Clinton wins Rhode Island Democratic contest

BOSTON (Reuters) - Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Rhode Island contest to chose a Democratic U.S. presidential candidate on Tuesday, a tiny-state victory that broke Obama's string of 12 consecutive victories but did little to offset his growing lead, CNN projected.

A month-long string of 12 victories has catapulted Obama into front-runner status in the race and left Clinton needing victories in the big states of Ohio and Texas on Tuesday to be able to catch up with the Illinois senator in the race for delegates to the party's nominating contest this summer.