This dysfunctional Congress has often looked like an unruly schoolyard, with cool kids, nerds, bullies and outcasts all vying for their own piece of turf. 
 
 And while we wouldn’t want to diminish the massive, consequential issues that Congress is struggling with by comparing the hardworking lawmakers to schoolkids, let’s be honest, it often looks like one big popularity contest. 
 
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 reset Reps.-elect outlook positive POLITICO LIVE: 113th Congress comes to Washington 
 
 With a slate of 84 House rookies being sworn in on Thursday, the freshmen are already angling for their spots in the pecking order. POLITICO has jumped ahead with predictions for freshmen superlatives for the incoming 113th Congress, identifying the people whose names you’ll see in the headlines in the coming year. 
 
 Most likely to succeed 
 
 Tom Cotton (R-Ark.): Thirty-five-year-old political newcomer Tom Cotton is already lauded as one of the GOP’s fastest-rising stars. Cotton handily put the Arkansas district of retiring Democrat Rep. Mike Ross into Republican hands, has an impressive résumé and a growing list of fans on the Hill. The 6-foot-5 Harvard Law graduate left a law practice in 2004 to enlist in the Army, served in Iraq and Afghanistan and won a Bronze Star. Between tours, he was part of the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. During his campaign, Cotton was cheered by everyone from Sen. John McCain to the fiscally conservative Club for Growth to Mike Huckabee. Cotton’s widespread appeal across GOP circles already has many buzzing he’ll quickly move up the ranks in the House. Recently, Cotton penned an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal from a “soldier’s eye view” slamming the could-be nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense, and he’s been one of the loudest voices against the sequester — a signal he’s more than ready to be his party’s voice on the Pentagon and defense spending. 
 
 Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.): Getting three degrees from Harvard and becoming a successful emergency room doctor just wasn’t enough for Raul Ruiz. In fact, the average three-day workweek of the Hill will probably seem like a vacation for Ruiz. Before he ran for Congress, the doctor was running a mentorship program, working in an ER, opening health clinics and running health education seminars for poorer communities. Ruiz, who unseated longtime Rep. Mary Bono Mack, figures to bring the same nonstop work ethic to Capitol Hill. Ruiz told POLITICO in November he has plans to work with everyone to get things done. “I’m a doctor, we work in teams,” he said. “I’m very committed to problem solving.” Expect him to be an outspoken and important voice for the party on immigration issues. ||||| With Republican leaders anxious to set an austere tone for their ascendance into the House majority this week, the lavish fundraiser scheduled for Tuesday night at a trendy Washington hotel to benefit a dozen GOP freshmen is not exactly the populist image leaders are anxious to project. 
 
 House Speaker-elect John Boehner, whose name was featured on the invitation, is nonetheless skipping the event at the W Hotel, where lobbyists, political action committee managers and others paying the $2,500 ticket price will be treated to a performance by country music star LeAnn Rimes (a $50,000 package includes a block of eight tickets and a “VIP suite” at the W). The office of incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor, another featured invitee, was noncommittal Monday night when asked whether he’d attend. 
 
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 reset VIDEO: Party problems POLITICO 44 
 
 “If incoming GOP freshmen were hoping to bring fiscal responsibility and ‘family values’ to Washington, they may have gotten off to an interesting start,” conservative blogger Matt Lewis noted, citing the event’s steep ticket prices, as well as Rimes’s confessed extramarital affair and her recent appearance in a “Sexy Santa” outfit at a gay men’s chorus Christmas performance. 
 
 But the grumbling doesn’t seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of the man behind the event — incoming Rep. Jeff Denham of California — for becoming a rainmaker for the 87-member GOP freshman class. (See: Will GOP freshmen take the lead?) 
 
 “Helping the freshmen get reelected is a project that (Denham) is very interested in and, of course, his own reelection is part of that,” Dave Gilliard, a consultant for Denham, said last week. “It’s such a huge freshman class, and that first reelection is the time that you end up losing people, so he really wants to help keep the majority.” (See: GOP taps freshmen for prime spots) 
 
 Denham, a two-term California state senator whose congressional campaign billed him as “one of the best fundraisers in the California Legislature," could not be reached for comment. (See: Safe republicans work to get leg up) 
 
 But even before he won a landslide victory in November to fill the safe Republican seat being vacated by retiring GOP Rep. George Radanovich, Denham had established a secondary fundraising vehicle known as a leadership political action committee (the only other incoming House freshman with a leadership PAC is California Democrat Karen Bass) and was being credited with raising and contributing a total of $100,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee. 
 
 And Gilliard said Denham has been working closely with the NRCC to help raise cash for the GOP’s massive freshman class. 
 
 According to Federal Election Commission filings and interviews with fundraisers, Denham in November formed a joint fundraising committee called America’s New Majority, which is sponsoring Tuesday’s party, and tried to recruit a large group of freshmen to join it. 
 
 While at least 11 incoming Republican House members had signed up for the committee by Dec. 10, other freshmen were discouraged from joining, said a pair of GOP fundraising consultants. 
 
 “We strongly recommended to our clients that they not take part in this,” said one consultant, who did not want to be identified discussing advice offered to members of Congress. 
 
 “It’s causing a buzz because it’s in direct contradiction to the image that leadership is trying to portray as a conference that wants to get down to business,” said the consultant, comparing the Rimes fundraiser to one thrown by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Democrats assumed the House majority in 2007. 
 
 That fundraiser — organized by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and featuring $1,000 ticket prices and performances by Tony Bennett and the remnants of The Grateful Dead — got some bad press and also sparked ill will among some of the lobbyists and political action committee managers who typically make up the target demographic for high-dollar Washington fundraisers.
– The fiscal cliff deal was the last hurrah for the 112th Congress. Now a freshly elected class is coming to Washington, with more than 90 new faces gracing Capitol Hill. Here are some of the notable names and facts you'll want to know: The Rising Star: Politico sees big things in store for freshman GOP Rep. Tom Cotton, who left his law practice in 2004 to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's already earned endorsements from such disparate GOP figures as John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and the Club for Growth. The Workaholic: Before coming to Congress, freshman Democrat Raul Ruiz was working as an ER doctor, running a mentorship program, opening health clinics, and running education seminars in poor areas. And he sounds ready to bring that level of dedication to Washington. "I'm a doctor, we work in teams," he says. "I'm very committed to problem solving." The Class President: Republican Luke Messer has been named president of the freshmen, and sounds like he's already got a handle on things, reports the Hill. "At our first meeting I established a rule where … no one could talk more than two minutes," he said on TV recently, "so our first meeting took 18 minutes, and everybody was very happy." The Inspiration: Expect veteran and double-amputee Tammy Duckworth to be a favorite of the Democratic leadership. She's already proven herself a prodigious fundraiser, given a well-received speech at the DNC, and landed a spot on the Armed Services Committee. The Pro: She may be a newcomer to Congress, but Ann Wagner has loads of experience, having chaired or co-chaired the Missouri Republican party, the RNC, and Roy Blunt's 2010 Senate campaign. John Boehner has already selected her to deliver the weekly GOP address. The Loudmouth: Alan Grayson is back, everybody. The Wrangler: There's a decent bet you'll see Ted Yoho on cable news. A large-animal veterinarian by trade, Yoho at one point ran an ad featuring mud-spattered politicians wrestling with and eating alongside pigs. Maybe he can hang out with fellow Republican Kerry Bentivolio, a reindeer farmer from Michigan. The Empty Seats: This Congress will be notable in part for the colorful personalities that are departing: Barney Frank, Ron Paul, and Dennis Kucinich will all be gone. The Familiar Names: There will once again be a Kennedy on Capitol Hill, as Joseph Kennedy returns to fill Frank's seat. Joaquin Castro, meanwhile, brings a familiar face—he's the twin brother of DNC keynote speaker Julian Castro. The Ladies: ABC News reports that the Senate will, as of today, be comprised of a record-setting 20 females.