press corps awed by the candidate's wit and candor. for a brief period, it looked like mccain might win the nomination. he he beat george w. bush in the new hampshire primary by 19 points that year, but his seat of the pants challenge collapsed soon after, and he conceded in march of 2000, returning to the senate. mccain soon emerged as a leading voice on american foreign policy. he helped lead the charge for george w. bush's invasion of iraq in 2003 as well as for the bitterly debated troop surge in that country several years later. at the end of bush's second term, mccain once again announced his candidacy for president, this time he won the nomination. in a surprise move at the republican convention in minneapolis, mccain introduced his running mate, alaska governor sarah palin. he later conceded he barely knew palin. in the end, unified media support for his opponent and historic financial collapse that voters blamed on the republican