Senator Hillary Clinton said Monday that doctors have not yet cleared former president Bill Clinton to hit the campaign trail for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

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

The former president, who is still recovering from bypass surgery, has received a flu shot, she said.

Earlier Monday, in an interview with an Albany radio station, the senator said her husband has surprised her by being a "patientpatient" as he recovers from quadruple heart bypass surgery.

"He goes for long walks around the area here," she said in the telephone interview from the couple's Westchester County home in Chappaqua, just north of New York City.

The senator indicated that it will be up to Clinton's doctors to decide if he can campaign before the Nov. 2 election, but spokesman Jim Kennedy said Monday he did not expect any immediate word on whether the former president could campaign.

Clinton, 58, underwent surgery in New York City on Sept. 6 after complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath.

The surgery stalled the former president's plans to campaign for Kerry. Clinton has, however, been phoning Kerry and his aides with advice and is expected to make radio ads and telephone get-out-the-vote messages for the Kerry campaign.

Source: Xinhua