MITCHELL, S.D. — Former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern was hospitalized Friday after falling as he prepared to appear on a C-SPAN special about his bid for the White House.
McGovern, 89, was discovered bleeding outside the library named in his honor at Dakota Wesleyan University after he failed to arrive inside for filming, The Daily Republic reported.
He is recovering in Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls. A nurse said his condition was “not critical, but something we need to keep an eye on.”
McGovern — who lost the 1972 election to Richard Nixon — was reported to be speaking with paramedics as they tended to him and loaded him into an ambulance.
He had been planning to sit for a live interview for C-SPAN’s series “The Contenders,” which chronicles unsuccessful presidential candidates who “ran and lost but changed political history.”