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.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Jacob saw his first real fireworks display and loved it at first. We were watching from the 12th floor of a building right on the waterfront, so it was spectacular. Unfortunately, he was coming down with a fever and by the end was pretty unhappy. He is fine again now.

This was a big week, both locally where my friend qualified for the ballot for NYC's Sept. 9th primary election, and nationally where Obama's surge continued even as the Democrats once again showed less spine than we would like them to. More below.

On July 4 I marched with volunteers and staff for Jerry Sullivan, Democratic candidate in Iowa House district 59.

We don't hear much about state legislative races on national blogs, because it would be overwhelming to keep up with what's going on all over the country.

But you should get involved on behalf of a good Democrat running for your state's Assembly, House or Senate. Here's why.

1. The 2010 census looms.

Looking at states like Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Republicans hold more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives than they "should" have if you consider the statewide strength of Democrats and Republicans. One big reason is that Republicans dominated those states' legislatures during the last round of redistricting.

If you want an enduring Democratic majority and you live in a state with multiple Congressional districts, you should focus on getting more Democrats in the legislature.

2. Many policy matters are determined at the state level.

Even if Democrats already control your state legislature, I'll bet there aren't enough progressives working on some of the environmental, labor or election reform issues you care about.

In the Iowa legislature, clean elections reform and regulation of confined-animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are among the many issues that our Democratic leadership refuses to move forward.

The difference between a slim Democratic majority and a solid Democratic majority could make or break key legislative initiatives in the next two years.

In 2007, a "fair share" bill that would have strengthened unions in this right-to-work state didn't have enough support to clear the Iowa House. If we increase the Democratic majority from the current 53 seats (out of 100) to 55 or 57 seats, perhaps that bill could advance.

3. Getting progressive Democrats elected to state legislatures will build our bench for future House, Senate or gubernatorial races.

Candidates who have served in the legislature are often more knowledgeable on a range of policy issues. They are more seasoned on the campaign trail. They may also have good name recognition and contacts with the key political journalists in your state.

4. You probably can find a competitive statehouse race near you, no matter where you live.

Maybe you're in a state where the outcome of the presidential race is predetermined, and there are no competitive Congressional districts.

I'm betting you wouldn't have to go far to find some good Democrat facing a tough contest.

For example, let's say you live in Iowa City or Cedar Rapids. Barack Obama is heavily favored to win Iowa's electoral votes for reasons I discuss here. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin is getting a pass; his challenger has very little money or name recognition. Congressman Dave Loebsack represents your strongly Democratic district (D+7) in an area where Obama will have huge coattails. So, where should you volunteer?

Nate Willems, a former regional director for Howard Dean and occasional contributor to MyDD, is trying to hold House district 29, covering parts of Linn County and Johnson County. Longtime Democratic incumbent Ro Foege is retiring.

Eric Palmer, a freshman incumbent from Oskaloosa, could use your help in House district 75. The Republican he beat in 2006 is trying to win his seat back.

Elesha Gayman is another good freshman legislator. She narrowly defeated a two-term incumbent in House district 84, which is fairly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

Palmer and Gayman are among five Democratic representatives in Iowa who have been targeted this year in corporate-funded radio and television commercials.

Swati Dandekar, current representative for House district 36, is trying to win Senate district 18, which has been held for a long time by retiring Republican Mary Lundby. That district includes a large area in Linn County.

If you're lucky, some blogger in your own state has compiled a handy list of the battleground districts. Otherwise, get active on your state community blog for Democrats and ask for advice on where to volunteer.

If you live near a state border, you may want to help a worthy Democrat in a neighboring state.

5. Your individual actions are more likely to make a difference in a statehouse race.

By all means, donate to and volunteer for Obama's campaign if you are inspired to do so, especially if you live in a competitive state.

But your money and volunteer energy will go further in a short-staffed legislative race.

Also, if you are considering a political career, either as a candidate or a campaign staffer, you will get more hands-on experience with a variety of tasks if you volunteer for a statehouse candidate.

You may think that Obama will give down-ticket candidates all the help they need in November. But depending on where you live, the Obama campaign may not be putting its GOTV muscle in the crucial legislative districts.

I was very concerned to learn a few days ago that the Iowa Democratic Party has in effect shut down its "coordinated campaign" and transferred control over GOTV statewide to the Obama campaign.

What's best for maximizing Obama's presidential vote is not necessarily what's best for maximizing the number of Democrats elected to the state legislature. For instance, Obama's field plan for Johnson County and Linn County might focus on student precincts in Iowa City and urban precincts in Cedar Rapids.

However, we need strong GOTV efforts in other parts of Linn and Johnson Counties if we want to elect Willems in House district 29 or Dandekar in Senate district 18.

I have no idea whether the Obama campaign's field plan for Polk County will focus on the precincts we need to elect Jerry Sullivan in House district 59.

Since I see little chance of John McCain winning Iowa's electoral votes, I would rather spend my volunteer time on competitive districts. Whether Obama wins Iowa by 5 percent or 10 percent is less important than getting more and better Democrats in the Iowa House and Senate.

I look forward to reading your comments on this topic. Also, please take the poll after the jump.

It is difficult to feel good this 4th of July given the mess the Bush/McCain Republicans have led this nation into. This year alone 438,000 people who lost their jobs. We are well into the Bush's SECOND recession (first president ever to preside over two recessions) with almost no recovery between them. We are officially in a bear market. Food prices are rising worldwide. Oil is at record highs suggesting Americans will have a very, very tough winter. The deficit is WAY above where it has ever been before and no end in sight. And I am not even going into the inept, idiotic and completely useless Bush/McCain Iraq war.

Strange week. Saw my first McCain ad this week...and it is clear he is running as a Democrat. Healthcare, alternative energy, environment...all Democratic talking points. We have gone from Democrats feeling like they have to run as Repub-Lite to Republicans trying to hide behind a Democratic facade. You even have a Republican running for Senate in Oregon trying to claim (falsely) that Obama supports him. This is desperation for the Republicans! It sounds like racist attacks have failed them, though I am sure they will try more as time goes on.

Meanwhile yet more polls show Obama ahead in Virginia and Missouri, tied in Florida, AHEAD IN INDIANA (wow!) and within 1-2 points of McCain in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia. Each and every one of these states was solid Bush in 2004. Now they are either leaning Obama or effectively tied.

Bleeding Heartland has been sparring with some Iowa Republican bloggers about the appropriate policy responses to the recent catastrophic flooding (see this post and this follow-up).

Here are some things I have learned.

Convening a special legislative session to address Iowa's flood relief, clean-up and reconstruction needs would be an example of Democrats "politicizing the floods." State officials should wait to see what the federal government does before taking those steps.

But this does not imply that Iowans should "sit on their heinies and wait for the feds to come in and fix everything." We are better than that:

Iowans can fix most things ourselves. It's just a matter of who is going to pay for it all after the fact. This isn't like New Orleans, where (I heard some relief worker on the radio the other day say that) out-of-state volunteers had to wake up residents at 10 a.m. so that the volunteers could get inside the houses where the residents then sat around and watched the volunteers work.

When the legislature does convene, it would be wrong for the state of Iowa to borrow money to invest in reconstruction.

Instead, we should cut fat out of the budget, such as excessive spending on education.

Also, we should cut corporate income taxes to discourage flood-damaged businesses from moving to new communities or out of state.

Any questions?

P.S.--The real lessons I learned were:

1. Conservatives love to trot out their fake fiscal responsibility. In this case, Iowa bloggers make a big deal out of needing to live within our means and not pass on debt to our children and grandchildren. But their response to the floods amounts to, "Let the (deeply-indebted, huge-deficit-running) federal government pay for as much as possible."

2. Republicans will offer corporate tax cuts as a solution to any problem.

3. When the going gets tough, count on right-wing talk radio to make people feel better by reinforcing their racist stereotypes.

The floods in the Midwest have continued and I include some information where I can in the Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin sections. Best of luck to all readers in the hard hit areas.

This week I return to an issue I discussed before: Republican cronies litterally killing our troops with no government oversight. This week Democratic Sentor Bob Casey is demanding an investigation of the electrocutions due to bad wiring that have been plaguing our military bases managed by a Hallibruton subsidiary. More below.

This week's newsletter includes another discussion about the Republican neglect of our infrastructure. Since I wrote it two more levees have failed, flooding Des Moines, which aren't included in my analysis. If you want to help the Midwest, you can go here.

Turning to the election, the attacks have begun in earnest. Republicans rolled out a whole slew of attacks against Barack and Michelle Obama...some borderline racist, some merely lies, and none all that effective. In most states Obama's popularity has surged such that if the election were held today, Obama would easily win with over 300 electoral votes, just like Senator Chuck Schumer predicts will happen. But keep in mind, this is just the first volley of attacks.