The 2011 TIME 100

Chris Christie began influencing public discussion in America before he took a single official action as New Jersey's governor. His frontal challenges to the excesses of today's strongest special interest, government itself, have already made a difference in places far from his home state. For all his forcefulness and candor, Christie, 48, is delightfully free of the self-importance that leads so many politicians to confuse their own interests with the public's. The largest question for our nation is which sector, private or public, should be primary. Christie has lost no time over the past year making his preference clear, in words and actions, in a state where government is as bad as it gets. As another New Jersey native famously sang, if he can make it there, he can make it anywhere.

Daniels is the governor of Indiana