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ROME - When Silvio Berlusconi told an attractive young voter questioning his economic policies that the way to deal with poverty was to marry a millionaire, it sparked outrage in Italy.
But now the woman at the centre of the storm has said she was so impressed by the former Prime Minister that she will vote for him in April's general election.
It is a typical incident in the colourful world of Berlusconi, whose ability to both flirt and put his foot in it livened up Italian politics when he was the country's leader.
And now he is back on the campaign trail before the elections on April 13 - a gaffe-prone 71-year-old already in trouble for putting a fascist on his list of candidates, while supporters laud his charm.
It was on a TV news show last Friday when a member of the audience, Perla Pavoncello, 24, asked the media mogul how she was supposed to start a family or get a mortgage without a job, only to be told: "You should look to marry a millionaire, like my son, or someone who doesn't have such problems." He then added: "With that smile of yours, you could even get away with it."
After a dull start, it was perhaps inevitable that the race between centre-left leader Walter Veltroni and Berlusconi required something outrageous from the two-time PM to get things started.
Opposition politicians slammed Berlusconi and forms quickly appeared on the internet to fill in and send off to Berlusconi's son asking for his hand in marriage.
Piersilvio Berlusconi, 38, declined to say if he was open to offers. Less flamboyant than his father, he recently advised Silvio to stop being photographed so often with young women.
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