In a recent post, Kevin Drum strangely grants the premise that George W. Bush had a mandate for tax cuts in 2000:

The first is George Bush’s tax proposal of 2000, and it was right in the sweet spot: detailed enough to demonstrate he was serious about it but not so detailed that it drew the fire of every special interest group in the country. It got plenty of attention and was clearly something that people were voting for. Result: a solid mandate and a big tax cut in 2001. (And 2002, 2003, and 2004.)

But how could Bush have “a solid mandate” for anything when he lost the popular vote in 2000? In addition, voters didn’t back his plans for a tax cut — the 2000 exit poll showed that when asked about their priority for the surplus, only 28% of voters said tax cuts, compared with 24% for debt reduction, 35% for Social Security, and 5% for other programs.

I’m generally skeptical about all mandate claims; as I’ve written, I think they’re a social construction. But any mandate claims coming from the 2000 election seem particularly suspect.