In his second run for the office, Phil Bredesen won the governor's seat in 2002. He narrowly defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary with 51 percent of the vote.

Bredesen won re-election in 2006 in a landslide, capturing all 95 counties in defeating state Sen. Jim Bryson. It had been 16 years since a candidate swept the state so decisively, going back to Al Gore's 1990 Senate re-election campaign.

Bredesen is limited to two terms as governor.

Bredesen's first foray into politics was an unsuccessful run for the Massachusetts Senate shortly after graduating from college in 1967.

In 1987, the year he sold his health care company, Bredesen ran against U.S. Rep. Bill Boner for Nashville mayor but lost in a runoff election. That same year Bredesen lost the election to replace Boner in Congress.

Publicity over Boner's personal life led him not to seek re-election four years later and Bredesen was voted in as mayor. Three years later, he was the Democratic nominee for governor but lost in the general election to Don Sundquist in 1994, despite spending $6.5 million of his own money on the race.

(Last updated by Erik Schelzig on March 20, 2009.)

Lamar Alexander won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2002, defeating U.S. Rep. Bob Clement with 54 percent of the vote.

Alexander had no primary opposition in 2008 and won in the general election against Democratic challenger Bob Tuke with 65 percent of the vote.

Alexander first entered politics on the coattails of Howard Baker's successful Senate campaign in 1966 as a legislative aide.

He returned to Tennessee in 1970 to direct Gov. Winfield Dunn's election campaign, then ran himself in 1974, losing to Democrat Ray Blanton.

He defeated Democrat Jake Butcher four years later and then won re-election, the first Tennessee governor to win successive terms.

Alexander ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000, but dropped out after the early primaries.

(Last updated by Duncan Mansfield on March 20, 2009.)

Bob Corker won Tennessee's 2006 U.S. Senate race, defeating Democrat U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis with nearly 51 percent of the vote.

Coker first ran for the Senate seat in 1994, losing in the Republican primary to political novice Bill Frist.

Corker ran for mayor of Chattanooga in 2001 and won 54 percent of the vote in an 11-candidate field. He served one term and chose not to run for re-election in 2005 to focus on his Senate bid.

(Last by Erik Schelzig on March 20, 2009.)