The Hill News

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is urging its supporters to register to receive a "thank you card" from President Obama following the lame-duck session he hailed as the most productive in decades.

"We had a dedicated group of lawmakers â€" no doubt â€" but they were supported every step of the way by folks from all across this country who were ready for change. People like you," reads an e-mail circulated by the DNC and signed by Vice President Joe Biden.

{mosads}Democrats are looking to capitalize politically on the lame-duck session, which capped two years of Democratic control of government.

But Republicans dealt historic defeats to Democrats in the November midterm elections and they will return to Washington next month with a 49-seat House majority and a more robust minority in the Senate.

Signing up for the card allows the DNC to collect the names, phone numbers and e-mails of potential supporters as the party loo! ks ahead to 2012, when Obama is up for reelection.

As for the next two years, the president recently acknowledged his party would have to find common ground with Republicans to pass legislation, but he vowed to press Congress to pass his priorities, such as comprehensive immigration reform.

"One thing I hope people have seen in this lame-duck: I am persistent," he said at a press conference last week. "I am persistent. If I think something's important, I stay on it."