ward heeler (ward HEE-luhr) noun A low-level political operative who solicits votes and performs chores for his political bosses or political machine. Also called heeler.
[From ward, a subdivision of a city for voting or administrative purposes. Heeler, from the idea of a hanger-on following at the heels of his boss, and also as a reference to his door-to-door canvassing for votes. The term has negative connotations and a ward heeler is generally considered to be an unscrupulous character.] "He (Pierre Trudeau) ... dispensed patronage like the best ward heeler." Jeffrey Simpson, et al; Pierre Elliott Trudeau; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Sep 29, 2000. "This time around, ward heelers worked their toxic magic in a dozen different ways, from unduly influencing voters to manipulating the final count with bogus votes." Richard S. Dunham, et al; Sleight of Hand at the Polls; BusinessWeek (New York); Nov 27, 2000. This week's theme: words from politics and elections. Erratum: Yesterday's newsletter should have said "The US presidential elections take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November" not "on the first Tuesday in November." Why that particular day? The US Federal Election Commission explains it: http://www.fec.gov/pages/faqvdayeprocedures.htm Sponsored by: Monthly French, German, Italian and Spanish cultural audio magazines for intermediate-to-advanced learners. http://web.champs-elysees.com/wsmith1 A cure for brain drain! One brain-building, at-a-glance email a day helps keep embarrassing ignorance away. http://knowledgenews.net/s?s=aw101804 ............................................................................ The buck stops here. -Harry Truman, 33rd US president (1884-1972) Feeling information overload? Sign off a few mailing lists. If you wish to unsubscribe from AWAD, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the subject line of your message. Of course, we'd rather you stay with us. After all, it is only a `word' a day. (-: Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/ward_heeler.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/ward_heeler.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/ward_heeler.html This message was sent to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]".
