Updated

Retiring Democratic Sen. Zell Miller (search) has backed his horse in the 2004 presidential election — President Bush.

"The way I see it is, that these next five years are going to be crucial in determining what kind of world my grandchildren and great grandchildren live in, and I don't want to entrust that to any of these folks that are running out there on the Democratic side. I'm going to vote for George Bush," Miller said in a taped interview for Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" (search) show.

Miller, the one-term senator from Georgia who has supported Bush on issues from Iraq to judicial nominees to tax cuts, said he doesn't plan to become a Republican, but he will back one against any of the nine Democrats seeking to unseat Bush.

"I think that George Bush is the right man in the right place in the right time," the former governor said. "I think he's got some [Winston] Churchill (search) in him. He understands the history of freedom. He knows where it came from, and he's not afraid to take sides. I loved him whenever he looked at the American people on Tuesday and said, 'We're not leaving [Iraq].'"

When Miller announced his retirement in January, he said that he was going to stay out of political campaigns. But Wednesday's endorsement demonstrated that he has changed his mind.

Miller said he would help Bush any way he can because "that's the kind of man I want in there as commander-in-chief."