Clinton Wins Florida, But Receives No Delegates

WASHINGTON — Senator Clinton got her win in Florida yesterday, but was it a primary or a beauty contest?

While the former first lady captured a clear plurality of Democratic votes in Florida yesterday, her battle there with Senator Obama was not over delegates or even ballots, but over whether her victory meant anything at all.

Neither candidate officially campaigned in the Sunshine State, keeping largely to the letter if not the spirit of a pledge they signed last year to ignore the state because it had violated Democratic Party rules by scheduling an early primary.

The national party stripped the state of its delegates to the nominating convention this summer. But in recent days, the Clinton campaign made a last-ditch effort to hype the election, hoping press coverage of her likely victory would give her momentum heading into February 5, when 22 states hold primaries.

Citing the record turnout among Democratic voters, advisers to Mrs. Clinton described the primary as unprecedented and impossible to ignore, a phenomenon in which voted cast ballots in droves, "despite the fact that Floridians were told their votes wouldn't count," as campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle put it to reporters in a conference call yesterday.

The Obama campaign was having none of it, dispatching a top supporter, Senator Kerry, to counter the Clinton campaign argument and deflate the importance of the election.

"Florida does not offer any delegates. It is not a legitimate race. It should not become a spin race. It should not become a fabricated race," Mr. Kerry said. The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic nominee said the Clinton campaign's tactics smacked of "the politics a lot of us are trying to reject — to suggest something that isn't."

Mrs. Clinton flew into the state last night after the polls closed and sounded a triumphant note in a rally with supporters in Davie.

"I could not come here in person to ask you for your vote, but I am here to thank you for your votes today," Mrs. Clinton said in remarks broadcast by the cable news channels, which reacted skeptically to her victory. With 79% more than 1.5 million votes cast, Mrs. Clinton had 50%, Mr. Obama had 33%, and John Edwards had 14%. Mrs. Clinton has said she would try to have her delegates seated at the convention despite the sanctions by the national party.