Kerry cruises to easy wins in Nevada, Washington

The 60-year-old, four-term senator from Massachusetts polled 47 percent of the vote in Washington DC and 63 percent in Nevada, the gambling hub where he was the only candidate to make campaign appearances.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton finished second in Washington with 20 percent of the vote, followed by former Vermont governor Howard Dean with 17 percent and North Carolina Senator John Edwards with 10 percent.

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Former front-runner Dean, who is staking his dwindling hopes on Tuesday's crucial primary in the northern state of Wisconsin, finished second in Nevada with 17 percent followed by Edwards with 10 percent.

Kerry has won 14 of the 16 nominating contests held so far and is looking to deliver a potentially fatal blow to his rivals in the Wisconsin primary, which he is heavily favored to win.

A total of 24 delegates were at stake on Saturday in Nevada, while 16 were up for grabs in the US capital. Going into Saturday's caucuses, Kerry had 512 delegates, Dean 179, Edwards 159, Sharpton 11 and Kucinich two.

A total of 2,162 delegates will be needed to secure the nomination at the July 26-29 Democratic national convention in Boston and Kerry is hoping to cross that figure on March 2, when 10 states will hold caucuses and primaries on a day dubbed "Super Tuesday."

After notching up the two expected victories on Saturday, Kerry turned toward Wisconsin and an eventual November 2 election match-up with Bush.

"Wisconsin can mark the next chapter in the beginning of the end of the Bush presidency," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery at a dinner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

With Kerry looking increasingly likely to wrap up the Democratic nomination, Bush's Republican Party has been training its sights on the expected nominee and released its first anti-Kerry campaign video this week.

The ad described Kerry as "unprincipled" and as having ties to "special interests," a reference to powerful Washington lobbyists. A link to the video message was put on an e-mail sent to six million Americans.

Kerry responded to the attack in his Milwaukee speech.

"Yesterday, George Bush chose to make his first official campaign message to the American people a negative attack ad sent through the Internet," he said. "If this is the campaign he wants to run, then we are ready. We'll stand our ground."