Top Political Newsmakers of 2011

Seven months after she was shot in the head and gravely wounded during an assassination attempt, Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords made an emotional return to the House floor on August 1 to cast her vote in support of the controversial debt-limit bill. Attention to the January 8 shooting rampage that took six lives and Giffords’ arduous journey to recovery has made the Tucson Democrat the second most covered political figure in 2011 to date. She has been a dominant figure in 328 stories in 2011. The only politician to appear more frequently as a dominant news maker is President Barack Obama who has been a newsmaker in 2046 stories. (To be considered a dominant newsmaker someone has to be featured in at least 50% of a story.) The No. 3 political newsmaker this year was the subject of a good deal of unwelcome media attention. He is former New York Representative Anthony Weiner (234 stories) who resigned in June following a sexting scandal. The next six leading newsmakers are all Republicans.