10 Freshmen to Keep an Eye On

There will be plenty of fresh faces in Washington today. But which ones matter most? The Washington Post selects 10 freshman legislators to keep an eye on:

• Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH: One of Sarah Palin's "mama grizzlies," Ayotte defeated a Tea Partier to become the only woman elected to the Senate last year.
• Sen. Marco Rubio, R -Fla.: The GOP needs some fresh faces and Latino outreach; Rubio has a chance to be its new rock star.
• Rep. David Cicilline, D-RI: The former mayor of Providence—and the country's first openly gay mayor of a capital city—has a rep for cracking down on corruption. He succeeds Patrick Kennedy.

• Rep. Michael Grimm, R-NY: Yep, a NYC Republican. Grimm is a former FBI agent who posed undercover on Wall Street. Nickname: Mikey Suits, for his fashion sense.
• Rep. Allen West, R-Fla.: For those worried about the dearth of Florida wingnuts after Alan Grayson lost reelection, West is a Tea Party darling who's given to calling himself a "right-wing extremist," and the president "the dumbest person walking around right now."
• Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga.: One of a wave of Southern GOPers who unseated Blue Dogs, Scott's fellow freshmen picked him as class president.

For the complete list, click here.

(More 112th Congress stories.)