OMG! Words to Caucus By

From the DesMoines Register

Stumped on caucus jargon?

In the next two weeks, you may run into a staff worker for one of the presidential candidates.

The following Pocket Guide to Campaign Speak dictionary may help you survive that conversation.

These terms won't ensure fluency in campaign jargon, but they should allow for better communication.

Above all, do not panic. In all likelihood, the staffer may never put down his or her Blackberry and engage you in any way. Or she may just need directions to the nearest coffee stand or wireless provider.

However, do not attempt to commit to any candidate during this conversation, or you run the risk of being entrapped by yard signs and junk mail and spending the evening peeling stickers off your favorite holiday sweater.

Good luck.

The term: Body guy
What it means: An aide who travels with a candidate and is the go-to person for whatever the candidate needs, watching out for his or her well-being. The job involves waking the candidate, toting snacks and making sure every event goes as smoothly as possible.
How to use it in a sentence: "The candidate's body guy was just over here scouting out restrooms."

The term: Precinct captain
What it means: This person is a link between the campaign and the voters.
"Someone who has knocked on doors for the last few months and gotten to know their precinct," said Gordon Fischer, a political blogger and former head of the Iowa Democratic Party. Iowa has nearly 1,800 precincts. Each one has a caucus and each campaign wants a precinct captain at each caucus.
How to use it in a sentence: "The precinct captain for Joe Biden just invited us to a house party."

The term: GOTC
What it means: Get Out The Caucusers.
How to use it in a sentence: "What's your GOTC plan?"

The term: Viability
What it means: An important term with Democrats. If candidates don't attain 15 percent of the votes at a caucus, they're considered not viable and supporters have to caucus for a different candidate.
Used in a sentence: "Will he be viable in the northern precincts?"

The term: Wheels up
What it means: "The candidate's gone," according to Grant Young, a field rep for Sen. John McCain. "Usually, we say that when the candidate is happy and on his way. Or we're doing this and this and, 'Wheels up. He's on the plane.' "
Used in a sentence: "Some advance guys are famous for holding wheels up parties," Young said.

The term: Advance teams
What it means: A group of staffers who arrive before a candidate to set up events or trips, everything from coordinating with local contacts to hoisting signs.
How to use it in a sentence: "The advance team was setting up for seven straight hours."

The terms: National headquarters nicknames
What it means: Campaigns often refer to their national headquarters by its city or state location.
Used in a sentence: "Let's run it by North Carolina," would be jargon at John Edwards' office. Sen. Barack Obama's camp calls its "Chicago." McCain's staffers refer to their national headquarters as "Nationals."

The term: Purple states
What it means: A new way to describe swing states.
How to use it in a sentence: "Your guy couldn't win a purple state, much less a red state

The term: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5s
What it means: A code to describe support, used by the Obama campaign. A "1" is solidly committed to their candidate. A "5" is solidly committed elsewhere. A "3" is undecided. This system also is used to label the direction in which a supporter is leaning. So if an Obama staffer talks with someone who's leaning toward supporting John Edwards, but is undecided, they would label the person a 3E.
Used in a sentence: "People will use that in everyday language," said Fischer, who recently overheard women in the office talking about footwear using the same system: "I'm a 2 on those shoes."

The term: OTR
What it means: Off the record. Unscheduled or spontaneous events or events reporters don't know about. Also known as "impromptus."Used in a sentence: "Mike
Huckabee's going to drop into this flower shop for an OTR."

The term: RON
What it means: Remain overnight.
Used in a sentence: "After he's in New Hampshire, he's going to Iowa for an RON."

The term: Open voter
What it means: An undecided voter.
Used in a sentence: "We've got a lot of open voters in the southern precincts."

The term: LM
What it means: Left a message. Used by volunteers calling a list of names.
Used in a sentence: "On the call sheet, I marked it as an LM."

The term: The P-Triple-C
What it means: Slang for the Polk County
Convention Complex. Used by the Republican Party of Iowa.
Used in a sentence: "The P-Triple-C? That's practically headquarters for the Iowa Democratic and Republican parties from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4."