Last January, Barack Obama and all of his supporters learned the meaning of the famous Field of Dreams quote “Is this heaven…no, it’s Iowa.” It was a magical time, and I’m glad I got a chance to be part of that. History was made, and although Iowa isn’t at all a battleground state this fall, Iowa activists have a second chance to make history once again in Omaha, NE. I am an Iowa native, having grown up in north central Iowa (Dows, halfway between Ames and Mason City), I grew up being spoiled and lavished with Presidential candidates and horse-race elections in a state historically split between Democrats and Republicans and ‘first’ status in the Presidential caucus/primary season. I’m used to being the center-of-attention in national politics. Since the 1992 elections I participated in everything from state legislative races to the Dry-Veishea protests as an Iowa State student. Following my career path, I moved to Lincoln, NE in 2002. Nebraska by some measures is the 3rd most conservative state in the country and has been called a ‘barren wasteland’ of progressive politics (after meeting the great people who keep the Democratic party in Nebraska alive I find this to be totally false). This was the state that George Bush defeated John Kerry by 33 points. For years I became disengaged with the political process. In 2004 everything I did for Kerry I did in Iowa, staying with parents and friends, and making phone calls from Nebraska to Iowa. This is not uncommon for Nebraskans. I know Pottawattamie county and Woodbury county (Council Bluffs, Sioux City) get a lot of volunteers from neighboring Nebraska for Presidential races where they feel they can make a difference. I have dozens of Nebraska friends that’ve traveled to Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and the Quad Cities to campaign for Al Gore and John Kerry. Following closely the Presidential race last year, on September 27, 2007 Michelle Obama told a crowd in eastern Iowa “If Barack doesn’t win Iowa, it is just a dream.” At the time Obama was in 3rd place in Iowa polling around 17%. While national talking-heads called this a gaffe and the Obama campaign moved to downplay the statement, it awoke something in me. I expended all 3 weeks of my 2007 vacation in December volunteering for the Obama campaign. I volunteered in the Ames and Mason City offices and also phonebanked and blogged from home. Canvassing was cold and miserable but when Obama won Iowa and shook up the entire national race it was truly magical. When I arrived in Iowa last December, I told one of the staffers I’d do anything to volunteer. Phonebanking, canvassing, hell I’d even clean the restroom if you needed me to. During one of my final days of volunteering, I complained that I was going back to Nebraska and there wasn’t any sort of campaign office or even a grassroots group there. He told me it was up to me to start one. I told him I didn’t know what the hell I was doing or how to run a grassroots group (sev eral people can attest to this LOL), but he showed me how http://www.my.barackobama.com and Facebook worked and found the contact information of someone putting together a grassroots group in Omaha. He also reminded me of my pledge to do anything for the campaign. I returned to Nebraska and started ‘Lincoln For Obama’ which eventually grew to ‘Nebraska For Obama’ (website is nebraska4obama.org). I thought it’d be great to get as many people fired up for the first Nebraska Caucus against Edwards and Clinton, but secretly I didn’t hold out much hope for the general election. I spent the month of January searching for Obama supporters in Lincoln and when Obama For America sent staff to Nebraska a few days before the Caucus my newly discovered friends and I had identified supporters and volunteers and poured a foundation for them to operate from. I had the luxury of having volunteers willing to outwork me and we accomplished many things over the course of 2008. We set up phonebanks and phonebanked every single state during the primary season and held watch parties for every primary and caucus. Once Obama clinched the nomination the Nebraska Democratic Party and several county parties gave us some of the same privileges that a real campaign were given. Still, I didn’t hold out much hope for Nebraska in the general election, my main hope was being able to return to my homestate, which I assumed would be a battleground state, with some volunteers to make a difference in Iowa in October and November. Some interesting things have happened since then. First of all, Iowa isn’t in play. For once in history, the state of Iowa has been put away. Obama is winning by about 10 points and is considered to be a solid blue state this year. Something else I never considered was the way Nebraska proportions their electoral votes. It’s not a “winner-take-all” state like 48 others, the electoral votes are given to the winner of each congressional district and the winner of the state popular vote gets the other two. Nebraska hasn’t given a vote to any Democrat since 1964. The great people of the state of Iowa have an opportunity to help end a 44 year losing streak, repay the Nebraska activists for the work they’ve done in Iowa over the years, help Nebraska’s growing progressive movement, and make history all over again. Congressional district 2, which is basically Omaha and the surrounding communities, is in play and is a real horse-race. Polls show we’re down about 3 points, something that can be overcome with a solid ground game, which we have. Obama has 16 staffers and 10 field organizers working Omaha, which if you do the math is more resources per vote than Obama has in Ohio. Some of you had the chance to see Governor Brian Schweitzer from Montana speak at the Harkin Steakfry. He and Senator Jon Tester are reshaping the political landscape of Montana, helping us win an electoral vote from Omaha will do the same for Nebraska. Come on up to Omaha for a day or weekend, anyone willing to stay overnight – we’ll have volunteers you can stay with. I know people traveling from England and New York City before the election, so traveling the 130 miles from Des Moines to Omaha is pretty do-able. To paraphrase President Kennedy, “In the world of Obama grassroots activism, there is no greater boast than “I am an Iowan.” Give me just one more reason to be proud!! Barack Obama’s Nebraska Campaign for Change 343 N 76th St. Omaha, NE http://ne.barackobama.com 402-502-1858