Top 10 Performing Politicians

"It was a Hail Mary pass," ABC's Dancing with the Stars casting director told TIME in September about approaching former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to appear on the 9th season of the hit reality-TV show. To her surprise — and that of the entire nation — Delay agreed after 20 whole minutes of discussion. On Sept. 21, the 10-term Republican Congressman — who resigned in 2006 after being indicted by a Texas grand jury for conspiring to violate campaign-finance-reform laws, although he maintains his innocence — made his debut in a sequined vest and too-tight pants. On Oct. 6, DeLay announced that he had to drop out of the competition because of a stress fracture in his foot. It was fun while it lasted.