MITCHELL - Former Sen. George McGovern has
endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential
nomination.
McGovern, 85, who lives in Mitchell, said
Clinton is a "seasoned, thoughtful, caring person" and
that her experience as a U.S. senator
and first lady make her the best qualified Democrat.
McGovern made the endorsement over the weekend
in Iowa.
He
said his personal loyalty to her and her husband, former President
Bill Clinton, influenced his decision.
"That
was one factor - I can't divorce that," McGovern told the Daily
Republic of Mitchell. "It was something on my mind, but it wasn't
the decisive factor. It wouldn't lead me to endorse a person who's
not qualified."
McGovern said he will volunteer to help
Clinton's campaign from time to time.
"I
think this is going to be a Democratic year," McGovern said. "We'd
really have to blow our chances to lose this one. At least in my
long life, I've never seen a time when it looks more like a
Democratic victory at the national level."
He
attributed it to President Bush's "weakening" of the Republican
Party and the country through "bad leadership."
McGovern, the Democratic nominee in 1972, lost the
general election to President Richard Nixon.
Hillary Clinton, who was a 1972 McGovern campaign
worker, has been criticized for her Senate vote to authorize the
Iraq War. Similarly, McGovern took heat for his Senate vote in
support of the Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution, which gave then-President Lyndon Johnson the
authority to escalate U.S. military
involvement in Vietnam.
Despite that vote, McGovern ran as the
anti-Vietnam War candidate. And Clinton's Web
site now says she "will end" the war in Iraq if
President Bush doesn't.
