Validate that the default item is not selected in a DropDownList

I have a DropDownList that has the first item being "(Choose One)".  I want to set up a validator to make sure that the user cannot contine with that item selected.   I set up a RequiredFieldValidator with "(Choose One)" set as the InitialValue property, and that did not work.  I also set up a CompareValidator to test that the value wasn't equal to "(Choose One)", but that also failed.  Am I doing something incorrect?

<asp:CompareValidator
                    ID="SelecterCompareValidator"
                    runat="server"
                    ErrorMessage="Please choose an item." 
                    ControlToValidate="SelecterDownList" Display="Static" Operator="NotEqual" 
                    ValueToCompare="(Choose One)" />

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