Rush, Beck Top Newsweek's 50 Most Powerful Political Figures

Newsweek releases its list of the 50 most powerful, and highest-earning, political figures of 2010 in a special magazine issue this week. The magazine compiled the list, along with an intelligence and research firm, which includes politicians, ex-politicians, media personalities, and political consultants "who hawk their personal brands in the public marketplace—and influence American political discourse in the process."

Who made the cut? Rush Limbaugh tops the list, with Glenn Beck coming in second ahead of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. Jon Stewart rounds out the top five.

You can read the full article, as well as Newsweek's profile of each figure, here.

Here's a taste of how it handles Beck:

The early-morning regional radio host, who once struggled with alcohol and drug abuse, found his passions in politics and Mormonism. Left CNN Headline News in 2008 for Fox News; today he is the self-proclaimed protector of American freedom and one of the Tea Party's leading voices. Earns much of his income—$13 million—through publishing, which includes a string of bestselling books, Fusion magazine, and a subscription-only newsletter. His latest novel, The Overton Window, has sold more than 300,000 copies in hardback since its June release. Makes another $10 million in radio income, $5 million endorsing products like Goldline, $3 million from speeches, and $2 million from Fox News for his ­tearful talkfest, Glenn Beck. His daily audience approaches 11 million people across four hours of radio and television.*

UPDATE:

Newsweek has issued a correction to its original story regarding the reported monetary figures:

*CORRECTION: We were incorrect to state that, as part of Beck’s $33 million income in the last year, he made $5 million “endorsing products like Goldline.” Rather, Beck made $5 million from online ventures, including GlennBeck.com.  While Beck has endorsed and promoted Goldline as part of that company’s sponsorship of his radio show, we should not have attributed any specific amount of his income to a Goldline endorsement. NEWSWEEK regrets the error.