Republican Convention Gets Down to Business Tuesday

 TAMPA, Florida — U.S. Republicans meeting in Tampa, Florida, plan to get down to business Tuesday after their national nominating convention was delayed a day by the effects of Tropical Storm Isaac. 

The Republican National Convention will finally kick into high gear Tuesday with speeches from New Jersey¹ Governor Chris Christie and from Ann Romney, wife of the soon-to-be presidential nominee², former Massachusetts governor Mitt³ Romney.

The Republican gathering⁴ briefly⁵ convened⁶ Monday and then recessed⁷ until Tuesday, giving delegates a day off before they get down to the business of formally nominating Mitt Romney and his vice⁸ presidential running mate, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan.

In opening the convention, Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus unveiled what organizers called the National Debt Clock to track the deepening federal government debt during the next three days.

“We also want to draw your attention to the unprecedented⁹ fiscal¹⁰ recklessness of the Obama administration as depicted¹¹ by the real time National Debt Clock shown here in the arena," said Priebus.

But if Republicans are distracted by anything here it is the track of Isaac, which has set off hurricane warnings for the central coast of the Gulf¹² of Mexico, including New Orleans, Louisiana, which was battered¹³ by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

President Barack Obama has already signed a disaster declaration for Louisiana in anticipation¹⁴ of damage from Isaac.

In 2005, then-President George W. Bush was harshly criticized for his administration’s late and ineffective response to the Katrina disaster, and many Republicans here are sensitive to those memories.

Among them is one of Mitt Romney’s former rivals for the Republican presidential nomination¹⁵, Georgia businessman Herman Cain, who believes the convention should continue as scheduled.

“Just be mindful of it but don’t call it off unless there is some major, major, major tragedy like Hurricane Katrina," said Cain.

Convention spokesman Russ Schriefer says the party intends to compress four days of speakers into the next three days but will also keep an eye on Isaac.

“Obviously our first concern is for the people in the path of the storm," said Schriefer. "So as we continue to move ahead we are planning for a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday convention and we have a wait-and-see attitude to see what happens with the storm.”

Delegates and party officials seem upbeat despite losing the first day of the convention due to weather concerns.

Virginia Congressman¹⁶ Randy Forbes says the party has never been more enthusiastic about its chances in November against President Barack Obama, and he says that enthusiasm will be on display on the convention floor this week in Tampa.

But Forbes acknowledges that weather concerns may draw attention away from the convention.

“I think the weather is a distraction," said forbes. "I think the weather will take away from the convention.  But like other hurdles¹⁷ we will overcome it and we’ll not only survive it but will turn it into something that is positive.”

A few hundred protesters, including some from the Occupy Movement, were  on the streets in Tampa Monday.  But that was well down from the thousands some had predicted and security forces kept them far away from the convention site.

Jason Woody was among them.

“It's definitely important to be out here, to get our voices heard, you know to let the Republicans know that we the people really aren't having it and we're tired," he said.

Mitt Romney will be officially nominated Tuesday after a roll call of the state delegations¹⁸.  Romney accumulated the necessary delegates during the numerous state primary and caucus¹⁹ elections earlier this year.

On Wednesday, the spotlight²⁰ will be on Romney’s running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan, who will give a speech to the convention.

Romney will follow with an acceptance speech of his own on Thursday, a chance to reintroduce himself to the American public when an estimated 30 to 40 million people will be watching the convention proceedings²¹ on television or on-line.

The latest national polls show the race between Romney and the president is a virtual dead-heat.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

7 recessed   

v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的过去式和过去分词 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭

参考例句：

• My rooms were large, with deeply recessed windows and painted, eighteenth-century panellin. 我住的房间很宽敞，有向里凹陷很深的窗户，油漆过的十八世纪的镶花地板。 来自辞典例句
• The Geneva meeting recessed while Kennety and Khrushchev met in Vienna. 肯尼迪同赫鲁晓夫在维也纳会晤时，日内瓦会议已经休会。 来自辞典例句

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

10 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

11 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

12 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

13 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

14 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

15 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

16 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

17 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

18 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

19 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

20 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

21 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼