Maybe there are some and I don’t know about it.  I confess that out here in solidly Democratic California partisan politics not too high on list of things to follow especially when research in on West Africa.  But I do distinctly remember when Jim Jeffords famously switched, and this shutdown debacle seems like the ideal time for Democratic oriented plutocrats to offer to set up think-tanks for slightly less-wacky Republicans to switch parties.  (I mean, that’s the presumable quid pro quo, other than committee assignments etc.)  I guess the local Democrats hoping to win the seat have to be convinced to give up their ambitions, but we all know Democratic Party members have no personal ambitions…  Just seems like a golden opportunity to get 5-10 to switch sides, and maybe it snowballs….  BTW, I am not at all knee-jerk anti-Republican, but bargaining by destruction to me is just not playing by the agreed-upon rules.