Sen. Barack Obama will claim a majority of Democratic pledged delegates in Iowa Tuesday evening, a source familiar with the plans confirms to Iowa Independent.The Illinois Senator, whose presidential bid began its upward trajectory in Iowa’s January 3 caucuses, plans to return to the state Tuesday to deliver a victory speech after primaries in Kentucky and Oregon conclude.

Both Obama and Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, have shown signs that they intend to compete for Iowa’s 7 electoral votes in November.  McCain has already made a general election campaign appearance in Des Moines, and his campaign is running television ads here.

Obama, who has faced criticism for his perceived weakness among working class white Americans, frequently invokes his success in Iowa as evidence that his message resonates in one of the whitest states in the country.

Although he is expected to win the largely white state of Oregon Tuesday, polling indicates that Obama may lose Kentucky for a lack of support among Caucasians who earn less than $50,000 per year.  He may hope that his appearance in Iowa will keep his perceived weakness among such voters out of the news in subsequent days.

Despite his expected loss in Kentucky, the Obama campaign expects to clinch a majority of pledged delegates Tuesday.  They will use the event in Iowa to signal a shift in the campaign from the primary to the general election.

And Obama will be on friendly turf: the Real Clear Politics average of head-to-head matchup polls indicates that he enjoys a 5.6 percent lead over McCain in the Hawkeye state.

Editor’s note: Obama has denied elsewhere that he plans to declare overall victory in the Democratic primary.  He plans to declare victory in elected delegates, which he will likely clinch during Tuesday’s primaries.  Obama has also argued that the winner of elected delegates deserves the nomination.  This story is accurate, but we felt it needed clarification.