John McCain: the "maverick" fights his ultimate battle

Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) pauses while speaking after he visited a disaster supply warehouse for Hurricane Gustav in Waterville, Ohio, September 1, 2008.

ST. PAUL (Reuters) - He has been called a maverick, a hero, a survivor. John McCain, the longtime Arizona senator adds a new title on Thursday: Republican presidential nominee.

The 72-year-old McCain, who would be the oldest president in U.S. history to take office, has had a long path to power.

He endured a multi-year ordeal as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, established a congressional career with legislative skirmishes that frequently put him at odds with his party, and fought a bruising battle for the Republican nomination in 2000 that he lost to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

His campaign sees a common thread of courage and honor in that narrative which it hopes to contrast with Democrat Barack Obama in the November 4 election race.

His critics highlight a lurking temper, a largely conservative voting record, and a political brand damaged by his admitted weakness on economic issues and an association with his one-time rival, Bush.

"John McCain's life is a story of service above self," Bush told delegates at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday. "He is ready to lead this nation."

If he wins, it will be thanks partially to a lifelong streak of rebelliousness.

The man whose mother plunged him into a tub of cold water to cool off his temper as a two-year-old went on to lead what he called a group of troublemakers while a student at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

He graduated in 1958 and entered the Navy. By 1967, McCain was a veteran pilot aboard the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam.

It was there that he had one of his closest brushes with death.

TORTURE, HONOR

While preparing to take off on a bombing run over North Vietnam, a missile accidentally fired from another plane, hitting the fuel tanks on McCain's aircraft and triggering explosions and fire.

McCain escaped by crawling onto the nose of his plane and diving on to the ship's fiery deck. The incident, called the worst non-combat-related accident in U.S. naval history, killed 134 men and injured hundreds more.

Three months later McCain's life changed forever. On a bombing mission over Hanoi a missile struck his plane, forcing him to eject. The force of the maneuver knocked him unconscious and broke his arms and a leg. He plunged into a Hanoi lake.

An angry mob dragged him from the water, broke his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him. His captors imprisoned him at the infamous Hanoi Hilton, where he remained 5 1/2 years.

Tortured and placed in solitary confinement for more than two of those years, McCain turned down a chance to leave prison before comrades who had entered earlier.

"That is a defining moment in his life, and it speaks volumes about who he is to the American people," said Steve Schmidt, a top McCain aide.

Despite its significance in his life, McCain was not always comfortable talking about his POW experience or making it part of the argument for his advancement to the White House.

Encouragement from supporters changed that, and he made it a larger part of his campaign story, drawing criticism from some, including former President Jimmy Carter, who accused McCain of milking his past.

Supporters say McCain's biography gives weight to his presidential bid.

"I've been a John McCain fan since he stepped off the plane from Vietnam," said Sandy Torbett, 66, at a rally in Washington, Missouri.

"I think (his story) does help him and, of course, I think him becoming a senator -- that helps him more."

MAVERICK

McCain's Senate career solidified his reputation as a maverick. He clashed with Republican colleagues over immigration, climate change, and campaign finance reform.

He supported Bush's plan to go to war with Iraq, but later lambasted the administration for its handling of that war and for a permissive attitude toward torturing prisoners, a sensitive subject for a former POW.

His presidential campaign has had massive ups and downs.

A year ago it nearly crumbled, forcing the one-time primary frontrunner to shed staff and endure broadly accepted assumptions that his White House hopes were over.

But the opposite occurred. More comfortable as an underdog than the frontrunner, McCain reduced costs, regrouped and took another gamble with his strong support for Bush's "surge" strategy in the Iraq war.

Saying he said would rather lose a campaign than lose a war, the gamble paid off, security in Iraq improved, and McCain locked up his party's nomination.

"At a point in time when the war in Iraq was going badly and the public lost confidence, John stood up and called for more troops. And now we're winning," said Fred Thompson, a former senator and presidential contender, at the Republican convention on Tuesday.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, editing by Jackie Frank)