George McGovern is nearing the end of his life. I voted for him when he ran for president in 1972 - my first vote. I also worked as a volunteer on his campaign. I put one of his bumperstickers on my desk at Travis AFB, California and went door to door off base in the evenings to help his campaign. What I learned first-hand was that the mainstream Democratic party operatives in California, and all over the country, virtually abandoned McGovern because they thought he was too radical.
McGovern's loss to Nixon was hard to swallow. In 1968, as a young 16 year old conservative, I supported Nixon. But by 1972 I had been transformed by joining the military during the Vietnam War. There was no turning back for me after that.
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