Barack Obama attracted the largest crowd of this primary in Portland Oregon this past weekend.  The record drawing crowd was at least 75,000 strong with spectators watching from the lawn of the Tom McCall Waterfront Park.  The park could not hold the enormous crowd so Oregonians watched from boats, outside the park, and any other place that would allow them access to the Illinois senator.  Portland is the state’s largest urban area and has been monikered by its residents as “the whitest major city in the United States.”  The state of Oregon is also a breeding ground for anti-war activism and sentiment, so Obama’s opposition the the Iraq war contributed to him being an early favorite in the state.  Tomorrow, residents of Oregon and Kentucky will have their say at the ballot box.  Though Obama has virtually conceded Kentucky to Clinton, the Illinois senator is expected to pull out a decisive victory in Oregon.  Obama is not expected to declare victory tomorrow for fear of appearing presumptuous.  However, the Windy City senator will have won the most pledge delegates and a win in Oregon will make it officially impossible for Clinton, in the remaining primaries, to overtake his pledge delegate lead.  Obama will have to pull out a decent victory in Oregon and decrease Clinton’s margin of victory in Kentucky.  If the feedback from the Obama call banks are anything to go by, Clinton’s margin of victory will not be as large in the Bluegrass State as it was in West Virginia.  Kentucky is a culturally conservative state that does not care for Wall Street but there is a growing populous discontent in the state.  Republicans are polling poorly in the state and this may offer an opportunity for Sen. Obama to take advantage.  Having said all that, even though Obama will essentially win the nomination tomorrow, declaring victory may antagonize Clinton supporters thereby making it more difficult to unify the party after the primary season is completed.  That does not change the reality however that this race is over.  Nor does it take away from the fact that the Obama camp have solid and legitimate reasons for optimism. One being the fact that not a single superdelegate, uncommitted or undeclared, can be found to say that he/she would be willing, despite Obama’s pledge delegate lead, to overturn the result and make Clinton the nominee.  Therefore, Obama is on solid footing in his belief that he will become the official democratic nominee on Tuesday night.  Sen. Obama has chosen to spend Tuesday, not in Kentucky or Oregon, but in Iowa.  The place where his imminent rise in contention and legitimacy began.  Obama spent eight months in Iowa prior to its primary.  Eight months well spent by most calculations.