If you catch Eric Cantor on C-Span, you’ll likely find him a pleasant enough fellow. Good hair, nice teeth, nothing remarkable. Don’t be fooled. The four-term congressman from Richmond is a budding GOP power broker, someone who one day might win the White House.

That’s according to the people who know Congress best—the top aides on Capitol Hill. Every election year, we survey 1,700 of them—administrative assistants, press secretaries, legislative directors, and chiefs of committee staffs—to get their take on the best and worst members of Congress. Who’s smart? Who’s not? And who looks good in a swimsuit?

For each response, we gave a dollar to charity—the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington or So Others Might Eat.

Aides are remarkably candid in their responses, even putting aside partisanship to dress down stars of their own party. Here are their picks—and pans—for 2008.

Who would make your Best and Worst lists? What category would you like to see? Who do you think is misplaced? Sound off in the comments! And if you like this article, you may want to check out our list of the 150 Most Powerful People in Washington, or our 50 Top Lobbyists.

George Allen didn’t set out to end his political career two years ago today. During a speech to a small crowd near the Kentucky border in the midst of his Senate reelection campaign on August 11, 2006, he uttered what is probably the most famous slur in modern politics; the “macaca” moment was captured on videotape by a tracker from his opponent’s campaign. The rest, they say, is history. Allen, who was at the time the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, lost his Senate bid and his hopes to lead the party to the White House.

How would our political landscape be different today if George Allen had never said “macaca?”

Given the huge influence that online video had, just months after YouTube became popular, it seems fitting to commemorate it today with a round-up of a dozen similar videos that have influenced this presidential election. This is, as I argued earlier this year in my book, The First Campaign, the first presidential campaign of the information age. George Allen was the first victim.

Ever since that fateful “gotcha” moment two years ago, a multifaceted war for eyeballs and votes has played out on YouTube. Just this past week, Paris Hilton entered the online political debate and a compendium of John McCain’s flubs ricocheted around progressive blogs.

Here are my picks for 2008’s dozen most important, influential, or groundbreaking online videos:

Friday afternoon I was making a rare pass through the House side of the Capitol when I came upon the madhouse that was the House gallery. Tourists crammed the hallways waiting to get in. Staffers were racing up the steps to get into the gallery only to be forced in line by the Capitol Police. The House floor itself, dark with the TV lights turned off, was the scene of raucous cheering, clapping, and yelling. Non-members of Congress filled the House floor. Congress obviously wasn’t in session—or was it?

Republicans often get a bad rap when it comes to technology. They have far fewer online success stories and trail behind the Democrats when it comes to online organizing and online fundraising. Yet what I stumbled upon Friday was a small group of wired GOP congressmen who decided to write a new chapter.

Sue Miller’s novel, The Senator’s Wife, gave theWashington Post an inspiration: It asked a wife of a US senator to review it—Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist and wife of Ohio senator Sherrod Brown. With Bill Clinton on the campaign trail, Senate spouses are as much in the news today as the senators themselves.

Among the Club of 100, a handful are single, such as Susan Collins, Maria Cantwell, and Lindsey Graham; Russ Feingold is twice divorced. Among the married, there are some noteworthy spouses.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro speaks about the importance of community service.

What: National Student Partnerships, a nonprofit that pairs college volunteers with area residents who need help finding jobs and getting their lives back on track, hosted this reception to honor Connecticut congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Massachusetts senator Edward Kennedy for their commitment to helping low-income communities.

Where: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St., NW

When: May 7, 6:30 to 8:30 PM

Who: Kennedy had two aides accept his framed Leadership in Service award, but DeLauro rushed into the theater’s lobby at 7:45, straight from work, just in time to fly down the stairs and snag hers. Kirsten Lodal, CEO and cofounder of NSP, led the awards ceremony, cheered on by a crowd of volunteers and supporters.

Food: Passed hors d’oeuvres such as lamb chops were a treat, while the buffet of fruit, cheese, pita, hummus, tuna-topped cucumber, and deceptively spicy chicken skewers had us taking seconds.

Drink: The open bar included Champagne—always a crowd pleaser. Guests also sipped wine and beer.

>>Read our profile on Barack Obama, The Legend of Barack Obama.

>>Since Obama entered the political scene, we've been keeping an eye on him. Who will be on his cabinet? What motivates him? Will he change the fashion of DC? We answer the important questions.

With Barack Obama possibly on his way to becoming the Democratic nominee for president, speculation abounds as to who might make up an Obama Cabinet.

While the role of the Cabinet has declined under President Bush—many department heads are virtually unknown inside and outside the Beltway—signs say Obama would take a different approach. Obama has surrounded himself with strong and opinionated advisers, and odds are that his Cabinet appointments would be more than window-dressing.

Secretary of State and national-security adviser? Obama has relied on four familiar Washington names: former national-security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski (Jimmy Carter) and Anthony Lake (Bill Clinton), former Clinton assistant secretary of State Susan Rice, and former Navy secretary Richard Danzig. Obama has recently distanced himself from Brzezinski, a controversial figure in the Jewish community. Retired general Anthony Zinni, if he doesn’t end up on the ticket as vice president, could also be a player.

Greg Craig, the Williams & Connolly partner who defended President Clinton in his impeachment trial, has been a vocal Obama supporter. He has experience at the State Department and has been a defense and foreign-policy adviser to Senator Ted Kennedy.

Hillary Rodham Clinton hasn’t dropped many hints about who might be in her potential Cabinet, but she’s surrounded herself with veterans of her husband’s days in the White House, suggesting that a second Clinton administration would include familiar faces.

Madeleine Albright, Robert Rubin, and Sandy Berger are all active in Clinton’s campaign—although Berger’s legal troubles may keep him out of any official position—but she would likely want to put her own stamp on many of the top Cabinet spots rather than simply depend on her husband’s former staff. She would also continue her Senate and campaign trend of surrounding herself with strong women.

Former top State Department official and peace negotiator Richard Holbrooke is seen as her likely choice for secretary of State, although she’s floated the name of Colin Powell, saying she’d ask the former general and George Bush secretary of State to serve again as a diplomat.