Thought the assault on unions in Wisconsin was bad? Get ready for what’s coming in Arizona.

Polls just closed in the portion of Florida in the Eastern time zone. Polls in the western panhandle close at 8 p.m. ET. (Fun fact: you can travel from Florida to Oregon and only lose an hour.) The general expectation is that the exit polls will allow the networks to call the race for Romney shortly after 8. TPM’s Evan McMorris-Santoro is at Newt’s election night rally in Orlando. A pretty subdued place tonight.

For those of us who remember the 90s, you know Dan Burton was one of the key progenitors of The Crazy. Long before there was a Michele Bachmann or any of today’s crew, there was Dan Burton shooting a dead pig in the head to see how Vince Foster might have been ‘murdered’ or was it Ron Brown. Burton announced today that he’s leaving Congress. But we’re living his greatest moments here. And they’re pretty great. Or awful. Actually both.

The Congressional Budget Office calculates that the U.S. will hit the debt ceiling sooner than expected.

Should the Buffett Rule be rebranded as the Romney Rule?

Is austerity about to catch up with the US economy just as the recovery is taking the hold.

Guess which GOP leader clearly hasn’t been reading TPM this morning? Click here to find out.

On the absurdity of thinking that Newt can drag out the nomination process the way Hillary did in 2008.

They don’t make crazy like they used to.

Back before Reps. Steve King, Michele Bachmann, and the Tea Party frosh, we had Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), who will not be running for reelection this year, we learned today.

Yeah, yeah, you may say he was never as crazy as the current crop of comers. Maybe not, but he gave them a run for their money and one thing about Burton set him apart: Unlike today’s pretenders, Burton wielded the chairman’s gavel. Read More

Romney says Mitt v Newt spending not so imbalanced when you include the spending by SEIU.