WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W Bush claimed a re-election mandate yesterday after a record 59 million Americans chose him over Democrat John Kerry and voted to expand Republican control of Congress as well. He pledged to pursue his agenda on taxes and Iraq while seeking "the broad support of all Americans".

Kerry conceded defeat in make-or-break Ohio rather than launch a legal fight reminiscent of the contentious Florida recount of four years ago. "I hope that we can begin the healing," the Massachusetts senator said.

Claiming a second term denied his father, George H W Bush, the president struck a conciliatory tone, too. "A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation," he said, speaking directly to Kerry's supporters.

"To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support and I will work to earn it," he said. "I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."

It was a warm-and-fuzzy close to one of the longest, most negative presidential races in a generation.
Bush didn't use the word mandate, but Vice-President Dick Cheney did, and the president's intention was clear as he ticked off a familiar list of second-term goals: overhaul the tax code and social security at home while waging war in Iraq and elsewhere to stem terror.

Bush stands to reshape the federal judiciary, starting with an aging Supreme Court that voted 5-4 to award him Florida four years ago. In all branches of Government, the Republicans now hold a solid, if not permanent, ruling majority.

Bush's vote totals were the biggest ever and his slice of the vote, 51 per cent, made him the first president to claim a majority since 1988 when his father won 53 per cent against Democrat Michael Dukakis.

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