WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin, Sept 3 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush called his predecessor, Bill Clinton, on Friday and wished him a speedy recovery from his upcoming heart bypass operation, a White House spokeswoman said.
Bush phoned Clinton from Air Force One and told the former president, who has been hospitalized in New York ahead of the surgery, that his prayers were with him, spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.
Speaking earlier at a campaign rally, Bush told the crowd "En route here, we just received news that President Clinton has been hospitalized in New York. He is in our thoughts and prayers. We send him our best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
The two-term Democratic president was admitted to a New York hospital on Friday to undergo bypass surgery, his wife Hillary said.
Several television networks said Clinton, who turned 58 in August, would need quadruple bypass surgery but this was not confirmed by his family or aides.
Bush was in this battleground state as part of a campaign blitz aimed at building on his prime-time speech to the Republican national convention, which kicked off the final two-month sprint to the November 2 election.
After his announcement, thousands of boisterous supporters clapped respectfully.
Hillary Clinton said doctors advised her husband on Friday to undergo surgery as soon as possible. The ex-president was admitted to the New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia, which has one of the top cardiology units in the United States.
"He went to our local hospital yesterday, complaining of some chest pains and shortness of breath," Hillary Clinton said at a speaking engagement at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, before leaving early to be with her husband.
"He said he felt fine and not to worry and he'd see me at the fair, but his doctors asked him to come back early this morning for some additional tests."
The doctors "advised him to have bypass surgery and do it as soon as he could," she added.