US:OREGON AND Kentucky vote tomorrow in primaries that Barack Obama hopes will give him a majority of elected Democratic delegates and confirm his status as the party's presumptive presidential nominee.
In a sign that he is looking beyond the primaries to the general election battle with Republican John McCain, Mr Obama will spend election night in Iowa, the scene of his first triumph in January and a potential battleground state in November.
Mr Obama's campaign says he needs just 17 more elected delegates to reach a majority of 1,627, not counting superdelegates. Including superdelegates, a candidate needs 2,025 votes to win.
Campaigning in Portland on Saturday night, Mr Obama predicted that he would win Oregon by a big enough margin to secure a majority of elected delegates. "We will be able to say we have won a majority," he said. "But we have a lot of work to do ahead of us."
Mr Obama is ahead by 12 points in Oregon, according to an average of polls, but Hillary Clinton is leading in Kentucky by more than 30 points. Mrs Clinton's campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, yesterday warned Mr Obama against declaring victory before the Democratic National Committee rules later this month on how to deal with delegates elected in disputed primaries in Michigan and Florida.
"Declaring mission accomplished doesn't make it so and taking victory laps before the nomination is actually secured is a slap in the face to the voters of Florida and Michigan, and the states that have not yet voted," Mr Wolfson said.
Mrs Clinton has promised to remain in the race until the last primaries on June 3rd. She has changed the tone of her campaign, however, avoiding attacks on Mr Obama and directing her fire instead at Mr McCain and the Bush administration.
Mr Obama returned at the weekend to a dispute with Mr McCain over the wisdom of talking directly to the leaders of hostile governments, a policy President George W Bush compared last week to appeasing Hitler.
"If you agree that we've had a great foreign policy over the last eight years, then you should vote for John McCain, you shouldn't vote for me," Mr Obama said.
In a move that could create a headache for Mr McCain, the Libertarian party is expected this week to nominate former Republican congressman Bob Barr as its presidential candidate.
Mr Barr hopes to win the support of more than a million Republican primary voters who backed Ron Paul, who shares his opposition to the Iraq war and enthusiasm for smaller government.
Mr Paul has thousands of energetic, young supporters who have used the internet to raise millions of dollars during the primary season, out-raising all other Republican candidates in the last quarter of 2007.