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Clinton Vs. Obama: The Gap Narrows

Would you choose Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Her margin is narrowing. Clinton, D-N.Y., holds an 8 percent lead over Obama, D-Ill., among Democratic candidates in the latest Harris Interactive Poll. The poll, conducted among nearly 3,500 Democratic, Republican and independent voting adults, reveals that one in five U.S. adults would choose Clinton in a list of all possible candidates, with Obama second at 10 percent and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani trailing at 8 percent. The survey also indicates that 45 percent of respondents would first choose a Democratic for president, compared with 31 percent who would first choose a Republican. Among Democratic candidates, Clinton and Obama top the list, with John Edwards third at 28 percent and former Vice President Al Gore--who has not yet announced his intention to run--at 26 percent. Read more.

'Love Contract'? It's Office Policy

Following the case of astronaut Lisa Nowak, many offices are reconsidering their sexual-harassment and no-fraternization rules. Employers don't want to be liable once the romance fizzles, so they are asking workers, mostly senior executives, to sign "love contracts" that shield them from liability. The contracts, most common in the entertainment industry, also act as a formal way for a couple to disclose a relationship in case their alliance could affect the bottom line or generate negative publicity. Such a contract might have been useful for former Boeing Co. Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher, whose extramarital affair with a mid-level female executive rocked the aerospace company in 2005 and led to his ouster. "If Stonecipher had been able to say, 'Wait a minute, we disclosed this relationship four years ago,' there might have been a different reaction at the board of directors level," said San Francisco attorney Garry Mathiason, who said his firm has drafted 1,000 of the several thousand love contracts existing today, reports The LATimes.

(See also: Astronaut Workplace Obsession: 7 Ways Your Office Can Avoid This Problem)

Fewer Boundaries in Chinese Offices

There's a lot that goes on in Chinese workplaces that mystifies, and occasionally embarrasses, the expatriates pouring into China. Chinese people draw the lines between personal and work space differently from Americans. Office small talk there often includes the size of your apartment and your salary. Sometimes, Chinese colleagues nap at their desks during lunch. Some Chinese office characteristics came about because corporations embrace the idea of a company as surrogate family. Many offices have a "tea lady," who spends all day making tea and heating lunches--kind of an office nanny. For Lunar New Year, starting Feb. 18 this year, bosses give employees red envelopes filled with money, as family elders do, and host a banquet complete with games, prizes and karaoke. Many female American executives commute to work in sneakers and put on professional shoes in the office. Chinese women are likely to do the opposite, slipping out of the Manolo Blahniks they wore to get to work and into slippers at their cubicles. Read more. For one Chinese woman's views on the work/life dilemma, especially involving pregnancy and childcare, read the March 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine.

Ad Agency Candidates of Color Are Leaving Industry

While the American Advertising Federation has for a decade run a promising student-of-color recruitment program that seeeks to connect candidates with ad agencies, media agencies and marketers, a new survey reveals that nearly one-third of the program's alumni leave the business. Advertising professors Alice Kendrick and Jami Fullerton, who conducted the survey and analyzed the results, speculate that perception about or the reality of low starting salaries, along with difficulty breaking into the business, may be part of the cause. Another issue that emerged as a stumbling block for almost all the participants was the lack of mentors. Three-quarters of survey participants said they would serve as mentors themselves. Read more.

No Discrimination at Walgreens, Finds Jury

A jury Tuesday cleared Walgreens Co. of racial discrimination alleged in a $2.5-million civil lawsuit brought by four black Texas men who say they were wronged in a confrontation at a Reno drug store four years ago. The six-woman, two-man jury in Washoe County District Court deliberated less than an hour after listening to seven days of testimony before coming back with a unanimous verdict. In their lawsuit, the men claimed that a photo-lab clerk shouted a racial slur, slammed a door and denied them service after they complained about the quality of their photographs at the downtown Reno store in February 2003. Walgreens' lawyers acknowledged the clerk slammed a door and walked off the job but denied the clerk uttered the N-word and maintained the incident was a case of poor customer service absent any racial bias. A lawyer for the plaintiffs said they would appeal the case to the Nevada Supreme Court. The men plan to appeal on the grounds that some rulings "kept out a lot of information that I think should have gone to the jury about what Walgreens knew" about the clerk accused of the misconduct, said the plaintiff's lawyer, according to Yahoonews.com.

NBA Is Not That Diverse, Says Gay Player

When NBA Commissioner David Stern describes the NBA as a diverse league, he's kidding himself, says former player John Amaechi, who revealed last week that he is gay. When Amaechi heard that Knicks coach Isiah Thomas promised discrimination would not be tolerated on his team, he thought that was a nice sentiment--but not a particularly realistic one. NBA locker rooms, he said, are hardly bastions of tolerance. Read more.

VH1, BET to Share 'Wifey' Hip-Hop Drama Pilot

In an unprecedented collaboration between a pair of cable-TV networks, the Viacom-owned duo are jointly developing a hip-hop drama pilot that, if picked up, would air in the same time slot on both channels throughout its first season. VH1 and BET are evenly dividing production costs. "Wifey" revolves around the widow of a slain hip-hop mogul who takes over his troubled record company with help from her friends. Production will begin next month. Rapper-actress Queen Latifah will serve as an executive producer and plans to rope in some famous friends for "Entourage"-style cameos. Hip-hop's cross-cultural appeal could make "Wifey" an interesting test case for targeting two different audience segments, with BET a favorite channel among blacks and VH1 likely to draw a predominantly white audience. Read more.

Muslims Face Hatred, Curiosity in U.S. Heartland

Tala Ali, 25, has seen the good and the bad of being a Muslim in heartland America. People have leaned out car windows to scream at her, "Terrorist go home." But strangers curious about her headscarf have also approached her apologetically to ask about Islam. "Out here, I'm the only Muslim some people may meet," said Ali, waiting for friends after Friday prayers at a Cincinnati mosque. "I always keep in mind that I'm an ambassador of Islam." For Ali and other Muslims who live far from America's immigrant-rich big cities, everyday life is a test of tolerance and outreach to fellow Americans who view Islam with suspicion. "The negative perception gets bigger by the day, despite all we do," said Inayat Malik, a doctor and board member of the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati. Read more.

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