Obama ready to move on to Nov.

DES MOINES -- Barack Obama returned here Tuesday to the place that gave his presidential bid its first big boost, signaling his desire to move ahead to the fall campaign and leave behind his drawn-out nomination fight with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama reached a majority of pledged delegates awarded through the Democratic nominating contests with his win Tuesday in Oregon. Clinton trounced him in Kentucky. Obama still needs votes from party leaders known as superdelegates to get to the 2,026 required for the nomination.

Obama campaigns today in Florida — like Iowa and Oregon, key swing states — where state polls show presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is leading him in a head-to-head matchup.

Before a crowd of 6,000, Obama proclaimed, "I love you, Iowa" and thanked Iowans for giving him the first of 33 nominating contest victories in January. He said voters in November will be asked to decide "whether this country … will keep doing what we've been doing for four more years, or whether we will take a different path."

It boils down to "more of the same vs. change," Obama said. "Change is coming to America. Change is coming."

Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, who is neutral in the race, said Obama's strategy makes sense. "He still has to play out the primaries, but he also has to shift his aim toward the general election right now."

Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat helping Obama recruit superdelegates, said Obama's three-day swing through Florida "is an extraordinary statement of how aggressively Sen. Obama is going to compete" in the Sunshine State, where 27 electoral votes are up for grabs in November.

Florida and Iowa — both won by President Bush four years ago — are among 11 swing states where the margin of victory in 2004 was 5 percentage points or less. Iowa polls show Obama leading McCain there in a matchup.

Wexler said Obama already passed a key test for superdelegates: by proving that he would not be a drag at the top of the Democratic ticket. Wexler noted that in two special House elections, both won by Democrats, the GOP tried to link the Democratic candidates to Obama. "In some of the most difficult turf in the country, the attacks on Barack Obama fell short," he said. "It showed superdelegates that Democrats can win with Barack Obama."