Elect an entrepreneur

Party: Republican and Independence
District: New York, 27th
Incumbent and challenger: Brian Higgins (D)
humistonforcongress.com
Outcome: Lost

Until September, Dan Humiston's race against incumbent Rep. Brian Higgins was off the media radar. Then news broke that Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin had a private tanning bed installed in the governor's mansion in Alaska.

Journalists, pundits and bloggers leapt into the fray to debate what, if anything, the tanning bed said about the self-proclaimed hockey mom. Humiston, the owner of salon chain Tanning Bed and president of the Indoor Tanning Association, an industry trade group, enjoyed a brief period in the limelight.

"Word flew through our industry," he told The New Yorker magazine in October. "They're all saying, 'Good news about Sarah Palin.'"

Humiston, 45, started the Buffalo-based business straight out of college with two tanning beds that he bought using a $4,000 loan from his grandfather. Two decades later, the Tanning Bed chain has 34 locations in upstate New York, generating more than $10 million a year.

His decision to run for Congress was largely inspired by his eight years as president of the ITA. "I saw how a lot of things happening in D.C. were inefficient and wasteful," he says. "That got me frustrated. I couldn't believe we can't find better people to do this."

If elected, Humiston says he'll bring a businessman's approach to government. He supports reducing the capital gains tax and eliminating the estate tax, and plans to focus on attracting businesses to his district through initiatives such as a grant fund for entrepreneurs.

The prospect of being a rookie in the House of Representatives' den of incumbents doesn't faze Humiston. His view: "It's a sad commentary on a country if the only people that are effective are those who have been in office for a long time."

NEXT: Dan East