Chet Culver (D)

Chet Culver had won two statewide campaigns for secretary of state yet was not the favorite of many within his own party when he entered the Iowa governor's race last year. He narrowly defeated a Democratic field in the June primary and then won a commanding victory over Rep. Jim Nussle, a Republican stalwart elected to Congress eight times.

Culver, 40, who was born in Washington when his father was a member of Congress and grew up in Chevy Chase, was a high school history teacher. More liberal than Nussle on social issues, he linked his opponent to the national Republican leadership and said he would continue the policies of popular Gov. Tom Vilsack (D).

"Why can't we be the first state in the nation," he asked, "to declare our independence from foreign oil?" Succeeding Vilsack, he becomes only the second Democrat elected governor in Iowa in more than 40 years.