John Sidney McCain III was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for president of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama.
Official portrait, 2009
McCain at the Naval Academy, 1954
Lieutenant McCain (front right) with his squadron and T-2 Buckeye trainer, 1965
Lieutenant Commander McCain being interviewed after his return from Vietnam, April 1973
2008 United States presidential election
The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency, as well as being only the third sitting United States senator elected president, joining Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, this was only the second successful all-senator ticket since the 1960 election and is the only election where both major party nominees were sitting senators. This was the first election since 1952 in which neither the incumbent president nor vice president was on the ballot, as well as the first election since 1928 in which neither ran for the nomination.
Image: Obama portrait crop
Image: John Mc Cain 2009 Official
The incumbent in 2008, George W. Bush. His second term expired at noon on January 20, 2009.
2008 DNC during Stevie Wonder's performance