Video: Hillary's Florida speech | The bloggers' verdict

Blog: as it happened | Video: the Republican speeches

Hillary Clinton today triggered a war of spin with Barack Obama over the significance of the Florida result after she appeared at a triumphant rally in Florida to celebrate her easy victory in the state primary.

Mrs Clinton, trying to snatch the media spotlight and some momentum away from Mr Obama after his prize endorsement from Senator Edward Kennedy, flew to Florida after a contest where no campaigning among the Democratic candidates took place.

A race like a crackpot Dynasty

The contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton matches any fiction

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BACKGROUND

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• Video: Hillary Clinton's speech

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• The bloggers' verdict

• Blog: how Florida fell

A dispute over the Sunshine State’s decision to move its primary forward from February saw the candidates banned from campaigning - and the national party leadership insists Florida's delegates will not be given votes, or even seats, at the nominating convention.

But Mrs Clinton - looking for some good news before Super Tuesday - insisted that Florida, a pivotal state in the last two presidential elections, cannot be ignored. Her case was bolstered by a huge turnout among Democratic voters, with over one million going to the polls. Her aides said that amounted to more voters than had voted in the Democratic race so far.

The former First Lady won 50 per cent of the vote. Mr Obama took 33 per cent and John Edwards 14 per cent.

"I am convinced that with this resounding vote, with the millions of Americans who will vote next Tuesday, we will send a clear message that America is back and we will take charge of our destiny once again," she said to a boisterous crowd. "This has been a record turnout because Floridians wanted their voices to be heard."

She added: "I could not come here in person to ask you for your votes, but I am here to thank you for your votes today."

Mrs Clinton had upheld her pledge not to campaign in Florida but held two closed fundraisers in recent days.

Mr Obama's campaign cried foul, insisting that Mrs Clinton was trying to capitalise on an illegitimate election. John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee who has endorsed Mr Obama, told reporters in a conference call that Mrs Clinton was using "spin" to profit from a bogus ballot.

Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton sought to further barge Mr Obama out of the limelight with the endorsement of an influential black congresswoman in California, the biggest prize on offer in next Tuesday's nationwide contests and a state where she enjoys a double-digit lead over her rival. She also has a similar poll advantage in two other delegate-rich states, New York and New Jersey.

The strength of Mrs Clinton in California, where fully a fifth of the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination will be elected next week, was reinforced by the endorsement of Maxine Waters - a veteran African American congresswoman from Los Angeles and an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Her support could help blunt charges of racial polarisation against the Clinton campaign during last week's South Carolina primary.

Although Mr Obama’s South Carolina victory showed him capturing four fifths of black votes, in California Mrs Clinton has backing from a second senior African American politician - Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums - as well as Antonio Villaraigosa, the Mayor of Los Angeles and a key figure for garnering Hispanic support.

Mr Obama, who has launched a $3.5 million advertising campaign in medium-sized swing states, including Missouri and Arizona, is also looking at picking up delegates from Republican-leaning Kansas, Idaho, Utah and Alaska.

Today he was staging a rally in El Dorado, Kansas, the hometown of his white grandfather, where he was seeking to demonstrate not only his local roots but also a cross-party and inter-racial appeal.

He picked up the endorsement of Kathleen Sebelius, the Governor of Kansas, a Democrat who has won two terms in a state which has voted for Republican presidents for the past 40 years.

“I think he brings the hope and optimism that we really need to restore our place in the world, as well as to bring this country together and really tackle the challenges that we have,” she said.

Mr Obama claims he is still the “underdog” as he heads into Super Tuesday and his adviser, David Axelrod, said: “The one great barrier we have is that we’re newer and we need to introduce ourselves and we need to do it in a compact and expeditious way.”

Mr Kennedy, the brother of the late President John F Kennedy, will hit the airwaves in California with a new advertisement seeking to leverage his popularity with Hispanic voters. Mr Obama is suffering with low support among Latinos because of longstanding antipathy between Hispanics and African Americans.

John F Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy, who endorsed Mr Obama on Sunday, launched advertisements in New York, California, Massachusetts and on national cable television, emphasising the similarities between Mr Obama and her father.

Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama were both present for President Bush’s State of the Union address on Monday night where Mr Obama was seated next to his new ally, Mr Kennedy.

When Mrs Clinton leaned over to shake Mr Kennedy's hand, Mr Obama stared coldly and then turned his back on her. He denied today that it was deliberate.

There has been growing animosity between the Obama and Clinton campaigns, with both sides accusing the other of using race as a political weapon.

Much of the controversy has been driven by Bill Clinton and there were suggestions yesterday that the former president had been persuaded - by both his wife’s supporters and senior Democratic party figures to take a less aggressive posture over the coming weeks. Campaigning for the former First Lady in New Jersey, he stayed positive and focused solely on his wife's campaign.

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