In one sense, this election wasn't too far off from 2000 - states went much the same way and the popular vote was too close to call on election night. However, on November 3rd the mainstream media jumped on reports calling President Bush a would-be centrist with a clear "mandate" and heralding the victory of the "moral values vote." Is that the whole story? What issues remain in an election that some still contest?

• White House officials declared the 51% victory by President Bush a "mandate" for his second term.
  
  
• Within two days of the election - with votes still uncounted - four national newspapers left unquestioned assertions that the Bush victory was a "mandate." It took 3 national broadcast cable and radio outlets only 24 hours to make the same declaration.

Between "security moms" and the power of the Latino swing vote, pre-election reports clung to speculation about what group would sway the election. What emerged from a question on a single exit poll took hold in the media and became the moral values vote: a vague category that assumes pro-life, anti-gay marriage and an evangelical Christian base. Is there any truth to the "moral values" vote, or are issues more complex than taglines? What do religious leaders say to the claim that THEY swung the election?

• When looking at groups of issues of importance in comparison, war issues came in first at 34% and economic issues at 33% -- the "moral values" vote ranked most important by less than 25% of voters.
  
  
• Among Catholic voters, two thirds ranked materialism, greed and poverty as their top moral concern, with the remaining 1/3 voting solely on same sex marriage.

Failing to make headlines is a voting system gone awry with voters turned away from the polls, reports of ballots uncounted, voting machine failures and the unkept promise of every vote counted. No matter who won the election, the ongoing concerns about the voting system cast questioning shadows over our election process. In the coming weeks, a recount effort launched by the Green Party, the Libertarians and the Democrats will reveal what, if anything, went wrong in Ohio.

How does the way in which media reports on events affect our view of the outcome? Where did the media succeed in delivering the news at it happened? Where did it fail? What are other instances where media has taken unquestioned White House statements to generate reports? What issues remain contested in the election? Can one group be named as the deciding factor in an election? If the promise of democracy is a voice for all citizens in the form of a vote, how well is the election system holding up its end of the deal? Did voting machines live up to expectation - good or bad? How should the media report on issues that may be more complex than a tagline allows?