John McCain

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John Sidney McCain III (born August 29 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presumptive Republican Party nominee for President of the United States in the upcoming 2008 election.

Both McCain's grandfather and father were admirals in the United States Navy. McCain attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 1958. He was married in 1965. He became a naval aviator, flying attack aircraft from carriers. During the Vietnam War in 1967, he narrowly escaped death in the Forrestal fire. On his twenty-third bombing mission over North Vietnam later in 1967, he was shot down and badly injured. He then endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture, before he was released following the Paris Peace Accords in 1973.

Retiring from the Navy in 1981 and recently remarried, McCain moved to Arizona and entered politics. In 1982, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district. After serving two terms there, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona in 1986. He was re-elected Senator in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to American conservatism, McCain established a reputation as a political maverick for his willingness to defy Republican orthodoxy on several issues. Surviving the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passing of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.

McCain was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election, but was defeated by George W. Bush after closely contested battles in several early primary states. In the 2008 presidential election cycle, McCain was the Republican front-runner as the cycle began. His campaign suffered a near-collapse in mid-2007, due to financial issues and his support for comprehensive immigration reform. In late 2007, he staged a comeback. He won several key primaries during January 2008, and by the end of that month was the Republican front-runner once again. His lead was solidified by several victories on Super Tuesday in early February, and by the subsequent withdrawal of his closest competitor, Mitt Romney; he gained enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee on March 4, 2008.

Early life and military career

Formative years and education

John McCain's early life began at a military base. He was born on August 29 1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in Panama within the then-American-controlled Panama Canal Zone to Navy officer John S. McCain, Jr. (1911–1981) and Roberta (Wright) McCain (b. 1912). His father and paternal grandfather both eventually became United States Navy admirals. McCain has Scots-Irish and English ancestry.

McCain's family (including his older sister Sandy and younger brother Joe) followed his father to various naval postings in the United States and the Pacific; altogether he attended about twenty different schools. As a child, John was known for a quick temper, and an aggressive drive to compete and prevail. In 1951, the family settled in Northern Virginia and McCain attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria. There he excelled at wrestling and graduated in 1954.

Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered the United States Naval Academy. He was a friend and leader for many of his classmates, and stood up for people who were being bullied; he was also a feisty lightweight boxer. McCain had run-ins with higher-ups and he was disinclined to obey every rule, which contributed to a low class rank (894/899) that he did not aim to improve. McCain did well in academic subjects that interested him, although he gained at least one hundred demerits; his graduation in 1958 gave him an opportunity to show the same mettle as his naval forbears.

Naval training, early assignments, first marriage, and children

John McCain's pre-combat duty began when he was commissioned an ensign. He started two and a half years of training as a naval aviator at Pensacola, where he also earned a reputation as a party man. Graduating from flight school in 1960, he became a naval pilot of attack aircraft. McCain then spent several years stationed in A-1 Skyraider squadrons on the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise, in the Caribbean Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea. During his training and deployments he survived two airplane crashes and a collision with power lines.

On July 3 1965 McCain married Carol Shepp, a model originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. McCain adopted her two children Doug and Andy, who were five and three years old at the time; he and Carol then had a daughter named Sidney in September 1966.

McCain requested a combat assignment, and in December 1966 was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, flying A-4 Skyhawks.

Vietnam operations

McCain's combat duty began when he was thirty years old. In Spring 1967, Forrestal was assigned to join Operation Rolling Thunder, a bombing campaign against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. McCain and his fellow pilots were frustrated by Rolling Thunder's infamous micromanagement from Washington; he would later write that "The target list was so restricted that we had to go back and hit the same targets over and over again.... Most of our pilots flying the missions believed that our targets were virtually worthless. In all candor, we thought our civilian commanders were complete idiots who didn’t have the least notion of what it took to win the war."

By then a Lieutenant Commander, McCain was almost killed in action on July 29, 1967, while serving on Forrestal, operating in the Gulf of Tonkin. He was at the epicenter of the Forrestal fire, when a rocket accidentally fired across the carrier's deck and hit planes, including McCain's which had been waiting to launch. McCain escaped from his burning jet and was trying to help another pilot escape when a bomb exploded; McCain was struck in the legs and chest by shrapnel. The ensuing fire killed 134 sailors and took 24 hours to control. As Forrestal headed for repairs, McCain volunteered to join the short-staffed USS Oriskany.

Prisoner of war

John McCain's capture and imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his twenty-third bombing mission over North Vietnam, when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a Soviet-made SA-2 anti-aircraft missile over Hanoi. McCain fractured both arms and a leg, and then nearly drowned when he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi. After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around, spat on him, kicked him, and stripped him of his clothes. Others crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area; he was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Loa Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American POWs.

Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to give him medical care unless he gave them military information, beating and interrogating him. Only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral did they give him medical care and announced his capture. His status as a POW made the front pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post.

McCain spent six weeks in the Hoa Loa hospital, receiving marginal care. Now having lost 50 pounds, in a chest cast, and with his hair turned white, McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week; they nursed McCain and kept him alive. In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.

In July 1968, McCain's father was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater. McCain was immediately offered a chance to return home early: The North Vietnamese wanted a worldwide propaganda coup by appearing merciful, and also wanted to show other POWs that elites like McCain were willing to be treated preferentially. McCain turned down the offer of repatriation; he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well. McCain's refusal to be released was even remarked upon by North Vietnamese senior negotiator Le Duc Tho to U.S. envoy Averell Harriman during the ongoing Paris Peace Talks.

In August of 1968, a program of severe torture methods began on McCain, using rope bindings into painful positions, and beatings every two hours, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery. McCain made an anti-American propaganda "confession" that said he was a "black criminal" and an "air pirate". He has always felt that his statement was dishonorable, but as he would later write, "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine." His injuries left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head. He subsequently received two to three beatings per week because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements. Other American POWs were similarly tortured and maltreated in order to extract "confessions", with many enduring even worse treatment than McCain.

McCain refused to meet with various anti-war peace groups coming to Hanoi, not wanting to give either them or the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory based on his connection to his father. From late 1969 on, treatment of McCain and some of the other POWs became more tolerable after disclosures to the world press of the conditions to which they were being subjected. McCain and other prisoners were moved around to different camps at times, and later cheered the B-52-led U.S. "Christmas Bombing" campaign of December 1972 as a forceful measure to force North Vietnam to terms.

Altogether, McCain was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years. The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973, ending direct U.S. involvement in the war, but the Operation Homecoming arrangements for POWs took longer; McCain was finally released from captivity on March 15, 1973.

Return to United States

McCain's return to the United States reunited him with his wife and family. His wife Carol had suffered her own crippling, near-death ordeal during his captivity, due to an automobile accident in December 1969. As a returned POW, McCain became a celebrity of sorts. The photograph at left of him on crutches shaking the hand of President Richard Nixon during a White House reception for returning POWs became iconic.

McCain underwent treatment for his injuries, including months of grueling physical therapy, and attended the National War College in Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. during 1973–1974. By late 1974 McCain had recuperated enough to have his flight status reinstated, and he became Commanding Officer of a large A-7 Corsair II Navy training squadron stationed in Florida. McCain's leadership abilities were credited with turning around a mediocre unit and winning the squadron its first Meritorious Unit Commendation. During this period, the McCains' marriage began to falter; he would later say he was to blame.

Senate liaison and second marriage

McCain served as the Navy's liaison to the U.S. Senate, beginning in 1977. Returning to the Washington, D.C. area, he became leader of the Senate liaison operation, and would later say it represented "[my] real entry into the world of politics and the beginning of my second career as a public servant." McCain played a key behind-the-scenes role in gaining congressional financing for a new supercarrier against the wishes of the Carter administration.

In 1979, McCain met and began a relationship with Cindy Lou Hensley, a teacher from Phoenix, Arizona, whose father was a wealthy Anheuser-Busch distributor. By then McCain's naval career had stalled; it was unlikely he would ever be promoted to admiral as his grandfather and father had been, because he had poor annual physicals and had been given no major sea command.

His wife Carol accepted a divorce in February of 1980, and the uncontested divorce occurred on April 2, 1980. The settlement included two houses, and financial support for her ongoing medical treatments resulting from the 1969 automobile accident; they would remain on good terms. McCain and Hensley were married on May 17, 1980.

McCain retired from the Navy on April 1, 1981, as a Captain. During his military career, he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross.

House and Senate career, 1982–1999

U.S. Congressman and more children

McCain set his sights on becoming a Congressman. Living in Phoenix, he went to work for Hensley & Co., his new father-in-law Jim Hensley's large Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship, as Vice President of Public Relations. There he gained political support among the local business community, meeting powerful figures such as banker Charles Keating, Jr., real estate developer Fife Symington III, and newspaper publisher Darrow "Duke" Tully. In 1982, McCain ran as a Republican for an open seat in Arizona's 1st congressional district. As a newcomer to the state, McCain was hit with repeated charges of being a carpetbagger. McCain responded to a voter making the charge with what a Phoenix Gazette columnist would later label as "the most devastating response to a potentially troublesome political issue I've ever heard":

With the assistance of local political endorsements, his Washington connections, as well money that his wife lent to his campaign, McCain won a highly contested primary election, then easily won the general election in the heavily Republican district.

McCain was elected the president of the 1983 Republican freshman class of representatives. His politics at this point were mainly in line with President Ronald Reagan, and he was active on Indian Affairs bills. He won re-election to the House easily in 1984.

In 1984 McCain and his wife Cindy had their first child together, daughter Meghan. She was followed two years later by son John Sidney IV (known as "Jack"), and in 1988 by son James. In 1991, Cindy McCain brought an abandoned three-month old girl needing medical treatment to the U.S. from a Bangladeshi orphanage run by Mother Teresa; the McCains decided to adopt her, and named her Bridget.

U.S. Senate career begins

McCain's Senate career began in 1987, after longtime American conservative icon and Arizona fixture Barry Goldwater retired as United States Senator from Arizona. McCain took office after defeating his Democratic opponent, former state legislator Richard Kimball, with 60 percent of the vote to Kimball's 40 percent in the 1986 election.

Upon entering the Senate, McCain became a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, with whom he had formerly done his Navy liaison work; he also joined the Commerce Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee. He continued to support the Native American agenda. McCain was a strong supporter of the Gramm-Rudman legislation that enforced automatic spending cuts in the case of budget deficits.

McCain soon gained national visibility. He delivered a well-received speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention, he was mentioned by the press as a short list vice-presidential running mate for Republican nominee George H. W. Bush, and he was named chairman of Veterans for Bush.

Keating Five

McCain became enmeshed in a scandal during the 1980s, called Keating Five, in the context of the Savings and Loan crisis of that decade. Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received approximately $112,000 in political contributions from Charles Keating Jr. and his associates at Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, along with trips on Keating's jets. Subsequently, in 1987, McCain was one of five Senators whom Keating contacted in order to prevent the government’s seizure of Lincoln, which was by then insolvent and being investigated for making questionable efforts to regain solvency. At Keating's request, McCain met at least twice in 1987 with the chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to prevent the government's seizure of Lincoln.

On his Keating Five experience, McCain said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do."

Federal regulators ultimately filed a $1.1 billion civil racketeering and fraud suit against Keating. The five senators came under investigation for attempting to influence the regulators. In the end, none of the senators were charged with any crime, although McCain was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising "poor judgment" in intervening with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf. In his 1992 re-election bid, the Keating Five affair did not dominate discussion, and he won handily, gaining 56 percent of the vote to Democratic community and civil rights activist Claire Sargent's 32 percent and independent former Governor Evan Mecham's 11 percent.

A "maverick" senator

McCain has long had a reputation as a maverick. He was a member of the 1991–1993 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, chaired by Democrat and fellow Vietnam War veteran John Kerry, convened to investigate the fate of U.S. service personnel listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The committee's report, which McCain endorsed, stated there was "no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia. Helped by McCain's efforts, in 1995 the U.S. normalized diplomatic relations with Vietnam. During his time on the committee and afterward, McCain was vilified as a fraud, traitor, or "Manchurian Candidate" by some POW/MIA activists who believed that there were large numbers of American servicemen still being held against their will in Southeast Asia.

McCain made attacking the corrupting influence of big money on American politics his signature issue. Starting in 1994, he worked with Democratic Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform; their McCain-Feingold bill would attempt to put limits on "soft money". From the start, McCain and Feingold's efforts were opposed by large money interests, by incumbents in both parties, by those who felt spending limits impinged on free political speech, and by those who wanted to lessen the power of what they saw as media bias. Despite garnering considerable sympathetic coverage in the national media, initial versions of the McCain-Feingold Act were filibustered and never came to a vote. The term "maverick Republican" became a label frequently applied to McCain; he has also used the term himself.

McCain also attacked pork barrel spending within Congress. He was instrumental in pushing through approval of the Line Item Veto Act of 1996, which gave the president the power to veto individual spending items. It was one of McCain's biggest Senate victories, though in 1998 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional.

In the 1996 presidential election, McCain was again on the short list of possible vice-presidential picks for Republican nominee Bob Dole, although the position went to Congressman Jack Kemp. The following year, Time magazine named McCain as one of the "25 Most Influential People in America".

In 1997 McCain became chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee; he was criticized for accepting funds from corporations and businesses under the committee's purview, but in response said the restricted contributions he received were not part of the big-money nature of the campaign finance problem. McCain took on the tobacco industry in 1998, proposing legislation that would increase cigarette taxes in order to fund anti-smoking campaigns and reduce the number of teenage smokers, increase research money on health studies, and help states pay for smoking-related health care costs. Supported by the Clinton administration but opposed by the industry and most Republicans, the bill failed to gain cloture twice and was seen as a bad political defeat for McCain.

McCain easily won re-election to a third senate term in November 1998, gaining 69 percent of the vote to 27 percent for his Democratic opponent, environmental lawyer Ed Ranger. In 1999, McCain shared the Profile in Courage Award with Senator Feingold for their work in trying to enact their campaign finance reform, although the bill was still failing repeated attempts to gain cloture.

2000 presidential campaign

McCain announced his candidacy for president on September 27, 1999 in Nashua, New Hampshire, saying he was staging "a fight to take our government back from the power brokers and special interests, and return it to the people and the noble cause of freedom it was created to serve." The leader for the Republican nomination was Texas Governor George W. Bush, who had the support of, and was funded by, most of the party establishment.

McCain focused on the New Hampshire primary, where his message held appeal to independents. He traveled on a campaign bus called the "Straight Talk Express", and held many town hall meetings, answering every question voters had, in a successful example of "retail politics"; he used free media to compensate for his lack of funds. One reporter later recounted that, "McCain talked all day long with reporters on his Straight Talk Express bus; he talked so much that sometimes he said things that he shouldn't have, and that's why the media loved him." On February 1, 2000, he won the primary with 49 percent of the vote to Bush's 30 percent. Analysts predicted that a McCain victory in the crucial South Carolina primary might give his insurgency campaign unstoppable momentum; a degree of panic crept into the Bush campaign and the Republican establishment.

The battle between Bush and McCain for South Carolina has entered American political lore as one of the dirtiest and most brutal ever. A variety of interest groups that McCain had challenged in the past now pounded him with negative ads. Bush tried to co-opt McCain's message of reform, while refusing to disassociate himself from a veterans activist who accused McCain (in Bush's presence) of having "abandoned the veterans" on POW/MIA and Agent Orange issues. Incensed, McCain ran ads accusing Bush of lying and comparing the governor to Bill Clinton, which Bush said was "about as low a blow as you can give in a Republican primary." An unidentified party began a semi-underground smear campaign against McCain, delivered by push polls, faxes, e-mails, and flyers, claiming most infamously that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock (the McCains' dark-skinned daughter Bridget was adopted from Bangladesh), that his wife Cindy was a drug addict, that he was a homosexual, and that he was a "Manchurian Candidate" traitor or mentally unstable from his North Vietnam POW days. The Bush campaign strongly denied any involvement with the attacks. McCain lost South Carolina on February 19, with 42 percent of the vote to Bush's 53 percent, in part because Bush mobilized the state's evangelical voters and outspent McCain; this allowed Bush to regain lost momentum. Conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh supported Bush and labeled McCain a favorite of liberal Democrats. McCain would say of the rumor spreaders, "I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those." According to one report, the South Carolina experience left McCain in a "very dark place."

McCain's campaign never completely recovered from his defeat there, although he did rebound partially by winning in Arizona and Michigan on February 22. He made a February 28 speech in Virginia Beach that criticized Christian leaders, including Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, as divisive conservatives, declaring "... we embrace the fine members of the religious conservative community. But that does not mean that we will pander to their self-appointed leaders. McCain lost the Virginia primary on February 29 and nine of the thirteen primaries on Super Tuesday to Bush. With little hope of catching Bush's delegate lead, McCain withdrew from the race on March 9, 2000. He endorsed Bush two months later, and occasionally made appearances with Bush during the general election.

Senate career, 2001–present

Activities during first Bush term, 2001–2004

McCain began 2001 by breaking with the new George W. Bush administration on a number of matters, including HMO reform, climate change, and gun legislation; McCain-Feingold was opposed by Bush as well. In May 2001, the Senator was one of only two Republicans to vote against the Bush tax cuts. Later, when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords became an Independent, throwing control of the Senate to the Democrats, McCain defended Jeffords against "self-appointed enforcers of party loyalty." Indeed, there was speculation at the time, and in years since, about McCain himself possibly leaving the Republican Party. McCain has always adamantly denied that he ever considered doing so.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, McCain supported Bush and the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. He and Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman wrote the legislation that created the 9/11 Commission, while he and Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings co-sponsored the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that federalized airport security.

In March 2002, McCain-Feingold passed in both Houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Bush. Seven years in the making, it was McCain's greatest legislative achievement.

Meanwhile, in discussions over proposed U.S. action against Iraq, McCain was a strong supporter of the Bush position. He stated that Iraq was "a clear and present danger to the United States of America," and voted accordingly for the Iraq War Resolution in October 2002. He anticipated that the U.S. forces would be treated as liberators by most of the Iraqi people. In May 2003, McCain voted against the second round of Bush tax cuts, saying it was unwise at a time of war. By November 2003, after a trip to Iraq, McCain was publicly questioning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, saying that more U.S. troops were needed; the following year, McCain announced that he had lost confidence in Rumsfeld.

In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, McCain was once again frequently mentioned for the vice-presidential slot, only this time as part of the Democratic ticket under nominee John Kerry. McCain said that Kerry had never formally offered him the position and that he would not have accepted it anyway. At the 2004 Republican National Convention, McCain supported Bush for re-election, praising Bush's management of the War on Terror since the September 11 attacks. At the same time, the Senator defended Kerry's Vietnam war record. By August 2004, McCain had the best favorable-to-unfavorable rating (55 percent to 19 percent) of any national politician.

McCain was himself up for re-election as Senator in 2004; he defeated little-known Democratic schoolteacher Stuart Starky with his biggest margin of victory yet, garnering 77 percent of the vote.

Activities during second Bush term, 2005–2007

On judicial appointments, McCain is a stong believer in judges who “would strictly interpret the Constitution,” and accordingly over the years would support the confirmations of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito. McCain drew the ire of the originalist and similar legal movements in the U.S. in May 2005, however, when he led the so-called "Gang of 14" in the Senate, which established a compromise that preserved the ability of senators to filibuster judicial nominees, but only in "extraordinary circumstances."

Breaking from his 2001 and 2003 votes, McCain supported the Bush tax cut extension in May 2006, known as the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, saying not to do so would amount to a tax increase. Working with Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, McCain was a strong proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, which would involve legalization, guest worker programs, and border enforcement components: the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was never voted on in 2005, while the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 passed the Senate in May 2006 but failed in the House. In June 2007, President Bush, McCain and others made the strongest push yet for such a bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, but it aroused tremendous grassroots opposition among talk radio listeners and others as an "amnesty" program, and twice failed to gain cloture in the Senate.

Owing to his time as a POW, McCain has been recognized for his sensitivity to the detention and interrogation of detainees in the War on Terror. On October 3, 2005, McCain introduced the McCain Detainee Amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill for 2005 and the Senate voted 90-9 to support the amendment; it prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, by confining interrogations to the techniques in FM 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation. Although Bush had threatened to veto the bill if McCain's language was included, the President announced on December 15, 2005 that he accepted McCain's terms and would "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad. Bush made clear his interpretation of this legislation in a signing statement, reserving what he interpreted to be his Presidential constitutional authority in order to avoid further terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, McCain continued questioning the progress of the war in Iraq. In September 2005, he questioned Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers' optimistic outlook on the war's progress: "Things have not gone as well as we had planned or expected, nor as we were told by you, General Myers. In August 2006 he criticized the administration for continually understating the effectiveness of the insurgency: "We [have] not told the American people how tough and difficult this could be." From the beginning McCain strongly supported the Iraq troop surge of 2007; the strategy's opponents labeled it "McCain's plan and University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said, "McCain owns Iraq just as much as Bush does now." The surge and the war were unpopular during most of the year, even within the Republican Party, as McCain's presidential campaign was underway; faced with the consequences, McCain frequently responded, "I would much rather lose a campaign than a war.

2008 presidential campaign

McCain established his presidential exploratory committee on November 15, 2006, then announced he was seeking the 2008 Presidential nomination from the Republican Party on the February 28, 2007, telecast of the Late Show With David Letterman. McCain officially started his 2008 presidential campaign on April 25, 2007, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If elected, John McCain would make history as being the oldest U.S. president upon ascension to the presidency; at inauguration on January 20, 2009, he would be 72 years and 144 days old, compared to Ronald Reagan's age of 69 years and 249 days (Reagan was 73 years and 249 days at his second inauguration). He has dismissed concerns about his age and past health concerns (malignant melanoma in 2000), stating in 2005 that his health was "excellent. In the event of his victory in 2008, he would also become the first President of the United States to be born in a former U.S. territory outside of the current 50 states (see natural-born citizens).

McCain's oft-cited strengths as a presidential candidate for 2008 included national name recognition, sponsorship of major lobbying and campaign finance reform initiatives, leadership in exposing the Abramoff scandal, his well-known military service and experience as a POW, his experience from the 2000 presidential campaign, extensive fundraising abilities, and strong advocacy for President Bush's re-election campaign in 2004. During the 2006 election cycle, McCain attended 346 events and raised more than $10.5 million on behalf of Republican candidates. He also donated nearly $1.5 million to federal, state and county parties. In a bid to finally gain support from the Christian right, McCain gave the May 2006 commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. During his 2000 presidential bid, McCain had called Falwell an "agent of intolerance"; McCain in 2006 said that Falwell was no longer as divisive and the two discussed their shared values. McCain was also more willing to ask business and industry for campaign contributions, counting more lobbyists as fundraisers than any other candidate, while maintaining adamantly that such contributions would not affect any senatorial decisions he made.

McCain's second-quarter 2007 fundraising totals fell from $13.6 million in the first quarter to $11.2 million in the second, and expenses continuing such that only $2 million cash was on hand with about $1 million in debts. Both McCain supporters and political observers pointed to McCain's support for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, very unpopular among the Republican base electorate, as a primary cause of his fundraising problems. Large-scale campaign staff downsizing took place in early July, with 50 to 100 staffers let go and others taking pay cuts or switching to no pay. McCain's aides said the campaign was considering taking public matching funds, and would focus its efforts on the early primary and caucus states. Throughout it, McCain said he was not considering dropping out of the race, however. Campaign shakeups reached the top level on July 10, 2007, when his campaign manager and campaign chief strategist both departed.

McCain subsequently resumed his familiar position as a political underdog, embracing a "Living Off the Land" strategy that called for McCain to ride the Straight Talk Express and take advantage of free media such as debates and sponsored events. By December 2007, the Republican race was quite unsettled, with none of the top-tier candidates dominating the race and all of them possessing major vulnerabilities with different elements of the Republican base electorate. McCain was showing a resurgence, in particular with renewed strength in New Hampshire — the scene of his 2000 triumph — and was bolstered further by the endorsements of The Boston Globe, the Manchester Union-Leader, and almost two dozen other state newspapers, as well as from Independent Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman.

All of this paid off when McCain won the New Hampshire primary on January 8, 2008, beating former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney in a close contest, to once again become one of the front-runners in the race. On January 19, McCain placed first in the South Carolina primary, narrowly defeating former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, and thereby reversing his loss there in 2000. He followed this up with another win a week later in the Florida primary, beating Romney again in a close, negative and attack-filled contest, thereby making him the front-runner in the nomination race. Following this victory, rival Rudy Giuliani announced he was dropping out of the race and cast his support for McCain's candidacy. By February 2, McCain had an overall 97–92 lead over Romney in delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention. On February 5, Super Tuesday, McCain won both the majority of states and delegates in the Republican primaries, giving him a commanding lead toward the Republican nomination; Romney departed from the race on February 7. Later in February, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported on McCain's connection with a lobbyist in 2000; the Times came under significant criticism for the report. McCain clinched a majority of the delegates and became the presumptive nominee with wins in the Ohio primary and Texas primary on March 4, with the nomination to be made official in September at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Political positions

A number of organizations have attempted to scientifically measure McCain's place on the political spectrum: the The Almanac of American Politics, edited by Michael Barone and Richard E. Cohen, rates votes as liberal or conservative, with 100 as the highest rating, in three policy areas: Economic, Social, and Foreign. For 2006, McCain's ratings are: Economic = 64 percent conservative, 35 percent liberal (2005: 52 percent conservative, 47 percent liberal); Social = 46 percent conservative, 53 percent liberal (2005: 64 percent conservative, 23 percent liberal); Foreign = 58 percent conservative, 40 percent liberal (2005: 54 percent conservative, 45 percent liberal)

Various interest groups have also given Senator McCain scores or grades as to how well his votes align with the positions of the group: The American Conservative Union awarded McCain a lifetime rating of 82 percent through 2006. McCain also received a lifetime 13 percent "Liberal Quotient" from Americans for Democratic Action in 2007 (see chart for progression over time).

In the 2000 elections, many thought of Bush as the more conservative candidate and McCain as the more moderate candidate. His voting record during the 107th Congress, from January 2001 through November 2002, placed him as the sixth most liberal Republican senator, according to Voteview.com. McCain's voting record in the 109th Congress was the second most conservative among senators, according to the same analysis.

Conservatism

McCain has many traditionally Republican views. He has a strong conservative voting record on pro-life and free trade issues, favors private social security accounts, and opposes an expanded government role in health care. McCain also supports school vouchers, capital punishment, mandatory sentencing, and welfare reform.

Arizona Republic columnist and RealClearPolitics contributor Robert Robb, using a formulation devised by William F. Buckley, Jr., describes McCain as "conservative" but not "a conservative", meaning that while McCain usually tends towards conservative positions, he is not "anchored by the philosophical tenets of modern American conservatism."

Cultural and political image

John McCain's personal character has dominated the image and perception of him by the American public. His family's military heritage, his rebellious nature as a youth, his endurance over his treatment as a POW, his resulting physical limitations, his maverick political persona, his well-known temper, his admitted propensity for controversial or ill-advised remarks, and his devotion to maintaining his large blended family have all defined his place in the American political world more than any ideological or partisan framing.

Awards, honors, and decorations

Military

•   Silver Star
•   Legion of Merit
•   Bronze Star
•   Purple Heart
•   Distinguished Flying Cross
•   Prisoner of War Medal
•   National Defense Service Medal
•   Vietnam Service Medal
•   Vietnam Campaign Medal (Republic of Vietnam)

Civilian

• On May 24, 1999, McCain shared the Profile in Courage Award with fellow Senator Russ Feingold for their work in trying to enact campaign finance reform.
• In December 2004, McCain became an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College Dublin.
• On September 28, 2005, The Eisenhower Institute awarded McCain the Eisenhower Leadership Prize. The prize recognizes individuals whose lifetime accomplishments reflect Dwight D. Eisenhower’s legacy of integrity and leadership.
• On December 5, 2006, McCain was awarded the Henry M. Jackson Distinguished Service Award by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
• On February 13, 2007, the World Leadership Forum presented McCain with the Policymaker of the Year Award. The award is given internationally to someone who has "created, inspired or strongly influenced important policy or legislation.

Electoral history

United States presidential election, 2000 (Republican primaries):

• George W. Bush – 12,034,676 (62.00%)
• John McCain – 6,061,332 (31.23%)
• Alan Keyes – 985,819 (5.08%)
• Steve Forbes – 171,860 (0.89%)
• Unpledged – 61,246 (0.32%)
• Gary Bauer – 60,709 (0.31%)
• Orrin Hatch – 15,958 (0.08%)
• Al Gore (write-in) – 1,155 (0.01%)
• Bill Bradley (write-in) – 1,025 (0.01%)

Writings

• Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them
• Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, October 2005) ISBN 1-4000-6412-0
• Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, April 2004) ISBN 1-4000-6030-3
• Odysseus in America by Jonathan Shay, Max Cleland, John S. McCain (Scribner, November 2002) ISBN 0-7432-1156-1
• Worth the Fighting for: A Memoir by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, September 2002) ISBN 0-375-50542-3
• Unfinished Business: Afghanistan, the Middle East and Beyond — Defusing the Dangers That Threaten America's Security by Harlan Ullman, John S. McCain (Citadel Press, June 2002) ISBN 0-8065-2431-6
• Faith of My Fathers by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, August 1999) ISBN 0-375-50191-6
• The Reminiscences of Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., United States Navy (retired) by John S. McCain (U.S. Naval Institute, 1999) ISBN B0006RY8ZK
• "An Enduring Peace Built on Freedom: Securing America's Future" by John McCain Foreign Affairs, November/December 2007
• "How the POW's Fought Back", by John S. McCain III, Lieut. Commander, U.S. Navy, U.S. News and World Report, May 14, 1973 (reprinted for web under different title in 2008)

References

• Michael Barone, et al. The Almanac of American Politics: 2006 (2005) pp. 93–98.

External links

Senate

• United States Senate Office of John McCain

Presidential campaign

• Presidential Campaign WebsiteDocumentaries, topic pages and databases
• New York Times – John McCain news stories and commentary
• Interview About POW Experience at Library of Congress

(Presumed)

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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 22:10:43 PDT (GMT -0700)
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