Is the red post-election tinge a mandate? Don't bet on it.

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By Dante Chinni

WASHINGTON – Considering the 2004 campaign without the presidential race is a bit like considering your meal without the entrée, but - for the moment anyway - let's do it. Looking at the various side dishes that accompanied our main course, what exactly do we see when we look at Tuesday night?
Well, at first glance it appears that whatever it is, it certainly is red - deep Republican red. The GOP picked up three seats in the Senate and four seats in the House.

And in 11 of 11 states, bans against gay marriages were approved. Put that together with the popular vote margin President Bush had in his presumed victory in the big race, and you have the makings of a mandate, right?

That is certainly the way you can expect it to be spun in the next few days. If it isn't put in the marching-to-victory frame by the Republican messagemakers over at party headquarters in the next few days, we can only assume someone is asleep and probably about to be fired.

But when you look at the results a little closer you see, well, not much really.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1104/p09s01-codc.html