(12 of 41)
50
John C. Culver, 41, a former captain of the Harvard football team, later studied at Cambridge University in England, spent three years in the Marines and won a law degree before going to Washington as an assistant to his friend and former classmate, Ted Kennedy. Democrat Culver ran for Congress from a Republican district in Iowa in 1964, sweeping into the House on Lyndon Johnson's coattails and increasing his margin of victory in each of the next four elections. A prime mover for congressional reorganization, he entered the 1974 Senate contest when Harold Hughes bowed out and is favored to win.
51
John Dalton, 42, began his political career by passing out bumper stickers for his father Ted, a longtime Virginia state senator and now a federal district judge. While pursuing his law career, the younger Dalton rose through G.O.P. ranks to become chairman of the Virginia Young Republicans, state Republican treasurer and then general counsel. After three terms in Virginia's house of delegates and one as state senator, Dalton won a three-way race for the lieutenant governorship last year. A moderate from southwest Virginia's farm country, he will almost certainly be the Republican nominee for Governor in 1977.
52
John C. Danforth, 37, a wealthy Ralston Purina heir, won degrees from Princeton and Yale (Divinity and Law), dabbled in New York law and politics before returning to his native Missouri and, in 1968, winning election as state attorney general. As founder of Missouri's New Republicans, a group of young, liberal G.O.P. reformers, Danforth has bypassed the old party establishment and helped break a 38-year Democratic stranglehold on top state offices. Though he lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1970, he was easily re-elected attorney general two years ago by an astonishing 460,000-vote margin and will probably make another Senate run in 1976.
53
Price Daniel Jr., 33, son of a former Texas Governor and U.S. Senator, started his own legislative career as a moderate Democrat in the Texas house. When the Sharpstown State Bank scandals erupted three years ago, the young lawyer-politician led the way in drafting reform legislation for financial disclosure by state officials, public access to government documents and open campaign financing. At 29, he was elected speaker of the house. Last year Daniel resigned this post to become president of the constitutional convention charged with revising the state's 98-year-old constitution. Thanks to his image as an incorruptible, energetic politician, he has attracted substantial support should he seek higher office.
54
Charles Dascal, 42, fled to Miami from Cuba in 1961 with only a few dollars in his pocket. He and another refugee scraped together $3,000 within a year, went into the electronics business and made a fortune. With six other Cuban Americans, Dascal, a college dropout, founded the Continental National Bank last May to serve the Miami area's roughly 350,000 Cubans (whose annual gross income tops $1 billion). Operating out of two trailers while permanent quarters are being built, the bank, says Chairman Dascal, "will enable the immigrants to build the solid foundation that any minority group needs for its own development."
55
Peter Dawkins, 36. An All-America halfback and