The 16 day shutdown of the US government and the threat of a default by the US on its debt has ultimately defined the differences inside the Republican party. After several years in which the tea party has taken the upper hand and aggressively attacked non tea party GOP candidates...now the non tea party faction is already beginning to recruit, identify, and run candidates against the tea party. In a sense its not new. Political parties break apart and different factions war against one another. In this case the language and actions have been harsh and vicious over the last several years. It appears it will get more vicious: Here is an article that lays out some of the current players and who is who and on what side: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...p-civil-war/280681/?google_editors_picks=true