Clinton plays up Florida primary win

Davie, Florida: Democrat Hillary Clinton claimed victory in a campaign-free Florida presidential primary while rival Barack Obama sketched a personal story that he argues can bring the nation together.

Both candidates moved quickly to shore up backing in states with looming contests next week as the potential for a protracted competition for the party's nomination grew ever more likely, making for a bitter battle over delegates to the summer's national nominating convention.

For her part, Clinton was travelling yesterday to Arkansas, where she served as first lady, before flying to Atlanta for the Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. Both of those states vote next Tuesday as part of a mega-primary day with Democratic contests in 22 states. Obama was heading for Denver and then Phoenix for campaign rallies in states with big Hispanic populations.

Clinton appeared in this south Florida city on Tuesday for an event before about 1,000 backers, touting a victory in a race in which candidates had signed pledges not to compete.

Obama was in Kansas collecting the backing of Governor Kathleen Sebelius and talking in more detail about his personal story. The son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, he was raised in Hawaii and lived in Indonesia. Obama said his life has given him the depth to understand the various streams running through the nation, an understanding he believes could ease its cultural divisions.