flag, torn, dirty, dropped in the heat of a lost battle, but now recovered and serving as a symbol of their hoped-for relevance.

I find it fascinating that the party that so consistently celebrates diversity bemoans the fact that we don’t all agree, but I digress.

It’s time for Democrats to take a step back and evaluate what really happened.

On November 2^nd, Americans:

1. Confidently voted the president back into office by a greater margin than four years ago in virtually every state in the union.
2. Exhibited enthusiastic support for the Compassionate Conservative agenda by sending more Senators and Representatives to Congress, leading to an astounding four-seat gain in the closely-divided Senate.
3. Clearly sent a message to the Democrat party that they are too far left by banning same sex marriage in all eleven of the states where it appeared on the ballot.

In addition, the citizens of South Dakota screamed louder and clearer than Dean ever dreamed that obstructionism and minority rule is not how an American party is expected to operate; they put America first by sending their Senator into retirement and going with an untried Senator, losing the power that comes with having 25 years of seniority.

Yet Democrats insist that Republicans in general and Bush in particular do not have a mandate from the American people. They say that the country is “deeply divided” — more divided than ever.

This leads one to wonder just what is a “clear mandate”? How often has it been achieved? Just how united have we been in days past?

Since the popular vote started being recorded in 1824 there have been 46 elections (before that, only electoral votes were cast). Of those before the current election year, only 22 (roughly half) have been won with a larger margin than that of President Bush in 2004. The remaining 23 were won by even slimmer margins than the 51.4% achieved by the president yesterday.

Click graph for larger image

Clearly, the country has been divided throughout the history of this little federal republic experiment of ours. If you do better than half of the elections before you, you’d think that was a mandate. Perhaps Democrats don’t, so just what is that magic number?

How about 55%? Would that be a “mandate”?

In our history there have been just 13 elections won by a margin of 55% or more, so less than a third of our elections fit into this category.

Can a country be effectively governed if the president can set the agenda only a third of the time? Maybe Democrats think so, but I certainly don’t.

So the next time you are talking to some media-puppet who starts spouting Democrat talking points, explain to him or her just how divided this nation usually is. When they begin talking about how contentious todays politics are, invite them to do a little reading and educate themselves. And when they say Bush does not have a mandate, ask them who did. If you get anything other than gibberish or a blank stare please drop me a line. I’d really like to know.

Just for informational purposes, there have only been four elections in which the winner took 60% or more of the popular vote. All happened in the 20^th Century spanning the years from Harding to Nixon.

Query: do you think Democrats thought Nixon had a mandate?

Data (including charts) in Excel 2003 format.
Data sources:

• HistoryCentral.com
• Census.gov (PDF format)
• InfoPlease

Update: Watcher of Weasels addresses this subject rather effectively with Mandate This!

Update: James Taranto notes that Bush received a higher percentage of the popular vote than any Democrat candidate for president has received in 40 years.

Follow Tennessee races here.

Looks like Speaker Naifeh is going to keep his seat.

On the other hand, Republicans are taking control of the state Senate for the first time since Reconstruction:

Republican candidates managed to oust several demotratic candidates to win a one-vote majority.

The Republicans now control the senate 17-16.

In District 16, Democratic incumbent Larry Trail lost to Jim Tracy.

In District 18, Republican Diane Black defeated Democratic incumbent Jo Ann Graves.

Democrat Lt. Governor John Wilder managed to fend off republican Ron Stallings to keep his seat. Even though Republicans now control the senate, it’s likely Wilder will be voted senate speaker again.

On the down side, Wilder keeps his seat. Too bad — he had a target painted on him.

Q: Why doesn’t Tennessee have an online site with constantly updated voting totals like just about every other state in the union?

All TN Congressional Incumbents Win

All nine of Tennessee’s congressmen have won new terms.

Fourth District Democrat Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall beat Republican Janice Bowling of Tullahoma in the closest race.

Democrats Jim Cooper of Nashville, Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro, Harold Ford Junior of Memphis and John Tanner of Union City were easily re-elected. Also re-elected were Republicans Bill Jenkins of Rogersville, John Duncan Junior of Knoxville and Zach Wamp of Chattanooga.

Incumbent Republican Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood was unopposed.

Democrats still control the delegation 5-4.

An incumbent congressman has not lost in Tennessee since 1974.

Michelle Malkin finds a story that the numbers of youth voters seem hauntingly familiar.

I made my predictions as to what the Senate battles would be and how they would turn out on 16 October. While the nation concentrates on the president, I will keep updating this post with the latest numbers.

Note: Kentucky turned out to be closer than anyone seriously thought, but Bunning retained the seat for Republicans.

Arlen Specter seems to be squeaking out a victory which is unfortunate. I wish James Clymer (Constitution Party) had siphoned off more votes, giving the Dems a pickup. The funniest thing I’ve heard in election coverage tonight is Brit Hume calling Specter a “moderate Republican”. This guy’s about as “moderate” as traitor Jeffords.

Shep says that Vitter is the first Republican Senator from Louisiana — ever.

Right on Red’s sister voted this morning, reporting that she waited in line for 45 minutes in the rain.

One person I talked to got to the polls at 7 am and encountered people that had been waiting since 6. His wait was about 45 minutes in a very Republican part of town.

Another person, also in a Republican part of town, arrived at 8:30 and waited a little over an hour

These numbers are not bad, especially when you consider that the wait in early voting lines was frequently in excess of two hours.

But maybe he wishes he was. Heh!

SayUncle has a very successful blog, so his offer to put his blog on the line for a friendly wager is pretty gutsy. Especially considering that he is betting on Bush and he has not exactly been the most supportive of Bush Bloggers.

Of course, he may be ready to quit blogging after the election anyway — but I doubt it. I’ve seen no indication to suggest such a thing.

He may be wanting to change to a new blogging format with a new domain name. Something different than his “Libertarians + Lots’a Guns = True Happiness” theme. Perhaps something more marketable to rake in the big bucks from Blog Ads. Like Smurf Porn