"It is a conflict that was looking for an occasion. The election provided the occasion.”

“I don’t think anyone is dying to have a primary so much as we are to have the right issues debated in this presidential election and beyond,” said Steve Hildebrand, who was Obama’s 2008 deputy campaign manager. Hildebrand said he has not committed to any candidate.

Democrats who opposed the spending bill claimed a moral victory, with Pelosi writing in a letter to her rank-and-file members that their resistance had “strengthened our position.”

Some said it also framed the terms of political engagement going forward.

“I think the overarching narrative that is most powerful right now is that everyday citizens are being left out — almost locked out — of their own democracy, when you look at Washington, when you look at the influence that special interests have,” said Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). “Democrats want to find a way to give people their voice back.”