War hero and presidential candidate John McCain has died

Published 7:41 pm Saturday, August 25, 2018

By The Associated Press

John McCain speaks with loyal followers at the Concord Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Concord, N.H., talking mostly about the war in Iraq and about global terror on July 13, 2007. McCain made his first appearance on the trail since shaking up his presidential campaign by replacing his campaign manager and laying off several staffers. (Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Arizona Sen. John McCain, the war hero who became the GOP’s standard-bearer in the 2008 election, has died. He was 81.

His office says McCain died Saturday. He had battled brain cancer.

In 1967, his plane was shot down on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. He was severely injured and spent more than five years as a prisoner of war.

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He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 and the Senate in 1986. A conservative on most issues, he pushed for campaign finance reform and the effort to account for those missing in Vietnam.

He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, then won it in 2008. But he and running mate Sarah Palin lost to Barack Obama.

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