McCain’s family touches casket; wife kisses it

The late Sen. John McCain’s wife, Cindy, has walked up to the flag-draped casket holding her husband’s body at the Arizona Capitol and patted it, then leaned over and kissed it.

The rest of his children then filed past the casket and touched it Wednesday, including his sons in uniform and daughter Meghan McCain who was weeping.

Gov. Doug Ducey and his wife bowed and McCain’s former colleagues, Sen. Jeff Flake and former Sen. Jon Kyl, both touched the casket.

Flake gave a prayer at the ceremony that preceded a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

PREVIOUS STORY: 10:25 a.m.

Arizona’s governor says Sen. John McCain was one of the only politicians who could get people to set aside politics.

Gov. Doug Ducey said at a private ceremony Wednesday at the state Capitol that imagining Arizona without McCain is like imagining the state without the Grand Canyon, two things it’s known for.

The governor called McCain one of Arizona’s favorite adopted sons.

Ducey said Arizona residents knew they could follow McCain, who served in Vietnam as a Navy pilot and was captured as a prisoner of war, because he was trusted and tested, qualities that are in short supply.

The ceremony with McCain’s wife, Cindy, children and other politicians came ahead of a public viewing for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

PREVIOUS STORY: 10:15 a.m.

John McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, wept as her family stood in front of the Arizona senator’s flag-draped casket at the Arizona Capitol.

His colleague, former Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, opened comments at a ceremony Wednesday for the 81-year-old Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Kyl says he has been with McCain all around the world and that he had better instincts on when to assert U.S. power than anyone else he knew.

He said he would miss McCain and that his greatest contribution was national security.

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PREVIOUS STORY: 10 a.m.

A motorcade with Sen. John McCain’s body has arrived at the Arizona State Capitol for a private ceremony and afternoon and evening public viewing on the day that would have been his 82nd birthday.

State troopers on motorcycles led the black hearse on the eight-mile (13-kilometer) route that took the procession on southbound lanes of a highway closed to other traffic. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey embraced McCain’s wife, Cindy, when the motorcade arrived.

Flag-bearing military honor guards were lined up outside the State Capitol waiting to honor the 81-year-old Arizona Republican who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church before McCain’s body is flown to Washington, D.C., for a ceremony Friday at the U.S. Capitol and a memorial service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a private memorial service and burial Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.