FACTBOX: John McCain seizes front-runner role

(Reuters) - U.S. Sen. John McCain scored a hard-fought win in Florida's presidential primary on Tuesday, seizing the front-runner's role in the race to become the Republican nominee in the November 2008 presidential election.

Following are some facts about the Arizona Republican.

* If elected, McCain, now 71, would be the oldest person to assume the U.S. presidency.

* From a celebrated Navy family, McCain is the son and grandson of four-star admirals and he followed in their footsteps by attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

* On his 23rd combat mission over Vietnam in 1967, he was shot down. He spent 5 1/2 years in captivity, including two in solitary confinement along with frequent beatings and torture. In the Senate, he has been an outspoken critic of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques.

* McCain was seen as a maverick in his campaign for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination when he gave then Texas Gov. George W. Bush a scare by winning the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire by 18 percentage points. But he lost to Bush in South Carolina after one of the ugliest state primary campaigns ever.

* McCain has vigorously supported the unpopular Iraq war at a time when many Americans are weary of the conflict and eager to return U.S. troops home. McCain has criticized the way the war was conducted initially, saying the United States should never go to war without a comprehensive plan for success.

* First elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, McCain won the first of four terms in the Senate in 1986.

* In Congress McCain has been a pro-business conservative, free-market advocate and abortion foe, but has voted against the Republican majority on several high-profile bills. He has made campaign finance reform a signature concern, which led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.

* He was among five senators investigated for taking contributions from savings and loan financier Charles Keating. In 1991 the Senate ethics committee cleared McCain of any wrongdoing, except using poor judgment.

(Compiled by Paul Grant and Patricia Zengerle, editing by Chris Wilson)