POLITICO, the newest and hottest D.C. political newspaper/news site has announced its top 50 politicos to watch.  Out of the 50 politicos named to the various categories, 10 women were named to the list.  Maybe the folks at POLITICO should tune into ElectWomen Magazine a little more often; they would see a lot more women up and coming in the political world.  Here’s the story:

By POLITICO Staff

Given the name of this publication, we sometimes get asked a good question: What exactly is a politico? There are a lot of definitions that fit, but here’s one that seems to work well: A politico is a participant in and/or an especially avid devotee of the theater of politics.

There is no grander stage than the capital for this particular drama. And what is the main thing you do at the theater? You watch it, of course. And then you laugh or cry or yawn or boo. At the end, you applaud — whether out of admiration for the performance or gratitude that it is over.

This issue (the third special glossy that POLITICO has published this year) is devoted to 50 Politicos to Watch. In some cases, the people are on the watch list because they are on the rise — the kind of list people in Washington relish being on. But be careful what you wish for. Some politicos are interesting to watch because they are in the middle of one sticky mess or another.

But in every case, the names we compiled here — and, let’s be honest, the list is somewhat random — were identified by our reporters and editors as being characters in motion, in the middle of interesting plots.

Politics is always in motion, which is why Washington is always interesting — and rarely more interesting than during the first year of an ambitious new administration. Fluidity is the great constant.

That aggressive young fundraiser who would not leave you alone 20 years ago? He’s White House chief of staff now. That fresh-faced congressional staffer who seemed like such a promising young man? Negotiating with prosecutors to avoid jail time.

People rise; people fall.

Some people forget this at their peril. In the Clinton years, when political consultant Dick Morris was the second-most-powerful man in Washington and was not wearing it well, a staff assistant reminded him that he should be nice to people on the way up so they would be nice to him on the way down.

I’m not going down, Morris retorted. A few weeks later, he was on the cover of Time for a sex scandal, and a few years after that, he was back on the way up with a series of best-selling books and TV commentator gigs.

Here is our list of some celebrated and some obscure actors now occupying interesting spots on the political stage. Keep your eyes on these folks. And enjoy the show.

Politicos on the rise:

John O. Brennan

Dan Pfeiffer

Tom Donilon

Robert Gibbs

Second-wave politicos:

Chuck Hagel

Jennifer Palmieri

Sen. Chris Dodd

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Dead men walking:

Sen. Jim Bunning

Sen. Roland Burris

Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao

Politicos on the ropes:

Rep. John Murtha

Rep. Charles Rangel

Rep. Don Young

Norm Coleman

Loose cannons:

Rep. Virginia Foxx

Rep. Michele Bachmann

Rep. Pete Stark

Politico mischief-makers:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Sen. Judd Gregg

Sen. Arlen Specter

Rep. Luis Guttierez

Justin Ruben

Rainmaking politicos:

Tony Podesta

John Buscher

Broderick Johnson

Dick Gephardt

Politico job gurus:

Jon Carson

Marlon Marshall

Jon Schnur

Under-the-radar politicos:

Nikki Haley

John Ryder

Alex Sink

Matt Strawn

Outside-the-Beltway politicos:

Rafael Anchia

Bob McDonnell

Marco Rubio

Kamala Harris

Jennifer McClellan

Blasting politicos:

Kurt Bardella

Hari Sevugan

Joe Pounder

Politicos of the Fourth Estate:

Chuck Todd

Eugene Robinson

Laura Rozen

Charles Krauthammer

Rookies of the year:

Rep. Donna Edwards

Rep. Glenn Nye

Rep. Chris Lee

Sen. Mark Begich

Here are the women that made the list:

Donna Edwards

Laura Rozen

Jennifer McClellan

Kamala Harris

Alex Sink

Nikki Haley

Nancy Pelosi

Michele Bachmann

Virginia Foxx

Jennifer Palmieri