Eleanor McGovern, R.I.P.

Eleanor and George McGovern In 1972, I cast my very first presidential ballot for Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.

I was proud of that vote then, and I’m proud of it still.

Eleanor McGovern, the senator’s wife, has died at the age of 85.

“I still carry a trace of bitterness about poverty,” she wrote in [her 1974 memoir] “Uphill.” “It was not ennobling for my father and grandfather to scratch out a living on land rendered barren. The poor have few choices in life. About all they can do is persevere.”

My condolences to Sen. McGovern and his family in this time of their loss. This is a loss for all of us.