As the United States entangles itself in debates over teacher evaluation, high-stakes testing, class size, and charter schools, it's worth considering, by way of "Blackboards," that the issues at stake are no mere margin-trimming; they reach to the heart of political culture and personal character.
Since then he has stayed elected, easily in 1986 and by a mere 1% margin in 1992, by using all the patronage and populist wiles at his disposal.
It was interesting to hear a the former editor of the Sun on BBC Radio5Live on Saturday saying that considering the pounding that Labour came in for across the country, the mere 5.5% margin by which Boris Johnson won was, in his view, a relatively poor showing.
Snowfall totals rank this week's blizzard as the third worst in history, but you can't begin to judge the storm's presumptive ferocity by a mere 1.8" margin.
A storming run by Andy Raleigh then exposed more cracks in the Wakefield defence and Craig Hall's try made it a mere eight-point margin.
Yet Mr Bush won Ohio with a mere 3.5-point margin in 2000, and local opinion polls show him in a dead-heat with Mr Kerry.
And they trouser a mere 3% profit margin on the £9bn annual revenue – barely enough to keep the owners warm on Necker Island.
His advocacy on the issue nearly prevented him from becoming majority leader, which he holds by a mere one-vote margin.
While Mr Romney had won Tuesday's caucuses, it was by a mere eight-point margin; he took 30,015 votes compared to 30,007 for the conservative Mr Santorum – 24.55 per cent versus 24.54 per cent.
Certainly, any industry that earns a mere 2.9% net margin on sales in the best of times (as airlines did during booming 1997) is long overdue for an overhaul.
