U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has twice been to Mexico in recent weeks, and so when she appeared at two State Department events on Friday with a cough and apparent cold symptoms, reporters asked an obvious question.

 Did the top U.S. diplomat possibly get the new H1N1 swine flu during her trips to Mexico in late March and with U.S. President Barack Obama last month?

“You’ll be happy to know it’s just mild allergies.  She suffers from mild allergies.  That’s all it is,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood when asked about Clinton’s health.

 Another aide said Clinton has had allergies for a long time. The flu virus has killed up to 176 people in Mexico and since spread to the United States, where there has been one death.

For more Reuters political news, click here

Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 30)

LORETTO,  KENTUCKY  -   Sen.  Hillary Clinton, campaigning in rural Kentucky, on Saturday blasted critics telling her to drop out of the presidential race as America’s advantaged and well-heeled trying to tell the rest of the nation what to think and do.

“All those people on TV who are telling you and everybody else that this race is over and I should just be graceful and say, ‘Oh, it’s over,’” she said in Loretto, Kentucky. “Those are all people who have a job. Those are all people who have health care. Those are all people who can afford to send their kids to college. Those are all people who can pay whatever is charged at the gas pump.

“They’re not the people I’m running to be a champion for,” she said after touring a bourbon distillery. “I’m running to be a champion for all of you and your children and your grandchildren.”

Clinton, facing calls to quit in favor of Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama, has adopted a populist appeal in her bid for her party’s presidential nomination, especially as she has sought support in the rural Midwest and South.

As her campaign accused Obama of being an elitist, she drank a shot of whiskey before a crowd of photographers, posed with the driver of a large pickup truck to oppose high gas prices and campaigned at a farm equipment dealership and an auto race car hall of fame.

Recent primaries have shown Clinton faring better among voters with less education and less income in rural areas than Obama who is doing better among more affluent, more educated voters in more urban areas.

Later on Saturday, at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Clinton continued in the same vein.

“I think we have a problem because too often, folks who are sitting in Washington or on TV sets tell people what you’re supposed to think and what you’re supposed to do,” she said, “and I don’t believe that’s the best way that America can work. The strength of America comes from our people.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo: Reuters/Chris Keane (Clinton supporter in West Virginia )

CHARLESTON - While Democrats fret over the lengthy nomination battle and pundits wring their hands over whether Sen. Hillary Clinton should pull out, the candidate is out campaigning as if all those political storm clouds were not hanging over her head.

On Tuesday, as West Virginia voters headed to the polls, Clinton stopped to greet people at an outdoor flower market in Charleston. She was met with enthusiasm, especially from older, white women who have proven to be a pillar of her support.

“West Virginia is behind you, darling,” one woman shouted.

Clinton shook hands, posed for pictures and cooed over babies as shoppers lined up to meet her. Shouts of “She’s here, she’s here” rippled through the market.

“I’m so excited. I just voted and here you are,” Julie Watkins squealed to the candidate. The 42-year-old social worker said she had to rush off to take her grandmother to vote.

Another supporter, Mary Lou White, cupped a lit cigar in her hand as she met the former first lady.

“I told her to keep fighting. That’s what you do,” said the 69-year-old plant vendor from Kenna, West Virginia, afterward.

Clinton stopped to eat a cup of Espresso Oreo ice cream from Ellen’s Homemade Ice Cream stand.

“I’m an equal opportunity ice cream eater,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever eaten ice cream I didn’t like.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.