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The 2008 presidential campaign of John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona, was launched with an informal announcement on February 28, 2007 during a live taping of the ''Late Show with David Letterman'', and formally launched at an event on April 25, 2007. His second candidacy for the Presidency of the United States, John McCain previously ran for his party's nomination in the 2000 primaries, losing to Governor George W. Bush of Texas. After winning a majority of delegates in the Republican primaries of 2008, on August 29, leading up to the convention, McCain selected Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate for Vice President. Five days later, at the 2008 Republican National Convention, John McCain was formally selected as the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States in 2008. McCain began the campaign as the apparent frontrunner among Republicans, with a strategy of appearing as the establishment, inevitable candidate; his campaign website featured an Associated Press article describing him as "() political celebrity". He made substantial overtures towards elements of the Republican base that had resisted his 2000 insurgency campaign. However, he soon fell behind in polls and fundraising; by July 2007 his campaign was forced to restructure its size and operations. The tide of Republican sentiment against immigration reform legislation he sponsored also led to the erosion of his lead.〔 Towards the end of 2007, McCain began a resurgence, which was capped by his January 2008 wins in the New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida primaries. This made him the front-runner for the Republican nomination. On Super Tuesday, McCain won both the majority of states and delegates in the Republican primaries, giving him a commanding lead toward the Republican nomination. McCain clinched a majority of the delegates and became the presumptive Republican nominee with wins in several more primaries on March 4.〔 The following day, President George W. Bush endorsed McCain at the White House. In the general election, facing Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, McCain was trailing during most of the season, only gaining a lead in national polls for a period after the Palin announcement and the 2008 Republican National Convention. The dominant issue of the campaign became the financial crisis of 2008. Unable to gain traction against Obama in presidential debates, the final stages of the campaign saw McCain criticizing Obama for being a "redistributionist" and adopting symbols such as Joe the Plumber. On November 4, 2008, McCain lost to Barack Obama in the general election, receiving 173 votes of the electoral college, to Obama's 365. Following his loss, McCain continued serving in the U.S. Senate, and was reelected in 2010. Controversially, Sarah Palin resigned as Governor of Alaska on July 26, 2009, less than one year after the election, going on to be the subject of a reality show and an early Tea Party leader. Were McCain elected, he would have been the oldest President to take office, the first not born in the 50 states, whereas Palin would have been the first woman Vice President. ==Leading up to the announcement== McCain's oft-cited strengths as a potential presidential candidate in 2008 included national name recognition, sponsorship of major lobbying and campaign finance reform initiatives and leadership in exposing the Abramoff scandal.〔Schmidt, Susan; Grimaldi, James. ("Panel Says Abramoff Laundered Tribal Funds; McCain Cites Possible Fraud by Lobbyist" ), ''Washington Post'' (June 23, 2005).〕〔Anderson, John. (Follow the Money ) (Simon and Schuster 2007), page 254.〕 He was well known for his military service (including years as a tortured POW) and competing in the 2000 presidential campaign, in which he won the New Hampshire primary before eventually losing the nomination to George W. Bush. McCain also impressed many Republicans with his strong support for President Bush's re-election campaign in 2004, and his role in the confirmation of many of Bush's judicial nominees.〔 Since 1993, he also has served as chairman of the International Republican Institute, a U.S. government-funded organization involved in supporting political democracy around the world. A ''Time'' magazine poll dated January 2007 showed McCain deadlocked with possible Democratic opponent Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at 46%; in the same poll McCain trailed Democratic Senator Barack Obama 41% to 48%. An earlier ''Time'' poll indicated that more Americans were familiar with McCain than any of the other frontrunners, including Obama and Republican candidate and former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani. During the 2006 election cycle, McCain attended 346 events 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 May 2006, McCain gave the commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. During his 2000 presidential bid, McCain had called Falwell an "agent of intolerance." With significant coverage during the campaign, McCain said that he would never back down from his earlier statement. His later appearance at Liberty University prompted questions about the McCain-Falwell relationship and a possible presidential run in 2008. McCain backtracked and stated that Falwell is no longer as divisive and the two have discussed their shared values. McCain delivered a similar address at The New School commencement in Madison Square Garden. McCain was booed, and several students and professors turned their backs or waved fliers reading "McCain does not speak for me." McCain's speech mentioned his unwavering support for the Iraq War and focused on hearing opposing viewpoints, listening to each other, and the relevance of opposition in a democracy. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John McCain presidential campaign, 2008」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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