Barack Obama and John McCain were exchanging fire yesterday in the battle for general election votes while largely ignoring Hillary Clinton’s efforts to remain relevant in the presidential race.

Before the result of the Oregon primary had even been announced, Mr Obama passed the milestone of winning a majority among elected delegates with his showing in the Kentucky contest.

Although still short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination, the steady flow of unelected super-delegates has started to make Mrs Clinton's campaign a sideshow.

Since the contests in North Carolina and Indiana on May 6, Mr Obama has received the endorsement of forty-eight super-delegates, compared with just seven for his rival.

Aides acknowledge that there are risks of being seen forcing Mrs Clinton out of the contest before the primary process and Mr Obama has been at pains recently to pour praise on her as a formidable opponent.

But Mr McCain, the Republican nominee-elect, has no such considerations and has already fixed his sights on Mr Obama as his likely opponent in November’s general election. He delivered a speech yesterday condemning Mr Obama for his willingness to “send the wrong signal” by meeting leaders from countries such as Cuba and Iran.

Since President Bush appeared to call Mr Obama an “appeaser” during a speech to the Knesset in Israel on Friday, there have been repeated clashes between the Illinois senator and Mr McCain.

Defending his position on the need to talk to rogue nations, Mr Obama said Ronald Reagan spoke to Mikhail Gorbachev; Richard Nixon spoke to Chairman Mao, and John F. Kennedy held talks with Nikita Khrushchev.

“Iran, Cuba, Venezuela — these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union.”

Mr McCain said that playing down the threat from Iran and its nuclear ambitions “betrays the depth of Mr Obama’s inexperience and reckless judgment” but his speech barely mentioned Mrs Clinton.

The former First Lady, who said that her sexist treatment during the campaign had been “offensive” to women, claimed that misogyny was more accepted by the press than racism.

Today both Democrats are scheduled to campaign in Florida: Mr Obama will seek to appear as the presumptive nominee in a key general election battleground, while Mrs Clinton is expected to repeat her call for the Sunshine State’s delegates to be seated at the convention.

Her late decision to travel to Florida was seen widely as an attempt to share some of the limelight focused on Mr Obama.

Mr Obama received other welcome news: his former pastor, whom he was forced to disown last month after his incendiary comments and provocative behaviour, cancelled three public appearances he was scheduled to make in the next fortnight.

The Rev Jeremiah Wright pulled out of three events in Philadelphia, citing “exhaustion”.

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