car stalls out when idling

ive got a 1998 taurus wit the 3.0 duratec

i was stuck in gridlock traffic for about 2 hours and a lil less then halfway through the car started stalling when the engine was idling
now whenever i get to a stop light it stalls out unless i put the car in neutral and keep giving it gas... the strange thing is when the car stalled out two times (it stalled 4 total times before i realized how to stop it from stalling) the clock on the radio resest.. any ideas thanks