[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/11/art.clintonmarry.cnn.jpg caption=" Hillary Clinton looked shocked by one young man's question Friday."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Voters ask a lot of the nation’s White House hopefuls, but Democrat Hillary Clinton looked particularly taken aback by a request from one attendee at a Friday campaign event in the Los Angeles area.
"Hillary, marry me, baby," a man yelled at the New York senator as she finished her economic address and prepared to take questions.
The crowd erupted in laughter, and Clinton looked genuinely shocked as she turned to face the questioner.
"That is certainly the kindest offer I've had in a while," Clinton said to loud cheers.
But she added immediately, "I'd probably be arrested."
Clinton visited delegate-rich California - one of the more than two dozen states to vote February 5 - to lay her economic stimulus package.
The shouted proposal was markedly friendlier than an incident in New Hampshire Monday, when a man yelled at her to "Iron my shirt."
"Ah, the remnants of sexism - alive and well," Clinton responded then.
- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/11/art.clintoncamp.cnn.jpg caption=" Clinton is up with a new ad in Nevada and South Carolina."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - Democrat Hillary Clinton launched a new ad in Nevada and South Carolina Friday that seems designed to show a softer side of the New York senator.
The 30-second spot called "Listen" features clips from Clinton's victory speech in New Hampshire and is set to music that sounds straight of out NBC's The West Wing.
“Over the last week I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice," Clinton is shown saying. "You helped remind everyone that politics isn’t a game. This campaign is about people. About making a difference in your lives. It’s time we had a president who stands up for all of you.”
- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/11/art.giulianistaff.ap.jpg caption="Top Giuliani staffers are going without a salary in January, CNN has learned."] MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) - CNN has learned that top staff members of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign were asked to work without pay for the month of January, and perhaps longer, so that campaign resources could be focused on the Florida Republican presidential primary.
Two sources in the campaign, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted the campaign was not in dire financial straits. A third campaign source, however, said "things are starting to get tight" and that "it was more telling than asking" the senior staff to forgo paychecks beginning the first of the year.
Another source disagreed, saying it was a "voluntary" move by senior staff members "so all of our resources could be targeted toward Florida...Our campaign is not living hand to mouth right now…"
The officials did not immediately provide a number of staffers who were subject to the new policy. Nor would campaign officials disclose the amount of money the campaign had in the bank.
UPDATE: The Giuliani campaign reports as of December 31 it has $12.7 million cash on hand, of which over $7 million can be used for the primary contests.
- CNN Chief National Correspondent John King
"It's the economy, stupid"... That's the message presidential candidates are once again getting from voters. The economy now tops Iraq as the most important issue to Americans.
The list of problems with the economy is long and getting longer: the mortgage meltdown, the credit crunch, the rise in unemployment, the continuing decline of the dollar and high gas and oil prices.
It all adds up to the likelihood of a recession. A lot of people think a recession has already begun. The Wall Street Journal surveyed a panel of economists who put the chance of recession at 42%.
Ordinary Americans are more pessimistic than those economists. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 61%of those surveyed think the economy is already in a recession.
To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion click here
DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) - Mike Huckabee put his main street economic populism to a Wall Street test Friday in a speech before the Detroit Economic Club.
He said there are clear indicators the American economy is growing, but urged the audience to look at the "micro economy" and said "instead of talking to the people at the head table, talk to people in the kitchen."
"If you talk to the people driving the cabs instead of riding in them, you might get a different picture of what's happening in this country," he said, drawing scattered, polite applause.
Huckabee echoed but challenged the campaign mantra of John Edwards' 2004 presidential bid: "I don’t believe this idea we can have two Americas. We are one America."
Michigan's economic woes, he said, can be alleviated with more job training programs, less government regulation, and by putting America and other emerging global economies on "a level playing field," though he offered few specifics on how to meet that goal.
"There was a time in this nation's history when Michigan saved America," Huckabee said, describing the state's historically formidable manufacturing base. "And now it may be time for America to help save Michigan."
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/POLITICS/01/11/2008.poll/art.mccain.gi.jpg caption=" John McCain is now the national front-runner, a new CNN poll out Friday found."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - John McCain's victory in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary appears to be paying off.
The senator from Arizona is now the front-runner in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination, according to the first national poll taken after the New Hampshire primary.
McCain has the support of 34 percent of registered Republicans in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey out Friday. That's a 21-point jump from the last CNN/Opinion Research poll, taken in December, well before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary earlier this month.
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