The economy is in crisis, the war in Iraq is still hugely unpopular, and the incumbent Republican president is less popular than a used-car salesman. By all historical measures, there should have been no way John McCain would win 46% of the popular vote and 21 states (He still holds a small lead in Missouri, though neither candidate has claimed those electoral votes).

The only times presidential candidates have truly decimated their opponents in recent years is when those opponents are completely outmatched. Obama won big, and 365 electoral votes proves that, but McCain was seen as a potentially effective commander in chief as well, making a really dramatic landslide -- say, breaking 60% -- impossible.

Obama took 68% of the electoral college vote, a higher percentage than George W. Bush ever won and the highest since Bill Clinton's 379-vote win in 1996. But the narrower popular vote margin should demonstrate that, far from being a post-partisan environment, the country remains polarized between the two parties. Just about 45% of voters will back their party's presidential nominee, leaving 10% in the middle to decide the race. The problem for Republicans, however, is that those 10% have voted overwhelmingly with Democrats on the presidential level this year and on the congressional level the past two cycles.