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Hillary Clinton scored a thumping win in Kentucky's primary last night but it came too late to stop Barack Obama claiming that - with the help of his own comfortable victory in Oregon - he had passed a "major milestone" on his journey to the White House.

Mr Obama side-stepped both primaries, in a speech at the scene of his first breakthrough victory four months ago and instead used a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, to declare: "Change is coming to America."

Minutes earlier, his campaign announced that despite the 35-point defeat in Kentucky, he had reached the 1,627 elected delegates from primaries and caucuses needed for a majority.

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Although he remains short of the overall number needed to clinch the nomination - 2,025 - the steady flow of unelected super-delegates rallying behind makes it all but impossible for Mrs Clinton to catch him.

Mr Obama told his rally that when "cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope", it was the people of Iowa who "had a different idea".

He said: "You came out on a cold winter’s night in numbers that this country has never seen, and you stood for change. And because you did, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up.

"And tonight, in the fullness of spring, with the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people, and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for President of the United States."

Mrs Clinton, in her victory speech at Louisville, Kentucky, defiantly promised to battle on until the final primaries on June 3. It is, she said, "the only way I know how - with determination by never giving up and never giving in".

But in spite of her bald statement of intent she is also increasingly injecting a conciliatory note into her fighting talk, perhaps with an eye to staking a claim on the vice-presidential slot on Mr Obama's ticket.

"We continue to go toe-to-toe for this nomination but we do see eye-to-eye when it comes to electing a Democratic president," she said. "We will come together as a party... and when we do there will be no stopping us."

Mr Obama, aware that being seen to force Mrs Clinton out of the race is risky, is treating her with kid gloves. Last night he called her one of "the most formidable candidates to ever run for this office", before expressing admiration for "her courage, her commitment and her perseverance".

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