Deval Patrick (D)

Patrick first imagined a life for himself far from the poverty and violence of the housing project in 7th grade. In an essay, "The Story of My Life," he predicted he would attend UCLA and go to work in real estate. "I thank God that he thought enough of me to take me this far," Patrick wrote.

Patrick got that chance when his 7th-grade English teacher, a 22-year-old named Darla Weissenberg, signed him up for a program called "A Better Chance," which gave poor children scholarships to prestigious preparatory schools. And in 1970, at the age of 14, Patrick landed on the campus of The Milton Academy outside Boston.

At Milton, Patrick grew an afro, but was teased by other black students as an "Oreo," black on the outside, white on the inside, because of his close ties to white students. But he remained focused on his studies, he said, because "You know how many people are depending on you, how many people are counting on you to make them proud and not disappoint. And that's a lot to carry around. It keeps you in a very narrow corridor."

Patrick went on to Harvard, where he majored in English and American History, then spent a year working in the Sudan as part of a United Nation's development project before returning to Harvard Law School, where he was elected to run the law school's Legal Aid Bureau, providing legal services to the poor in Boston.

Clinton Justice Department

Patrick went to work for the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York shortly after graduation. While there, he sued Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton for violations of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

He was back in private practice in Boston in 1994 when Clinton, then president, asked him to become assistant attorney general for civil rights at a Justice Department. The job had been vacant for more than a year because two earlier nominees were forced by withering political attacks on their records to withdraw and three others on Clinton's short list asked not to be nominated. So Clinton turned to Patrick.

At Justice, Patrick led investigations into a series of church arsons in the South and allegations of racism against the Los Angeles Police Department. He helped force two taxpayer-supported military schools, the Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel in South Carolina, to admit women.

At Justice, Patrick concentrated on defending affirmative action programs, which the Clinton administration wanted to "mend, not end" following a Supreme Court ruling that restricted such programs and attacks by Republicans who wanted to abolish them. When Patrick sued Illinois State University for discriminating against white men by refusing them access to a janitor-training program, Republicans charged that Patrick was just trying to provide political cover for Clinton.

Business Career

Patrick quit the Justice Department in November 1996, saying he wished to return to his family and the private sector.But he was not back in Boston long before Texaco hired him to oversee the company's employment practices after settling a $176 million discrimination lawsuit filed by black employees.

Patrick became Texaco's general counsel before being hired away in 2001 to tackle a similar job at Coca-Cola, which had just settled a $193 million racial discrimination lawsuit filed by black employees.

Patrick served as Coke's general counsel, making him the company's highest-ranking African American executive. But he left the company three years later amid reports that his bosses didn't like the way he was handling legal matters.

Political Debut

Patrick made his first bid for elected office in 2006, running for governor in hopes of breaking Republicans' 16 year hold on the office. The incumbent, Republican Mitt Romney, quit and ran for president.

Patrick was the most liberal of three Democrats running in the primary - opposing an income tax cut and supporting giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants - yet cruised to victory with nearly 50 percent of the vote.He spent $5.5 million in what, at a total of $25 million, became the mostly costly race in Massachusetts history.

Patrick also sailed by his Republican challenger, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, in the general election. Healey's campaign had thought Patrick would be the easiest Democrat to beat because it could paint him as a tax-and-spend liberal. But Patrick's work for Texaco and Coke helped blunt any anti-business caricatures.Healey suffered a voter backlash for the series of attack ads she ran against Patrick.

Patrick won, 56 to 35 percent.

Kennedy Replacement

Shortly before his death on Aug. 25, 2009, after battling brain cancer, Sen. Edward Kennedy called on Massachusetts lawmakers to change state law to allow the governor to appoint a replacement, with the caveat that the appointee not run in a special election to permanently replace the senator. Right now, the law requires a special election to be held within 145 days of a vacancy, which would be in mid-January 2010.

After the lawmaker's death, Patrick said that he would sign any bill that came to his desk empowering him to appoint a Kennedy successor. There may be significant pressure from national Democrats to change Massachusetts law as the health-care debate, of which Kennedy was an integral part, rages in Washington. "It's a particularly timely request at a time when there are such profoundly important issues pending in the Congress," Patrick told reporters.

Possible replacements for Kennedy include Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the senator's wife, though she has reportedly declined interest; and Massachusetts Democratic Reps. Stephen Lynch and Michael Capuano; and former Reps. Joseph Kennedy, the senator's nephew, and Marty Meehan.

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