Ed Rendell first was elected governor in 2002, defeating Republican Mike Fisher, then the state attorney general, by nine percentage points.

Rendell easily beat back a re-election challenge from Republican Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star who was making his debut in elective politics, winning 60.4 percent of the vote in 2006. Term limits bar Rendell from seeking a third term in 2010.

Rendell was elected to two terms as Philadelphia district attorney in 1977 and 1981.

Rendell lost the 1986 Democratic gubernatorial nomination to Robert P. Casey, who won 56 percent of the vote to Rendell's 40 percent.

Rendell was elected mayor of Philadelphia in 1991 and was re-elected in 1995. He previously ran for mayor in 1987, when he lost to incumbent W. Wilson Goode in the Democratic primary.

(Last updated by Peter Jackson on March 13, 2009.)

Bob Casey won election to the U.S. Senate in 2006 with 59 percent of the vote, defeating two-term incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, who received 41 percent.

Casey was elected state auditor in 1996.

In 2002, Casey ran for governor, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by Ed Rendell, the former Philadelphia mayor who went on to win the seat.

In 2004, he was elected state treasurer, receiving more votes in a statewide election than any other candidate in history.

(Last updated by Kimberly Hefling on March 27, 2009.)

Arlen Specter first won election to the U.S. Senate in 1980 over Democrat Pete Flaherty, a former Pittsburgh mayor, with 50 percent of the vote. He won his second term over U.S. Rep. Bob Edgar in 1986 with 56 percent. Specter bucked an anti-incumbent mood in 1992 to defeat Democrat Lynn Yeakel with 49 percent for his third term. He was re-elected to a fourth term in 1998.

Specter barely defeated GOP Rep. Pat Toomey in the 2004 Republican primary with 51 percent of the vote. He went on to defeat former Rep. Joe Hoeffel with 53 percent of the vote to win his fifth term.

Specter won two terms as Philadelphia district attorney in the 1960s, the first Republican to hold a city office in 13 years. He had been a Democrat, but switched parties to challenge his former boss, James Crumlish.

He lost the Republican primary for governor in 1978 to Dick Thornburgh; lost the Republican primary for U.S. Senate to John Heinz in 1976; lost a bid for a third term as district attorney in 1973; and lost a race for Philadelphia mayor in 1967.

Specter ran unsuccessfully for president in 1995, dropping out before the primaries.

(Last updated by Kimberly Hefling on May 5, 2009.)