Courtney

Historical Jesus Christ

2009-02-17T07:36:00.003-08:00

History Day Topic: Jesus Christ

*Question:*
???What has been the most interesting information you have learned yet, over the research of your History Day Topic??? -Ms. Alvarado

*Answer*
The Information I seek interesting over my History Day Topic Studies "Jesus Christ" has been the methods they try to find his years from when he was born till he died!!! Another one would be the ways they find the Historical Jesus missing years of age 12-30 years!!!

-The Bible has been so problematic to get information over Jesus, because it says no years it just says actions. For example in the Gospels it is said that Jesus was born in the time of King Herod The Great, and that a shiny star shine down to Bethlehem leading 3 wisemen to a manger where a baby was born during the Messianic Era of the Jewish Religion. The New Testament Gospels have been written 40 years after Jesus Death. So this means this information isn't so useful, but the Bible isn't useful of giving information about years of a Historical Jesus, but it really gives clues to find undecided years of a historical Jesus. For example the Gospels said that Jesus was born during the times of King Herod The Great! Remember Roman History has always been so organize in keeping record of their rulers like the USA (44 PREISDENTS). So a group of historians actually look and research over the Roman History until they found the correct ruler that the Gospel said "King Herod The Great". They research over this King and their results were that Jesus was born from 7 BC-3 BC. Another method they used was using astronomy due to the information that the gospels gave that a bright star shine down to Bethlehem. So what astronomers actually did was that they track every star's movement from present to past until they finally found an exact star that really shined over Bethlehem. This experiment took over 300 years. Their results that a bright star shined over Bethlehem was from 6 BC- 4 BC. So this means that the birth of Jesus years are around 7 BC-4 BC due to the Historical and Astronomy investigation. Another clue was that Jesus was born during the Era of the Messianic of the Jewish Religion as a Jewish member. This clue can't help find a year because they are still waiting their Messiah because they didn't accepted Jesus so it is still Messianic Era to the Jews, but the Jews kept information of every minor member due to their religious studies over Greek Philosophy and the Oral Torah. The High Priest stated out that Jesus was born in Nissan 14. At first when I found this I am like what the heck is this, but I went to research and I found out this is an Ancient Hebrew Month. So this means that they still used the Ancient Hebrew Calendar. And Jesus died in the day of his Birth Date (Nissan 14), but Nissan 14 is March 14 according to our Gregorian calendar. So this means that Jesus isn't born on December 25th!!!!!! December 25th is Tevet 25 according to the Hebrew Calendar. They put Jesus birth on December 25th because there are great festivals that are celebrated such as New Year, Santa Claus and some more events in the moth of December. In March there isn't nothing fun or celebrations. That is why the Christianity designated the date of Jesus in December 25th because the whole world celebrates this event even though they are not part of the Christianity Religion.
So the exact date of Jesus Birth is Nissan 14, 7 BC-4 BC which is March 14, 7-4 BC according to our calendar!!!

-The missing years of Jesus 12-30 is a mystery, but 18 years of not knowing of Jesus Life really makes it impossible to write a Bibliography because he only lived up to 33 years of age. So does that mean we only know 15 years of age and that's it??? According to my studies and thoughts I discovered that Jesus was living with the Jewish High Priest for 2 reasons.
• 1 reasons is because his studies with the Jewish Monotheistic Religion
• 2nd reason because the authority wanted to vanish every monotheistic youth member because they were a polytheistic religion!!!
Every male had to have a jewish education with the High Priest starting at age of 5. At age of 5 they introduce their religion. At age of 6-8 they are studying the Greek Philosophy. At age of 7-9 they are studying the Torah. At age of 10 they get tested over the Greek Philosophy and the Torah. If they passed both exams, they are forced to say with them in the seminary because according to their perspective they were the "Chosen Ones of God to be a Priest" like them. At age of 10-12 stays with family. At age of 12 enters the Seminary. At age of 12-17 students find their vocation. At age of 18-22 they talk of the Torah and are showed to be like a Prophet. At age of 23-25 they get prepared to be a priest. At age of 26-29 they become Rabbis of the religion. As you could see a Jewish member will be very educated if they passed their exam at age of 10. If they don't they are considered Deformed!!! So you could tell that Jesus really passed through all of these circumstances as a regular student. At age of 30 he separated away from his studies because he felt well prepared his ministry had to be fulfilled. That is why Jesus knew what to talk back to the HIGH-PRIEST because he knew how they were all!!!
The reason why Jesus went to study and stay with the Jews was because the authority at this time was a polytheistic religion and wanted to vanish every monotheistic member. So the Priest hided Jesus in their Seminary because they Knew that Jesus was more then any regular boy!!!

COCLUSION: The hardest section of Jesus was the years but due to my research I found out many answers to my own questions. Now I feel even prepared to be a priest now at this young age.
History Day Topic: Jesus Christ

*Question:*
???What has been the most interesting information you have learned yet, over the research of your History Day Topic??? -Ms. Alvarado

*Answer*
The Information I seek interesting over my History Day Topic Studies "Jesus Christ" has been the methods they try to find his years from when he was born till he died!!! Another one would be the ways they find the Historical Jesus missing years of age 12-30 years!!!

-The Bible has been so problematic to get information over Jesus, because it says no years it just says actions. For example in the Gospels it is said that Jesus was born in the time of King Herod The Great, and that a shiny star shine down to Bethlehem leading 3 wisemen to a manger where a baby was born during the Messianic Era of the Jewish Religion. The New Testament Gospels have been written 40 years after Jesus Death. So this means this information isn't so useful, but the Bible isn't useful of giving information about years of a Historical Jesus, but it really gives clues to find undecided years of a historical Jesus. For example the Gospels said that Jesus was born during the times of King Herod The Great! Remember Roman History has always been so organize in keeping record of their rulers like the USA (44 PREISDENTS). So a group of historians actually look and research over the Roman History until they found the correct ruler that the Gospel said "King Herod The Great". They research over this King and their results were that Jesus was born from 7 BC-3 BC. Another method they used was using astronomy due to the information that the gospels gave that a bright star shine down to Bethlehem. So what astronomers actually did was that they track every star's movement from present to past until they finally found an exact star that really shined over Bethlehem. This experiment took over 300 years. Their results that a bright star shined over Bethlehem was from 6 BC- 4 BC. So this means that the birth of Jesus years are around 7 BC-4 BC due to the Historical and Astronomy investigation. Another clue was that Jesus was born during the Era of the Messianic of the Jewish Religion as a Jewish member. This clue can't help find a year because they are still waiting their Messiah because they didn't accepted Jesus so it is still Messianic Era to the Jews, but the Jews kept information of every minor member due to their religious studies over Greek Philosophy and the Oral Torah. The High Priest stated out that Jesus was born in Nissan 14. At first when I found this I am like what the heck is this, but I went to research and I found out this is an Ancient Hebrew Month. So this means that they still used the Ancient Hebrew Calendar. And Jesus died in the day of his Birth Date (Nissan 14), but Nissan 14 is March 14 according to our Gregorian calendar. So this means that Jesus isn't born on December 25th!!!!!!
December 25th is Tevet 25 according to the Hebrew Calendar. They put Jesus birth on December 25th because there are great festivals that are celebrated such as New Year, Santa Claus and some more events in the moth of December. In March there isn't nothing fun or celebrations. That is why the Christianity designated the date of Jesus in December 25th because the whole world celebrates this event even though they are not part of the Christianity Religion.
So the exact date of Jesus Birth is Nissan 14, 7 BC-4 BC which is March 14, 7-4 BC according to our calendar!!!

-The missing years of Jesus 12-30 is a mystery, but 18 years of not knowing of Jesus Life really makes it impossible to write a Bibliography because he only lived up to 33 years of age. So does that mean we only know 15 years of age and that's it??? According to my studies and thoughts I discovered that Jesus was living with the Jewish High Priest for 2 reasons.
• 1 reasons is because his studies with the Jewish Monotheistic Religion
• 2nd reason because the authority wanted to vanish every monotheistic youth member because they were a polytheistic religion!!!
Every male had to have a jewish education with the High Priest starting at age of 5. At age of 5 they introduce their religion. At age of 6-8 they are studying the Greek Philosophy. At age of 7-9 they are studying the Torah. At age of 10 they get tested over the Greek Philosophy and the Torah. If they passed both exams, they are forced to say with them in the seminary because according to their perspective they were the "Chosen Ones of God to be a Priest" like them. At age of 10-12 stays with family. At age of 12 enters the Seminary. At age of 12-17 students find their vocation. At age of 18-22 they talk of the Torah and are showed to be like a Prophet. At age of 23-25 they get prepared to be a priest. At age of 26-29 they become Rabbis of the religion. As you could see a Jewish member will be very educated if they passed their exam at age of 10. If they don't they are considered Deformed!!! So you could tell that Jesus really passed through all of these circumstances as a regular student. At age of 30 he separated away from his studies because he felt well prepared his ministry had to be fulfilled. That is why Jesus knew what to talk back to the HIGH-PRIEST because he knew how they were all!!!
The reason why Jesus went to study and stay with the Jews was because the authority at this time was a polytheistic religion and wanted to vanish every monotheistic member. So the Priest hided Jesus in their Seminary because they Knew that Jesus was more then any regular boy!!!

COCLUSION: The hardest section of Jesus was the years but due to my research I found out many answers to my own questions. Now I feel even prepared to be a priest now at this young age.

.

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2008 Presidential Election (Who will you vote 4?)

2009-02-17T07:36:00.001-08:00

Well there are many canditates in this. Thanks god George Bush didnt join again in the running to be the 2008 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

This has been the toughess elction since when we began to be a nation when we won our Independence (1776).We won our battle against the British.

We fough in the Revoultionary War (13 Colonies VS. United Kingdom-England*Britsih)
This war was tough because if we won who would be there president.Well in the pass they just said the general that fought more in wars would be named The FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STAES OF AMERICA.And who fought in many battles that came with victories that was George Washington.

But now we are in new times to be a president you must be a 15 year born citzent in the United Staes Of America
serving for a side Democrat or Stupid Republicans
must have expirince like a mayor counsleour or something POLITICS
these are the ways to become a US president
not by fighting or anything like that that was oldies

WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR 2008 DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN????
Democrat has
HILARY CLINTON
BARRACK OBAMMA

Republican has
JOHN MCCAIN
MITT ROMMNEY

Democart understands us the immigrants they will lower the cost of anything give us more computers technology for our school no war Usa will be UNITED with the democrat we would not be sending more troops to IRAQ like MCCAIN or ROMMNEY.FUCK THE WAR!!!! Why are we fighting ?? Even GEORGE W BUSH doesnt know!!!
He said fisrt
to capture Suddam hussein
oil when we are stealings MEXICO'S oil
mistreatings of people
etc

those were the reasons why
but we already accomplished them since 2006

so now you could see how STUPID the REPUBLICANS are

JOHN MCCAIN will follow the same steps as George W.Bush did
MITT ROMMNEY will follow his own world

If republicans win taxes will rase money to buy will raise and earing money will be less

lets go with the democrats now the best1

HILARY CLINTON will follow the same steps of BILL CLINTON
BILL CLINTON was admire by REGAN

so she will be a good president

if u are black and voting for obama you are so stupid

just because he is black as well you you will vote for him

you dont even know what he is going to say

hilary has expirinced did u see what a good president bill clinton was because hilary was working for him but i know she will do even better with us

THINK ABOUT ME MY FRIENDS MY PEOPLE and vote for HILARY CLINTON

we could talk more if u send me a message

THIS IS THE LIFES OF EVERY DEMOCART/REPUBLICANS THAT ARE RUNNING FOR PRESDIENTIAL

HILARY CLINTON-

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the junior United States Senator from New York, and a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election. She is married to Bill Clinton—the 42nd President of the United States—and was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001.
A native of Illinois, Hillary Rodham attracted national attention in 1969 when she delivered a controversial address as the first student to speak at commencement exercises for Wellesley College. She began her career as a lawyer after graduating from Yale Law School in 1973, moving to Arkansas and marrying Bill Clinton in 1975, following her career as a Congressional legal counsel; she was named the first female partner at Rose Law Firm in 1979 and was listed as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in America in 1988 and 1991. She was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, was active in a number of organizations concerned with the welfare of children, and was on the board of Wal-Mart and several other corporate boards.
As First Lady of the United States, she took a prominent position in policy matters. Her major initiative, the Clinton health care plan, failed to gain approval by the U.S. Congress in 1994, but in 1997 she helped establish the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Adoption and Safe Families Act. She became the only First Lady to be subpoenaed, testifying before a federal grand jury as a consequence of the Whitewater scandal in 1996. She was never charged with any wrongdoing in this or several other investigations during her husband's administration. The state of her marriage to Bill Clinton was the subject of considerable public discussion following the Lewinsky scandal in 1998.
Moving to New York, Clinton was elected to the United States Senate in 2000, the first time an American first lady ran for public office and the first female senator from that state. There she initially supported the George W. Bush administration on some foreign policy issues, which included voting for the Iraq War Resolution. She has subsequently opposed the administration on its conduct of the Iraq War and has opposed it on most domestic issues. She was re-elected by a wide margin in 2006. Long described as a polarizing figure in American politics, she is the first woman in U.S. history with a strong chance of being elected president. During 2007 she was consistently ranked as the front-runner in national polls for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. As the 2008 primaries take place, she is in a tight race with Senator Barack Obama.Hillary Diane Rodham was born at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in a United Methodist family, first in Chicago, and then, from the age of three, in suburban Park Ridge, Illinois, which is also located in Cook County.Her father, Hugh Ellsworth Rodham, was a son of Welsh and English immigrants and operated a small but successful business in the textile industry. Her mother, Dorothy Emma Howell, of English, Scottish, French Canadian, Welsh, and possibly Native American descent, was a homemaker. She has two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony.
As a child, Hillary Rodham was involved in many activities at church and at her public school in Park Ridge. She participated in tennis and other sports and earned awards as a Brownie and Girl Scout. She attended Maine East High School, where she participated in student council, the debating team and the National Honor Society. For her senior year she was redistricted to Maine South High School, where she was a National Merit Finalist and graduated in 1965. Her parents encouraged her to pursue the career of her choice.
Raised in a politically conservative household, at age thirteen she helped canvass South Side Chicago following the very close 1960 U.S. presidential election, finding evidence of vote fraud against Republican candidate Richard Nixon, and volunteered for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the U.S. presidential election of 1964. Her early political development was shaped most strongly by her energizing high school history teacher, who got her to read Goldwater's classic The Conscience of a Conservative and who was, like her father, a fervent anti-communist, and by her Methodist youth minister, like her mother concerned with issues of social justice; with the minister she saw and met civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. in Chicago in 1962.In 1965, Rodham enrolled in Wellesley College, where she majored in political science.[16] She served as president of the Wellesley Young Republicans organization during her freshman year.[17][18] However, due to her evolving views regarding the American Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, she stepped down from that position;[17] she characterized her own nature as that of "a mind conservative and a heart liberal."[19] In her junior year, Rodham was affected by the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.,[8] and became a supporter of the anti-war presidential nomination campaign of Democrat Eugene McCarthy.[20] Rodham organized a two-day student strike and worked with Wellesley's black students for moderate changes, such as recruiting more black students and faculty.[21] In that same year she was elected president of the Wellesley College Government Association.[22][23] She attended the "Wellesley in Washington" summer program at the urging of Professor Alan Schechter, who assigned Rodham to intern at the House Republican Conference so she could better understand her changing political views.[21] Rodham was invited by Representative Charles Goodell, a moderate New York Republican, to help Governor Nelson Rockefeller's late-entry campaign for the Republican nomination.[21] Rodham attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami, where she decided to leave the Republican Party for good; she was upset over how Richard Nixon's campaign had portrayed Rockefeller and what Rodham perceived as the "veiled" racist messages of the convention.[21]
Rodham returned to Wellesley, and wrote her senior thesis about the tactics of radical community organizer Saul Alinsky under Professor Schechter (which, years later while she was first lady, was suppressed at the request of the White House and became the subject of speculation as to its contents).[24] In 1969, Rodham graduated with departmental honors in political science. Stemming from the demands of some students,[25] she became the first student in Wellesley College history to deliver their commencement address.[23] According to reports by the Associated Press, her speech received a standing ovation lasting seven minutes.[26][27] She was featured in an article published in Life magazine, due to the response to a part of her speech that criticized Senator Edward Brooke, who had spoken before her at the commencement;[8] she also appeared on Irv Kupcinet's nationally-syndicated television talk show as well as in Illinois and New England newspapers.[28] That summer, she worked her way across Alaska, washing dishes in Mount McKinley National Park and sliming salmon in a fish processing cannery in Valdez (which fired her and shut down overnight when she complained about unhealthy conditions).[29][30]Rodham then entered Yale Law School, where she served on the Board of Editors of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action.[31] During her second year, she worked at the Yale Child Study Center,[32] learning about new research on early childhood brain development and working as a research assistant on the seminal work, Beyond the Best Interests of the Child (1973).[33][34] She also took on cases of child abuse at Yale-New Haven Hospital,[33] and volunteered at New Haven Legal Services to provide free advice for the poor.[32] In the summer of 1970, she was awarded a grant to work at Marian Wright Edelman's Washington Research Project, where she was assigned to Senator Walter Mondale's Subcommittee on Migratory Labor, researching migrant workers' problems in housing, sanitation, health and education;[35][36] Edelman would become a significant mentor to her.[36]
In the late spring of 1971, she began dating Bill Clinton, who was also a law student at Yale. That summer, she interned on child custody cases[37] at the Oakland, California, law firm of Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein,[38][39] which was well-known for its support of constitutional rights, civil liberties, and radical causes;[39] two of its four partners were current or former communist party members.[39][40][41] Clinton canceled his original summer plans in order to live with her in an apartment in Berkeley, California,[42] later writing, "I told her I'd have the rest of my life for my work and my ambition, but I loved her and I wanted to see if it could work out for us."[42] The romance did develop, and the couple continued living together in New Haven when they returned to law school.[40] The following summer, Rodham and Clinton campaigned in Texas for unsuccessful 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern.[43][44] She received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale in 1973,[8] having spent an extra year there in order to be with Clinton.[45] Clinton first proposed marriage to her following graduation, but she declined at the time.[45] She began a year of post-graduate study on children and medicine at the Yale Child Study Center.[46] Her first scholarly article, "Children Under the Law", was published in the Harvard Educational Review in late 1973.[47] Discussing the new children's rights movement, it stated that "child citizens" were "powerless individuals"[48] and argued that children should not be considered equally incompetent from birth to attaining legal age, but rather courts should presume competence except when there is evidence otherwise, on a case-by-case basis.[49] The article became frequently cited in the fieldDuring her post-graduate study, Rodham served as staff attorney for Edelman's newly founded Children's Defense Fund in Cambridge, Massachusetts,[51] and as a consultant to the Carnegie Council on Children.[52] During 1974 she was a member of the impeachment inquiry staff in Washington, D.C., advising the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate scandal.[53][54] Under the guidance of Chief Counsel John Doar and senior member Bernard Nussbaum,[33] Rodham helped research procedures of impeachment and the historical grounds and standards for impeachment.[54] The committee's work culminated in the resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974.[54]
By then, Rodham was viewed as someone with a bright political future; Democratic political organizer and consultant Betsey Wright had moved from Texas to Washington the previous year to help guide her career;[55] Wright thought Rodham had the potential to one day become a senator or president.[56] Meanwhile, Clinton had repeatedly asked her to marry him, and she had continued to demur.[57] However, helped by her having passed the Arkansas bar exam but having failed the District of Columbia bar exam,[58] Rodham came to a key decision. As she later wrote, "I chose to follow my heart instead of my head."[59] She thus followed Bill Clinton to Arkansas, rather than staying in Washington where career prospects were best. Clinton was at the time teaching law and running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in his home state. In August 1974, she moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, and became one of two female faculty members at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville School of Law,[60] where Bill Clinton also taught. Even then, she still harbored doubts about marriage, concerned that her separate identity would be lost and her accomplishments would be viewed in the light of someone else's accomplishments.[61]After her husband became a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination of 1992, Hillary Clinton received popular national attention for the first time. Before the New Hampshire primary, tabloid publications printed claims that Bill Clinton had had an extramarital affair with Gennifer Flowers, an Arkansas lounge singer.[107] In response, the Clintons appeared together on 60 Minutes, during which Bill Clinton denied the affair but acknowledged he had caused "pain" in their marriage.[108] (Years later, he would admit that the Flowers affair had happened, but to lesser extent than she claimed.)[109] Hillary Clinton made culturally dismissive remarks about Tammy Wynette[110] and baking cookies and having teas[111] during the campaign that were ill-considered by her own admission. Bill Clinton said that electing him would get "two for the price of one", referring to the prominent role his wife would assume.[112] Beginning with Daniel Wattenberg's August 1992 The American Spectator article "The Lady Macbeth of Little Rock", Hillary Clinton's own past ideological and ethical record came under conservative attack.[73]

The Clinton family arrives at the White House courtesy of Marine One, 1993
When Bill Clinton took office as president in January 1993, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the First Lady of the United States, and announced that she would be using that form of her name.[113] She was the initial first lady to hold a post-graduate degree[114] and to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the White House.[115] She was also the initial first lady to take up an office in the West Wing of the White House,[46] first ladies usually staying in the East Wing. She is regarded as the most openly empowered presidential wife in American history, save for Eleanor Roosevelt.[116]
Some critics called it inappropriate for the First Lady to play a central role in matters of public policy. Supporters pointed out that Clinton's role in policy was no different from that of other White House advisors and that voters were well aware that she would play an active role in her husband's Presidency.[117] Bill Clinton's campaign promise of "two for the price of one" led opponents to refer derisively to the Clintons as "co-presidents",[118] or sometimes "Billary".[119] The pressures of conflicting ideas about the role of a First Lady were enough to send Clinton into "imaginary discussions" with the also-politically-active Eleanor Roosevelt;[120] from the time she came to Washington, she also found refuge in a prayer group of The Fellowship that featured many wives of conservative Washington figures.[121][122] Triggered in part by the death of her father in April 1993, she publicly sought to find a synthesis of Methodist teachings, liberal religious political philosophy, and Tikkun editor Michael Lerner's "politics of meaning" to overcome what she saw as America's "sleeping sickness of the soul" and that would lead to a willingness "to remold society by redefining what it means to be a human being in the twentieth century, moving into a new millennium."[123][124] Other segments of the public focused on her appearance, which had evolved over time from inattention to fashion during her days in Arkansas,[125] to a popular site in the early days of the World Wide Web devoted to showing her many different, and much analyzed, hairstyles as First Lady,[126][127] to an appearance on the cover of Vogue magazine in 1998Upon entering the United States Senate, Clinton maintained a low public profile while building relationships with senators from both parties, to avoid the polarizing celebrity she experienced as First Lady.[115][197][198][199] Clinton also forged alliances with religiously-inclined senators by becoming a regular participant in the Senate Prayer Breakfast.[121][200]
Clinton has served on five Senate committees: Committee on Budget (2001–2002),[201] Committee on Armed Services (since 2003),[202] Committee on Environment and Public Works (since 2001),[201] Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (since 2001)[201] and Special Committee on Aging.[203] She is also a Commissioner of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe[204] (since 2001).[205]
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Clinton sought to obtain funding for the recovery efforts in New York City and security improvements in her state. Working with New York's senior senator, Charles Schumer, she was instrumental in quickly securing $21.4 billion in funding for the World Trade Center site's redevelopment.[206][207][208] She subsequently took a leading role in investigating the health issues faced by 9/11 first responders.[209] Clinton voted for the USA Patriot Act in October 2001, as did all but one senator. In 2005, when the act was up for renewal, she worked to address some of the civil liberties concerns with it,[210] before voting in favor of a compromise renewed act in March 2006 that gained large majority support.[211]
As a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, Clinton strongly supported military action in Afghanistan, saying it was a chance to combat terrorism while improving the lives of Afghan women who suffered under the Taliban government.[212] Clinton voted in favor of the October 2002 Iraq War Resolution, which authorized United States President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq, should such action be required to enforce a United Nations Security Council Resolution after pursuing with diplomatic efforts. (However, Clinton voted against the Levin Amendment to the Resolution, which would have required the President to conduct vigorous diplomacy at the U.N., and would have also required a separate Congressional authorization to unilaterally invade Iraq.[202] She did vote for the Byrd Amendment to the Resolution, which would have limited the Congressional authorization to one year increments, but the only mechanism necessary for the President to renew his mandate without any Congressional oversight was to claim that the Iraq War was vital to national security each year the authorization required renewal.)[202]

Hillary Rodham Clinton's Gallup Poll favorable/unfavorable ratings, 2001–2007.[129] Now a senator, after a slow start her numbers generally get better, but still retain her usual high negatives and low undecideds. Her numbers worsen and become more volatile once she becomes a candidate for president.
After the Iraq War began, Clinton made trips to both Iraq and Afghanistan to visit American troops stationed there, such as the 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, New York. On a visit to Iraq in February 2005, Clinton noted that the insurgency had failed to disrupt the democratic elections held earlier, and that parts of the country were functioning well.[213] Noting that war deployments are draining regular and reserve forces, she co-introduced legislation to increase the size of the regular United States Army by 80,000 soldiers to ease the strain.[214] In late 2005, Clinton said that while immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake, Bush's pledge to stay "until the job is done" is also misguided, as it gives Iraqis "an open-ended invitation not to take care of themselves." She criticized the administration for making poor decisions in the war, but added that it was more important to solve the problems in Iraq.[215] This centrist and somewhat vague stance caused frustration among those in the Democratic party who favor immediate withdrawal.[216] Clinton supported retaining and improving health benefits for veterans, and lobbied against the closure of several military bases.[217]
Senator Clinton voted against the tax cuts introduced by President Bush, including the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, saying it was fiscally irresponsible to reopen the budget deficit.

Senator Clinton delivers an address to Families USA, 2005
Clinton voted in 2005 against the confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States,[218] and in 2006 against the nomination of Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court;[219] both were confirmed. In 2005, Clinton called for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how hidden sex scenes showed up in the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.[220] Along with Senators Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh, she introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act, intended to protect children from inappropriate content found in video games. In July 2004 and June 2006, Clinton voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment that sought to prohibit same-sex marriage. The proposed constitutional amendment fell well short of passage on both occasions.
Looking to establish a "progressive infrastructure" to rival that of American conservatism,[221] Clinton played a formative role in conversations that led to the 2003 founding of former Clinton administration chief of staff John Podesta's Center for American Progress;[222][223] shared aides with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, founded in 2003;[224] advised and nurtured the Clintons' former antagonist David Brock's Media Matters for America, created in 2004;[224][223] and following the 2004 Senate elections, successfully pushed new Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid to create a Senate war room to handle daily political messaging.[224]

IT WILL BE BETTER IF HILARY RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AND OBAMA AS A VICE PRESDIENT

BARRACK OBAMMA-
Barack Hussein Obama (pronounced /b?--???k hu--se?n o?--b??m?/[1]) (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election.[2][3] The U.S. Senate Historical Office lists him as the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history, the third to have been popularly elected, and the only African American currently serving in the Senate.[4]
Obama was born in Honolulu to a Kenyan father and an American mother. He lived most of his early life in the U.S. state of Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office and serving in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. After an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003.
The following year, while still an Illinois state legislator, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.[5] He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with 70% of the vote.[6] As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama co-sponsored legislation for controlling conventional weapons and for promoting transparency in public life; in addition, he made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the 110th, and current, Congress, he has sponsored legislation on lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care as major priorities.[7] He married in 1992 and has two daughters. He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary on U.S. politics.[8]Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya, of Luo ethnicity) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas).[9] Throughout his early years, he was commonly known at home and school as "Barry".[10] Obama's parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student.[11] They separated when he was two years old and later divorced.[12] His father went to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he died in an auto accident in 1982.[13] His mother married another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967.[14] Obama attended local schools in Jakarta from ages 6 to 10, where classes were taught in the Indonesian language.[15][16] He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979.[17] Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer a few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father.[18]
In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's American middle class family. His knowledge about his African father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly through family stories and photographs.[13] Of his early childhood, Obama writes: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind."[19] The book describes his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.[20] He wrote that he used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".[21]
After high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.[22] He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.[23] Obama received his B.A. degree in 1983, then worked at Business International Corporation and NYPIRG before moving to Chicago to take a job as a community organizer.[24] As Director of the Developing Communities Project, he worked with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development.[25] He entered Harvard Law School in 1988.[26] In 1990, The New York Times reported his election as the Harvard Law Review's "first black president in its 104-year history".[27] He completed his J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1991.[28] On returning to Chicago, Obama directed a voter registration drive.[28] As an associate attorney with Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 1996, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases.[29] He was a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1993 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.[30]In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate to serve the state's 13th District in the south side Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park.[31] In 2000, he made an unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush.[32] He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998 and 2002, officially resigning in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.[33] As a state legislator, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.[34] He sponsored a law enhancing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for child care.[35] Obama also led the passage of legislation mandating videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they stopped.[35] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, he won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose president credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[36] He was criticized by rival pro-choice candidates in the Democratic primary and by his Republican pro-life opponent in the general election for a series of "present" or "no" votes on late-term abortion and parental notification issues.[37]In 2003, Obama began his run for the U.S. Senate open seat vacated by Peter Fitzgerald. In early opinion polls leading up to the Democratic primary, Obama trailed multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes.[42] However, Hull's popularity declined following allegations of domestic abuse.[42] Obama's candidacy was boosted by an advertising campaign featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon; the support of Simon's daughter; and political endorsements by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.[43][44] Obama received over 52% of the vote in the March 2004 primary, emerging 29% ahead of his nearest Democratic rival.[45] His opponent in the general election was expected to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan. However, Ryan withdrew from the race in June 2004, following public disclosure of child custody divorce records containing sexual allegations by Ryan's ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan.[46] In August 2004, with less than three months to go before election day, Alan Keyes accepted the Illinois Republican Party's nomination to replace Ryan.[47] A long-time resident of Maryland, Keyes established legal residency in Illinois with the nomination.[48] Through three televised debates, Obama and Keyes expressed opposing views on stem cell research, abortion, gun control, school vouchers, and tax cuts.[49] In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote to Keyes's 27%, the largest electoral victory in Illinois history.[50]Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 4, 2005.[51] Although a newcomer to Washington, he recruited a team of established, high-level advisers devoted to broad themes that exceeded the usual requirements of an incoming first-term senator.[52] Obama hired Pete Rouse, a 30-year veteran of national politics and former chief of staff to Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, as his chief of staff, and economist Karen Kornbluh, former deputy chief of staff to Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, as his policy director.[53] His key foreign policy advisers include Samantha Power, author on human rights and genocide, and former Clinton administration officials Anthony Lake and Susan Rice.[54] Obama holds assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Veterans' Affairs, and he is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.[55] Obama has consistently opposed the Iraq War.In February 2007, standing before the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, Obama announced his candidacy for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.[2] Describing his working life in Illinois, and symbolically linking his presidential campaign to Abraham Lincoln's 1858 House Divided speech, Obama said: "That is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America."[78] Speaking at a Democratic National Committee meeting one week before the February announcement, Obama called for putting an end to negative campaigning. "This can't be about who digs up more skeletons on who, who makes the fewest slip-ups on the campaign trail," he said. "We owe it to the American people to do more than that."[79]
Obama's campaign raised US$58 million during the first half of 2007, topping all other candidates and exceeding previous records for the first six months of any year before an election year.[80] Small donors, those contributing in increments of less than $200, accounted for $16.4 million of Obama's record-breaking total, more than for any other Democratic candidate.[81] His campaign reported adding 108,000 new donors through third quarter fundraising, for a total of 365,000 individual contributors in the first nine months.[82] Amid concerns for his safety as the first black candidate seen as having a viable chance of being elected president, the U.S. government assigned Secret Service protection to Obama 18 months before the general election.[83]
With two months remaining before the Iowa Democratic caucuses and New Hampshire Democratic primary, 2008, and national opinion polls showing him trailing Hillary Clinton, Obama began directly charging his top rival with failing to clearly state her political positions.[84] Campaigning in Iowa, he told the Washington Post that as the Democratic nominee he would draw more support than Clinton from independent and Republican voters in the general election.[85] At Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner in November 2007, he expanded the theme, saying that his presidency would "bring the country together in a new majority" to seek solutions to long-standing problems.[86] In January 2008, Obama won the Iowa caucus with 37.58% support, ahead of 29.75% for John Edwards and 29.47% for Clinton.[87] His Iowa lead was boosted by majority support from a record turnout of voters under 30 years old, most of them first-time caucus goers.[88] Five days later, Clinton won the New Hampshire primary with 39% of the vote to Obama's 37%.[89]
On January 26, 2008, Barack Obama easily defeated top rival Hillary Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic primary, in a victory that could reinvigorate his campaign after losing New Hampshire by a slight margin to Hillary Clinton, the New York senator. Fox News says, "Returns showed Clinton leading former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for second place, but Obama held on to a gaping lead. The final results had Obama with 55%, Clinton with 27% and Edwards with 18%." [90] Senator Obama has shown the ability to reach across political divides, recently getting the endorsement of former Reagan speechwriter Jeffrey Hart.
On the role of government in economic affairs, Obama has written: "We should be asking ourselves what mix of policies will lead to a dynamic free market and widespread economic security, entrepreneurial innovation and upward mobility [...] we should be guided by what works."[92] Speaking before the National Press Club in April 2005, he defended the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, associating Republican proposals to establish private accounts for Social Security with social Darwinism.[93] In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Obama spoke out against government indifference to growing economic class divisions, calling on both political parties to take action to restore the social safety net for the poor.[94] Shortly before announcing his presidential campaign, Obama told the health care advocacy group Families USA: "I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country."[95]
Meeting with Google employees in November 2007, Obama pledged to appoint a Chief Technology Officer to oversee the U.S. government's management of IT resources and promote wider access to government information and decision making.[96] Reaffirming his commitment to net neutrality legislation, Obama said "once providers start to privilege some applications or web sites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out, and we all lose."[97] Campaigning in New Hampshire, he announced an $18 billion plan for investments in early childhood education, math and science education, and expanded summer learning opportunities.[98] Obama's campaign distinguished his proposals to reward teachers for performance from traditional merit pay systems, assuring unions that changes would be pursued through the collective bargaining process.[99]
At the Tax Policy Center in September 2007, he blamed special interests for distorting the U.S. tax code. "We are taxing income from work at nearly twice the level that we're taxing gains for investors," Obama said. "We've lost the balance between work and wealth."[100] His plan would eliminate taxes for senior citizens with incomes of less than $50,000 a year, repeal tax cuts said to favor the wealthy, close corporate tax loopholes and restrict offshore tax havens, and simplify filing of income tax returns by pre-filling wage and bank information already collected by the IRS.[101] Announcing his presidential campaign's energy plan in October 2007, Obama said: "Businesses don't own the sky, the public does, and if we want them to stop polluting it, we have to put a price on all pollution." He proposed a cap and trade auction system to restrict carbon emissions and a 10 year program of investments in new energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.[102]
Obama was an early critic of Bush administration policies on Iraq.[103] On October 2, 2002, the day Bush and Congress agreed on a joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War,[104] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally in Federal Plaza,[105] saying:
I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.[106]
On March 17, 2003, the day Bush issued his 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq before the U.S. invasion of Iraq,[107] Obama addressed the largest Chicago anti-Iraq War rally to date in Daley Plaza and told the crowd "It's not too late" to stop the war, though many demonstrators conceded that war appeared inevitable.[108]
Obama sought to make his early public opposition to the Iraq War before it started a major issue, to distinguish himself from his Democratic primary rivals in his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign who supported the resolution authorizing the Iraq War,[109] and in his 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign to distinguish himself from four Democratic primary rivals who voted for the resolution authorizing the Iraq War (Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Dodd, and former Sen. John Edwards).[110]
Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in November 2006, Obama called for a "phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq" and an opening of diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran.[111] In a March 2007 speech to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, he said that while the U.S. "should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons."[112] Detailing his strategy for fighting global terrorism in August 2007, Obama said "it was a terrible mistake to fail to act" against a 2005 meeting of al-Qaeda leaders that U.S. intelligence had confirmed to be taking place in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He said that as president he would not miss a similar opportunity, even without the support of the Pakistani government.[113]

Obama addressed the Save Darfur rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 30, 2006.[114]
In a December 2005 Washington Post opinion column, and at the Save Darfur rally in April 2006, Obama called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.[115] He has divested $180,000 in personal holdings of Sudan-related stock, and has urged divestment from companies doing business in Iran.[116] In the July-August 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, Obama called for an outward looking post-Iraq War foreign policy and the renewal of American military, diplomatic, and moral leadership in the world. Saying "we can neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission," he called on Americans to "lead the world, by deed and by example."[117]
Obama has encouraged Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other religious people, saying, "if we truly hope to speak to people where they're at—to communicate our hopes and values in a way that's relevant to their own—we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse."[118] In December 2006, he joined Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) at the "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church" organized by church leaders Kay and Rick Warren.[119] Together with Warren and Brownback, Obama took an HIV test, as he had done in Kenya less than four months earlier.[120] He encouraged "others in public life to do the same" to show "there is no shame in going for an HIV test."[121] Before the conference, 18 pro-life groups published an open letter stating, in reference to Obama's support for legal abortion: "In the strongest possible terms, we oppose Rick Warren's decision to ignore Senator Obama's clear pro-death stance and invite him to Saddleback Church anyway."[122] Addressing over 8,000 United Church of Christ members in June 2007, Obama challenged "so-called leaders of the Christian Right" for being "all too eager to exploit what divides us.Obama met his future wife, Michelle Robinson, in 1988 when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.[124] Assigned for three months as Obama's advisor at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial offers to date.[125] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married in October 1992.[126] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1999, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.[127] Applying the proceeds of a $2 million book deal, the family paid off debts in 2005 and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to their current $1.6-million house in neighboring Kenwood.[128] The house purchase and subsequent acquisition of an adjoining strip of land drew media scrutiny in November 2006 because of financial links with controversial Illinois businessman Antoin Rezko.[129][130]
Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.[131][132] Before announcing his presidential candidacy, he began a well-publicized effort to quit smoking. "I've never been a heavy smoker," Obama told the Chicago Tribune. "I've quit periodically over the last several years. I've got an ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I don't succumb. I've been chewing Nicorette strenuously."[133] Replying to an Associated Press survey of 2008 presidential candidates' personal tastes, he specified "architect" as his alternate career choice and "chili" as his favorite meal to cook.[134] Asked to name a "hidden talent," Obama answered: "I'm a pretty good poker player."[135]
A theme of Obama's keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and the title of his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, was inspired by his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.[136] In Chapter 6 of the book, titled "Faith," Obama writes that he "was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known." He describes his Kenyan father as "raised a Muslim," but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his Indonesian stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." The chapter details how Obama, in his twenties, while working with local churches as a community organizer, came to understand "the power of the African American religious tradition to spur social change." Obama writes: "It was because of these newfound understandings—that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic and social justice, or otherwise retreat from the world that I knew and loved—that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized."[137] He has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ for over twenty years.
As of March 2007, the Washington Post estimated that Barack Obama was the least wealthy of the major 2008 Presidential candidates, with a net worth of between $1 and $2.5 million, depending on the ultimate sales figures for Obama's book The Audacity of Hope.[138] Obama's half sister has also joined his campaign[139]

THAT WAS THE DEOCRATICS

REPUBLICANS LIFE NOW

JOHN MCCAIN-

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and a candidate for the Republican Party nomination in the 2008 presidential election.
Both McCain's grandfather and father were Admirals in the United States Navy. McCain also attended the United States Naval Academy and finished near the bottom of his graduating class in 1958. McCain became a naval aviator flying attack aircraft from carriers. Participating in the Vietnam War, he narrowly escaped death during the 1967 Forrestal fire. On his twenty-third bombing mission over North Vietnam later in 1967, he was shot down and badly injured. He endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture, before he was released following the Paris Peace Accords in 1973.
Retiring from the Navy in 1981 and moving to Arizona, McCain soon entered politics. In 1982 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district. After serving two terms there, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona in 1986. He was re-elected Senator in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to American conservatism, McCain established a reputation as a political maverick for his willingness to defy Republican orthodoxy on several issues. Surviving the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passing of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002.
McCain was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election, but was defeated by George W. Bush after closely contested battles in several early primary states. In the 2008 presidential election, he was the Republican front-runner as the cycle began, but suffered a near collapse of his campaign in mid-2007 due to financial issues and his support for comprehensive immigration reform. In late 2007 he staged a comeback, won several key primaries during January 2008, and by the end of that month was the Republican front-runner once again.McCain was born on August 29, 1936, at the Coco Solo Air Base in the then American-controlled Panama Canal Zone[1] to the Scots-Irish[2] Admiral John S. "Jack" McCain, Jr. (1911–1981) and Roberta (Wright) McCain (b. 1912). Both his father and grandfather were United States Navy admirals, and were in fact the first father-son pair to both achieve four-star admiral rank.[3] His grandfather John S. "Slew" McCain, Sr. was a pioneer of aircraft carrier strategy[4] who commanded all carrier forces in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, led American forces into epic actions such as the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and died four days after the conclusion of the war.[3] His father was a submarine commander[3] decorated with both the Silver Star and Bronze Star.[4]
For the first ten years of his life, McCain was frequently uprooted as his family followed his father to New London, Connecticut, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and various other stations in the Pacific Ocean; McCain attended whatever naval base school was available, often to the detriment to his education.[5] After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, his father was absent for long stretches.[4] As a child, John was known for a quick temper and an aggressive drive to compete and prevail.[5] After World War II was over, his father stayed in the Navy, sometimes working political liaison posts;[4] the family settled in Northern Virginia, and McCain attended the educationally stronger St. Stephen's School in Alexandria, Virginia from 1946 to 1949,[6] where he began to develop an unruly, defiant streak.[7] Another two years was then spent following his father around to naval stations;[8] altogether he would go to about twenty different schools during his youth.[9] He then attended Episcopal High School in Alexandria beginning in 1951, a top private school with a rigorous honor code.[10] McCain earned two varsity letters in wrestling,[11] where he excelled in the lighter weight classes.[3] Gaining the nicknames "Punk" and "McNasty",[7][12] he had a continued reputation as a fiery and contentious personality[11] and graduated from high school in 1954.Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered the United States Naval Academy. McCain was a rebellious midshipman and his career at the Naval Academy was ambivalent and lackluster.[13] He had his share of run-ins with the faculty and leadership; each year he was given over 100 demerits (for unshined shoes, formation faults, talking out of place, and the like),[13] earning him membership in the "Century Club".[3] He did not take well to those of higher rank arbitrarily wielding power over him — "It was bullshit, and I resented the hell out of it"[13] — and would sometimes intervene when he saw it being done to others.[3] At 5 foot 7 inches[14] and 127 pounds[15] (1.70 m and 58 kg), he competed as a lightweight boxer for three years, where he lacked skills but was fearless and "didn't have a reverse gear."[15] Possessed of a strong intelligence,[16] he did well in a few subjects that he was interested in, such as English literature, history and government.[3][13] Despite his low standing, he was a leader among his fellow midshipmen,[13] especially in organizing off-Yard activities; one classmate said that "being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck."[13] Despite his difficulties, he later wrote that he never wavered in his desire to show his father and family that he was of the same mettle as his naval forbears. Dropping out was unthinkable and so he successfully completed his training and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1958; he was fifth from the bottom in class rank,[17] 894th out of 899.[13]
McCain was then commissioned an ensign, and spent two and a half years as a naval aviator in training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas,[18] flying A-1 Skyraiders.[19] He earned a reputation as a party man, as he drove a Corvette, dated an exotic dancer named "Marie the Flame of Florida", and, as he would later say, "generally misused my good health and youth."[9] At the beginning he was a subpar flier, with limited patience for studying aviation manuals.[20] During a practice run in Texas, his engine quit while landing and his aircraft crashed into Corpus Christi Bay, though he escaped without major injuries.[20][18] He was graduated from flight school in 1960[21] and became a naval pilot of attack aircraft.
McCain was stationed on the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise,[22] in the Caribbean Sea and in deployments to the Mediterranean Sea.[20] He was on alert duty on Enterprise when it imposed a blockade and quarantine of Cuba during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.[23][21] His aviation skills improved, but he had another close call when he and his plane emerged intact from a collision with power lines after flying too low over Spain.[20] He returned to Pensacola station, where he served as a flight instructor at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi, whose McCain Field was named for his grandfather.[22] By 1964 he was in a relationship with Carol Shepp, a model originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; they had known each other at Annapolis and she had married one of his classmates, but then divorced.[18][22] On July 3, 1965, McCain married Shepp in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[17] McCain adopted her two children Doug and Andy,[24] who were five and three years old at the time;[22] he and Carol then had a daughter named Sidney in September 1966.[25][26][27] In fall 1965 he had his third close call when a flameout over Norfolk, Virginia led to his ejecting safely and his plane crashing.[20]
McCain grew frustrated with his training role and requested a combat assignment.[19] In December 1966 McCain was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, flying A-4 Skyhawks; his service there began with tours in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.[28] During all this time, McCain's father had risen in the ranks, making rear admiral in 1958 and vice admiral in 1963;[29] and in May 1967 his father was promoted to four-star admiral and made Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe, stationed in London.[4]In Spring 1967 Forrestal was assigned to join Operation Rolling Thunder, the bombing campaign against North Vietnam as part of the Vietnam War.[17][30] The alpha strikes flown from Forrestal were against specific, pre-selected infrastructure targets such as arms depots, factories, and bridges;[31] they were quite dangerous due to the Soviet-designed and supplied anti-aircraft system fielded by the North Vietnamese Air Defense Force.[31] McCain's first five attack missions over North Vietnam went without incident,[19] and while still unconcerned with minor Navy regulations, McCain had by now garnered the reputation of a serious aviator.[23] But McCain and his fellow pilots were already frustrated by Rolling Thunder's infamous micromanagement from Washington;[31] he would later write that "The target list was so restricted that we had to go back and hit the same targets over and over again.... Most of our pilots flying the missions believed that our targets were virtually worthless. In all candor, we thought our civilian commanders were complete idiots who didn't have the least notion of what it took to win the war."[30]
By now a Lieutenant Commander, McCain was again almost killed in action on July 29, 1967 while serving on the Forrestal, operating at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. The crew was preparing to launch attacks when a Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom was accidentally fired across the carrier's deck. The rocket struck McCain's A-4E Skyhawk as the jet was preparing for launch.[32][33] The impact ruptured the Skyhawk's fuel tank, which ignited the fuel and knocked two bombs loose. McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, working himself to the nose of the jet, and jumping off its refueling probe onto the burning deck of the aircraft carrier. Ninety seconds after the impact, one of the bombs exploded underneath his airplane. McCain was struck in the legs and chest by shrapnel. The ensuing fire killed 132 sailors, injured 62 others, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and took 24 hours to control.[34] A day or two after the Forrestal incident, McCain told New York Times reporter R. W. Apple, Jr. in Saigon that, "It's a difficult thing to say. But now that I've seen what the bombs and the napalm did to the people on our ship, I'm not so sure that I want to drop any more of that stuff on North Vietnam."[35] But a change of course was unlikely, as McCain said, "I always wanted to be in the Navy. I was born into it and I never really considered another profession. But I always had trouble with the regimentation."[35]
As Forrestal headed for repairs, McCain volunteered to join the VA-163 Saints on board the short-staffed USS Oriskany, which had earlier endured its own deck fire disaster[19] and whose squadrons had suffered heavy losses during Rolling Thunder, with one-third of their pilots killed or captured during 1967.[19] He joined Oriskany in September 1967, for a tour he expected would finish early the next summer.[36] By late October 1967, McCain had flown a total of 22 bombing missions.[37]
Prisoner of war

John McCain being pulled out of Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi and about to become a prisoner of war.[38] October 26, 1967.
On October 26, 1967, McCain was flying as part of a 20-plane attack against a thermal power plant in central Hanoi, a heavily defended target area that had previously been off-limits to U.S. raids.[39][40] McCain's A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by a Soviet-made SA-2 anti-aircraft missile[40] while pulling up after dropping its bombs.[41] McCain fractured both arms and a leg in being hit and ejecting from his plane.[42] He nearly drowned after he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi.[39] After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around him, spat on him, kicked him and stripped him of his clothing.[43] Others crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area; he was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Loa Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American POWs.[43][44] Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to put him in the hospital, deciding he would soon die anyway. They beat and interrogated him, but McCain only offered his name, rank, serial number, and date of birth.[43] Only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral did they give him medical care[43] and announce his capture. At this point, two days after McCain's plane went down, that event and his status as a POW made the front page of The New York Times.[35]
McCain spent six weeks in the Hoa Loa hospital, receiving marginal care.[39] He was interviewed by a French television reporter whose report was carried on CBS, and was observed by a variety of North Vietnamese, including the famous General Vo Nguyen Giap.[43] Many of the North Vietnamese observers assumed that he must be part of America's political-military-economic elite.[43] Now having lost 50 pounds, in a chest cast, and with his hair turned white,[39] McCain was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp on the outskirts of Hanoi nicknamed "the Plantation"[45] in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week (one was Bud Day, a future Medal of Honor recipient); they nursed McCain and kept him alive.[46] In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would be for two years.[43] In July 1968, McCain's father was named Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), stationed in Honolulu and commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater.[4] McCain was immediately offered a chance to return home early:[39] the North Vietnamese wanted a mercy-showing propaganda coup for the outside world, and a message that only privilege mattered that they could use against the other POWs.[43] McCain turned down the offer of repatriation due to the Code of Conduct of "first in, first out": he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well.[47] McCain's refusal to be released was even remarked upon by North Vietnamese officials to U.S. envoy Averell Harriman at the ongoing Paris Peace Talks.[39]
In August 1968, a program of vigorous torture methods began on McCain, using rope bindings into painful positions and beatings every two hours, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery.[43][39] Teeth and bones were broken again as was McCain's spirit; the beginnings of a suicide attempt was stopped by guards.[39] After four days of this, McCain signed an anti-American propaganda "confession" that said he was a "black criminal" and an "air pirate",[39] although he used stilted Communist jargon and ungrammatical language to signal the statement was forced.[48] He would later write, "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine."[43] His injuries to this day have left him incapable of raising his arms above his head.[12] His captors tried to force him to sign a second statement, and this time he refused. He received two to three beatings per week because of his continued refusal.[49] Other American POWs were similarly tortured and maltreated in order to extract "confessions".[43] On one occasion when McCain was physically coerced to give the names of members of his squadron, he supplied them the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line.[48] On another occasion, a guard surreptitiously loosened McCain's painful rope bindings for a night; when he later saw McCain on Christmas Day, he stood next to McCain and silently drew a cross in the dirt with his foot[50] (decades later, McCain would relate this Good Samaritan story during his presidential campaigns, as a testament to faith and humanity[51][52]). McCain refused to meet with various anti-war peace groups coming to Hanoi, such as those led by David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, and Rennie Davis, not wanting to give either them or the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory based on his connection to his father.[43]
In October 1969, treatment of McCain and the other POWs suddenly improved, after a badly beaten and weakened POW who had been released that summer disclosed to the world press the conditions to which they were being subjected.[43] In December 1969, McCain was transferred back to the Hoa Loa "Hanoi Hilton";[43] his solitary confinement ended in March 1970.[43] McCain continued to refuse to see anti-war groups or journalists sympathetic to the North Vietnamese regime;[43] to one visitor who did speak with him, McCain later wrote, "I told him I had no remorse about what I did, and that I would do it over again if the same opportunity presented itself."[43] McCain and other prisoners were moved around to different camps at times, but conditions over the next several years were generally more tolerable than they had been before.[43] Back at the "Hanoi Hilton" from November 1971 on,[43] McCain and the other POWs cheered the intense, Hanoi-focused, B-52-led U.S. "Christmas Bombing" campaign of December 1972 — whose explosions lit the night sky and shook the walls of the camp, and whose daily orders were issued by McCain's father, knowing his son was in the vicinity — as a forceful measure to force North Vietnam to terms.[43][53]
Altogether McCain was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years. The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973, ending direct U.S. involvement in the war, but the Operation Homecoming arrangements for POWs took longer; McCain was finally released from captivity on March 15, 1973,[54] having been a POW for almost an extra five years due to his refusal to accept the out-of-sequence repatriation offer.[55]
Return to United States

President Richard Nixon greets the released John McCain at a White House reception honoring returning POWs. May 24, 1973.
Upon his return to the United States, McCain was reunited with his wife Carol, who had suffered her own crippling, near-death ordeal during his captivity, due to an automobile accident in December 1969 that left her facing months of operations and physical therapy;[56] by the time he saw her again she was four inches shorter, on crutches, and substantially heavier.[57] As a returned POW, McCain became a celebrity of sorts: The New York Times ran a front-page photo of him getting off the plane at Clark Air Base in the Philippines;[58] he published a long cover story describing his ordeal and his support for the Nixon administration's handling of the war in U.S. News & World Report;[43] he participated in several parades and personal appearances; and a photograph of him on crutches shaking the hand of President Richard Nixon at a White House reception for returning POWs became iconic.[56]
McCain underwent treatment for his injuries, and attended the National War College in Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. during 1973–1974.[56][21] Few thought McCain could fly again, but he was determined to try, and engaged in nine months of grueling, painful physical therapy, especially to get his knees to bend again.[57] By late 1974 McCain had recuperated just enough to pass his flight physical[57] and have his flight status reinstated,[56] and he became Executive Officer and then Commanding Officer of the VA-174 Hellrazors, the East Coast A-7 Corsair II Navy training squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Cecil Field outside Jacksonville, Florida and the largest attack squadron in the Navy.[56][21][59] McCain's leadership abilities were credited with turning around a mediocre unit, improving its aircraft readiness and pilot safety metrics and winning the squadron its first Meritorious Unit Commendation,[57] and while some senior officers resented McCain's presence as favoritism due to his father, junior officers rallied to him and helped him qualify for A-7 carrier landings.[57]
During the time in Jacksonville, the McCains' marriage began to falter.[60] McCain had extramarital affairs,[60] and he would later say, "My marriage's collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity more than it was to Vietnam, and I cannot escape blame by pointing a finger at the war. The blame was entirely mine."[60] His wife Carol would later echo those sentiments, saying "I attribute [the breakup of our marriage] more to John turning 40 and wanting to be 25 again than I do to anything else."[60]In 1976, McCain briefly thought of running for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida.[61] Instead, based upon the recommendation of Admiral James L. Holloway III,[56] in 1977 McCain became the Navy's liaison to the U.S. Senate.[61] Returning to the Washington, D.C. area, McCain soon became the leader of the Russell Senate Office Building liaison operation, and would later say it represented "[my] real entry into the world of politics and the beginning of my second career as a public servant."[56] McCain was influenced by senators of both parties, and especially by a strong bond with Republican Senator John Tower of Texas, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.[56] McCain was still living with his wife, although they had had one separation during this time.[57]
In 1979, while attending a military reception in Hawaii, McCain met and fell in love with Cindy Lou Hensley, 17 years his junior, a teacher from Phoenix, Arizona who was the daughter of James Willis Hensley, a wealthy Anheuser-Busch distributor and wife Marguerite Smith.[60] By now it was clear that McCain's naval career was stalled; he would never be promoted to admiral as his grandfather and father had been.[57] McCain filed for and obtained an uncontested divorce from his wife Carol in Florida on April 2, 1980;[24] he gave her a generous settlement, including houses in Virginia and Florida and financial support for her ongoing medical treatments, and they would remain on good terms.[60] McCain and Hensley were married on May 17, 1980[17] in Phoenix, Arizona, with Senators William Cohen and Gary Hart as best man and groomsman.[60] McCain's children felt upset with him and did not attend the wedding,[57] but after several years they reconciled with him and Cindy.[57][26]
McCain retired from the Navy in 1981 as a Captain.[14] During his military career, he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, and a Distinguished Flying Cross.[62]With no love lost between them, McCain began 2001 by breaking against the new George W. Bush administration on a number of matters.[139] In January 2001 the latest iteration of McCain-Feingold was introduced into the Senate; it was opposed by Bush and most of the Republican establishment,[139] but helped by the 2000 election results, it passed the Senate in one form until procedural obstacles delayed it again.[140] In these few months McCain also opposed Bush on an HMO reform bill, on climate change measures, and on gun legislation.[139] Then in May 2001, McCain voted against the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001,[141] Bush's $350 billion in tax breaks over 11 years, which became known as "the Bush tax cuts". He was one of only two Republicans to do so,[139] saying that "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle class Americans who most need tax relief."[142][141] Then when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords became an Independent, throwing control of the Senate to Democrats, McCain defended him against "self-appointed enforcers of party loyalty."[139] Indeed, there was speculation at the time,[143] and in years since,[144] about McCain himself possibly leaving the Republican Party during the first half of 2001. Accounts have differed as to who initiated any discussions, and McCain has always adamantly denied, then and later, that he ever considered doing so.[139][144] In any case, all of this was enough for conservative Arizonan critics of McCain to organize rallies and recalls against him in May and June 2001.[139]
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, McCain became a supporter of Bush and an advocate for strong military measures against those responsible with respect to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan;[139] in a high-profile[139] late October 2001 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece he wrote, "America is under attack by a depraved, malevolent force that opposes our every interest and hates every value we hold dear." After advocating an overwhelming, not increment, approach against the Taliban in Afghanistan, including the use of ground forces, he concluded, "War is a miserable business. Let's get on with it."[145] He and Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman wrote the legislation that created the 9/11 Commission,[146] while he and Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings co-sponsored the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that federalized airport security under what became the Transportation Security Administration.[147]
McCain-Feingold had been yet further delayed by the effects of September 11.[140] Finally in March 2002, aided by the aftereffects of the Enron scandal, it passed both House and Senate and, known formally as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, was signed into law by President Bush.[139] Seven years in the making, it was McCain's greatest legislative achievement[139] and had become, in the words of one biographer, "one of the most famous pieces of federal legislation in modern American political history."[148]
Meanwhile, in discussions over proposed U.S. action against Iraq, McCain was a strong supporter of the Bush position, labeling Saddam Hussein "a megalomaniacal tyrant whose cruelty and offense to the norms of civilization are infamous."[139] Unequivocally stating that Iraq had substantial weapons of mass destruction, McCain stated that Iraq was "a clear and present danger to the United States of America."[139] Accordingly he voted for the Iraq War Resolution in October 2002.[139] Both before and immediately after the Iraq War started in March 2003, McCain agreed with the Bush administration's assertions that the U.S. forces would be treated as liberators by most of the Iraqi people.[149] In May 2003, McCain voted against the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, the second round of Bush tax cuts which served to extend and accelerate the first (which he had also voted against), saying it was unwise at a time of war.[141] By November 2003, after a trip to Iraq, McCain was publicly questioning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq War, saying that "All of the trends are in the wrong direction" and that more U.S. troops were needed to handle the deteriorating situation in the Sunni Triangle.[150] By December 2004, McCain was bluntly announcing that he had lost confidence in Rumsfeld.[151]
In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, McCain was once again frequently mentioned for the vice-presidential slot, only this time as part of the Democratic ticket underneath nominee John Kerry.[152][153] Kerry and McCain had been close since their work on the early 1990s Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, and the pairing was seen as having great allure to independent voters,[152] with polls seeming to confirm the notion.[153] In June 2004, it was reported that Kerry had informally offered the slot to McCain several times, but McCain had declined, either on grounds that it would be infeasible and weaken the presidency[153] or that the vice-presidency held no appeal for McCain.[152] McCain's office formally denied that any vice-presidential offer had taken place.[153] At the 2004 Republican National Convention, McCain enthusiastically supported Bush for re-election,[154] praising Bush's management of the War on Terror since the September 11 attacks.[154] At the same time, McCain defended Kerry by labeling the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Kerry's Vietnam war record as "dishonest and dishonorable" and urging the Bush campaign to condemn it.[155] By August 2004, McCain had the best favorable-to-unfavorable rating (55 percent to 19 percent) of any national politician.[154]

President Bush and Senator McCain discuss Social Security at the Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona, March 21, 2005.
McCain was himself up for re-election as Senator in 2004. There was some talk of Representative Jeff Flake mounting a Republican primary challenge against McCain;[151] Stephen Moore, president of the ideologically-oriented Club for Growth (which attempts to defeat those it considers Republican in Name Only), led talk for the prospect,[156] saying "Our members loathe John McCain."[157] Flake decided not to do it, later saying "I would have been whipped."[156] In the general election McCain had his biggest margin of victory yet, garnering 77 percent of the vote against little-known Democrat Stuart Starky, an eighth grade math teacher.[158] whom The Arizona Republic termed a "sacrificial lamb".[151] Exit polls showed that McCain even won a majority of the votes cast by Democrats.[159]
Following his 2000 presidential campaign, McCain became a frequent sight on entertainment programs in the television and film worlds, and even more so after 2004.[151] He hosted the October 12, 2002, episode of Saturday Night Live, making him the third U.S. Senator after Paul Simon and George McGovern, to host the show.
2005 - 2007
In the comedic news realm, he has been a regular guest on The Daily Show, and is a good friend of host Jon Stewart;[160] as of 2006 he had been on that show eleven times, more than anyone else. McCain appeared in slightly edgy bits on Late Night with Conan O'Brien,[161] and also appeared several times on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Late Show with David Letterman.[162] McCain made a brief cameo on the television show 24 in 2006[162] and also made a cameo in the 2005 summer movie Wedding Crashers. In the more serious realm, a television film entitled Faith Of My Fathers, based on McCain's memoir of his experiences as a POW, aired on Memorial Day, 2005, on A&E.[163] McCain is also interviewed in the 2005 documentary Why We Fight by Eugene Jarecki.[164]
On judicial appointments, McCain was long a believer in judges who "would strictly interpret the Constitution," and accordingly over the years would support the confirmations of Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito.[165] McCain also drew the ire of the originalist and similar legal movements in the U.S. in May 2005, however, when he led the so-called "Gang of 14" in the Senate, which established a compromise that preserved the ability of senators to filibuster judicial nominees, but only in "extraordinary circumstances." Breaking from his 2001 and 2003 votes, McCain supported the Bush tax cut extension in May 2006, known as the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, saying not to do so would amount to a tax increase.[141] Working with Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, McCain was a strong proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, which would involve legalization, guest worker programs, and border enforcement components: the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was never voted on in 2005, while the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 passed the Senate in May 2006 but then failed in the House.[151] In June 2007, President Bush, McCain and others made the strongest push yet for such a bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, but it aroused tremendous grassroots opposition among talk radio listeners and others as an "amnesty" program, and twice failed to gain cloture in the Senate and thus failed.

In Baghdad with General David Petraeus, November 2007.
Owing to his time as a POW, McCain has been recognized for his sensitivity to the detention and interrogation of detainees in the War on Terror. On October 3, 2005, McCain introduced the McCain Detainee Amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill for 2005. On October 5, 2005, the United States Senate voted 90-9 to support the amendment.[166] The amendment prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, by confining interrogations to the techniques in FM 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation.
Although Bush had threatened to veto the bill if McCain's language was included,[167] the President announced on December 15, 2005 that he accepted McCain's terms and would "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad."[168] Bush made clear his interpretation of this legislation on in a signing statement, reserving what he interpreted to be his Presidential constitutional authority in order to avoid further terrorist attacks.[169] Meanwhile, McCain continued questioning the progress of the war in Iraq. In September 2005, he questioned Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers' habit of optimistic outlooks on the war's progress: "Things have not gone as well as we had planned or expected, nor as we were told by you, General Myers."[170] In August 2006 he criticized the administration for continually understating the effectiveness of the insurgency: "We [have] not told the American people how tough and difficult this could be."[151] From the beginning McCain strongly supported the Iraq troop surge of 2007;[171] the strategy's opponents labeled it "McCain's plan"[172] and University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said, "McCain owns Iraq just as much as Bush does now."[151] The surge and the war were quite unpopular during most of the year, even within the Republican Party,[16] as McCain's presidential campaign was underway; faced with the consequences, McCain frequently responded, "I would much rather lose a campaign than a war."[173]
McCain established his presidential exploratory committee on November 15, 2006,[151] then announced he was seeking the 2008 Presidential nomination from the Republican Party on the February 28, 2007, telecast of the Late Show With David Letterman.[174][175] McCain officially started his 2008 presidential campaign on April 25, 2007, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Should McCain win in 2008, he would be the oldest person to assume the Presidency in history at initial ascension to office, being 72 years old and surpassing Ronald Reagan, who was 69 years old at his inauguration following the 1980 election. He has dismissed concerns about his age and past health concerns (malignant melanoma in 2000), stating in 2005 that his health was "excellent."[176][177] In the event of his victory in 2008, he would also become the first President of the United States to be born in a U.S. territory outside of the current 50 states.
McCain's oft-cited strengths[178] as a presidential candidate for 2008 included national name recognition, sponsorship of major lobbying and campaign finance reform initiatives, leadership in exposing the Abramoff scandal,[179] his well-known military service and experience as a POW, his experience from the 2000 presidential campaign, extensive fundraising abilities, and strong advocacy for President Bush's re-election campaign in 2004. A Time magazine poll dated January 2007 showed McCain trailing possible Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton by 1%; results also indicated that more Americans were familiar with McCain than any of the other frontrunners, including Republican candidate and former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, and Democratic hopeful Senator Barack Obama.[180] During the 2006 election cycle, McCain attended 346 events[12] and raised more than $10.5 million on behalf of Republican candidates. He also donated nearly $1.5 million to federal, state and county parties. In a bid to finally gain support from the Christian right, McCain gave the May 2006 commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. During his 2000 presidential bid, McCain had called Falwell an "agent of intolerance"; McCain now said that Falwell was no longer as divisive and the two have discussed their shared values.[181] McCain was also more willing to ask business and industry for campaign contributions, counting more lobbyists as fundraisers than any other candidate,[182] while maintaining adamantly that such contributions would not affect any senatorial decisions he made.[182]
McCain's second-quarter 2007 fundraising totals fell from $13.6 million in the first quarter to $11.2 million in the second, and expenses continuing such that only $2 million cash was on hand with about $1 million[183] in debts. Both McCain supporters and political observers pointed to McCain's support for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, very unpopular among the Republican base electorate, as a primary cause of his fundraising problems. Large-scale campaign staff downsizing took place in early July, with 50 to 100 staffers let go and others taking pay cuts or switching to no pay. McCain's aides said the campaign was considering taking public matching funds, and would focus its efforts on the early primary and caucus states. McCain however said he was not considering dropping out of the race.[184][185] Campaign shakeups reached the top level on July 10, 2007, when his campaign manager and campaign chief strategist both departed.[186]
John McCain subsequently resumed his familiar position as a political underdog, embracing a "Living Off the Land" strategy that called for McCain to ride the Straight Talk Express and take advantage of free media such as debates and sponsored events.[187] By December 2007, the Republican race was quite unsettled, with none of the top-tier candidates dominating the race and all of them possessing major vulnerabilities with different elements of the Republican base electorate.[188] McCain was showing a resurgence, in particular with renewed strength in New Hampshire — scene of his 2000 triumph — and was bolstered further by the endorsements of The Boston Globe, the Manchester Union-Leader, and almost two dozen other state newspapers,[189] as well as from Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman.[190] All of this paid off when McCain won the New Hampshire primary on January 8, 2008, beating former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney in a close contest, to once again become one of the front-runners in the race.[191] On January 19, 2008, McCain placed first in the South Carolina primary, narrowly defeating former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, and thereby reversing his loss there in 2000.[192] He followed this up with another win a week later in the Florida primary,[193] beating Romney again in close, negative and attack-filled contest, thereby making him the front-runner in the nomination race.[193] Following this victory, rival Rudy Giuliani announced he was dropping out of the race and cast his support for McCain's candidacy.[194] As of February 2, 2008, McCain had an overall 97-92 lead over Romney, in delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention.[195]

MITT ROMMNEY-

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American businessman and politician. Formerly the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Romney is seeking the Republican nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election.[1]
Romney is a former CEO of Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, and the co-founder of Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm. After his business career and serving as the CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Romney was elected as the 70th Massachusetts Governor in 2002. Romney served one term and did not seek re-election in 2006; his term expired January 4, 2007.[2]
Romney is the son of former Michigan Governor and 1968 presidential candidate George W. Romney, and 1970 Michigan U.S. Senatorial candidate Lenore Romney. The Romney family can trace their background to the Romnichals of England. He was named "Willard" after hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend.[3] Mitt, his middle name, comes from his father's cousin Milton Romney, who played quarterback for the Chicago Bears from 1925 to 1929.[4] Mitt Romney has three older siblings: Lynn Romney Keenan; Jane Romney Robinson; and G. Scott Romney.[5] He has been involved in politics from an early age, having joined his father in civil rights marches.[6]
Romney graduated from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1965.[7] After attending Stanford University for two quarters, Romney served in France for 30 months as a missionary for the LDS Church.[8]
After his mission service, Romney attended Brigham Young University, where he graduated as valedictorian, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in 1971. Romney received a deferment from the military draft as a Mormon "minister of religion" while in France, and three years of deferments while a student. When he became eligible for military service in 1970, his high number in the annual draft lottery meant he would not be drafted.[9]
In 1975, Romney graduated from a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He graduated cum laude from the law school and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.[10]After graduation, Romney remained in Massachusetts and went to work for the Boston Consulting Group, where he had interned during the summer of 1974.[11] From 1978 to 1984, Romney was a vice president of Bain & Company, Inc., another management consulting firm based in Boston. In 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found a spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital.[12] During the 14 years he headed the company, Bain Capital's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent,[13] making money primarily through leveraged buyouts.[14] He invested in or bought many well-known companies such as Staples, Brookstone, Domino's, Sealy Corporation and Sports Authority.[15]
In 1990, Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse. As CEO, Romney managed an effort to restructure the firm's employee stock-ownership plan, real-estate deals and bank loans, while increasing fiscal transparency. Within a year, he had led Bain & Company through a highly successful turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without layoffs or partner defections.[13]
Romney left Bain Capital in 1998 to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee.[16] He and his wife have a net worth of between 190 and 250 million USD.[17]In 1994, Romney won the Massachusetts Republican Party's nomination for U.S. Senate after defeating businessman John Lakian in the primary.[26] Some early polls showed Romney close to Senator Ted Kennedy. One Boston Herald/WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994 primary showed Romney ahead 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling margin of error.[27] Kennedy, who typically faced only "token" GOP opposition for his senate seat was more vulnerable than usual in 1994, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Ted Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. President Bill Clinton traveled to Massachusetts to campaign for Kennedy.[28]
After Romney touted his business credentials and his record at creating jobs within his company, Kennedy ran campaign ads showing an Indiana company bought out by Romney's firm, Bain Capital, and interviews with its union workers who had been fired and criticized Romney for the loss of their jobs, one saying, "I don't think Romney is creating jobs because he took every one of them away."[29] Although both Kennedy and Romney supported the abortion rights established under Roe v. Wade, Kennedy accused Romney of being "multiple choice" on the issue, rather than "pro choice."[30] Romney is now pro-life and opposes Roe.[31] According to figures in The Almanac of American Politics 1996, which relies on official campaign finance reports, Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein vs. Michael Huffington Senate race in California).[32] Kennedy won the election with 58 percent of the vote to Romney's 41 percent, the smallest margin in Kennedy's nine elections to the Senate through 2006.[33]
Campaign for Governor, 2002
Main article: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002
In 2002, Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift was expected to campaign for the governor's office. Swift had served as acting governor after Republican Governor Paul Cellucci resigned upon being appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Swift was viewed as an unpopular executive, and her administration was plagued by political missteps and personal scandals.[34] Many Republicans viewed her as a liability and considered her unable to win a general election against a Democrat.[35] Prominent GOP activists campaigned to persuade Romney to run for governor.[36] One poll taken at this time showed that Republicans favored Romney over Swift by more than 50 percentage points.[37] Swift decided not to seek her party's nomination.
Massachusetts Democratic Party officials claimed that Romney was ineligible to run for governor, citing residency issues. The Massachusetts Constitution requires seven consecutive years of residency prior to a run for office. Romney claimed residency in Utah from 1999 to 2002, during his time as president of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee. In 1999 he listed himself as a part-time Massachusetts resident.[38] The Massachusetts Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission, which eventually ruled that Romney was eligible to run for office. The ruling was not challenged in court.[39]
Supporters of Romney hailed his business record, especially his success with the 2002 Olympics, as that of one who would be able to bring a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics.[40] Romney contributed $6.3 million to his own campaign during the election, at the time a state record.[41] Romney was elected Governor in November 2002 with 50 percent of the vote over Democratic candidate Shannon O'Brien, who received 45 percent of the vote.[42]
Governor of Massachusetts, 2003–2007

Main article: Governorship of Mitt Romney

Governor Mitt Romney checked out the prototype of a one hundred dollar laptop in September of 2005, after filing education reform legislation.
Romney was sworn in as the 70th governor of Massachusetts on January 2, 2003. Upon entering office, Romney faced a projected $3 billion deficit, but a previously enacted $1.3 billion capital gains tax increase and $500 million in unanticipated federal grants decreased the deficit to $1.2 billion.[43] Through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and removal of corporate tax loopholes, by 2006 the state had a $700 million surplus and was able to cut taxes.[44][45]
Romney supported raising various fees by more than $300 million, including raising fees for driver's licenses, marriage licenses, and gun licenses.[45] Romney increased the state gasoline tax by 2 cents per gallon, generating about $60 million per year in additional tax revenue.[46] Romney also closed tax loopholes that brought in another $181 million from businesses over the next two years.[46] The state legislature with Romney's support also cut spending by $1.6 billion, including $700 million in reductions in state aid to cities and towns.[47] The cuts also included a $140 million reduction in state funding for higher education, which led state-run colleges and universities to increase tuition by 63%.[46] Romney sought additional cuts in his last year as Massachusetts governor by vetoing nearly 250 items in the state budget. All of those vetoes were overturned by the legislature.[48]
The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship.[46] According to the Tax Foundation, that per capita burden was 9.8% in 2002 (below the national average of 10.3%), and 10.5% in 2006 (below the national average of 10.8%).[49]
On April 12, 2006, Romney signed the Massachusetts health reform law which requires nearly all Massachusetts residents to buy health insurance coverage or else face a substantial penalty in the form of an additional income tax assessment. The bill also establishes means-tested state subsidies for people who do not have adequate employer insurance and who make below an income threshold, by using funds previously designated to compensate for the health costs of the uninsured.[50][51][52] He vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including an employer assessment[53] and provisions providing health coverage to senior and disabled legal immigrants not eligible for federal Medicaid.[54][55] The legislature overrode all eight vetoes. Romney's communications director Eric Fehrnstrom responded saying "These differences with the Legislature are not essential to the goal of getting everyone covered with insurance."
At the beginning of his governorship, Romney opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions.[56][57] Faced with the dilemma of choosing between same-sex marriage or civil unions after the November 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing same-sex marriages (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health), Romney reluctantly backed a state constitutional amendment in February 2004 that would have banned same-sex marriage but still allow civil unions, viewing it as the only feasible way to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.[58] In May 2004 Romney instructed town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but citing a 1913 law that barred out-of-state residents from getting married in Massachusetts if their union would be illegal in their home state,[59][60] no marriage licenses were to be issued to out-of-state same-sex couples not planning to move to Massachusetts. In June 2005, Romney abandoned his support for the compromise amendment, stating that the amendment confused voters who oppose both same-sex marriage and civil unions. Instead, Romney endorsed a petition effort led by the Coalition for Marriage & Family that would have banned same-sex marriage and made no provisions for civil unions.[61] In 2006 he urged the U.S. Senate to vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Amendment.[62][63]
On December 14, 2005, Romney announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor.[64] Romney left office with a favorability rating of 43%.[65] Romney filed papers to establish a formal exploratory presidential campaign committee the next to last day in office as governor.[66] Romney's term ended January 4, 2007.
Campaign for United States President, 2008

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Content may change as the election approaches.

Main article: Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2008

2008 presidential campaign logo
Since the 2004 Republican National Convention, Romney had been discussed as a potential 2008 presidential candidate.[67] On January 3, 2007, two days before he stepped down as governor of Massachusetts, Romney filed to form a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission.[68][69] On February 13, 2007 Romney formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president.
In the January 2008 Iowa Caucus, the first contest of the primary elections, Romney received 25% of the vote and placed second to Mike Huckabee, who received 34%.[70][71] A few days later, Romney won the Wyoming Republican Caucuses.[72] Then, on January 8, 2008, Romney finished in second place behind John McCain in the New Hampshire primary.[73] In the January 15 Michigan primary, Romney won with 39% of the vote, followed by McCain (30%), Huckabee (16%), and others.[74] On January 19, Romney won the Nevada caucuses, but placed fourth in the South Carolina primary. Romney then came in second behind John McCain in the Florida primary on January 29, and came in first ahead of John McCain in the Maine caucuses on February 2, giving McCain an overall 97-92 lead over Romney in delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention.[75] According to US election polls, going into Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney led in California (40% - 32% John McCain), Massachusetts (55% - 23%), Colorado (43% - 24%), and Utah (65% - 6%).[76] McCain led in 12 states and was 21 points ahead of Romney in national polls.[77]
Mitt Romney is partly financing his campaign with his own personal fortune, having contributed over $35 million of the $90 million raised by his campaign, as of January 31, 2008.[78]

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