Democratic presidential front-runner Senator John Kerry has scored easy wins in largely ignored contests in Idaho and Utah, expanding his lead in the party's nomination fight as he looked ahead to next week's 10-state showdown with rival Senator John Edwards.
The two wins give Senator Kerry 17 victories in the first 19 contests in the race to find a Democratic challenger to President George W. Bush. He hopes to pick up another win in Hawaii later today.
There were 61 delegates to July's Democratic nominating convention at stake in Hawaii, Utah and Idaho, but the three states had been ignored by both candidates as they focused on next week's potentially decisive "Super Tuesday" showdown.
The 10 states voting on that day will include big prizes like California, New York, Ohio and Georgia, with more than half of the 2,162 delegates needed to win the nomination at stake.
In incomplete returns in Idaho and Utah, Senator Kerry won more than half of the votes. Senator Edwards won about 20 per cent of the vote in Idaho and 30 per cent of the vote in Utah.
The three contests on Tuesday came a day after President Bush launched his re-election drive with a strong defence of his administration and a direct attack on Senator Kerry.