Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has appointed Grant Lahmann to be Washington state director. Lahmann was in Iowa for Obama until the candidate’s big win there. He arrives back in Washington — he’s a former aide to Congressman Brian Baird and field coordinator for the state Democratic Party — just as local grassroots supporters of Obama open a Seattle office. Lahmann was a county organizer during the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. He is the son of Olympia School Superintendent Bill Lahmann.

The office is at 614 First Avenue in Pioneer Square. There will be an open house Saturday at 11 a.m.

Lahmann is one of a few names you can add to the locally-grown “Obama Kids” credited with the senator’s Iowa victory. Others include Kendall Burman, who is the Obama campaign’s staff counsel and was in the campaign’s Iowa boiler room last Thursday. She is the daughter of Seattle attorney David Burman, who was part of Chris Gregoire's 2005 legal team. Another is Chelsea Waliser, a former aide to Congressman Adam Smith and University of Puget Sound alum who was a regional field director for Obama’s Iowa operation.