ShutUp: Day 4. Some Republicans fearing damage to their own party may now be looking for a way out of the shutdown deadlock with a bargain that gives them something, anything, to say they won. House Republicans would have to let the government re-open and agree to a hike in the national debt ceiling in exchange for a deal on debt reduction, the Keystone Pipeline, tax changes … something to hold up as a trophy.

  The House will be in session tomorrow morning and then will adjourn until 6:30 pm Monday. That will be more than 48 hours with no action.

  Publicly, Republicans continue to hammer the theme that the President refuses to negotiate, while Mr. Obama says he should not have to revisit the healthcare reform that was passed by Congress three years ago and vetted by the Supreme Court. Obama needled his opposition in the House saying Speaker John Boehner is too afraid of his own party’s right wing to call a simple up or down vote on funding the government.

In an opinion piece today in USA Today, Treasury Secy. Jack Lew says failure to raise the debt ceiling and meet obligations could put the US in an economic flat spin.

And back at the office, the automatic email reply from a director at the National Library of Medicine says,  “Due to the absence of either an FY 2014 appropriation or Continuing Resolution for the Department of Health and Human Services, I am out of the office on furlough and I am not able to read or respond to your message.” Pick up the phone. We’re feeling sick.

DC Alert: The Capitol was shut down briefly yesterday after a woman tried to drive her car through a barrier near the White House. After a chase that involved police and Secret Service, the woman was shot dead and a young child was found inside her black Infiniti. Investigators found schizophrenia medications in the woman’s home.

The Obit Page: Bill Eppridge, the photographer who took the picture of the dying Bobby Kennedy with his head held by a hotel busboy, has died in Connecticut at age 75. Eppridge had covered Kennedy’s speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles that night and was following the presidential candidate through the hotel kitchen when he was shot.

• Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese general who beat the French at Dien Bien Phu, and turned the tide against the US with the 1968 Tet Offensve, has died at age 102.

The Hitter: Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez is suing major League Baseball, claiming he’s the victim of a witchhunt. Rodriguez is also appealing a 211 game suspension because the league believes he used performance-enhancing drugs.

The Runner: Texas state senator Wendy Davis, who gained national fame filibustering an anti-abortion law in pink running shoes, yesterday declared herself a candidate for Governor. It’ll be a tough run. Texas has not had a Democratic governor since the funny and blunt Ann Richards in 1990. But Davis has risen from single mother in a trailer park, to Harvard graduate, lawyer, and legislator.

-30-