Candidate Profile: John McCain

Republican candidate: John Sydney McCain III

Born: 29 August 1936, naval air station, Panama
Parents: John S McCain Jnr and Roberta McCain

Known throughout his political career for being held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, Senator John McCain was born into a military family and a military life.

He currently serves as US Senator for Arizona, but John McCain was raised far away from America's south-west in the Panama Canal Zone, which was under US control at the time.

Following in family tradition he studied at the Naval Academy and graduated in 1958.

Straight after graduation he began his career as a naval pilot, serving in the Vietnam War - a role that would define him.

He narrowly escaped death in July 1967 when a missile accidentally fired from a nearby plane and struck his aircraft as it prepared to take off from a ship. 134 men were killed in the incident.

Later that year, while on a bombing mission over North Vietnam, his plane was struck by a missile and he was forced to eject. He suffered serious injuries to his arms and legs and was taken prisoner at the 'Hanoi Hilton'.

After his father was named commander of all US forces in Vietnam, John McCain was offered early release. But he refused to accept it unless all of the prisoners taken before him were released as well. He was a prisoner of war for more than five years. When he was eventually released he returned to the US.

In 1982, he was elected to US Congress representing what was then the first congressional district of Arizona.

In 1986, he was elected to the US Senate to serve as the senior senator for Arizona.

Senator McCain currently sits on a number of high-profile Senate committees including the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

In 2000 John McCain fought a tough campaign seeking the Republican Party's nomination for president but dropped out of the primaries amid a malicious campaign that alleged he had an illegitimate black child.

The Republican Party nomination went to George W Bush instead.

The Arizona Senator has been married twice. In 1965 he married model Carol Shepp and adopted her two young sons, Douglas and Andrew. The couple then had a daughter, Sidney.

Following marital difficulties in the late 70s, the pair divorced in 1980 and in that same year, McCain married a teacher from Arizona, Cindy Hensley.

John and Cindy had their first child together in 1984, a daughter called Meghan. Two years later they had a son, John Sidney McCain IV, and in 1988 a second son, James.

In 1991, Cindy brought an abandoned three-month-old girl in need of medical treatment to the US from an orphanage run by Mother Teresa in India. The McCains adopted the child and named her Bridget.

An advocate for children's health care needs, Cindy founded and ran the American Voluntary Medical Team from 1988 to 1995. AVMT provided emergency medical and surgical care to impoverished children throughout the world. Cindy led 55 medical missions to third world and war-torn countries during AVMT's seven-year existence.

He has seven children and four grandchildren. He and Cindy live in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mr McCain conceded defeat shortly after 4am Irish time to Barack Obama in the 2008 US presidential election.

Stance on Immigration:

Senator McCain and Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy were the main architects behind the bi-partisan Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill last year which, after a range of amendments, was never voted on.

John McCain has attended events organised by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and when pressed on the question of the illegal Irish in the US, he says they should support immigration law reform.

He has been very vocal in his position on tightening US borders. He has called on employers not to hire undocumented workers. Senator McCain says that if employers do not hire illegal immigrants, they will be encouraged to leave the country, thereby solving the deportation problem.

Despite his position on US borders, Senator McCain has also acknowledged the significant role immigrants have played in US history and has drawn attention to the number of Hispanic names engraved on US war memorials.

Quick facts:

-John McCain's naval honours include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

-The injuries he received during his prisoner of war confinement and torture have left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head.

-Senator McCain is opposed to any use of torture by the US in its 'war on terror' and has angered his party by criticizing how Bush handled the war in Iraq.

-According to John McCain's US Senate website, the official state neckwear of Arizona is the Bola Tie while the Arizona Tree Frog is the state amphibian.

-Senator McCain's Facebook page has over 161,000 subscribers and features the game 'Pork Invaders', a space invaders-style game criticising 'pork barrelling' - the practice by which senators attach extra projects to bills

-His favourite films include Letters from Iwo Jima and Some Like It Hot and he says he enjoys watching TV shows 24 and Seinfeld.

-At 72, John McCain would be the oldest person ever elected to a first term in the White House.

-Senator McCain suspended his election campaign briefly in September to participate in economic bail-out talks in Washington.

Irish Connection:
John McCain's roots are Scots-Irish, with one genealogist determining his heritage at 3% Irish. A local newspaper in Co Donegal claims to have found one of the Senator's distant cousins.

Links:
http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorMcCain.Biography
http://www.johnmccain.com/About/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_mccain
http://www.facebook.com/johnmccain?ref=s