Top 8 new political stars of 2010

It was a banner year for the creation of political heroes and villains. Here are eight who rose from obscurity to stardom 

During the political roller coaster ride of Election 2010, plenty of Democrats and a few Republicans lost their jobs in Congress, and President Obama saw his political fortunes shift ominously with the November shellacking of his party. But it wasn't a bad year for everyone. Here are eight American politicians who rose from obscurity to prominence. 

1. Scott Brown
Brown shocked Massachusetts Democrats, and Washington, on Jan. 19 when he won the Senate seat left open by Sen. Ted Kennedy's death. Brown, an obscure state senator and former fashion model, beat the once-prohibitive frontrunner Martha Coakley, the Democratic state attorney general, thanks to a surge of Tea Party support and Coakley's campaign missteps. "Not since John Kennedy has a personality of Scott Brown's appeal emerged from Senatorial ranks," said Peter Worthington in the Toronto Sun. "He's not Ronald Reagan (yet), but he's an original who's captured the imagination of the nation."

2. Rand Paul
An ophthalmologist who had never held elective office, Rand Paul rocketed to prominence on May 18 when he won Kentucky's Republican primary against Trey Grayson, the handpicked candidate of the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell. Paul's winning coalition of Tea Party conservatives and fans of his father (libertarian-GOP icon Ron Paul) held together through an anti–Civil Rights Act gaffe and the media's discovery of a now-notorious college prank involving "Aqua Buddha." Paul trounced Democrat Jack Conway to become Kentucky's junior senator and a certified Tea Party star. After his Tea Party–fueled triumph, Paul earned "Scott Brown-like status as the Most Powerful Republican In The World," said Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic.

3. Chris Coons
In the race for Vice President Joe Biden's old Senate seat, Democratic Delaware county executive Coons was all-but-sure to lose to Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE)... until the moderate Castle lost his Sept. 14 Republican primary to Tea Party insurgent Christine O'Donnell. O'Donnell became a star in her own right that night, but Coons' easy win in November provided Democrats a rare bright spot. O'Donnell's "fresh-faced exuberance, matched only by missteps and gaffes," made her the media-coverage winner of the year, said David Gibson in Politics Daily, but the "wonkish" Coons won the only contest that really mattered.

4. Nikki Haley
Haley made history by becoming South Carolina's first female governor, and the second Indian-American governor in U.S. history, but her rise to political prominence was in May when a Republican political operative accused her of having an extramarital affair with him. A second affair allegation surfaced, but high-profile supporters like Sarah Palin stuck by her. Haley easily won the June GOP primary, then squeaked out a win in the Nov. 3 general election. "Only in South Carolina, the unmatched mud pit of Republican politics, can unproven accusations of extramarital affairs made by two different men boost a woman's standing in the polls," said Time's Michael Scherer.