1.   Carter began the race as a political unknown outside his native Georgia.

2.   Dowling was targeted for defeat this year by a political unknown named Carol Crockett.

3.   He arrived as a political unknown with little mandate for change.

4.   Healey is a political unknown who twice failed to win election as a state representative.

5.   Morales was a political unknown at the start of this year.

6.   Morales was a political unknown last year when he gave up his job as a high school civics teacher to run for the Senate.

7.   Nonetheless, Karzai faced two opponents, both political unknowns who braved ridicule to put forward their candidacy.

8.   Of the seven House races, five incumbents had no opponent and one faced two political unknowns.

9.   Two Republican incumbents, Sen. Judd Gregg and Representative Charles Bass, are heavy favorites for re-election because the Democrats recruited to challenge them are underfinanced political unknowns.

10.   Whitman, a Republican, was almost toppled last week not just by a political unknown but by a mayor, Jim McGreevey of Woodbridge, N.J.