Former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern says he feels "strangely vindicated" by Barack Obama's election victory.

McGovern says the feeling came over him Tuesday night as he watched election returns.

The 86-year-old McGovern says the principles he advocated in 1972 were the same ones Obama pressed in his campaign.

McGovern, who lost the general election to Richard Nixon, had called for the nation to return to its "founding principles" and put an end to an unpopular war in Vietnam.

Speaking from his home in Mitchell, McGovern says Obama was much more skillful in his campaign, and he was better organized and funded.