A young, rising star who faded quickly, Florida Gov. Fuller Warren

As the Legislature wrapped up its first week of the 2011 session, it became clear that a bold new generation of Republican leaders is helping drive the political process in the Sunshine State.

Look at the ages of the leadership in both the Senate and the House.

Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, is 42, making him older than most of the rest of the legislative leadership. Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, is 42. Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, turns 41 on Tuesday. Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who was officially chosen Monday to take the gavel from Cannon after the 2012 elections, is 31. Speaker Pro Tempore John Legg, R-Port Richey, will turn 36 in the closing days of the session. House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, is 37.

This youthful leadership is fairly representative of their caucuses.

Two Republican senators -- Anitere Flores of Miami and Rene Garcia of Hialeah -- are still in their 30s. So are a host of Republican members of the House -- Frank Artiles of Miami, Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg, Jason Brodeur of Sanford, Steve Crisafulli of Merritt Island, Daniel Davis of Jacksonville, Jose Felix Diaz of Miami, Chris Dorworth of Heathrow, Brad Drake of DeFuniak Springs, Eric Eisnaugle of Orlando, Erik Fresen of Miami, Clay Ingram of Pensacola, Seth McKeel of Lakeland, Jeanette Nunez of Miami, Jimmy Patronis of Panama City, Rob Schenck of Spring Hill, Greg Steube of Sarasota, and John Tobia and Ritch Workman, both of Melbourne.

There are even five Republicans in the House still in their 20s -- Rachel Burgin of Tampa, Matt Caldwell of Fort Myers, Matt Gaetz of Shalimar, James Grant of Tampa and Carlos Trujillo of Miami.

This extends throughout the state Republican leadership. Attorney General Pam Bondi is 45, and Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Adam Putnam is 36. While he is younger than all but two current members of the U.S. Senate, Haridopolos does not seem out of place among the possible Republican candidates looking to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. Former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner is 41. U.S. Rep. Connie Mack is 43. Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux is 41. That makes all of them older than fellow Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who turns 40 in May.

Some of these young Republican guns will want to stay around in office for decades -- and perhaps some of them will. But Florida has a pattern of voting in younger leaders and then casting them aside.

Not all of them, of course. Some Florida leaders who rose to prominence early were able to stay on the political stage for decades.

Park Trammell was elected mayor of Lakeland at 23 in 1899, rose to the House at 26, jumped to the Senate at 28, was elected attorney general at 33, governor at 36 and was in the U.S. Senate when he was 41. He served almost two decades in the Senate before dying at the age of 60.

Millard Fillmore Caldwell was in the House in 1929 when he was 32. In 1932, at the age of 35, Caldwell was elected to Congress and was still in his 40s when he was elected governor in 1944. Caldwell went on to serve in the Truman administration and later on the state Supreme Court, eventually becoming chief justice.

The legendary Claude Pepper was in the Florida House when he was in his 20s and was in the U.S. Senate when he was 36. While he would lose that Senate seat in a nasty race in 1950 and suffer defeat in a political comeback for the Senate in 1958, Pepper would bounce back to serve more than 25 years in the U.S. House.

Some rising political stars find their niche and stay there. In 1948, Jacksonville attorney Charles Bennett would win election to the U.S. House at the age of 38 and remain there until he decided not to run again in 1992. Bennett never tried to run for any other office, passing up chances to run for governor or the U.S. Senate.