Florida Gov. Jeb Bush boasts a rare political heritage that has given rise to one of the most geographically diverse and powerful political dynasties in U.S. history. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a popular U.S. senator from Connecticut. Prescott's son, George Herbert Walker Bush was elected president in 1988 after holding a host of high-level government positions, including the vice presidency.

George H.W. Bush bequeathed his interest in business and public service to his sons. George W. Bush, a Texas oil man and professional baseball owner, was twice elected governor of Texas and won the presidency in 2000.

John Ellis Bush, known as "Jeb," was born Feb. 11, 1953 and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. While in high school he developed an interest in Latin America and traveled to Mexico to teach English.

He met his wife Columba, a Mexico native, while earning a degree in Latin American affairs at the University of Texas. They are the parents of three children.

In 1980 A wealthy Republican Party contributor and friend of his father offered Bush a stake in a booming South Florida real estate business and the young family moved to Miami.

By most accounts, Jeb Bush worked hard and became a moderately successful developer and real estate broker. The Miami Herald has called him a "sharp businessman with a talent for salesmanship who started out with little in the bank and was a millionaire by his 30s."

Bush has been criticized, however, for occassionaly using the family name and connections to further his business goals.

"Twice in the 1980s, while his father was vice president, the young Jeb Bush intervened in Washington on behalf of people who turned out to be hucksters -- assistance that, however unwittingly on Bush's part, helped advance schemes to defraud the U.S. government of millions of dollars," reported the Herald.

In one case Bush wrote a letter to the department of Housing and Urban Development urging the department to review the case of a Miami contractor who was seeking a HUD loan. The contractor got the loan, but was later sentenced to six years in prison for inflating the cost of the building project.

Bush also intervened with the department of Health and Human Services on behalf of a Miami-based HMO operator who had complained that new federal rules would hurt his business by limiting the number of Medicare patients the company could enroll.

"An HHS official later said Bush's call helped IMC [the HMO] obtain an exemption from the rule. Bush denies asking for special treatment. 'I just asked that IMC get a fair hearing,'" reported the Herald.

The HMO operator was later charged with embezzlement and fled to Spain.

In both cases Bush had business dealings with the men on whose behalf he petitioned government officials. He has never been acussed of any wrongdoing, and has said that he only asked for fair hearings and reviews. He has also admitted that name recognition is a business advantage and a fact of life.

In 1986 Bush interrupted his business career to serve two years as Florida's secretary of commerce under Republican Gov. Bob Martinez, laying a political foundation in state government. In 1994 Bush decided to make his first run for the governorship of Florida.

Many pundits predicted a Bush win, followed by re-election, followed by a run for the presidency in 2000. While Jeb Bush was plotting victory from his South Florida campaign base, his brother George W., owner of the Texas Rangers, was mounting a run for Texas governor. Both brothers were favored to win.

What awaited Jeb Bush, however, was the wiliness and political skill of incumbent Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles, who at the time was considered vulnerable.

But Chiles was an old-school populist who had won election to the U.S. Senate in 1970 by traversing the length of the state -- from the Alabama line to Key West on foot -- personally talking to thousands of voters and wearing out a few pairs of hiking boots.

Chiles saw the race as his swan song and ignited a renaissance of old-style Florida politicking. He dubbed himself the "He-Coon" of Florida politics and barnstormed the state shoring up support in his base and reaching out to swing voters.

Chiles criticized Bush as inexperienced and an outsider. "The He-Coon walks just before the light of day," Chiles said to a bewildered Bush in a debate, predicting a come from behind victory.

Bush ran on a conservative platform of less taxes, welfare reform, more law and order, and school accountability. The first-time candidate, however, made some gaffes on the campaign trail.

"There was a rigid tone to Bush's campaign; when one black man asked him what he would do to help him, Bush replied, 'Probably nothing,'" wrote Michael Barone in the Almanac of American Politics.

Chiles won the race by a nose.

"The result was a 51%-49% Chiles victory. It was a polarized election: Blacks were 94% and Jews 75% for Chiles, Cubans 74% and Christian conservatives 91% for Bush," Barone reported.

On the same night that Jeb Bush lost, George W. Bush won the governorship of Texas. Chiles' victory gave Jeb Bush time to plan his next run for governor.

In the intervening years Bush started a public policy institute, began a charter school in one of Miami's poorest areas, and authored Profiles in Character -- a book profiling 14 of Florida's civic heroes. He also took pains to reach out to black voters and traveled the state building support.

The four-year campaign to connect with the Florida electorate paid off when Bush beat his opponent, Florida's then-Lt. Gov. Buddy McKay. McKay had been Chiles' lieutenant governor during the race, but became governor a few weeks before Bush's inauguration after Chiles died suddenly of a heart attack while riding his exercise bike. Chiles, who had chosen not to seek a third term, had supported McKay's bid for the office.

During the campaign McKay attacked Bush's platform as too conservative and criticized some of his business practices. Bush won 55 percent to 45 percent, garnering 14 percent of the black vote, a large showing for a Republican in Florida.

Bush's first term in office has been marred by continued scandals in the state's severely dysfunctional child welfare system. A number of children under the supervision of the state's Department of Children and Families have been abused, lost and even killed.

Bush's current opponent, Democratic candidate and Tampa lawyer Bill McBride, has been critical of Bush on the issue, saying new leadership, more employees, better training, and much better pay is needed in the department.

Bush has also come under fire for ending affirmative action in the state's university admissions system and contract bidding process.

He has touted his "One Florida" plan as corrective to what he saw as an arbitrary system. Reports this year say that minority enrollment essentially stayed the same at state universities.

The state's flagship university in Gainesville, however, showed an increase in minority enrollment. The president of the university, Charles Young, initially opposed the plan but is now a supporter because he says the program allowed officials to implement innovative recruitment efforts after minority enrollment initially dropped.

Bush supporters point to the University of Florida as a success story -- what can happen when admissions officers recruit excellent students of all races.

The Lakeland Ledger newspaper editorial board is one of the plan's critics.

"Although the raw numbers of new minority enrollees rose, the overall enrollments rose even more. That means blacks and Hispanics, although represented in somewhat greater numbers, are a smaller portion of the student bodies in state universities generally," the Ledger wrote in a Sept. 8 editorial.

Bush announced in August that the number of state contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses is up 24 percent -- another positive result, he says, of the "One Florida" plan.

McBride has tried to reach out to black voters that may be have been alienated by Bush's elimination of affirmative action.

Bush has also been criticized for comments that have been called abrasive and insensitive. When black legislators staged a sit-in demonstration in the governor's office to protest the "One Florida" plan, Bush was recorded by a reporter's microphone saying, "Throw their asses out!" He later said he was referring to reporters, not his colleagues in the legislature.

During the current campaign for governor, Bush has touted his record on education reform. His campaign Web site says that children in Florida are learning more than ever after a 27 percent increase in total funding for schools. He also claims that his controversial "accountability" plan, whereby schools are given a letter grade ranging from A to F, has allowed state and local officials to give more help to struggling schools.

"Since 1998, 83% more African-American fourth graders are reading at grade level or above, as are 47% more Hispanic fourth graders. Teachers, parents, and students are rising to the challenge of the increased opportunities and accountability measures of the A+ Plan," Bush's Web site says.

McBride has made education his signature campaign issue, taking aim at Bush's programs. McBride says the funding hasn't been enough to keep up with Florida's growth and that the school rating system has had a negative effect on low-rated schools' morale and ability to improve. McBride claims that Bush's attempts at reforms have had no discernible effect on schools.

Another campaign issue is Bush's struggle to ensure smooth elections in the Sunshine State. After warding off accusations that he had somehow orchestrated the 2000 election chaos in order to get his brother elected, Bush commissioned a panel to study ways to reform the electoral process.

Bush claimed to have implemented sufficient reforms, but the 2002 Democratic primary this fall proved that in some areas the old problems persist and that "reforms," like new computerized voting machines, have posed new problems.

Cases of poll workers showing up late, not knowing how to operate equipment, and closing polls early were well documented. Bush blamed the continuing trouble on county election officials in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, pointing out that there were no problems in 65 of 67 counties.

McBride, a prominent attorney but virtual unknown in political circles, eked out a narrow victory over former U.S. Attorney General and Miami-Dade prosecutor Janet Reno in the election fraught with malfunctions.

Bush, fearing McBride had more potential to mount a serious challenge in the general election, launched an ad criticizing McBride before the Democratic primary.

Reno, who found her own polling precinct in disarray on Election Day, lambasted Bush for electoral problems, vowing to file suit to ensure proper reform before fully endorsing McBride.

--By Jason Manning, Online NewsHour