Jodi Rell was elevated to the state's top job in 2004 following the resignation of Gov. John G. Rowland, who was sent to prison from a corruption scandal.

Rell was elected in 2006 to her first full, four-year term, defeating Democrat John DeStefano, 63 percent to 35 percent.

She first won election to in a 1984 state House race. She served there for 10 years, becoming an assistant minority leader and later deputy minority leader.

She was elected lieutenant governor in 1994 and re-elected to the post in 1998 and 2002.

(Last updated by Patrick Sanders on May 15, 2009.)

Chris Dodd was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Abraham Ribicoff retired instead of seeking re-election that year.

Dodd won in 1980 with 56 percent of the vote, beating former Republican Sen. James L. Buckley of New York. Dodd was re-elected in 1986, with 65 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Roger W. Eddy, a former state senator. Dodd won a third term in 1992 with 59 percent of the vote, besting Republican Brook Johnson, who had 38 percent of the vote.

He won a fourth Senate term in 1998, defeating Republican Gary Franks with 65 percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2004 with 66 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Jack Orchulli.

Dodd was elected to the U.S. House in 1974, and was re-elected in 1976 and 1978.

He announced he was running for the presidency in January 2007 but abandoned his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in January 2008, after a poor showing in Iowa's precinct caucuses.

(Last updated by Andrew Miga on March 20, 2009.)

Joe Lieberman first was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988. He challenged two-term Republican Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. and garnered 50 percent of the vote to Weicker's 49 percent, winning by just 10,000 votes.

He won a second term in the Senate with 67 percent of the vote to Republican Gerald Labriola's 31 percent. He won a third term in 2000 with 63 percent of the vote to Republican Phil Giordano's 34 percent while campaigning as Al Gore's vice presidential running mate.

In 2006, he won the general election with 50 percent of the vote to Democrat Ned Lamont's 40 percent. Lieberman lost the 2006 Democratic primary to Lamont, a wealthy liberal from Greenwich who said Lieberman was too supportive of President Gerge W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Lamont earned 52 percent of the vote to Lieberman's 48 percent.

Lieberman served as Connecticut's attorney general from 1983 to 1988 and in the Connecticut Senate from 1970 to 1980.

He ran for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, but pulled out of the race after never coming close to winning any of the first nine primaries or caucuses.

(Last updated by Patrick Sanders on May 15, 2009.)