Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Are Republicans ready to declare victory in the shutdown showdown and move on?

For days, the assumption has been that Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio was dug into his hardened position on behalf of the conservatives in his House caucus and from socially conservative voices in the Republican Party.

But now — just hours before the first government shutdown in 15 years –some of the most vocal conservatives are urging Republicans to reach a deal before a shutdown occurs. That could give Mr. Boehner the political cover he needs to cut a deal with President Obama and the Democrats.

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, the founder of the Tea Party caucus in the House and a likely 2012 presidential candidate, wrote on Friday afternoon in a Twitter message: “I am ready for a big fight that will change the arc of history. The current fight in Washington is not that fight.”

In an article on Redstate, Ms. Bachmann concluded that “the current battle has devolved to an agenda that is almost too limited to warrant the kind of fighting that we’re now seeing in Washington.”

Likewise, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and a possible presidential candidate, said Friday afternoon in an interview with Fox Business Network that a shutdown would “hurt the Republicans, not the Democrats.”

Mr. Huckabee, who was a favorite of religious conservatives during his 2008 presidential campaign, said: “Nobody’s more pro-life than me. Nobody. But as much as I want to see Planned Parenthood defunded, as much as I want to see NPR lose their funding, the reality is the president and the Senate are never going to go along with that. So win the deal you can win and live to fight another day.”

Publicly at least, Ms. Bachmann and Mr. Huckabee are sending a message to Mr. Boehner that they fear voters will blame Republicans, and not President Obama, if a shutdown occurs. That message could help convince Mr. Boehner and the Republican budget negotiators to concede on some of the remaining issues.

Others have chimed in, too. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, one of the more conservative Republicans in the Senate, told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt that Republicans should “probably” give up on the policy “riders” that have been holding up negotiations.

“It’s pretty unrealistic to think with this president that you’re going to get a lot of riders,” Mr. Coburn told Mr. Hunt. “That’s number one. Number two is, what’s the greatest moral dilemma of our day? Abortion certainly is a big one, but if we don’t address all these other financial issues that are going to cripple those that are with us, we’ll be making a mistake.”

Most of those urging Mr. Boehner to cut a deal are not moderates who disagree with the philosophical positions the Speaker has taken. Rather, several said on Friday that the party should reserve its political capital for a bigger, and potentially more damaging, fight over the 2012 budget and the nation’s growing debt.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican who often takes moderate positions, wrote a letter to Mr. Boehner and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, urging compromise.

“It is past time that we set partisan politics aside and work in good faith to reach a compromise that will avoid a government shutdown and allow Congress and the Administration to finally shift its attention to the serious debate that must take place on the long-term budget challenges facing our country,” she wrote.

Senator Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois, also said on Friday that Republicans should drop their insistence on the policy “riders” and take the deal that’s in front of them.

“Democrats should give on spending proposals because we need more discipline and Republicans should give on the the extraneous policy riders so that government does not shut down,” Mr. Kirk told Lynn Sweet of The Chicago Sun Times.