In the executive branch, winning by a whisker is as good as winning in a landslide, but not so in the Senate.

The lack of fiscal responsibility is one of the main reasons I finally left my old Party.

I had supported Governor George W. Bush over Senator John McCain in the 2000 Rhode Island presidential primary.

Certainly the Republican Party changed and I never changed, as I became an independent my values never changed whether it's on fiscal responsibility, environment or using government tools to help the less fortunate.

Any political historian can give innumerable examples of one percenters who have gone on to success, maybe even Bill Clinton himself?

Well, usually when you talk about a mandate, you're talking about an overwhelming win. I don't think by any measurement the 2004 election was an overwhelming win.

I remember my Republican Party as fiscally conservative, as caring about the environment.