Biography:

Tom Coburn, a medical doctor, entered politics in 1994 after a career in medicine and business. A Republican, he wound up winning his first race for Congress in Oklahoma's heavily Democratic 2nd Congressional District.

Coburn was born in Casper, Wyo., in 1948. He graduated from Muskogee High School in Oklahoma and received an accounting degree from Oklahoma State University.

From 1970 to 1978, he was manufacturing manager for Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Opticals in Virginia. He later graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School. He has maintained a medical practice in Muskogee since 1988, specializing in family medicine and obstetrics.

He was known as a conservative firebrand in three terms in Congress. He did not seek re-election in 2000, keeping a pledge he made to voters.

He and his wife, Carolyn, have three children.

Past Campaigns:

Tom Coburn, a doctor, won his first race for Congress in 1994 by defeating Democrat Virgil Cooper in a close election. Cooper had upset longtime incumbent Mike Synar, now deceased, in the Democratic primary in Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District. Coburn had easily won his primary against two opponents.

In 1996, Coburn ran for re-election and was challenged by Democrat Glen Johnson, speaker of the state House of Representatives. Coburn won by 22,000 votes out of 202,000 cast in the heavily Democratic district.

Two years later, he won a third term over businessman Kent Pharoah and a little-known independent. Coburn got 85,581 and Pharoah got 59,042.

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