Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who swept into the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, believes that citizens voted for change and accountability. Voters were weary of personal character attacks, she said, and they “embraced the power of problem solving and new ideas.”

McCaskill was speaking of voters in Missouri, a state in the heart of the country, a state that gave history independent-minded President Truman, a state famous for its “Show me” slogan.

As their victory parties wind down in Missouri and throughout the country, the hard work begins for Democrats. They must now show Americans what their party can do with its infusion of power. They’ll have a majority in the House and the Senate when the new Congress assembles in January.

They would be wise to study what the Republicans did wrong after their reminiscent power sweep in 1994. Humility is the key first step. The Democratic victories were, in part, a function of political cycles and not a result of a unified Democratic message that voters couldn’t resist. By the midterm election in a president’s second term, people are often weary of the same regime.

Republicans saw the 1994 sweep as a mandate to push some of their issues with arrogance and to push them from the extremes. This alienated centrist voters and sensibilities. In retrospect, the impeachment proceedings against Clinton seem such a dramatic waste of time, considering that they drained energy and resources from exploring the terrorist threats that later culminated in Sept. 11.

Republicans also abandoned some core values in partisan battles. For instance, they allowed a budget to balloon out of control and turned a blind eye on the true cost of the war in Iraq – $200 million a day and counting.

And they underestimated how impatient people are with the sketchy ethics that sometimes accompany power. Accompanying some voters into the polling booth were certainly the images of disgraced lobbyist and GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and of Mark Foley of the congressional page scandal.

Nancy Pelosi, the apparent next House speaker, said impeachment of Bush for the weapons-of-mass-destruction debacle won’t be on the Democrats’ agenda. Good. If the Democrats use their power to get even, they will have just reversed roles.

Democrats, flushed with their winnings, are promising they will seek bipartisan solutions to issues people care about in their hearts – and in the heartland.

Those people desire economic stability, a workable immigration policy and a plan that will honorably bring our men and women home from Iraq sooner rather than later.

The voters are weary from a decade’s worth of partisan fighting. They want leaders who agree that Democrats and Republicans can have sharp philosophical differences but air them publicly and civilly and then try to resolve them together.

They want leaders who ask “how do we best govern?” rather than “how do we hold on to power?” Tuesday, voters discovered their power to change things. There’s more of that power to be had, because 2008 is a mere two years away.