“The come-to-Jesus vote in the House of Representatives is going to be the debt limit,” he said. “Right now you have people prancing around saying, ‘I’m going to cut, I’m going to cut, I’m going to cut…and I’m not going to raise the debt limit.’ OK, fine.”

Some moderate Republicans have raised the notion that the wave of incoming conservative lawmakers might move to the center in the majority.

“In almost every instance, responsibility to govern brings about change in attitude,” Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT), who lost his party’s backing in favor of a Tea Party candidate this year, told The Daily Beast in a recent interview.

And even Amy Kremer, president of the influential Tea Party Express, suggested that there may indeed be more room for compromise with the movement than some expect. “We understand that Democrats still control the White House and the Senate,” she said.