Portal:Arizona/Selected biography
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John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936 in Panama Canal Zone) is an American politician, Vietnam veteran, and currently the Republican Senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. He was a presidential candidate in the 2000 election, but was defeated by George W. Bush for the Republican nomination. On February 28, 2007, during a guest appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, McCain said he would be seeking the Republican Presidential nomination in the 2008 election, which he formally announced on April 25, 2007. McCain was born in Panama in the then American-controlled Panama Canal Zone to Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. and Roberta (Wright) McCain. Although McCain was not born within a state of the United States, his US citizenship (and future eligibility to be elected to the presidency) was assured at birth both by jus sanguinis, since both of his parents were U.S. citizens, and jus soli, as the Canal Zone was at that time a United States possession. Both his father and grandfather were U.S. Navy admirals. His father commanded American forces in Vietnam while McCain was a prisoner of war. His grandfather John S. McCain, Sr. commanded naval aviation at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.
