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It was in this very same hotel, 28 years ago, that John McCain married his second wife, the wealthy beer heiress Cindy Hensley - 18 years his junior- and went on to launch his political career in 1982 with a successful bid for a seat in Congress. Four years later, he graduated to the US Senate. Before his marriage to Hensley, Mr McCain had no ties with Arizona. In fact, he had previously thought of running for Congress in Florida, where he was stationed with the Navy after returning from Vietnam.

But thanks to the support of his Arizonan father-in-law, the beer distributorship owner James Hensley -plus his friendship with Darrow 'Duke' Tully, then publisher of The Arizona Republic, who also led a powerful group of state kingmakers known as the 'Phoenix 40', he was able to defeat better known opponents in both his Congressional race and his later bid for the Senate.

Of course, Mr McCain's long history with the Navy - and his infamous capture in Vietnam, which resulted in five years of imprisonment and torture - always played well with traditionally conservative Arizonans. And he also quickly learned to use it as a political tool.

The Biltmore was also the venue for Senator McCain's Super Tuesday victory party at the in February. He was then the unexpected victor of the Republican primary, having seen his campaign almost go bust the previous summer because of his deeply unpopular support of an immigration reform bill. Yet the party calculated that his war hero status, matched with his reputation as an independent-minded reformer, would destroy the presidential chances of his rival, Barack Obama.

But his most effective criticism against Barack Obama - his inexperience - was neutralised when the eccentric Republican candidate picked as his running mate Sarah Palin, the former two-term major of a small town in Alaska who had served for only two years as oil-rich state's governor. Ms Palin compounded the damage by appearing uninformed during crucial interviews with the national American media. But it was October/s financial crisis that probably dealt a fatal blow to the McCain campaign

When John McCain wakes up in the Biltmore's inappropriately-named presidential suite this morning - and drinks the venti-sized Starbucks coffee he drinks every morning out of habit - he will have plenty of time to second-guess where his campaign went wrong. Whatever the reason, the state and hotel that was meant to be a temporary stop-over for a political career aimed at the White House, has now become its final resting place.

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