Obama seeks focus on end of primary campaign

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds argued that Obama's foreign policy shows "incredibly weak judgment. We're a nation rooted in a history of sacrifice and achievement, not in lofty campaign rhetoric or campaign promises."

Iowa has been a swing state in recent presidential elections. Democrat Al Gore narrowly carried the state in 2000, and President Bush collected the state's seven electoral votes by just over 10,000 votes in 2004. Since that time, however, Democrats have built a substantial edge in registered voters, and turnout in the January precinct caucuses was at record levels.

Obama will be joined by his wife, Michelle, for the Iowa rally, a homecoming of sorts for the couple. The rally is the latest effort by Obama to shift attention away from the primary season to the November election even though Clinton continues to maintain a full campaign schedule in primary states.

Touring an outdoor fair in Keizer, Obama said the swing would be a nostalgic one.

"It'll be a nice reunion with everybody who helped us get started," said Obama.

The last Democratic primaries are June 3 in Montana and South Dakota.

Clinton began the nomination race far better known than Obama, and was considered by many to be the likely nominee in the early days of the campaign. Obama countered that perception with an intense grass-roots campaign in Iowa that led to a surprisingly easy win. Though Clinton rebounded with a win in the New Hampshire primary, Obama has maintained his status as the front-runner.

Obama won't be able to capture the delegates needed to collect the party's nomination strictly through primaries -he also needs to increase his support from superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who are delegates because of their positions. Clinton had led Obama in superdelegates through most of the year, but he recently overtook her and now leads 295.5 to 274.5 -including a superdelegate in Maryland he collected Saturday.

Overall, Obama has 1,907 delegates to Clinton's 1,718, with 2,026 delegates are needed to secure the nomination.

Underscoring his shift to a general election strategy, Obama is heading to Florida next week -a key general election state where he has not yet campaigned.