12. Edward Mangano

Everybody from both sides of the aisle agrees that Ed Mangano is one hell of a nice guy. In fact, one of his past opponents, Diane Yatauro, the former Democratic minority leader of the Nassau County Legislature, went even further: “Ed is a great guy!” Of course, running one of the richest counties in the country doesn’t mean he’s not going to step on somebody’s toes occasionally—especially when he’s struggling to overcome Nassau’s multi-million dollar budget deficit while under the stern gaze of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority as well as Wall Street bond agencies. This Bethpage son of an ironworker has drawn fire from the public unions for his layoffs and budget cuts. But he says he’s kept such a tight grip on taxes that he deserves another term. The guy he barely beat the last time, Tom Suozzi, may have something to say about that. We’ll see where this nice guy finishes the race in 2013.