10. Allen West – Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, Iraq soldier and Afghanistan advisor, Bronze Star recipient, former FrontPage Magazine Man of the Year, and Florida Representative-elect Allen West said and did everything right during his 2010 campaign.  West’s image wasn’t tarnished in the slightest by Keith Olbermann’s smears about West’s harmless firing of a gun into a barrel while interrogating an Iraqi police officer who refused to divulge information about an upcoming ambush on American soldiers.  West’s quick thinking and bold action prevented the attack, and further strikes in the region, until West retired.  But Colonel West’s finest moment was his reaction to the revelation earlier this year of Harry Reid’s “light-skinned” with “no Negro dialect” statements about presidential candidate Barack Obama, a speech that answered charges of Being Republican While Black: “Reid’s comments [are] indicative of the true sentiment elitist liberals have toward black Americans.  The history of the Democrat party is one of slavery, secession, segregation, and now socialism, born from the Johnson Great Society programs that have castigated blacks as victims…  I would rather be called ‘an Uncle Tom and a sellout’ than lose my self-esteem and be considered an inferior by liberals…  [I] shall never submit to the collective progressive ideal of inferiority.”

9. Nikki Haley – After South Carolina Governor-elect, former accountant and businesswoman, three-term state representative, fiscal conservative, and Tea Party favorite Nikki Haley received the Sarah Palin treatment, liberals thought she was going to cower in the face of malevolent mainstream media pressure.  But Haley fought off unproven allegations of extramarital affairs—conveniently produced two weeks before the Republican primary—and, with the support of the Palinator herself, moved from last to first in a four-person primary, survived a runoff election, and beat Democratic challenger Vincent Sheheen in the general election.  Haley campaigned on promises to cut and flatten taxes, simplify South Carolina’s tax structure and regulatory system, hire businesspeople who understand how industry works to regulatory boards, and reduce the unchecked power of the executive to tax citizens via ad hoc fines and fees.  Her pro-business efforts in the state legislature won her the “Friend of the Taxpayer” award from the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers in 2009 and a lifetime “A” rating from the South Carolina Club for Growth.  read more »