Obama and Cruz on short list for Time’s ‘Person of the Year’

President Obama will battle it out with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and eight other finalists for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.”

The magazine on Monday announced its 10 finalists for person of the year, which will be decided Wednesday. 

{mosads}Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Edward Snowden, Iran President Hassan Rouhani and Syrian President Bashar Assad also appear on the short list. 

Time editors pick the person who has most influence on the news. 

Obama has won the title two times before, in 2008 and in 2012. When giving the award to the president in 2012, Time said Obama deserved it “for finding and forging a new majority, for turning weakness into opportunity and for seeking, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union.” 

Cruz has made waves this year by leading the charge on using a government funding bill as leverage to defund ObamaCare, staging a 21-hour speech on the subject. The effort ultimately led to a government shutdown, but won him acclaim from his conservative base. 

Sebelius has taken fire recently as the public face behind the botched rollout of the newly created healthcare exchange website. 

The award, which has been given out since 1927, is not always an honor. Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were each picked in 1930s and 1940s.