NASHUA, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Arizona Sen. John McCain, an active Republican presidential candidate for months, formally launched his campaign for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination Monday by calling for Americans to meet the "new patriotic challenge" of reforming the nation's political system.

"It is because I owe America more than she has ever owed me that I am a candidate for president to the United States," he told a crowd of about 500 people.

Sen. John McCain announced Monday his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination

His top issues are campaign finance reform and improving America's national security. McCain said both issues are examples of how he wants to challenge Americans to champion a "cause greater than self-interest."

"When our government has been taken from us by the special interests, the bid-dollar donors, pride is lost to shame," he said. "When our politics is corrupted by money and lies, trust is lost to cynicism."

McCain, a former Navy pilot and Vietnam prisoner of war, has become a leading proponent of campaign finance reform, bucking the Republican Party's stance on the issue and making the issue a central theme of his candidacy.

"If we are to meet the challenges of our time, we must take the corrupting influence of special interest money out of politics," he said. "Restoring honesty to our political systems is the gateway through which all other policy reforms must pass."

And McCain proposed more policy reforms than just changes to campaign finance. He called for the protection of Social Security, tax reduction, vetoes of pork-barrel spending, a nationwide test of educational vouchers and teacher pay based on merit.

"If elected president, I will not allow your Social Security money to be used for any purpose except Social Security, no ifs, ands or excuses," he said.

On the taxes and spending issue, he said he would use what's left of the government surplus to cut taxes and help pay for it by closing loopholes in the tax code. He also called for eliminating the tax penalty applied to married couples, slashing the inheritance tax, ending the earnings test penalty for senior citizens and increasing the number of Americans who qualify for the lowest tax rate of 15 percent.

"I will cut taxes, not for the special interests and the big-dollar donors, but for the working men and women of this country," he said.

He said President Bill Clinton had weakened the country's defense readiness but also said Congress' spending habits also were to blame.

"Both parties in Congress have wasted scare defense dollars on unneeded weapons systems and other pork projects while 12,000 enlisted personnel -- proud young men and women -- subsist on food stamps. That's a disgrace," he said.

McCain started his announcement day with a visit to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. As a student, McCain barely graduated and has described himself as a troublemaker.

He then traveled to New Hampshire, the leadoff primary state and where McCain has been spending a lot of time on the campaign trail. Part of his unorthodox strategy is to skip Iowa's caucuses and focus on the early New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. New Hampshire is a state with independent-minded voters who might like McCain's underdog challenge, while South Carolina has a large veteran population.

"I don't think the primary here is over," said Steve Duprey, the New Hampshire GOP chairman.

McCain also drew a contrast between his experience on foreign policy and that of the current Republican front-runner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Bush served stateside in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War and has made no secret of his need to bone up on foreign policy and rely on advisers.

McCain said when it comes time to send U.S. troops into harm's way, that decision should be made by a leader "who knows that such decisions have profound consequences."

"There comes a time when our nation's leader can no longer rely on briefing books and talking points, when the experts and the advisers have all weighed in, when the sum total of one's life becomes the foundation from which he or she makes the decisions that determine the future of our democracy," McCain said.

McCain said that no matter how many people are involved in foreign policy decisions, the president is "alone in a dark room when the casualty lists come in. I'm not afraid of that burden. I know both the blessing and price of freedom."

In April, McCain attracted a great deal of attention when he was one of the earliest voices to say that the U.S. must win the Kosovo military action at all costs and to call on the Clinton administration to prepare for the possibility of deploying ground troops.

But like Bush has done, he said he will campaign with respect to the dignity of the office he is seeking, a reference to the multiple scandals of the Clinton administration.

"On my honor, I swear to you, that from my first day in office to the last breath I draw, I will do everything in my power to make you proud of your government," McCain said.

McCain confronted another issue today before his announcement. He said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that he wants the Supreme Court's landmark Roe vs. Wade abortion decision overturned.

"But I also want to change the dynamics of this debate, which has kept us gridlocked into positions which caused people to shoot at abortion clinics and other Americans to view it as the only issue in American politics," McCain said. "There are areas we can agree on. ... We need to work together to eliminate abortion."

McCain's father and grandfather were Navy admirals. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958, became a naval aviator and went on to serve a 22-year Navy career.

"I do not announce my candidacy to satisfy my personal ambitions. My life has already been blessed more than I deserve," he said. "I don't begin this mission with any sense of entitlement. America doesn't owe me anything."

In 1967 his plane was shot down over North Vietnam and he spent more than five years as a prisoner of war before being released in 1973. McCain has received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He was elected to the House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982 and to the Senate in 1986. In 1992, he was one of five senators investigated by the Senate for their ties to savings and loan mogul Charles Keating, but was cleared of any wrongdoing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Monday, September 27, 1999

• Quayle quits GOP presidential race
• Committee to question Justice and FBI officials on Trie probe
• McCain formally kicks off campaign
• Male voters: In crisis or in control?
• Clinton touts higher-than-expected $115 billion budget surplus
• New Medicare reference books on the way
• Clinton using hoarse voice to speak for schools, candidate
• Tripp sues White House, Pentagon
• Some Nebraskans wonder if recall law has gotten out of hand
• Hastert says GOP intent not to rob Social Security

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