Will the six new female members of the congressional GOP (remember, Sen. Shelly Moore Capito is new to the Senate but moved up from the House) become media darlings, media punching bags or settle into rank-and-file obscurity?

For Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Reps. Mia Love of Utah and Elise Stefanik of New York, the paths may have already been chosen for them. Each were women to watch during the 2014 campaign season and became conservative heroes during their campaigns.

Democrats tried to pigeonhole Ernst into the “media punching bag” category by framing her as the “Sarah Palin of Iowa” in an attempt to paint her as a far-right dummy, prone to saying loopy things during her close election against Democrat Bruce Braley. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz went so far as to call Ernst “an onion of crazy.”