Bush was raised in West Texas, primarily Midland, where his father worked in the oil business.

At prep school, he was high commissioner of stickball and played varsity basketball and baseball.

He went to Yale University, where he was a member of the secret society Skull & Bones. Among its alumni are his father and Democratic challenger John Kerry.

He joined Delta Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity with a reputation for partying. Among his frat brothers: Calvin Hill, who became a Dallas Cowboys running back.

In 1994, he ran against Texas Gov. Ann Richards on four issues: lawsuit reform, welfare reform, juvenile crime and local control of schools. Richards lost in a landslide to Bush despite a high-profile term in which the state’s crime decreased and the economy improved.