Senator Barack Obama will be in Iowa Tuesday night, not in Kentucky or Oregon, which hold primaries that day. Iowa gave him his first victory with its caucuses in January and would be a fitting location to declare a victory for the nomination.

He is only 17 elected delgates shy of a majority. Kentucky is expected to go strongly for Hillary Clinton and he’s not spent much time there, but Democratic party rules divide delegates proportionally. Oregon is more likely to be Obama territory and he is making a strong effort. It’s possible Oregon could give him the nomination.

If so, the symbolism of the Oregon-Iowa connection could be a powerful challenge to Clinton’s playing of the race card.

His win in largely-white Iowa catapulted him to front-runner status. Oregon is similarly white; people living in Portland, its largest city, describe it as the whitest major city in America. Polls show Obama doing well there.