CLINTON SEES ROLE FOR HUSBAND

(San Francisco Chronicle) - Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- coming off a week of caustic comments from Hollywood mogul David Geffen and a campaign squabble with rival Sen. Barack Obama -- was exactly where she wanted to be Friday: in front of an adoring crowd in the Democratic stronghold of San Francisco, raising boatloads of campaign cash.

And the New York senator used the occasion to defend a man who is potentially a source of controversy: her husband, former Democratic President Bill Clinton.

In response to a question from the audience, she called her husband "the most popular person in the world right now'' and said that when she reaches the White House, "I will continue the tradition of using former presidents" as diplomats around the world.