At the same time, the state's Office of Business Development has increased efforts to keep companies in California, partly by building an "early warning" system of potential defections.

Because the Democrats were tipped off to the potential defection, they were able to prevent this from taking place.

Gen. Baba Jan, the commander of alliance forces north of Kabul, said this week that he was skeptical about the potential defections.

He said their policy was not to comment on any aspect of defections or potential defections.

Rumors of potential defections surfaced this week but have not been confirmed.

The scope of the potential defection is hard to gauge.

In recent weeks, the international sailing community has been abuzz with talk of Conner's potential defection.

It was still about not rendering the program rudderless and risking the potential defections of players and recruits.

Chris Policano, a spokesman for District Council 37, played down the potential defection.

The potential Jewish defections were evident from interviews with Democratic officials and candidates, remarks by religious leaders and defensive moves by Democratic candidates.