A "weak" candidate who got 61 million votes.
There is no question that paleos of every stripe got whacked on Nov. 2. The anti-war, anti-free-trade, isolationist fringe has been replaced by the socially, but foreign-policy-muscular, conservatives.
Moral values may have been important to those who voted for Bush, but support for his way of dealing with terrorism was given a massive stamp of approval.
Kerry was viewed as weak on terror, which is what sank him. I don't think any Democrat could have won this election.
It could be argued that the 100% lefty wacko who won the Wisconsin Senate race won SOLELY because he voted against PNTR/China and against NAFTA.
All the other factors were equal--but the wacko got a hell of a lot of otherwise-(R) votes. I poll-watched in a very safe (R) precinct; the Sen candidate ran about 10% behind GWB.
So your thesis that "FreeTrade" is a boon to GWB is a crock.
I think that the issue (which is intertwined with GWB's flaccidity on the illegals) will continue to be significant, and although GWB may get the Latin American Free Trade agreement through, it will be a fight.