The first rule of the supercommittee: Its members don't talk about the supercommittee.

The truth is that only a handful of people really know what's going on, and most of them aren't talking - at least not on the record. But in interviews with some members of the supercommittee, their aides, their congressional colleagues and lobbyists - almost all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the supercommittee's strict ethos of secrecy - a rough sketch of the priorities of the individual members starts to emerge.

Some members seem intent on guarding their turf, others want to be seen as real deal makers, while others feel the need to protect their party's base priorities.

With a Friday deadline looming for regular committees to send their recommendations to the supercommittee, here's POLITICO's scorecard for each member:

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)

Camp's close to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), and he won't move a muscle unless Boehner says "flex." He's made it clear to his colleagues that he doesn't want to strike a big tax-reform deal under the umbrella of the supercommittee. He'd rather preserve the power of the Ways and Means Committee, of which he is chairman, and the short time window allows him to make the argument that complicated tax reforms can't be written and assessed overnight.

His priority: Kick the tax reform can down the road

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

Van Hollen has as much invested in a possible deal as anyone. He was heavily involved in the development of the trigger that requires automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs if the group doesn't reach its goal. And his district is full of federal workers who could lose their jobs through budget cuts. But his future leadership ambitions mean he can't alienate his party's base in the House. His participation in the Biden Group earlier this year earned him the trust of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi - one fellow House Democrat referred to his role on the supercommittee as "Nancy's boy."

His priority: Protect the interests of federal workers, including himself

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)

Since his defeat in the 2004 presidential election, Kerry has turned his focus to building his reputation as a legislator. The supercommittee affords him the opportunity to help strike a big, bipartisan deficit-reduction deal or to be a champion for the left by blowing it up. What he'll do remains to be seen. But Kerry, who heads the Foreign Relations Committee and is in line for the Finance gavel in the future, has been hands-on in the process.

His priority: His legacy

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas)

The unfailingly polite Texan has developed a good rapport with fellow co-chairwoman Patty Murray. As a former chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, it's hard to question his conservative credentials - and many observers believe he would only support a deal if it was unanimous. But he's also a protégé of former Sen. Phil Gramm, and his imprimatur would give cover to many House Republicans to support a deal. Hensarling's the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, so he won't cut a deal if it's not blessed by leadership.

His priority: Fundamental budget reform

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) 

The former Office of Management and Budget director and U.S. trade representative is universally seen as a good-faith negotiator and the likeliest Republican to strike a deal. But Portman is often discussed as a potential national-ticket candidate for the GOP, and he's not likely to do anything that would endanger his chances in the future. He has relationships in both chambers, including the House Democrats appointed by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), with whom he served as a House member.

His priority: Tax and pension reform

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
The one-time mom in tennis shoes is now the lady with the gavel. Co-chairwoman of the supercommittee is not her only role: She's also in charge of the Senate Democrats' campaign efforts and a member of their leadership team. She's being groomed to be chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee in the future, and she's watching that panel's back in the negotiations. Murray could score a victory by giving centrist Senate Democrats in tough races something to vote for. Inside the room, she's the voice of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Her priority: Help vulnerable Senate Democrats

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
Baucus is a tough nut to crack: Just when folks think he'd go so far to strike a deal that he might as well put an "R" after his name, the veteran Montanan takes a hard line on entitlement benefits. He's also made clear that he will fight to limit damage to agricultural states. Like Camp, he'd surely prefer to keep the job of writing tax policy with the committee he controls - the Senate Finance Committee. Could he be part of a deal? Sure. But maybe only if it puts taxes and entitlements back in Finance's hands.

His priority: The 2014 Senate election

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Kyl, who's retiring in 2013, didn't ask for this job. He was tapped by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and he's there to keep an eye on the deliberations for the GOP leadership. The whole discussion pits two of his ideals against each other: He opposes tax hikes and defense cuts. He'll be sure to try to keep the overall numbers low - certainly closer to the $1.2 trillion target the committee has set because a big deal would mean tax revenue and because it could help Democratic senators battling for reelection.

His priority: Protect the GOP's prospects for 2012

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
Because he's got a reputation as a moderate, Upton can't afford to get crosswise with conservatives. They opposed his successful effort to win the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee after the 2010 election, and he still needs to solidify his standing. But its Upton's committee that has the capacity to create revenue without raising taxes. Spectrum auction and oil and gas drilling are two possible sources of government income that could be on the table.

His priority: Don't get tagged as a "squish"

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)
It's hard to view anything the vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus does through anything but the lens of internal party politics. His penchant for seizing the left's flag at the expense of other Democrats - including Pelosi - has cost him political points with some of his colleagues. But if he plays his cards right, he could find himself atop the Democratic roster on the Ways and Means Committee in the future. He will sign off on a deal only if it's something the majority of House Democrats back.

His priority: Keep faith with progressives

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
Clyburn's tired of poor folks getting the short end of the legislative stick. He's been working for years to try to address the problems of communities beset by chronic poverty. Big cuts to domestic programs mean less money for programs that lower- and middle-income Americans depend on. Clyburn's style is that of a deal maker, but he's not anxious to identify budget turkeys that get the ax.

His priority: The poor

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
Toomey's an archconservative from a swing state, and the supercommittee gives him a chance to prove that he can play ball. Anything he blesses gives fiscal conservatives cover because he's a former head of the anti-tax Club for Growth. Don't look for him to approve of any plan to raise taxes, but sources say it's unlikely that he got himself in the room just to sandbag the process. He's out to prove he's not a right-wing write-off.

His priority: Get an "A" in deportment.

John McCain ready to overturn debt deal 'trigger'

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Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl last month threatened to quit the supercommittee if defense programs are faced with more cuts. Now, fellow Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain is vowing to "nullify" part of a law that would impose major military cuts if the deficit panel can't reach a deal.

"If there is a failure on the part of the supercommittee, we will be amongst the first on the floor to nullify that provision. Congress is not bound by this. It's something we passed. We can reverse it," McCain, a defense hawk and the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters Thursday at a news conference.

"As far as I'm concerned, I will fight any additional cuts in defense spending," he added, "but I will also tell you that cost overruns as far as procurement is concerned is an insult to American taxpayers. There are efficiencies that can still be imposed."

The 12-member supercommittee of lawmakers, created by the legislation that increased the debt limit this summer, is tasked with coming up with a 10-year plan to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion before Thanksgiving. If the panel fails in that effort or if Congress rejects the plan, automatic across-the-board cuts - evenly split between defense and discretionary spending - will be triggered in 2013 to make up the difference.

The law already calls for $450 billion in defense cuts over the next decade, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has warned that further reductions to the Pentagon would "badly damage our capabilities for the future."

McCain said he wouldn't lead the effort to overturn the provision, but noted that Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and other senators feel the same way.

Not so, said Levin. While he agreed the automatic cuts would be "totally unacceptable" and a "nuclear weapon that hits all kinds of important things excessively," Levin said the trigger was necessary to put pressure on the bipartisan supercommittee to arrive at a deal.

"The trigger's got value, and we shouldn't talk about eliminating the trigger while it can serve its purpose, which is to ... put pressure on these folks trying to get us a deficit-reduction bill to accomplish their purpose," Levin told reporters. "I think it's a useful threat and one of the mechanisms here that may produce a bipartisan outcome. And to talk about what happens if they don't reach an outcome takes some of the pressure off and undermines the whole purpose of the trigger."

One of the supercommittee members, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), balked at any suggestion of abandoning the trigger.

"We're going to try and be successful. We'll do the best we can to be successful," Kerry told POLITICO. "Let's not contemplate the downsides yet."