Few races are expected to draw much attention beyond state borders. Progressive Party candidate Anthony Pollina are challenging incumbent Democrat Howard Dean. If none of them wins a majority, the race's outcome would be in the hands of Vermont's legislature. In Missouri, Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Talent and Democrat Bob Holden, Missouri's state treasurer, have waged a close contest. They are competing to succeed the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, a popular two-term Democrat who was running for the U.S. Senate when he died October 16 in a plane crash near St. Louis.
Talent is one of three congressmen who chose to run for governor instead of seeking re-election.
GOP Rep. David McIntosh lost in his bid to unseat incumbent Gov. Frank O'Bannon in Indiana In West Virginia, Democratic Rep. Bob Wise is trying to knock out Gov. Cecil Underwood, a Republican in normally Democratic West Virginia. A third candidate, Denise Giardina, is running on the environmentalist Mountain Party ticket. But in West Virginia, where the coal industry is still a major force, both majority-party candidates support the practice. Other incumbents facing tough campaigns include New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat. Shaheen is running against Gordon Humphrey, a former two-term Republican U.S. senator.