Two very unlikely Congressmen with colorful pasts: As Cooter in the popular TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, Ben Jones, Redneck Boy in the Promised Land: The Confessions of "Crazy Cooter" grew up in the hills of Virginia. He battled alcoholism and became a successful actor, then a two-term congressmen. www.cootersplace.com

Then... As a child, James E. Rogan, Rough Edges: My Unlikely Road from Welfare to Washington dreamed of going to Congress. He eventually achieved his dream, but on the way had a few bumps on the road. As the illegitimate son of a cocktail waitress and bartender, he was initially raised by his grandparents in San Francisco's hard scrabble neighborhoods. As a young man, he bartended at biker bars and strip joints to pay for law school.