Clinton Emphasizes the Economy

SOUNDING THE ALARM

Clinton Emphasizes the Economy

BURBANK, Calif. -- Hillary Clinton continued to emphasize the economy Thursday, decrying John McCain's views that more government intervention is not needed and saying that Barack Obama has been "very timid and unenthusiastic about doing anything for the economy."

Obama has put out a plan similar to Clinton's to offer relief to people who can't afford their mortgages and has called for more efforts to stimulate the economy, although the senator from New York has proposed many of these ideas before her rival.

"I have been saying for more than a year we've got to take action, action is absolutely demanded, and it's not happening," Clinton said. "I just hope we can avoid a deep and broad and long-lasting recession so that we'll have some maneuverable options when the next president is sworn in.

"I am going to continue to sound the alarm. I feel like Paulette Revere -- the recession is coming, the recession is coming. Maybe at some point, somebody will do something about it."

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

LATE LAUGHS WITH LENO

Senator Takes Shot at Herself

BURBANK, Calif. -- Appearing on NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Hillary Clinton poked fun at a recent controversy in which she incorrectly said that she had been the target of sniper fire while on a trip to Bosnia as first lady.

"I was worried I wasn't going to make it," she said. "I was pinned down by sniper fire."

Her jocularity continued when Leno asked about her daughter Chelsea's remark that her mother would make a better president than her father. "Oh, she's such a smart young woman," Clinton said.