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As John McCain checks into his Beverly Hills hotel tonight he can savour one of the most stunning political fightbacks of modern times.

The anointed Republican frontrunner, fresh from his crucial victory in Florida, leaves the state buoyed by the endorsement from the defeated Rudy Giuliani and with new donations pouring in.

Six months ago, after his campaign collapsed unexpectedly and spectacularly, Mr McCain was largely written off. He was badly in debt, donors fled, his entire top tier of advisers were either sacked or resigned, and he was considered too old, too irascible and too out of step with his party.

He was so bereft of money that as he vowed to press on — “I can out-campaign anyone,” he told The Times in August — he even had to lay off his bus, named the Straight Talk Express, because it used too much petrol. He hired minivans, slept in motels, carried his own bags and tried to get the cheapest deals in economy class on commercial jets. Campaign events, often in small rooms with “John McCain” posters taped to walls, were sparsely attended and ignored by the national press.

Yet after victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina, his victory by five percentage points over Mitt Romney in Florida on Tuesday night makes Mr McCain the favourite to seize the Republican nomination, perhaps as early as the “Super Tuesday” 22-state contest next week. It is an extraordinary situation after the dark days of August.

The support from Mr Giuliani gives Mr McCain a significant advantage in four of the biggest prizes on February 5 — New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois.

The result in Florida suggests that traditional Republicans are willing to back him after years of distrust over his maverick streak and his willingness to question party orthodoxy. The Republican Establishment, which has spurned him for years, appears ready to offer its support.

Mr McCain began last year as the Republican front-runner, but the decision of his aides to run a national, glitzy campaign proved disastrous and unsuited to his skills as a retail politician. His support for immigration reform, detested by conservatives, and his calls for an Iraq “surge” — at a time when many believed that the war was lost — damaged him further. In July it all fell apart.

Only Mr McCain — and a handful of close friends — believed that he could claw his way back. “I have faced a lot tougher times than this in my life. This is a day at the beach compared to some days I have had,” he declared. Mark Salter, his closest aide, puts it another way: “Too tough to die”.

Now 71 — he will be the oldest first-term president in history if elected — he spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and has survived near-fatal skin cancer. He was on his 23rd bombing mission on October 26, 1967, when his plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile over Hanoi, North Vietnam. He ejected, was knocked unconscious and broke both arms and his right knee.

After being captured his shoulder was broken by a rifle butt and he was bayoneted in the ankle and groin before it was revealed that he was an admiral’s son. He received limited treatment for his injuries and was badly tortured, but refused offers of an early release. Today he is still unable to raise his arms above his head and often requires help combing his hair.

In August Mr McCain decamped to New Hampshire, the scene of his triumph over George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primary, and campaigned tirelessly. The national media took little notice, but voters did. Slowly, his poll numbers improved.

The unexpected surge of Mike Huckabee in Iowa threw him a lifeline. Mr Romney, who was beaten into second place in Iowa, arrived in New Hampshire wounded. Mr McCain, buoyed by improving news from Iraq and several newspaper endorsements, was waiting for him.

Victory there on January 8 began his comeback.

Mr McCain still faces a stiff challenge from Mr Romney, who has a personal fortune of $250 million (£125 million) to fund an aggressive advertising campaign. Yet perhaps one of the keys to Mr McCain’s fightback can be found in another statistic from Florida. Among voters who said that strength of character was their top issue, he won overwhelmingly.

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