NEW YORK, Sept 5 (AFP) - Former president Bill Clinton has been inundated with greetings from some 15,000 well-wishers around the world, US media reported Sunday, as he awaits heart bypass surgery later this week.
President George W. Bush called his predecessor to wish him well, then told a crowd at an election rally in Wisconsin Saturday, that the 58-year old former president "is in our thoughts and our prayers. We send him our best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry, at a rival rally in Newark, Ohio, extended "our wishes and our prayers" to Clinton. "He is going to be fine."
Clinton also received a call from US Vice President Cheney, who has suffered four heart attacks and underwent his own quadruple bypass surgery in 1988.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also sent a message of support. Thousands of other greetings were posted on Clinton's presidential library Web site, and flower arrangements have been sent to the ex-president at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, where he is hospitalized.
Clinton was admitted to the hospital early Friday complaining of chest pains, and doctors examining him discovered substantial blockages in several arteries.
Heart surgery -- probably a quadruple bypass -- is expected Monday or Tuesday, according to news reports.