John McCain is the senior Republican Senator for the state of Arizona. He was the party's candidate for the 2008 Presidential Election with Sarah Palin as his running mate, but was defeated by Barack Obama. Before serving in the U.S. Senate, McCain served as Arizona's first district representative in Congress. He has been a United States Senator in Arizona since 1987.http://www.nndb.com/people/914/000023845/

On November 2, 2010, John McCain won his re-election bid to remain in the Senate by defeating his Democratic rival, Rodney Glassman by a 59.2 to 34.7 percent margin.http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/arizona

On March 2, 2009, McCain responded to Obama's $410 billion omnibus spending bill by railing at Obama for not standing up to political earmarks. The earmarks were added by both parties and amount to 2% of the total bill.http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/catch-up-spending-bill-puts-congress-under-pressurehttp://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19524.html

McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 while his father, John S. McCain, Sr. was stationed in the American-controlled zone.http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter1.html He is married to Cindy McCain, who is the chair of Hensley & Co., one of the largest distributors for Anheuser-Busch beer, the maker of Budweiser.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/cindy-mccains-fortune-pro_n_94833.html

McCain graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1958 and became a naval aviator flying attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. He was shot down in 1967 during a bombing mission in North Vietnam and was imprisoned and tortured. He was released in 1973 in accordance with the Paris Peace Accords. McCain retired from the U.S. Navy in 1981.http://www.johnmccain.com/About

McCain was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, winning Arizona's first congressional district.http://www.johnmccain.com/About While in the U.S. Senate, McCain pushed for Campaign Finance Reform, cosponsoring the McCain-Feingold Law which aimed to limit "soft money" contributions. McCain also worked to limit earmarks and pork barrel spending.http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter9.html

In 2007, McCain worked with the Bush administration to pass the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which would have provided a legal path to citizenship for immigrant workers.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21614851

John McCain has been a staunch conservative in terms of troop deployments in Iraq, arguing that a "surge" of American troops was needed in the country, rather than a withdrawal as congressional Democrats suggested.http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter11.html McCain came under fire when he told a town hall meeting that he would accept a troop presence in Iraq for 100 years if necessary.http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/14/mccain.king

In the final weeks of McCain's 2008 presidential bid, a number of Republican stalwarts announced their support for Barack Obama and/or disenchantment with McCain's campaign. These included Colin Powell, George Will and Peggy Noonan and conservative press icons Chicago Tribune, The New Republic and the Houston Chronicle. Many of these defectors cited disappointment with McCain's reactions to the ongoing economic crisis and the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as running mate.http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44363

While polls tightened in the last hours of the campaign, John McCain lost the the presidency to Barack Obama on November 4, 2008. One of the reasons for McCain's loss was that he was unable to win key states such as Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/election.president/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/campaign.strategy/ McCain delivered a concession speech in Phoenix, Arizona, saying that he admired Obama for his perseverance.

• 1936: August 29, Born in Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone (U.S. Territory)

• 1967: October 26, McCain is detained and tortured by the North Vietnamese in Hoa Loa Prison

• 1973: Released from the Hoa Loa Prison

• 1986: November, Arizona elects McCain to the seat vacated by retiring Senator Barry Goldwater

• 1990: November, The Senate Ethics Committee launches an investigation into the Keating Five.http://www.slate.com/id/1004633/

• 1999: McCain begins his unsuccessful run for the Republican Party's presidential nomination.http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/02/01/nh.primary/

• 2006: December 30, John Edwards refers to plans to escalate the war in Iraq as The McCain Doctrine.http://www.abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Politics/story?id=2761375&page=1

• 2008: Loses to Barack Obama in the Presidential Election

• 2010: Running for reelection in Arizona Senate