Rick Boucher

A prominent member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Boucher was tapped by Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to help bridge the gap between party leaders and moderates on climate-change legislation. The Obama administration credited Boucher with bringing skeptical lawmakers on board with the plan that passed the House in June 2009. Boucher says he has "effectively rewritten the bill."

Elected to the House in 1982 at age 36, Boucher has gradually moved from the more liberal to the more moderate end of the Democratic ideological spectrum. He voted against both versions of President Obama's health-care reform bill.

After losing his seat, Boucher won a position heading law firm Sidley Austin's new government strategies practice.

In Their Own Words

"The easy political vote for me would have been to simply vote no," Boucher said about the climate-change bill. "I would be a hero at home if I had just simply voted no, and I was aware of that, but that would've been probably the most irresponsible thing I could've done; that would not serve your interests well. This bill was going to pass whether I was part of the process or not."

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