How can Democrats possibly salvage what is almost assuredly going to be a challenging election year? Six months out, prospects for many Democrats in November — here in Iowa and all across the country — look bleak.

Despite predictions to the contrary, 2010 won’t be a repeat of 1994. Back then, an unprecedented 54 seats went from Democrats to Republicans, with the GOP taking control of the House for the first time since 1954. Yet diminished Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate of today threaten any progressive legislative items left uncompleted. Significant Republican gains would be much more consequential now than they were then. For example:

• Enacting climate change legislation. Scratch that off the to-do list. (How many Republicans even believe in climate change?). The whole world is waiting on the United States to take serious action on capping carbon emissions and preventing further increases in sea levels. If we can’t pass some type of measure that puts a price on emissions, the entire gamut of international negotiations becomes stymied.

• Crafting comprehensive immigration reform. Can a party that includes a serious xenophobic constituency support serious and comprehensive measures?

• Ending the Great Recession. Despite the economic malaise befalling many Americans, Republicans and some moderate Democrats want to eschew additional spending measures and focus singularly on reducing the debt. Don’t get me wrong, reducing the red ink is integrally tied to America’s long-term economic and fiscal vitality. But people are hurting — losing their jobs, their homes, every semblance of economic security that they once had — and many states will soon be forced to lay off additional teachers and police. This is not the time to abandon them while the country digs itself out of a steep economic hole.

• Expanding health-insurance coverage. The health-care reform that passed was far from perfect, but we still need to reform the system during this (and future) administrations. It has already made substantial progressive strides, though. If John McCain were president and Sarah Palin vice president, where would the millions of people unable to afford and access health insurance be today?

Many Americans have soured on the current president and find Democrats and Congress to be even more unfavorable. And to a certain extent the anger and frustration with the president and both political parties are understandable. Millions voted for change, a government that works differently, and a political culture that could move beyond proxy debates from the ’60s. Change is, in fact, still not easy.

Yet if in November Republicans gain enough seats or a majority in either House to thwart President Obama, it will move us back. The intellectual driving forces animating the Republican Party right now are, for the most part, divisive and narrow. The Tea Party fueled the nomination of Rand Paul in Kentucky (a candidate who couldn’t bring himself to support the entirety of the Civil Rights Act because it banned discrimination on private property). A Republican Legislature and governor in Arizona enacted a discriminatory immigration law that legitimizes de facto ethnic profiling. And right here in Iowa, we’ve been treated to Sen. Charles Grassley’s befuddling and dishonest statements during the health-care reform debate and gubernatorial candidates who don’t support marriage equality.

With so much at stake and with every metric showing Democrats at a disadvantage, how does the party avoid considerable losses in November? The answer: Organizing for America. Democrats need the group, the local political arms operating out of the Democratic National Committee, to go out and re-engage all the long-lost voters who supported Obama in 2008. The organization must be the Democrats’ cavalry, rescuing the party from crushing blows at the ballot box this November.

Millions voted two years ago for the first time, yet nobody is expecting them to vote again in 2010 (sound familiar?). 2008 felt more like a social movement than an election; it was about Obama, who he was, and what he could do for our country. In 2010, Organizing for America needs to ensure it’s about President Obama’s agenda, electing Democrats who’ll stand with the president, and continuing to move our country forward.