Dem's Hassle Cheney, give Clinton free ride...

PITTSBURGH, United States (AFP) - Senator John Kerry (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign slammed Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), a heart patient, over reports he had a flu shot, despite a shortage of the vaccine.

The campaign complained that Treasury Secretary John Snow and Senate Majority leader Bill Frist also had jabs, despite Bush's advice that the young and healthy did not need to get an injection.

"Once again, the Bush administration proves that it is the 'do as we say, not as we do' White House," the campaign said in a statement issued in Pittsburgh where Kerry was campaigning.

"The very week that (health) secretary (Tommy) Thompson is telling Americans to keep calm, Dick Cheney, John Snow and Bill Frist are getting flu shots."

"It is unfortunate that the Bush administration failed to do the work necessary to ensure that all Americans, including those most at risk, had been able to get shots as well."

Cheney would fit into the government's definition of those most vulnerable to a looming influenza epidemic as he has a long history of heart disease.

Bush last week suggested in the final presidential debate that the young and healthy forgo the annual shot amid a shortage of vaccine that Kerry has blamed on the president's management of the health system.

(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.