Three-term New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is a seasoned campaigner, both as a candidate and as campaign manager, who prefers her carefully designed image as an understanding moderate to the indecisive politician her opponents try to present. She may now be facing the campaign of her political career as she challenges U.S. Rep. John Sununu for a seat in the Senate currently held by Republican Bob Smith.

Born in Missouri, Shaheen received a bachelor's degree in English from Shippensburg University and a master's degree in political science from the University of Mississippi. She moved to New Hampshire in 1973, where she taught school and ran a small business with her husband.

Shaheen began her political career as campaign manager, working for former President Jimmy Carter, among others. But in 1990, Shaheen decided to pursue her own public service ambitions and ran successfully for a seat in the state legislature, the first of three terms she would serve there.

During her six years in the New Hampshire Senate, issues she championed included bringing electric utility competition to the state and reforming workers' compensation regulations.

In 1996, popular Republican Gov. Steve Merrill retired from office and Shaheen decided to run for the state's top job -- a challenge in a state that had never elected a female governor and had not elected a Democrat to the post since 1980.

Presenting herself as a non-confrontational moderate, she faced state Board of Education Chairman Ovide Lamontagne after a close Republican primary.

Shaheen lobbied hard on the issue of education funding, pledged to veto any new broad-based tax plans and proposed expanding kindergarten programs in the state's schools. She went on to win the general election 57 to 40 percent.

As governor, Shaheen has made efforts to revisit many of her campaign promises. She increased kindergarten aid, created school "report cards" to provide parents with information on their child's school and is credited with lowering the state's electricity rates and pushing an HMO accountability act.

On the campaign trail, she also boasts a focus on expanding the state's economy and job base by working to attract new businesses and high tech companies to the state. But her six-year tenure has not been without controversy, particularly the multi-layered Claremont School District v. Governor court battle -- a fight over the constitutionality of the state's education financing system and the rate at which personal property taxes are levied.

In 1993 and again in 1997, the state Supreme Court found the current local-based school financing system illegal and eventually ordered the state government to come up with a replacement plan by an April 1999 deadline.

After winning reelection in 1998 by a steady 66 to 31 percent, Shaheen and state legislators faced the looming Claremont deadline and struggled to find a compromise that would aid schools while still satisfying a constituency that still opposed new sales, property or income taxes.

In late April 1999, Shaheen and the state legislature finally struck a deal before the old system was dropped that included a statewide property tax and an increase in business taxes. Shaheen faced a tough battle in her 2000 re-election campaign.

School funding remained a contentious issue, and in an ideology shifting move, Shaheen decided not to repeat her earlier pledge not to enact new broad-based taxes if necessary. She won the general election against former Sen. Gordon Humphrey by a slim 49 to 44 percent.

Despite a series of legislative volleys in 2001, Shaheen and state legislators still could not agree on how to deal with a budget deficit while financing school aid, leaving the state with an unresolved fiscal problem and a very unpopular statewide property tax.

In early 2002, Shaheen announced her formal bid for Sen. Bob Smith's seat in the U.S. Senate and ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Up until the Republican primary on Sept. 10, most eyes were on the close contest between incumbent Sen. Smith and Sununu for the GOP nomination -- a battle from which Sununu emerged victorious.

Shaheen and her husband Bill have been married for 30 years and have three children and two grandchildren.

--By Maureen Hoch, Online NewsHour