John E. Baldacci was elected governor in 2002, defeating Republican Peter Cianchette and two other candidates.

In his 2006 re-election campaign, Baldacci drew a token primary challenge from Web site designer, Christopher Miller, who was a Dennis Kucinich supporter in 2004. While Baldacci defeated Miller 3-1, the fact that a politically unknown challenger would get 25 percent raised questions about Baldacci's vulnerability.

In the general election, he faced three serious challengers and ended up with 38 percent of the vote to Republican Chandler Woodcock's 30 percent.

John Baldacci's first experience in public office was in 1978, when he was elected to the Bangor City Council. He was 23. In 1982, he was elected to the Maine Senate and was the first Democrat to hold the seat in 16 years.

He was elected to the U.S. House in 1994 with 46 percent of the vote in a four-way race, defeating Republican Richard Bennett. He was re-elected in 1996 with 72 percent of the vote against Republican Paul Young.

In 1998, Baldacci won re-election by defeating Republican Jonathan Reisman with 76 percent of the vote. In 2000, he was re-elected with 73 percent of the vote. John Baldacci was elected governor in 2002, defeating Republican Peter Cianchette and two other candidates.

(Last updated by Glenn Adams on March 20, 2009.)

Susan M. Collins was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 defeating Democrat Joe Brennan with 49 percent of the vote.

She was re-elected in 2002, winning 59 percent of the vote in her race against Democrat Rochelle "Chellie" Pingree, who served in the state Senate.

In 2008, Collins was re-elected with 61 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Tom Allen, who gave up his seat in the 1st District to challenge Collins.

She won a 1994 eight-way GOP primary race for Maine's gubernatorial nomination with 21 percent of the vote, then finished third in the four-way general election with 23 percent of the vote. The election was won by independent Angus King, with 35 percent, while Democrat Joesph Brennan had 34 percent and the Green party's Jonathan Carter 6.4 percent.

(Last updated by Glenn Adams on March 20, 2009.)

Olympia J. Snowe defeated Democratic Rep. Tom Andrews for the Senate seat of retiring Majority Leader George Mitchell in 1994, taking 60 percent of the vote.

In 2000, Snowe was re-elected to her Senate seat, easily defeating then-state Senate President Mark Lawrence, a Democrat, by a margin of more than 2-to-1.

Snowe, who spent roughly $2.5 million in 2000 to defeat Mark Lawrence, had raised $1.2 million for her 2006 race by July 2005, and had $2.2 million in cash on hand through June 2006, according to the Federal Election Commission.

In the 2006 race, Snowe defeated Democrat Jean Hay Bright with 74 percent of the vote.

Snowe won a special election in 1973 to fill a vacancy in the Maine House of Representatives created by the death of her husband. She won re-election to the seat in 1974.

She was elected in 1976 to the Maine Senate, serving from 1977 to 1978.

Snowe was elected to the U.S. House in 1978 and was re-elected to seven consecutive terms thereafter.

(Last updated by Glenn Adams on March 20, 2009.)