McGovern hurt prior to TV event

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern was hospitalized Friday after he fell and hit his head on the pavement outside of a library bearing his name, where he was set to be interviewed on C-SPAN.

McGovern’s daughter Ann McGovern said her father was to be treated at a Sioux Falls hospital after being flown by helicopter from Mitchell, S.D., where the interview was to take place at the Dakota Wesleyan University’s McGovern Library.

“He had just walked from home to the center. He lives literally just across the street,” Ann McGovern told the Associated Press.

McGovern has lived in St. Augustine, Fla., since 2008 but also has a home in Mitchell.

Friends and faculty who had gathered at the library for the C-SPAN taping said McGovern fell before the program was to begin. McGovern, 89, was “bleeding profusely” but was conscious and talking as he was taken from the university by ambulance, said Donald Simmons, dean of the College of Public Service.

University President Robert Duffett said McGovern had been excited to take part in the live C-SPAN program called “The Contenders,” which focuses on failed presidential candidates who changed the landscape of American politics. McGovern lost his 1972 challenge against President Richard Nixon, who eventually resigned amid the Watergate scandal.