Obama raises $3m after Super Tuesday

Washington: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama turned their attention to the next battlegrounds in their tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as Clinton disclosed she lent millions of dollars to her presidential campaign to fuel the costly White House fight.

Republican front-runner John McCain, meanwhile, reached out to his conservative critics with an appeal to find "something we can agree on" as he focused on translating his big Super Tuesday wins into the party's presidential nomination.

In a sign of Obama's growing financial advantage, Clinton acknowledged on Wednesday that she loaned her campaign $5 million late last month as Obama was outraising and outspending her heading into the Democrats' 22-state contests on Tuesday. Some senior staffers on her campaign also are voluntarily forgoing pay cheques as the campaign heads into the next round of contests.

"And I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment," the former first lady said, one day after splitting victories with Obama.

Obama, riding a wave of fundraising both from large donors and small Internet contributors, raised $3 million for his presidential campaign in the 24 hours since the first polls closed on Super Tuesday night, his campaign said.

McCain's sweep of races in California, New York and seven other US states failed to end chief rival Mitt Romney's candidacy, but firmly put the Arizona senator on track for the party's White House nomination.