Barack Obama's campaign held kickoff events in 15 Iowa field offices yesterday, coinciding with the first statewide canvass of the general election campaign. In addition, the Obama campaign plans to open at least two more field offices in Iowa.

The Des Moines Register published an alphabetical list of cities and towns with Obama field offices. In this diary, I group the offices according to Congressional district.

If 17 field offices sounds like a lot for a medium-sized state like Iowa, keep in mind that Obama had at least 40 field offices here before the caucuses in January.

Also, the Iowa Democratic Party has in effect shut down its "coordinated campaign" for getting out the vote, which means that Obama's field offices will coordinate GOTV for all Democratic candidates in the state.

The details are after the jump.

This post is for people planning to volunteer for Barack Obama's presidential campaign this summer and fall. My goal is to help you be more effective in communicating with voters like me, who don't care for Obama.

I know that the Obama campaign has scripts and training sessions for its volunteers, and those worked well in the primaries.

Now you have to reach out to Democrats who weren't buying what Obama was selling in the primaries. It seems to me that many Obama supporters respond in a counter-productive way when they encounter people who are not sold on the candidate.

In this diary, I will offer two basic principles to guide your conversations with non-supporters.

Then I will cover types of comments you may hear from resistant Democrats when you are doing GOTV for Obama. Those are all based on things I have heard people say (not comments I have read on blogs).

I will give examples of what I consider ineffective and constructive responses to those comments.

Follow me after the jump if you care to hear more.

Calling all Hillary Supporters!

Two new polls for Oregon show a closer race than Obama expected, one within 4 points, and the other 5.

American Research Group (ARG) surveyed approximately 600 likely voters May 14-16 and found:

Obama 50
Clinton 45
Undecided 5

Suffolk surveyed approximately 600 likely voters on May 17-18 and found:

Obama 45
Clinton 41
Undec. or refused to respond: 14

ALL HANDS ON DECK
To help Hillary get out the remaining votes, click on the phone:

UPDATE 5/19/08 8:54 AM PST: In response to a comment -- Yes, over 75% have already mailed their ballots in but there will be a surge of people voting today and tomorrow. SO GOTV!

The Los Angeles Times has a story about Philadelphia politics, the traditions of machine politics, and the clash between that and the "New Politics."

Here is the link:  http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la- na-streetmoney11apr11,0,6553901.story

The basics, and I have first hand experience with this from working campaigns in Philadelphia, are simple. The campaign puts out massive money for Election Day (a State House candidate who wants the support of committee people, ward leaders, and election day workers can put out 17,000 or more JUST ON ELECTION DAY... and this is not including any staff they may have,) that money gets spread out by Ward Leaders, and Committee People who spread it around to guarantee that voters get pushed your way on Election Day. Now, the article says this is all completely legal, and on the surface it is; but make no mistakes this is only a couple steps from the direct buying of votes.

While we are spending our time watching results from Wyoming, why not see what you can do to help Hillary Clinton in Mississippi?
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/hq/mississ ippi/

To give you a little encouragement, take a look at this piece from Hillary Clinton's web site. There are some wonderful pictures included when you follow the link.

Jefferson-Jackson-Hamer Day Dinner

Yesterday Hillary attended the 26th Annual Jefferson-Jackson-Hamer Day Dinner in Canton, Mississippi. Hillary addressed "thousands of fired-up Democrats," "many donning Clinton paraphernalia and vowing their support."... "She entered to chants of 'Hillary'" and gave a speech the crowd "peppered often with applause."

Take a look at some photos from the event:
http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/blog/main /2008/03/07/155544

Follow me below for more...

Super Tuesday is here and I voted in Newton, MA at a middle school on the way to work. Sadly, my first choice John Edwards dropped out but was still there as the first name on the Mass. ballot-gone as a choice but still in my heart! I voted for Hillary Clinton as her health insurance plan far outdistances Obama's, and her depth of knowledge, intelligence, and experience trump Obama. But not an easy choice, as many of my friends are voting for Obama. And my Mom, who at age 90 was born into a world in which women could not vote and blacks were denied the vote in the South, is voting for Obama.

So, who are you voting for, and did you vote absentee, today on Super Tuesday, or is your state further down the queue?

This is a remarkable year, the first since 1952 in which both parties have a competitive race without an incumbent running so let's share our votes in the thread.

kid oakland just wrote a great essay about GOTV and Obama. I'd like to add onto that with my personal experiences. But first I want to quote part of his diary.

I've done Democratic politics and GOTV for a long time, and I been thinking about how to convey the nature of this weekend in simple terms, and here's what I'd say. You want to be involved in this. This is Woodstock. This is Florida 2000. This is Ohio 2004. This is a singular moment like 1968. And with a record turnout and the participation of so many young volunteers, this is a chance to truly mosh the vote.

Unlike k/o I have not done GOTV before. I am years younger then him and will be doing GOTV for the first time. But like him and thousands of others I have the same urgency.

One day out, a view from the ground - Todd

(disclosure: I am volunteering out here for Robin Weirauch for Congress)

In case you hadn't heard, we had an ice storm here in OH-05 (it was too icy to play hockey in Toledo). However, that sure wasn't going to stop the Weirauch campaign volunteers. I took some time out from keeping the printers and our network going to go out for a bit in that mess along with an army of very dedicated (and thoroughly soaked) volunteers. This is how icy it was. I actually broke my scraper trying to clear the windshield.

(photos after the flip)

Update [2007-12-10 15:0:46 by Todd Beeton]:Also, dailykos has a piece on just how discouraged the GOP is about this race; also, check out local blogs Buckeye State Blog and Ohio Daily Blog who brings us the good news that absentee ballot returns are "closer than expected" and this tidbit:

I just checked ActBlue and Robin has received $90,066 from 1208 contributors. Wow. Over at the rightwing equivalent, SlateCard.com, Bob Latta has received $1,808 from 20 contributors. Poor Bob! Lots of money from fat cats, but not much grass roots love.