That's a mandate. All voters are equally important. Because of the Electoral College, voters in big states count more than voters in small states. An undecided voter in, say, Michigan is very important because his or her decision will help you carry that state's 18 electoral votes. You can win 100 percent of the vote in Delaware and still get only three electoral votes.
Life is unfair.
So is politics. But it's not just the size of the state that matters. It's also how close the vote is in that state. New York is very big, but Bush and Gore are not paying much attention to New York because Gore seems to have it locked up. Candidates pay attention to the big battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the vote is closer.