  We study spin-dependent transport through
ferromagnet/normal-metal/ferromagnet double tunnel junctions in the mesoscopic
Coulomb blockade regime. A general transport equation allows us to calculate
the conductance in the absence or presence of spin-orbit interaction and for
arbitrary orientation of the lead magnetizations. The tunneling
magnetoresistance (TMR), defined at the Coulomb blockade conductance peaks, is
calculated and its probability distribution presented. We show that mesoscopic
fluctuations can lead to the optimal value of the TMR.
