| Claire Mccaskill |
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EARLY LIFE Claire McCaskill was born in Rolla, Missouri and spent her early childhood in the small Missouri towns of Houston , later moving to Lebanon , and eventually Columbia where her father William McCaskill served as a state insurance commissioner, and her mother Betty Anne McCaskill became the first woman to serve on the Columbia City Council. Claire earned a B.S. in political science from the University Of Missouri - Columbia in 1975 and later graduated from Law School at the same institution in 1978 . EARLY CAREER After graduating from law school, she became a law clerk at the Missouri Court Of Appeals in Kansas City . She later joined the Jackson County prosecutor's office where she specialized in Arson cases. From 1983 to 1988 , she represented the Kansas City area in the Missouri House Of Representatives . She became the first Missouri state lawmaker to give birth while in office. McCaskill left the state house to run for Jackson County Prosecutor in 1988 , but withdrew from the crowded Democratic primary. In 1990 McCaskill was elected to the Jackson County Council, serving for two years until winning the race for Jackson County Prosecutor, becoming the first woman to serve in that post in 1992 , and served in that office until her election as State Auditor in 1998 . MARRIAGES In April, 2002 , she married St. Louis businessman and Nursing Home operator Joseph Shepard. From her marriage to Shepard, she has four stepchildren. Shepard loaned $1.6 million to her 2004 gubernatorial campaign. She was previously married to David Exposito, with whom she had three children. They divorced in 1995 after he was caught smoking Marijuana . Exposito was found murdered in Kansas City, Kansas on December 12 , 2005. 2004 CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR On August 3 , 2004 , McCaskill defeated Governor Bob Holden in the Democratic primary race, becoming the first person to defeat an incumbent Governor in Missouri. She was also the first primary challenger to defeat an incumbent Governor in the United States since 1994 , when Bill Janklow defeated Walter Dale Miller in South Dakota . On November 2 , 2004 , McCaskill was defeated by then- Secretary Of State Matt Blunt 50.8%-47.9% in the general election. 2006 CAMPAIGN FOR U.S. SENATE See Also: Missouri U.S. Senate election, 2006 McCaskill did not step down from her position as State Auditor during her 2004 campaign for governor. She therefore had the option of seeking re-election as State Auditor in the 2006. On August 30 , 2005 McCaskill announced that she would challenge Republican Jim Talent , who is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2006. Polls since September 2005 have consistently shown McCaskill and Talent within 5 percentage points of each other. The race is still neck-and-neck and predicted to be one of the most closely watched races in the nation this election cycle. ELECTORAL HISTORY
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