Salon.com Politics: "This just in: When George W. Bush beat John Kerry in November by less than three percentage points, it might have been something less than a sweeping endorsement of the political agenda advanced by the president and his allies on the religious right.

In a front-page analysis piece today, the Washington Post's John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei tut-tut 'campaign strategists and academics' who once engaged in 'ample speculation that Bush's victory, combined with incremental gains in the Republican congressional majority, signaled something fundamental: a partisan and ideological 'realignment' that would reshape politics over the long haul.'

Now, say Harris and VandeHei, some political analysts believe it's 'just as likely that Washington is witnessing a happens-all-the-time phenomenon -- the mistaken assumption by politicians that an election won on narrow grounds is a mandate for something broad.'"

(Via Salon.)