Miley Cyrus, Pope Francis among Time's 'Person of the Year' finalists

Time magazine revealed 10 finalists for its 2013 "Person of the Year." Among them: Pope Francis, President Barack Obama and Miley Cyrus.

Obama was Time's 2012 "Person of the Year." But Cyrus, whose bizarre "twerking" at the MTV Video Music Awards in September made the former "Hannah Montana" star a water-cooler staple, is being tabbed as an unlikely favorite for the honor, which will be revealed by the magazine on the "Today" show Wednesday.

There are other strange bedfellows among the finalists, too. Sen. Ted Cruz, the tea party Republican whose anti-Obamacare stand on Capitol Hill led to a partial government shutdown, shares a spot on the short list with Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary who was tasked with overseeing the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act website.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, who the United States says was behind the deadly chemical attack on the Syrian people, is a finalist, as is Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who recently agreed to an interim deal to curb his nation’s nuclear program. Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor-turned-leaker, also is on the list.

Here's the full list of finalists:

• Bashar Assad, President of Syria
• Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder
• Ted Cruz, Texas senator
• Miley Cyrus, singer
• Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church
• Barack Obama, President of the United States
• Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran
• Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Edward Snowden, NSA leaker
• Edith Windsor, gay rights activist

Who do you think should be Time’s 'Person of the Year' for 2013? Let us know in the comments section.