Steve Beshear won the Kentucky governor's race by 59 percent of the vote, ousting incumbent Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher in 2007.

Beshear defeated four other democratic challengers to win the nomination for governor. Beshear won by a margin of 40.9 percent of the vote, a slim .9 percentage point more than the required 40 percent to avoid a run-off.

Beshear's resume includes stints as a state legislator, attorney general and lieutenant governor. But his previous two campaigns ended in defeat. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1987 and lost to Republican Mitch McConnell in the 1996 Senate race.

(Last updated by The Associated Press on March 24, 2009.)

Jim Bunning was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998, defeating fellow congressman Democrat Scotty Baesler in a tight race. Bunning received 50 percent of the vote to Baesler's 49 percent.

Bunning was re-elected in 2004 with 51 percent of the vote over Daniel Mongiardo.

Before his congressional career, Bunning was elected to the Fort Thomas City Council in 1977 and the Kentucky Senate in 1979.

He ran for governor in 1983 but lost to Democrat Martha Layne Collins.

Bunning was elected to the U.S. House in 1986 with 55 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Terry L. Mann for the seat given up by retiring Republican Rep. M. Gene Snyder. He was re-elected five times.

(Last updated by Roger Alford on March 18, 2009.)

Mitch McConnell was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984, with 50 percent of the vote, ousting incumbent Democratic Sen. Walter Huddleston.

He was re-elected in 1990 against former Louisville Mayor Harvey Sloane. McConnell received 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Sloane.

McConnell was again re-elected in 1996 with 55 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Steve Beshear and was re-elected in 2002 with 64 percent of the vote against Democrat Lois Combs Weinberg.

Democrats lined up to challenge McConnell in 2008, most notably multimillionaire entrepreneur and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lunsford. Another of the candidates, Greg Fischer, reported in April that he had raised more than $1 million for his campaign, including about half of it from himself. Iraq War veteran Andrew Horne remained on the ballot but dropped out and endorsed Lunsford who won the Democratic nomination.

On the Republican side, McConnell was opposed in the primary by little-known Daniel Essek of Williamsburg.

McConnell, known for his bare-knuckled campaign style, sent a clear message to any would-be Democratic challenger at a November 2007 meeting where Republicans plotted strategy after losing the governor's race. "I'm a bigger target, but I'm a pretty big boy," McConnell said. "And I'll tell you this, as I've said before, they throw a pebble at me, I'm going to throw a boulder back."

McConnell went on to win the general election with 53 percent of the vote against Lunsford.

The victory allowed McConnell to become Kentucky's longest serving senator. He surpassed Democrat Wendell Ford's tenure in January 2009 when he started his 25th year in the Senate.

In the early days of his political career, McConnell was elected Jefferson County judge-executive in 1977 and was re-elected to that post in 1981.

(Last updated by Joe Biesk on March 19, 2009.)