By Mike Kelly

It has been nearly 20 months since John McCain announced his intention to run for the presidency. It was always expected that the GOP senator would run in 2008, after seeking his party’s nomination in 2000, losing to George W. Bush. Here is the Arizona senator’s five biggest campaign moments.

McCain Wins NH Primary

After finishing in a third place tie in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses, McCain needed a win in New Hampshire, his (political) home away from home, to salvage his presidential bid. McCain had hinged his early strategy on the state, based on his success there in the 2000 GOP primary.

In 2000, McCain was a heavy underdog to George W. Bush, who had a better funded and organized campaign. Before the 2000 primary, McCain ventured all over the state, holding over 100 town hall meetings in small northeastern state. The hard work for McCain paid off, culminating in a dramatic 18 point primary win.

Working off his previous success, in 2008 McCain again held town halls all over New Hampshire, after giving up on Iowa. He needed a win in New Hampshire to remain viable against the folksy Mike Huckabee and the well-funded Mitt Romney. In all likelihood, if McCain lost New Hampshire he would have had to withdraw from the race.

But, New Hampshire came through for him again, delivering the state to McCain by a 37-32 margin over Romney. The win salvaged McCain’s campaign, helping to fill his campaign coffers for a run at South Carolina, Florida and the Super Tuesday states.

McCain Takes Florida, Clearing Path For a Big Super Tuesday

After winning New Hampshire and South Carolina, McCain headed into Florida with his only serious competition for the nomination being Mitt Romney. A win in the state would catapult either candidate into the head of the GOP pack heading into the delegate rich Super Tuesday. At the time, the general consensus was that the winner of Florida would go on to become the GOP nominee.

Spurred on by the endorsement of Charlie Crist, the popular Florida governor, days before the primary, McCain beat Romney by five points. The win cemented McCain as the frontrunner in what had become a GOP dogfight, a status further buoyed by the endorsements of Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the days after the result.

McCain Rising

After securing the party’s nomination, McCain struggled through the summer months, often finding it hard to compete with the popularity of Barack Obama, after the junior senator from Illinois secured his party’s bid after a long, grueling primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Through most of the summer McCain trailed in the polls, falling back by as many as 10 points, before heading into his convention.

But the GOP convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota was a huge momentum boost for McCain, culminating in a surprisingly large bump, turning his near double-digit deficit into a modest 3-5 point lead in most polls.

Though the highlight of the convention was Sarah Palin’s speech, her first real introduction to the country, the turning point of the convention was the speech by McCain himself. Though critics suggested the speech was too meandering in its body, the climax was powerful. The climax of his speech would lead to a sustained bump in the polls, lasting until…

McCain Falling

…the economic crisis. A mere few days before the first presidential debate, the U.S. financial sector took a huge hit, which is still being felt today. The crisis was a blow to McCain’s campaign, immediately knocking him down in the polls.

McCain made a mistake in suspending his campaign, but the crisis hit him harder for a different reason; it brought the focus of the election back on the policies of George W. Bush’s, specifically his economic policies, turning the election from a voter referendum on Obama (Can we trust this guy?) to a referendum on Bush (Can we continue these economic policies?). The economic meltdown led to more heightened awareness of Phil Gramm’s target=”new”>inane comments, and also reminded the country of McCain’s 2005 comment, "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

Failing to come up with a consistent economic plan didn’t help McCain in the aftermath of the economic meltdown. Heading into the week before the election, McCain trailed by 6-10 points in the polls, depending on which one you looked at.

The Resurgence

A more focuses economic message, coupled with a possible case of buyer’s remorse, helped lift McCain in the week prior to the election. The introduction of Joe the Plumber surely didn’t hurt either, fueling the McCain campaigns criticism that Obama’s tax plan was socialistic in its nature.

The week before the election saw McCain rising in the polls, even beating out Obama in a one day Zogby sample. However, in the day before election, most polls saw McCain down by 3-6 points.