1>>> #You can simply call dict:
2>>> a
3defaultdict(<type 'list'>, {'1': ['b', 'a'], '3': ['b'], '2': ['a']})
4>>> dict(a)
5{'1': ['b', 'a'], '3': ['b'], '2': ['a']}
6
7# but remember that a defaultdict is a dict
8# (with some special behavior, check source):
9>>> isinstance(a, dict)
10True