title: MVC2 Model Binding - Why do I always get back 01/01/0001 in my DateTime Field?
body: <p>I have a ThingViewModel with a DateTime property:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public class ThingViewModel
  {    
    public DateTime ConfigDate{get;set;}
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My view has a reference to a ViewUserControl that it imports and renders, with the textbox for ConfigDate:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl&lt;ThingViewModel&gt;
  &lt;% using (Html.BeginForm("Details", 
                           "Things", 
                           FormMethod.Post, 
                           new { id = "SearchForm"})) {% &gt;
  
    &lt;%= Html.TextBoxFor( Model =&gt; Model.ConfigDate ) %&gt;
  &lt;% } %&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My Index Action has sets the value of the ConfigDate to today:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public ActionResult Index()
  {
  ThingsViewMode tvm = new ThingsViewModel
  {
     ConfigDate = DateTime.Now.Date
  };
   return View(tvm);
   }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>which is all working just fine.  However, in the Details method when I get the form POST back, all I EVER get back for ConfigDate is the DateTime value of <code>"01/01/0001 12:00:00 AM"</code>.  </p>
  
  <p>What am I doing wrong?</p>