A day before Senator Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Sioux Falls for a campaign rally, a long time Clinton supporter is backing someone else.

Former Presidential Candidate and South Dakota Senator George McGovern now says he will support Senator Barack Obama.

McGovern told KSFY telling President Bill Clinton about his decision was tough and he expects talking to Hillary will be very painful.

Senator McGovern said he's thought about switching his support for sometime, but never felt it was the right time to do so until the results from North Carolina and Indiana came in.

In the name of unifying the party behind Barack Obama, McGovern says Hillary Clinton should step aside.

"I don't want to diminish the feeling I have for Hillary Clinton..she's one of the most intelligent women in this country today," said Fmr. Sen. George McGovern.

McGovern says it was the way Sen. Obama has planned his campaign and gathered grassroots support. He compares the Illinois Senator's bid to his own run for the White House in 1972.

"Nobody thought I had a prayer. Who is this Junior Senator from South Dakota?" said Sen. McGovern.

And in Obama, McGovern says he sees something special. Something that makes Senator Obama worthy of being compared to someone else from Illinois: Abraham Lincoln.

"I've held that bar about as high as you can get it to think you might be another Abraham Lincoln," said Sen. McGovern.

As you can imagine, after making this announcement, this has become a very busy day for George McGovern at the McGovern Library.

Just about every network has tried to set up an interview with the former Senator as well as many local media outlets looking for a piece of his time.