Republican Senator John McCain says he will formally declare his candidacy for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination in early April after a trip to Iraq.

The Arizona senator announced his plans to run Wednesday during the taping of a late-night television talk show, CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman.

He joins former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, among others, in seeking the Republican nomination.

The 70-year-old McCain is a four-term senator and former prisoner of war in Vietnam. He lost the 2000 Republican nomination to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush.

McCain has long been considered a leading contender for the nomination, but a recent ABC News-Washington Post survey shows him trailing Giuliani by a margin of 44 percent to 21 percent.

McCain is a major supporter of President Bush’s plans to send an additional 21,000 troops to Iraq to quell the sectarian violence.

Darwin Political Awards
Stay in Office - Are you smarter than a politician?