By Yang Qingchuan

    ST. PAUL, the United States, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. senator John McCain of Arizona formally accepted Republican presidential nomination Thursday night at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota.

    McCain clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Mar. 4, 2008, with primary wins in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont, completing a remarkable comeback for a campaign that had appeared dead just months prior.

    John McCain was born on Aug. 29, 1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, which was under U.S. control at that time. Both his father and paternal grandfather were four-staradmirals and his father rose to command all the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific.

    Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain graduated from the Naval Academy in 1958. He participated in the Vietnam war and was a prisoner of war for more than five years.

    McCain entered politics in 1976, when he was assigned as the Navy's liaison to the U.S. Senate. He was first elected to the House of the Representatives in 1982 and won election to the U.S. Senate four years later. He has held that place since then.

    In Washington, McCain earned the reputation as a maverick politician by not being afraid of confronting his party's establishment on issues and sponsoring key measures against torture and in favor of campaign finance reform.

    Regarded as a moderate Republican, he has won support of some independents but also has a tense relation with his party's right wing. In the Republican presidential primary election of 2000, McCain emerged as a solid challenger to the frontrunner, George W. Bush, then governor of Texas. He eventually lost to Bush that year.

    McCain largely supports Bush's Iraq policy, and has called for a "greater military commitment to Iraq," saying that more troops are necessary to rebuild the nation and prevent sectarian violence. He sticks to the position although the war is increasingly unpopular in the United States.

    McCain supports immigration reform legislation that would provide illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and establish a temporary guest worker program.

    McCain has a wife, Cindy, seven children and four grandchildren. Despite falling behind the front-runners in many polls in 2007, he managed to turn around his campaign and emerged as the new standard-bearer for his party.