Will Obama claim victory Tuesday night in Iowa?

That is the suggestion in the headline of Larry Rohter's New York Times column today, Obama to Return to Iowa, Possibly to Claim Victory:

Senator Barack Obama has chosen to spend Tuesday night not in Kentucky or Oregon, the two states that will be holding their primaries that day, or even at his home in Chicago. Instead, Mr. Obama’s staff announced on Saturday, he will be returning to Iowa, where he won the Democratic caucuses way back in January...

Much more than nostalgia seems to have motivated that decision. If things continue to go as well for Mr. Obama this week as they have so far this month, with a romp in North Carolina, a strong showing in Indiana and daily growth in his support among party superdelegates, he could actually end up with enough pledged delegates to proclaim, without fear of contradiction, that he is now the Democratic nominee for president.

Why else would Obama spend Tuesday night in Iowa when two other states, one of which he will most likely win, are holding their primaries that day?  Who knows, but unless his goal is to alienate as many Hillary voters as possible, it seems like a stupid move to go there and claim victory.  Unless of course he does end up with the magic number of delegates needed to win.  Problem is, what's the magic number?  According to the DNC it's 2025.  That number does not include Florida or Michigan.  As it stands now, Obama has 1897 total delegates and Hillary has 1717.  Obama could certainly get to the 2025 number by Tuesday, if he picks up some (enough) more Super delegates.  Maybe he knows something we don't know.  Maybe enough Super delegates are ready to end this thing.  But what about Florida and Michigan?  The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee is going to meet on May 31 to make a decision about their delegates.  Declaring victory before then would not endear Obama to the voters in those two states.

I can't see where Obama has anything to gain by forcing the issue.  He does, however, have much to lose.  Hillary's voters will not be pleased and he will need them in November.  So I guess from where I'm sitting, I say go ahead Obama.  Declare victory.  And to Hillary's voters, come on over to the dark side.  McCain 2008.

***Update 7:57 PM CT***

CNN has Obama's delegate count at 1904:

According to CNN's latest count, Obama leads Clinton in total delegates 1,904 to 1,717.