A balanced-budget amendment isn't the exclusive domain of Republicans these days. Many Democrats are looking for ways to reduce the federal debt, including Colorado's Mark Udall, a U.S. senator who doesn't face reelection until 2014. Much can happen, politically, between now and then, but Politico thinks Udall wants to be seen as a fiscal hawk, co-sponsoring a bipartisan constitutional amendment that would force Congress to balance its budget.

Strangely—or not—that puts Udall in agreement with Ken Buck. The Republican Weld County prosecutor, who narrowly lost to Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet last year, is forming a nonprofit called Balance America that will urge states to ratify a federal balanced-budget proposal, reports the Denver Post. Amending the U.S. Constitution requires a "super majority" (60 percent) in the House and the Senate, plus ratification of three-quarters of the 50 states. The Colorado Independent, meanwhile, bets that another proposal backed by Udall will be more successful: designating the Camp Hale area between Leadville and Vail as protected by the National Park Service.