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President Obama's 7 most Arizona moments

The president was a two-time election loser in Arizona, but he is connected to our state in many unforgettable ways.

President Barack Obama makes his farewell speech to he nation at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The president was a two-time election loser in Arizona, but he is connected to our state in many unforgettable ways.

We're counting down President Obama's 7 most Arizona moments:

7. Defended by McCain: In October 2008, Republican presidential nominee John McCain used some straight talk to defend his opponent -- Democratic nominee Barack Obama. McCain was booed for telling a Minnesota town hall crowd that Obama wasn't 'an Arab.'

"He's a decent person and person you do not have to be scared of," McCain told the crowd. When one voter said Obama was an "Arab," McCain took the mic from her and said, "No ma'am, he's a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."

6. Not good enough for ASU: Arizona State University invited President Obama to give the commencement speech in May 2009. But the university said it would not award an honorary degree to the new president -- the first African-American president, a Harvard-educated lawyer and recent Nobel Peace Prize winner. It was a decision the university came to regret. Obama made light of the controversy in his speech: "I learned to never again pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA bracket," he joked. "President Crow and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS."

5. Driving by our vets: Who can forget the viral image of the presidential limousine driving by scandal-stricken Phoenix VA Hospital on the way to a speech at Central High School in January 2015. President Obama was pilloried for failing to stop and listen to veterans at ground zero of a nationwide scandal. Obama returned to Phoenix two months later for a make-good visit with hospital administrators.

4. Where birthers were born: The falsehood that President Obama wasn't born in the United States was born right here in Arizona. Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and west Valley tea partiers have carried on a five-year-plus campaign purporting to investigate the president's Hawaii birth certificate. That campaign included a 2011 New York meeting with Donald Trump. Arpaio left office in December still claiming the birth certificate was a fraud.

WATCH: AZ played key role in 'birther' movement

3. We sued Obama: The immigration debate reached a fever pitch when then-Gov. Jan Brewer and the State of Arizona sued the president over SB 1070. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the landmark immigration case in April 2012. Obama's record on immigration was mixed. To immigrant rights advocates, Obama was the "deporter in chief" - shipping more undocumented immigrants out of the country than any other president. But he also issued executive actions protecting tens of thousands of young undocumented immigrants from deportation. To the right, Obama was an open-borders advocated who took the law into his own hands.

2. Consoler in chief: President Obama spoke at a memorial in Tucson Jan. 12, 2011, after six people were killed and 13 wounded, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. He was there just four days after the shootings, as Giffords' life hung in the balance. Obama spoke at more memorials after mass shootings than any other president.

1. The finger wag: It was the finger wag seen 'round the world. Then-Gov. Jan Brewer's ceremonial welcome of President Obama on a Mesa airport tarmac in January 2012 became an international sensation. Brewer later claimed Obama was upset about how he was depicted in her book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," and labeled him "thin-skinned." Obama said simply: "It really wasn't a big deal."

Button showing an exchange between Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer and US President Obama. 2012 (Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

Honorable mentions

The Marshmallow Kid: A marshmallow cannon built by Anthem eighth-grader Joey Hudy was the star of President Obama's 2012 White House Science Fair. Joey got an internship at Intel for two years and now works with young inventors in China.

Obama's 'inspiration': Army Ranger Cory Remsburg of Gilbert drew national attention when President Obama singled him out during the 2014 "State of the Union" speech. The president and the soldier he calls his "inspiration" have now met at least seven times, after their first encounter in Normandy, France, in 2009. Remsburg is recovering from grievous head injuries suffered in battle in Afghanistan. He's endured 10 surgeries, yet now lives on his own with a caregiver.

Historic footnote: Every president since Herbert Hoover has overnighted at the Arizona Biltmore. With just days left in office, President Obama will break that streak. He visited the Valley at least five times, and stayed overnight at least twice: at the former Montelucia Resort in Paradise Valley (now the Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa) in February 2009, and at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak in January 2015.

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