Obama Iowa Rally Planned For Tuesday

On Saturday the Obama campaign announced that they would be holding a rally in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday, May 20, the night of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries. The announcement has set off speculation about whether Obama might declare victory in the Democratic primary that evening. From Reuters:

Hoping that a pair of contests in Oregon and Kentucky on Tuesday will allow him to essentially clinch the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama will make a symbolic return to Iowa, the state that launched his underdog bid for the White House.

Polls suggest the Illinois senator will win Oregon comfortably while his rival New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is expected to prevail in Kentucky by a wide margin.

But the Obama campaign expects that when the results from the two contests come in, he will have racked up a majority of the pledged delegates awarded in the state-by-state contests, making him the likely winner in his battle with Clinton to become his party's nominee to face presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in November.

ABC's Political Radar has more on what kind of victory the Obama camp may declare at the end of the evening:

While Obama still will not have the 2026 delegates he would need to clinch the nomination, the Obama campaign is playing up the symbolism of the majority mark.

On Wednesday night, Obama was asked by a reporter if he would declare victory Tuesday night if he reached the majority of pledged delegates.

"We will declare that we have the majority of pledged delegates," Obama replied flatly.

Comments

[Chillinout]

Thank you Iowa! You started the Barack train which we all then got to get on! Go Barack!

[researcher]

hillary for vp of mc same. those two could beat obama as many women would vote for eva braun and have hitler as her vp to get a woman into the white house.

and of course the war mongers which is most of the south would vote for four more years of bush jr. their kind of guy. he allowed them to send their kids off to war and be heros.

inbreeding works if you want to have a mercenary army. bsides cousins have a lot in common and that makes for good marriages. the children are a little strange but make good soldiers.

it is not the math it is the map. god she is good. she has proven beyond doubt to be her negatives.

[kcinci]

If there's any worse than a sore loser, it's a sore winner.

I support Obama and hope he does finally clinch the nomination. I'm very weary of this. But it's stupid to post nonsensical, inflaming and insulting things just to validate your presence in the world. It also throws shit on everything for which Sen. Obama has been campaigning.

Even Bill Clinton was telling the Nevada convention that our arguments have served the purpose of selecting our Democratic party candidate but the most important thing is to come together, elect our president and take back the white house.

Regardless of whatever camps have said what, as my mother used to tell me all the time "Two wrongs never made a right". It's way past time that we "do unto others".

[debrouillard]

He didnt say he is going to be declaring Victory.Wh­at he said is Should his campaign on the night pick up enough delegates to ensure that under no circumstance will Hillary's campaign be able to over take them,then he will declare that His campaign now has secured the Majority of PLEDGE delegates. And that is just fact. Even if (God forbids) Hillary was to be handed the nomination,the fact will still remain that he won the most delegate.

[jpetaluma]

All along I have been a rabid rejectionist of the Hillary for VP scenerio. For the first time, I'm being to think it might be a good thing. God knows we need to heal this very bitter divide between the Obama and Clinton supporters. This may be the only avenue. There would be alot of obstacles (BILL) to overcome and hard feelings to put aside. But I think it could be done. For the first time, I'm thinking this might be the way to go. i can't beleive I'm writing this.

[Charmed]

jpetaluma, I respectfully disagree with you.....if her main case is that hard working whites won't vote for Obama but they will vote for her, I don't see how they can vote on a ticket that he is the candidate for president. Hillary supporters have made it perfectly clear that they would never vote for Obama so we (Obama Supperters) have to work hard to get new voters on our side with our Voter Registration drive over the summer.

[debrouillard]

Having Hillary as VP will only re-enforces Bushs' accusation that Barack is an appeaser.S­he hasnt earned it,not the way i see it. She is at the completely opposite end of Baracks principles i life.
1) she lies all the time as opposed to Barack who is Honest all the time
2)She thinks lobbyist are the "REAL" Americans as opposed to Barack thinking they are the real enemies of America
3)She seeks to divide the America,as opposed to Barack seeking to unite America.

I mean ,should she be Baracks running mate,all the republicans will have to do to win is to tease them to a debate in which you have both parties represented by both of thier candidates­.Then forevery question that shall be ask,one will get 2 contraditory answers from the 2 dems candidates.

Take forexample,the moderator ask how they think Iran should be handled

Hillary goes: Obliterate them
Barack: lets get down to talking and find common grounds

Both GOP acndidates will have thesame response,WAR against Iran.

None may be a good idea,but atleast the GOP will be consistent. And folks get very worried when inconsistency comes in

[Midnightrain]

You might be right.

[smoo]

This is not a good idea. At all. It's only been 2 weeks HRC is out of headlines and Clintons base is begining to shift Obama. We do not need to cater to the same population that selected Bush (Fear mongering, hate inspired, racist). It's a play on words to lable them as "working-class" "hard-working" "Americans­." She was race baiting. The group of people do not need a candidate, and they definitely should not be dictating the Democratic Agenda. HRC only went after that group becuase she only had women and 65+ and she needed a stronger base to deal with Obama so she went after what was left. Obama had the other demographics.

Democratic party needs to stand on some convictions and not pander for votes. Thats HRC. We don't need that vote. Trust me, there will be plenty of Republicans and rural Americans, like what we saw in IOWA, and Wisconsin that we feel in the gap created by this group.

HRC would be a nightmare, the President will have way to many internal power struggles and efforts to undermine his decisions.

We will be fine. After a few weeks the HRC affect will have disapated. She, more than any one, has weaken our presidential nominee and she should not be rewarded. Remember also from a policy perspective, HRC is more like Obama and less like McCain. People are going to have a gut check before they really think about switching. It's empty threat.

[TrueIndy08]

Nope... bad bad idea!!!

I think true DEMS will vote for a DEM... did you listen to McLame speak about his choices for Supreme Court Justices??

Alito and Scalia???

NIGHTMARE.­.. goodbye privacy... pretty much, goodbye Constitution!!!

when people get over being angry, they will realize that McLame is a dangerous choice for America and the rest of the world...

[TXOBAMAGIRL73]

Change has arrived ..Are you ready?...I am so ready !!! Obama 08

[amst]

I am so happy with Obama. I have such confidence in him. I will be cheering you on Barack!!!! Can't wait til he nails this thing.

[johnnygoodwud]

someone told me, that in iowa 120,000 repubs. crossed over and voted for obama, and without them he would have finished in 3rd place. is this true? if so thanks iowa and thank you crossovers

[StillIRise]

Not true! So far, the Repub crossovers have voted for Senator Clinton, which accounts for her very, very narrow win in Indiana, as well as Texas - although she didn't actually win Texas. The moderate Republicans and Independents who voted for Senator Obama will vote for him in the general as well. However the Repub crossovers who voted for Senator Clinton did so only to try to disrupt the election process and to thwart any perceived chance of Senator Obama either winning or closing in on Clinton; but their vote in the general will be for the Republican candidate. Sorry to disappoint you.

[pupbayer]

Sorry to burst your bubble but I saw an analysis the other night on CNN. The cross overs weren't enough to affect any of the races.

[cinnysmom]

Gotta love Iowa!! Originally from there up until 8 years ago. Nice state, people are pretty laid back there.

[amazinggrace]

Yea Obama! We have been with you since you started and now viclory is yours AND ours. Cannot wait for you to take on the right wing blowhards of the Repug party. It is going to be a glorious election. One that we can all celebrate you with you.

Another hard working "white older female" voter from the rust belt of Ohio who is NOT for Hillary.

Obama '08

[openlids]

Tuesday night I will be saluting Iowa & Obama, & everyone else who made it possible!

bottoms up!

[the964kid]

Thank you Iowa for making history. It's great that Obama is going back there to share his victory with the good people of Iowa, who are very much responsible for his path to winning the nomination. I cant wait to watch the results come in Tuesday night.

Go Obama.

[Charmed]

Obama "08!.....

I can't wait to hear his speech when he returns to Iowa.

Thank you Iowa because without you, we wouldn't be were we are today.....

[barackobama4prez]

IOWA will go down in HISTORY as making it all possible.

THANK YOU IOWA!

[BlueberryJane]

Yes! Thank you Iowa!!!!! Wish I could be there!

[KGinSanFrancisco]

Dream come true!!!!!

[Adeyemo]

Obama is such a grateful candidate. He realized that without Iowa he would not be where he is today. Iowa is the key to his success. Could you imagine what would have happened to his nomination without the good and fair people of Iowa?? Go Iowa !!!!! Go Obama!!!!!

[GBecker]

GOOOOOOOOO­OOOOBAMA!!­!

[Anonani]

Momentous and historical!