george_mcgovern.jpgST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) _ Former U.S. Sen. George McGovern says he's “feeling in better shape every day'' more than three weeks after falling and hitting his head in his home state of South Dakota.

 

The 89-year-old former Democratic presidential candidate tells The St. Augustine Record that he's planning to return to his home in northeast Florida in January.

McGovern fell Dec. 2 outside a Dakota Wesleyan University library bearing his name, where he was scheduled for a television interview. He told the newspaper on Friday that he's going to be fine and that many Democratic officials in South Dakota have been visiting him as he recovers.

McGovern lost the 1972 presidential race to Republican Richard Nixon. He also spent three terms in the Senate.

He's had a home in St. Augustine since 2008.