Obama eyes general election with Iowa celebration

By Jeff Mason

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama came close to declaring victory in the race for his party's presidential nomination on Tuesday, looking to November while thanking the state that launched his underdog White House bid.

Obama sounded like a winner without actually claiming the prize in his battle against Hillary Clinton to run against Republican John McCain in the November 4 general election.

Contests in Oregon and Kentucky handed him a majority of the delegates elected in state-by-state nominating contests.

"We have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people," Obama said, lauding the state that gave him a win in the first nominating contest in January and pushed his candidacy forward at a time when Clinton was the clear front-runner.

"You have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America," said the 46-year-old Illinois senator.

Obama entered the stage accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and his two young daughters. They waved at a cheering crowd of some 7,500 supporters.

Obama, who has drawn large audiences with his rousing oratory, looked back at a race that began 15 months ago.

"The skeptics predicted we wouldn't get very far. The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out," Obama said.

"But the people of Iowa had a different idea," he said.

Obama lost in Kentucky on Tuesday but won in Oregon.

Neither Obama nor Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, will have the number of delegates needed to claim the nomination when the state-by-state contests end on June 3 with contests in Montana and South Dakota.

But Obama expects superdelegates -- party leaders and elected officials who have their own vote at the party's convention in August -- to line up behind him now.

NOD TO CLINTON, TOUGH TALK FOR MCCAIN

Before turning his attention to a general election fight against McCain, Obama congratulated Clinton on her victory in Kentucky, and tipped his hat to her candidacy.

Obama would be the first black U.S. president and Clinton would be the first woman U.S. president, a prospect that has helped fuel large turn-outs among Democrats in the primary contests.