美国国家公共电台 NPR--It's been a pretty contentious debate season for Senate midterm races

It's been a pretty contentious¹ debate season for Senate midterm races

Transcript²

Monday night in Ohio, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan meets his Republican challenger, author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance, on the debate stage. It's their second and final encounter.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Tonight in Ohio, Democratic Congressman⁴ Tim Ryan meets Republican author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance on the debate stage. Their second and final encounter is the latest episode in a fairly contentious Senate debate season. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben has been tracking it all, and she joins us now.

Good morning, Danielle.

DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE⁵: Hey there, Rachel.

MARTIN: Many of these Senate debates have really been up in the air until the last minute this election season. How come?

KURTZLEBEN: Right, yeah. Earlier this fall, it was a really slow debate season to start. Candidates on both sides of the aisle⁶ for a lot of offices just weren't agreeing to debate each other. Now, at this point, you do have a lot of candidates in these Senate races who have agreed to debate, albeit⁷ perhaps only once in some cases. In Nevada's Senate race, it appears a debate just flat-out won't happen.

And there are a bunch of reasons why a candidate might want to limit debates. One is that they just see that there is more to lose than gain in a debate. I mean, given that clips from debates can be shared over and over online, if you make a gaffe⁸, it can just be super costly⁹. And, plus, with a lot of really entrenched¹⁰ voters, you just might decide you might not win many over, even with a good debate performance. But even with these drawbacks, some candidates have ultimately decided¹¹ to come out and debate because if they don't, their opponent can call them scared or cowardly. And furthermore, if your race is really tight - and a lot of these are - you may just hope that a debate could push you to a win, if only by a little bit.

MARTIN: Yeah. So we're in the thick of it right now - Senate debates. There was one Friday night in Georgia. Tonight, there's the one I mentioned in Ohio - also happening in Florida and Colorado. And obviously, each of these races is different. But are there common threads in the debates that we have seen thus far?

KURTZLEBEN: Yes, very, very many. I mean, in general, you're seeing a lot of similar attacks by party here. For example, Democrats¹² are talking a lot about abortion¹³, casting their GOP opponents as too extreme on the subject. But Democrats also, interestingly, have felt OK distancing themselves from President Biden and even criticizing him. Here's Democratic Senator Mark Kelly at an Arizona debate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARK KELLY: I've been strong on border security, and I've stood up to Democrats when they're wrong on this issue...

BLAKE MASTERS: It sounds like the same...

KELLY: ...Including, by the way...

MASTERS: Yes?

KELLY: ...Including the president. You know, when the president decided he was going to do something dumb on this and changed the rules, you know, that would create a bigger crisis, you know, I told him he was wrong.

KURTZLEBEN: Now, relatedly, Republicans are working to tie Democrats to Biden, who isn't very popular, particularly in some of these really close states. And Republicans are also attacking Democrats on inflation and the economy and casting Democrats as soft on crime. Now, many of these issues really are important to people. And by - I don't mean to diminish them by pointing out that they come up over and over, but the fact that all these debates are so similar, it's a sign of how the two parties really have fundamentally different ideas at this point. And they see defeating each other as existential to the country. And in addition, getting people to vote based on fear is an effective strategy, probably.

MARTIN: So those are some of the common themes. What about the differences? I mean, the personal attacks we're seeing do kind of seem pretty notable.

KURTZLEBEN: Oh, yeah, very much. And there was a notable personal attack in the last Ohio debate where Democrat³ Tim Ryan referenced a recent Trump¹⁴ rally in Ohio where Trump celebrated¹⁵ J.D. Vance's support by saying that J.D. Vance is, quote, "kissing my ass¹⁶." Now, Tim Ryan in the debate went after Vance on this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TIM RYAN: After Trump took J.D. Vance's dignity from him on the stage in Youngstown, J.D. Vance got back up on stage and said - starts shaking his hand, taking pictures, saying, hey, aren't we having a great time here tonight? I don't know anybody I grew up with, I don't know anybody I went to high school with that would allow somebody to take their dignity like that and then get back up on stage.

KURTZLEBEN: Now, one other thing we're watching is how candidates are framing national issues for their own statewide races. For example, in Wisconsin, Republican Senator Ron Johnson and Democratic Lieutenant¹⁷ Governor Mandela Barnes were asked about abortion in terms of the fact that Wisconsin now has an abortion ban in effect. And Johnson responded by saying that he wants a state referendum.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RON JOHNSON: We all agree that society has responsibility to protect life. But at what point does society have the responsibility to protect life in the womb? I want we, the people, to decide that. I would have one vote like every other Wisconsin citizen.

MARTIN: So big picture, Danielle - I mean, do debates make a difference in how voters make their decisions come Election Day?

KURTZLEBEN: I mean, in broad strokes, often the consensus¹⁸ is that these debates don't move voters much, I mean, barring a massive gaffe from either candidate. And, also, like I said, there just aren't a lot of persuadable voters. But it can potentially hurt to not do a debate. And, also, in these debates, you might be working to mobilize people, not just persuade people. So candidates will be trying to do that.

MARTIN: NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben, thank you so much.

KURTZLEBEN: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF WILL VAN HORN'S "LOST MY MIND")

1 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 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。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

7 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

8 gaffe   

n.（社交上令人不快的）失言，失态

参考例句：

• I had no idea of the gaffe which I was committing.我不清楚我犯了什么错误。
• He made an embarrassing gaffe at the convention last weekend.他在上周末的会议上出了洋相，狼狈不堪。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

14 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

15 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

16 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

17 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

18 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？