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As the federal government shutdown drags on, a potentially pivotal group of House Republicans has entered the spotlight: the roughly 20 or so members who have publicly signaled their support for a so-called "clean" spending bill that would provide the funding necessary to reopen the government without strings attached.

There are various tallies of how many members fall into this camp. Our best estimate, based on recent statements and the lists compiled by several media outlets [here, here and here] is 21.

So what unites the 21 congressmen who are willing to break with GOP leadership?

First, there's a regional connection: most hail from either the Northeast, Virginia or Florida — in other words, some of the more politically competitive (or least Republican) turf in the nation.

In addition, more than half of these congressional Republicans represent districts with above-average percentages of government employees.

The recent electoral history in many of these seats suggests they're the kinds of places where a tough primary challenge is less of a threat than a tough general election fight — which isn't the case for the bulk of the House GOP.

All of the congressmen advanced through their primary elections comfortably in 2012 — in fact, more than half had no primary opposition at all.

Here's a list of the Republicans who would support a "clean" spending bill, and some background on how their congressional districts voted in recent elections:

Rep. Tim Griffin (Ark. 2)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 55%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 55%
Percentage of Government Workers: 20%

Rep. Mike Coffman (Colo. 6)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 49%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 52%
Percentage of Government Workers: 12%

Rep. Bill Young (Fla. 13)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 58%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: 69%
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 50%
Percentage of Government Workers: 11%

Rep. Dennis Ross (Fla. 15)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 53%
Percentage of Government Workers: 14%

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla. 25)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 76%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 51%
Percentage of Government Workers: 10%

Rep. Erik Paulsen (Minn. 3)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 58%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: 90%
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 50%
Percentage of Government Workers: 9%

Rep. Frank LoBiondo (N.J. 2)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 58%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: 87%
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 54%
Percentage of Government Workers: 17%

Rep. Jon Runyan (N.J. 3)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 54%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 52%
Percentage of Government Workers: 19%

Rep. Peter King (N.Y. 2)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 59%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 52%
Percentage of Government Workers: 17%

Rep. Mike Grimm (N.Y. 11)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 53%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 52%
Percentage of Government Workers: 19%

Rep. Richard Hanna (N.Y. 22)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 61%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: 71%
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 49%
Percentage of Government Workers: 20%

Rep. Walter Jones (N.C. 3)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 63%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: 69%
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 58%
Percentage of Government Workers: 22%

Rep. Tom Cole (Okla. 4)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 68%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: 88%
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 67%
Percentage of Government Workers: 22%

Rep. Jim Gerlach (Pa. 6)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 57%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 51%
Percentage of Government Workers: 9%

Rep. Patrick Meehan (Pa. 7)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 59%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 50%
Percentage of Government Workers: 10%

Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa. 8)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 57%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 49%
Percentage of Government Workers: 9%

Rep. Charles Dent (Pa. 15)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 57%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 51%
Percentage of Government Workers: 10%

Rep. Rob Wittman (Va. 1)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 56%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 49%
Percentage of Government Workers: 24%

Rep. Scott Rigell (Va. 2)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 54%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 50%
Percentage of Government Workers: 22%

Rep. Frank Wolf (Va. 10)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 59%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: Unopposed
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Romney 50%
Percentage of Government Workers: 19%

Rep. Dave Reichert (Wash. 8)

2012 General Election Winning Percentage: 60%
2012 Primary Election Winning Percentage: 51%
2012 Presidential Election Winner: Obama 50%
Percentage of Government Workers: 16%

Election data from the CQ Voting and Elections Collection. Government worker data from the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

CBGB

Director: Randall Miller

Genre: Comedy, drama, musical

Running Time: 103 minutes

Rated R for language throughout, some sexual content, drug use, and a scene of violence.

With: Alan Rickman, Malin Akerman, Stana Katic, Rupert Grint

Most Americans don't get the 4 to 6.5 cups of fruits and vegetables we're supposed to consume every day, per government guidelines. But companies that make juice, especially high-end, "fresh" juice, are ready to come to our rescue.

The relatively new "super-premium" juice marketers are pushing more than just pretty colors and sweet flavors. They're also trying to persuade Americans that getting fruits and vegetables from juice is convenient and pleasurable and will potentially alleviate your guilt about your unhealthy ways by blasting your system with "incredible nutrition."

Look no further than Starbucks' announcement this week that it has opened a $70 million, state-of-the-art "juicery" in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., where it plans to quadruple production of its Evolution Fresh juice, a brand it acquired in 2011.

Enlarge image i

An estimated 7 million people have been shut out at 12 of the busiest and biggest U.S. national parks, costing parks and nearby communities about $76 million in lost visitor spending for each day the partial government shutdown drags on.

That's according to a report just out from the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, which derived its estimates from actual National Park Service visitation numbers from last October and an independent analysis of park economic impacts conducted by the nonpartisan group Headwaters Economics.

The report also concludes that more than 40,000 non-Park Service jobs are at risk in and outside these 12 national parks alone.

"These figures are mind-boggling, and they only begin to capture the full economic shock of locking up the crown jewels of America," says Maureen Finnerty, the Coalition's chair and a former superintendent at Everglades and Olympic National Parks.

Here are the calculations park-by-park for the first 10 days of the shutdown. (Figures apply to areas inside and outside the parks):

Acadia National Park, Maine

Lost visitors: 68,493

Lost visitor dollars: $5,263,013

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 3,147

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Lost visitors: 27,767

Lost visitor dollars: $656,986

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 375

Boston National Historic Park, Massachusetts

Lost visitors: 54,794

Lost visitor dollars: $2,032,876

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 904

Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio

Lost visitors: 68,219

Lost visitor dollars: $1,545,205

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 599

Everglades National Park, Florida

Lost visitors: 25,083

Lost visitor dollars: $3,857,534

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 1,951

Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania

Lost visitors: 27,397

Lost visitor dollars: $1,796,712

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 1,051

Glacier National Park, Montana

Lost visitors: 60,273

Lost visitor dollars: $3,076,712

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 1,632

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Lost visitors: 120,000

Lost visitor dollars: $11,750,684

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 6,167

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee

Lost visitors: 257,534

Lost visitor dollars: $23,123,387

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 11,367

Olympic National Park, Washington

Lost visitors: 77,808

Lost visitor dollars: $2,912,328

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 1,395

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Lost visitors: 80,821

Lost visitor dollars: $4,821,917

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 2,641

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana

Lost Visitors: 98,630

Lost visitor dollars: $9,452,054

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 4,481

Yosemite National Park, California

Lost visitors: 106,849

Lost visitor dollars: $10,021,917

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 4,602

Zion National Park, Utah

Lost visitors: 72,876

Lost visitor dollars: $3,495,890

Non-NPS jobs at risk: 2,136