He was among a group of eleven representatives who toured Guantanamo Bay naval base in March to look over the facilities in which 300 suspected Taliban and al Qaeda members who were captured in Afghanistan were being held.

—Jyothi L. Ramakrishnan

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Representative Barney Frank ’61 has always been a favorite in his Massachusetts district—the Democrat has been elected to Congress since 1981 for ten consecutive terms.

This year, Frank is running unopposed.

The outspoken Frank, who is one of three openly gay members of Congress, is considered one of House’s most liberal members.

Frank sponsored a bill to legalize medicinal marijuana in the nine states that have individually approved its use and refers to the negative pot associations as a “cultural lag [that] the public has gotten past.”

He has fought for abortion rights and gun control, and against NAFTA and welfare cutbacks. While he was sharply critical of President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandals, he was one of the strongest opponents of the Republicans’ impeachment efforts.

More recently, when the White House issued a draft of a congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force against Iraq on Sept. 20, Frank co-wrote an alternate resolution that would place more pre-conditions on President Bush before he could use force in Iraq.

In addition to attending Harvard as an undergraduate, Frank taught at the Kennedy School of Government and, while serving in the Massachusetts State Legislature, completed a degree from Harvard Law School.

—Jyothi L. Ramakrishnan

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Ron Kind ’85 was first elected to Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District in November 1996 after winning a five-person race for the Democratic nomination and then defeating the Republican nominee 52 percent to 48 percent.

Now, Congressional Quarterly has declared his seat “safe” in tomorrow’s election.

—Jyothi L. Ramakrishnan

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James D. Matheson ’82, a Democratic representative, has overcome early challenges to emerge as the likely winner in Utah’s Second District—which covers almost half of the state.

The first-term member of Congress was displaced from much of his old Salt Lake City electorate due to redistricting, and instead found himself with 16 conservative rural counties. Nonetheless, Matheson is favored over his Republican opponent, John Swallow, who is currently a state representative.

Interestingly, Matheson has converted his largely Republican district by positioning himself as a bipartisan legislator—someone who, despite being a Democrat, supported President Bush’s views on many issues on a lot of issues.

After receiving his B.A. in government from Harvard, Matheson went on to get an M.B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles. He worked in the energy industry for 13 years, until 1998, when he started his own company, the Matheson Group. He was originally elected to Congress in 2000.

—Benjamin A. Black

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Virginia Democrat Robert C. Scott ’69 has been running the sort of campaign politicians love best: an unopposed one.