Barack Obama in Dubuque

One of the ironies of living in Dubuque, Iowa is the immediate and frequent access to presidential candidates. In recent weeks visitors to Dubuque have included Hilary Clinton, John McCain, Tommy Thompson, and Joseph Biden. John Edwards even got a haircut here.

Today, Barack Obama kicked off his national “Walk for Change” campaign at a rally at Lincoln Elementary School in Dubuque, less than ½ mile from where I live.

I myself walked three or four blocks from my house to Lincoln School, one of many ward schools in Dubuque where African Americans were denied admission in the 1870s, and watched as Senator Obama urged a meager crowd of a few hundred onlookers to mobilize.

Why did Obama choose Dubuque as the starting point for this “historic” campaign, a nationwide event reportedly involving “10,000 volunteers from New York to San Diego“?

Yes, Dubuque is a gateway to Iowa, a key state in next year’s primary elections, en route from Obama’s home in Chicago.

I prefer to believe, however, that Obama chose Dubuque because Dubuque epitomizes Middle America. Dubuque, this now-certified All America City, is where the grass roots are, for want of a better metaphor, thickest.