9. Peter King

Long Island’s lone Republican Congressman is no stranger to controversy. In fact, he revels in it—he even writes back to those who send him hate mail. His post-9/11 rhetoric on Muslim-Americans ruffled feathers. His prior support of the IRA earned him harsh critics as well. And his bashing the media for their Michael Jackson coverage at the time of The King of Pop’s death (he called MJ a pedophile) won King both praise and disapproval. But he plays the game, too. For example, he flip-flopped on his condemnation of President Obama’s response to the failed Christmas bomber. That isn’t to say he’s going soft on Bam. His experience as ranking minority member of the Homeland Security Committee recently earned him chairmanship of the National Security Solutions Group, a partisan group that aims to hold the president accountable for “misguided policies.” What could be next for LI’s King? Well, there’s still time to challenge U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Look out.