"Commercial interests have congealed into giant economic interests. The two parties have merged into one corporate party, with two heads and different makeup."

--Nader during the 2000 campaign

Let me say right now that I don't agree with Ralph's whole "there's no difference between the two parties" argument.  There are very obvious and important differences between the two parties, and for these reasons I voted for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in '04.  

But this is not the kind of headline I like to see on the front page of my morning newspaper:

"Democrats Offer Up Chairmen For Donors"

This is not what I want to be reading while I'm still groggy and drinking my morning coffee:

Eager to shore up their fragile House and Senate majorities, congressional Democrats have enlisted their committee chairmen in an early blitz to bring millions of dollars into the party's coffers, culminating in a late-March event featuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 10 of the powerful panel chairs.

In the next 10 days alone, Democratic fundraisers will feature the chairmen of the House's financial services panel and the House and Senate tax-writing committees. Senate Democrats also plan a fundraising reception during a major gathering of Native Americans in the capital Tuesday evening, an event hosted by lobbyists and the political action committee for tribal casinos, including those Jack Abramoff was paid to represent.

It doesn't mean Ralph was completely correct, but he did have a point.

We won a lot of races yesterday, but in many cases we didn't win by a whole heck of a lot.  I want to thank and congratulate the ordinary people who stepped up these past 72 hours and made calls and knocked on doors to get out the vote.  There are tens of thousands of anonymous, unsung heroes out there without whom our victory would've been impossible.  

I'm sure many of you at MyDD did something campaign-related in the past few days.  I had the privilege of calling with MoveOn's Call for Change program.  One middle-aged gentleman I met named Steve must've placed thousands of calls to voters. He arrived at the phone bank each day (Saturday-Tuesday) early in the morning and called right up until 9 PM each night; 12 hrs/day of calls. Of course, he always brought in donuts, cookies, bottled water, etc. for all of the other callers.  

Jane was another volunteer who similarly called non-stop for the last 72 hours. She amazed me with her ability to connect with the voters she called; she communicated the sincerity of her convictions that we desperately needed a change of direction in this country better than any professional politician.  Steve and Jane are obviously just two of the many thousands of concerned citizens who refused to sit on the sidelines these past few days when given the chance to hold the Bush and GOP Congress accountable for disasters from Iraq to Katrina.

Of course, beyond the thousands of tireless volunteers, the paid campaign staffers out there are more deeply dedicated than you could possibly imagine, putting in 100 hr. weeks to end this nightmare of failed Republican policies at home and abroad.

While the Chuck Schumers and Howard Deans of the world will get plenty of deserved credit for this victory, let's not forget the folks who do the anonymous yet essential work of our democracy, the phone bankers, the door knockers, and everybody else who contributed to the GOTV effort.  As much as any of the party leaders lauded on TV, these people deserve a good deal of the credit for helping to drive the nail into the coffin of the Bush Administration's disastrous tenure.

Consider this a thread to share your own thoughts and stories about GOTV from this important victory.