Bill Clinton A Model Patient

Getting Better Every Day; No Green Light (Yet) For Campaign Trail

(AP)  Former President Clinton is proving to be a surprisingly "patient patient" as he recovers from quadruple heart bypass surgery, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday. But his doctors haven't yet cleared him to hit the campaign trail for fellow Democrat John Kerry.

"That is still being worked on as we speak," the former first lady said during a news conference about flu vaccine. She said the former president has received a flu shot.

Earlier Monday, in an interview with an Albany radio station, the senator said her husband has surprised her with his resolve and patience.

"He's really doing well," she told Albany radio station WROW-AM. "He has been a much more patient patient than I would have ever guessed. He has taken seriously all of the advice the doctors have given him."

"Every day he feels a little better," she said from the couple's home in Chappaqua, a New York City suburb.

Clinton, 58, underwent surgery Sept. 6 after complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath.

The surgery stalled the former president's plans to campaign for Kerry. His wife has said it will be up to Clinton's doctors to decide if he can hit the campaign trail before the Nov. 2 election. The former president has been phoning Kerry and his aides with advice and is expected to make radio ads and get-out-the-vote telephone messages for the campaign.