Stephen King backing Barack Obama

SARASOTA, Fla., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Horror story writer Stephen King is throwing his support to Barack Obama, saying having a black U.S. president is what the country needs.

King told the Bangor (Maine) Daily News the United States needs "a big change."

"We've had enough Bush Republicanism to last the country for a long time," he said. "We're seeing a lot of chickens come home to roost because of Bush administration policies. You can't pump billions of dollars into a foreign war without it affecting the economy."

King, 60, said he found it "an amazing thing" to see the two front-runners be a woman and a black man, the Daily News reported Saturday. But, King said, he prefers Obama, the senator from Illinois, over Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

"Obama has the least baggage of the two and is willing to try new things," he said. "It wouldn't be business as usual. Also it would do wonders for us in the world community to have a black man in the White House."

King's new novel, "Duma Key," is to hit bookstores Tuesday. It's the story of a construction worker who suffers the loss of his arm and memory after almost being killed by a crane at work.