To listen to the media, you would think that the word "Compromise" was on the ballot and the voters approved it in a nationwide referendum. Bullshit. What happened on Tuesday, November 7, 2006 was a tidal wave of popular mandate for strong progressive change in our policies ranging from Iraq to education to the economy to ethics. The DC establishment of both the Republican and the Democratic side can't stop talking about bipartisanship and compromising to "get things done." It's all good to work with the Republicans - let's not forget that they, too, represent Americans - and we will need to make some compromises in order to move our country forward, but let me send a clear message to the media and the Democratic establishment: what We The People voted for on Tuesday was not a mandate for Democrats to compromise with Republicans on our principles. Democrats in Washington, DC, already do that very well, being in the minority.

It's time for a change. Voters voted for a sea change, not chump change. By far, all exit polls indicate that there were two overwhelming issues that decided Tuesday's vote: Iraq, and ethics reform in Washington.

The American people are fed up with a civil war in Iraq, in the middle of which our best and brightest are stuck. 61% of Americans want a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq (Newsweek poll, 10/26-27), and 63% believe America is losing ground in Iraq (Newsweek poll, 11/9-10). [Source]. Republicans LOST the election by insisting that we must stay in Iraq indefinitely. Americans have told you people in Washington over and over again through polls that a timetable needs to be set for withdrawal. And now, they have voted for it. We expect one to be of the first order in the new Democratic Congress. And we are not going to accept any deal that compromises our security by prolonging the conflict in Iraq.

Secondly, I don't care how many lobbying farms are now hiring Democrats. We need ethics and lobbying reform of the highest order. Every meeting of a Congressperson with a lobbyist should be on the record, so we can know that Congressman X can't meet with advocates for school-children because he has to meet with oil company lobbyists. Ban gifts and dinners from lobbyists to Congresspeople AND Administration officials. If these members of Congress really can't pay for their own lunch, we'll look at paying for their lunches only. And once a vote opens on a bill or an amendment, no keeping it open for longer than scheduled.

While these things will take a little time, we need to pass a minimum wage increase, roll back tax breaks for oil companies and other large corporations, increase college aid and start aggressive oversight on the areas of war profiteering and energy policy. The time to compromise on these fundamental values has come to an end.

Another thing: if Democrats in the Senate are even thinking about letting some court nominee (Supreme Court or lower courts) like Alito through, they should remember what compromising with Republicans felt like from the minority standpoint, because if they let anyone like that through, a minority is where they will end back up.

So yeah, have an open procedure. Let everyone have their say. Don't throw out any ideas simply because it comes from the other side. But don't dare forget the people who put you there, and don't betray your principles. Work to build consensus, but don't run from a fight. Defend your principles, and make principled policy. The American people did NOT vote for compromise. We voted for dramatic, progressive change.

What we saw take place yesterday is nothing short of history in the making. To review, here is what we did on a national scale:

• Regained the House of Representatives by far more than the 15 needed. Different news outlets have different projections, but a substantial Democratic majority is not in doubt.
• Gained at least 6 seats in the US Senate, restoring Democratic control in both houses of Congress.
• Picked up 6 governorships, ensuring a majority of governorships in Democratic hands for the first time in 12 years.

And that's just the highlights. Kos (Daily Kos) just wrote about dark horse candidates that won - who no one in Washington thought could: not the media, and not the Democratic establishment in DC. We owe just as much to our challengers who did not win as we do to those who did win. Candidates like Charlie Brown (against Doolittle), Tammy Duckworth, John Laesch (against Denny "I did not know about Foley" Hastert) and Fancine Busby (who could forget?) put up strong challenges in Republican districts and forced the Republicans to spend resources in those districts - the resources they did not have to hold on to Richard Pombo's seat, or of Mark Foley's. What we did last night, in short, could not have been done were it not for us fielding challengers literally everywhere, and having the people to go out and fight for the unlikeliest of candidates. We could not have won this one with simply a "targeted" races strategy. If we consolidated our chances, the Republicans would consolidate their resources instead of having to spread it thin for even supposedly "safe" districts, and they would have won.

Yes, we had a great year for candidate recruitment. Yes the country was fed up with corruption and war without end. But how did we beat back the revered (for good reason) the GOP turnout machine? How did we turn the tide against blatant lies, racism and fearmongering of the GOP? How did we overcome the huge cash advantage the Republican party enjoys?

The answer, folks, is the 50 State Strategy that the DNC ignited in all 50 states after Howard Dean became its chairman. Putting Democrats on the ground everywhere has a built-in genius. These people who are retained by their respective state parties and paid by the DNC are going out and recruiting precinct captains, regional leaders and building formidable state parties. This is actually the proper role of party organizations: to mobilize volunteers, maintain a presence in communities and build a base of core voters, and then turn out the vote. And when you have a large base of volunteers working in and around their communities, you can take on big money spending. Remember that every face-to-face contact from a neighbor to an undecided voter is more effective than 50 campaign ads on TV.

This year the Republicans didn't falter on their turnout operations. The difference this year is that Howard Dean invested in the state Democratic parties to be able to match their operations. It was a relatively small investment in the grand scheme of things - if you consider the amount of money both parties spent on TV ads and direct mail - but it is an investment with a rather high rate of return. Very smart investment.

Lesson: Invest in the grassroots; it pays off.

Karl Rove can say what he wants, and he can run all the racist, sexist, fearmongering ads he wants, but he can't beat an insurgence of motivated Democratic organizers and volunteers. Dean is a better manager than Karl Rove is a strategist. Howard Dean showed that Democrats can win without driving a wedge between the American people. Howard Dean showed that crude dirty smears coming right out of the White House (Rove) are no match for a grassroots movement that is motivated to affect change.

This election was the first time they ( Dean and Rove) went head to head. And as we see,

Dean - 1, Rove - 0.