Text Editor: Don Beaulieu

Photo Editors: Miranda Harple and Jane A. Martin

For John McCain, long military service to his country helped to catapult him to be the Republican candidate for the ultimate top job–president of the United States. The decorated Navy officer overcame the odds as a prisoner of war in Vietnam to become a U.S. senator and GOP maverick. McCain surprised pundits and re-energized the party with his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

See the Obama slideshow.