美国国家公共电台 NPR--Democrats are trying to revamp their presidential primary calendar

Democrats¹ are trying to revamp their presidential primary calendar

Transcript²

NPR's Politics Podcast team discusses the Democratic Party's plan to reshuffle its presidential primary calendar. Enacting³ the plan is easier said than done.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Democrats are trying to revamp their presidential primary calendar. President Biden's recommendation to give the No. 1 spot to South Carolina was approved by a Democratic National Committee panel. But the plan faces resistance from Iowa and New Hampshire. NPR's Asma Khalid, Domenico Montanaro and Barbara Sprunt take us through some of the challenges.

BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE⁴: If we zoom⁵ back a little bit on why there's a lot of outrage⁶ coming out of these states, why the senators of New Hampshire have been so vocally⁷ opposed to the changes, generations of voters in New Hampshire and Iowa view this like their political birthright, you know? They take this job of vetting⁸ presidential hopefuls very seriously. And they relish⁹ that they get to kind of kick the tires of who's going to be, you know, the nominee¹⁰ for the parties. They take it seriously. And I think when we talk about why there has been such a reaction from these states, that's an important element to consider as well.

ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Gosh, so poor Iowans because it does not appear that they are going to be going first in this future nominating calendar the Democrats...

SPRUNT: Yeah.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Nope (laughter).

KHALID: So let's talk about that. At the end of last year, the Democrats rolled out their plans for this new nominating process that put the state of South Carolina first. And, you know, my understanding from the reporting that you all have done is that that decision did not go over well with all Democrats.

SPRUNT: That's an understatement, yes. Yeah, you know, the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the DNC met in December. As you said, they voted on a new slate¹¹ of states to go in that early nominating window, South Carolina being first. And then they put New Hampshire, which has traditionally been the first primary in the nation, second, on the same date as Nevada. And then they elevated Georgia and Michigan so that their primaries would also be included in that early window. That means New Hampshire wasn't happy because it wasn't the first primary in the nation anymore. And it means that I wasn't happy because it's not even in the first slate of early states at all.

And I was in that room. I would say there was polite tension in the room. But you saw a lot more open revolt on Twitter. And, you know, New Hampshire basically said, this is cute. Thanks for your opinion. But we're still going to go first. We have a law on the books, a state law on the books that says we get to go first. And we plan on doing that anyway. Thanks for sharing your opinion, but we're going to do what we're going to do.

MONTANARO: Well, what's difficult about that is that the Democratic National Committee obviously controls the party process. And they can penalize¹² states with, you know, cutting the number of delegates, for example, to the conventions, which they've done in the past. So they have some track record of following through on Florida and Michigan, for example, in 2008 when they tried to jump the line. So they're really cautious about that.

You know, for the most part, most Democrats in the DNC and otherwise are in favor of this switch. It passed through the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting. There was a deadline of January 5 - last week - where the five states that they decided¹³ to move up had to all submit, you know, statements saying that they were going to be ready and able to hold primaries not just on those dates, but also to be able to do things like expand voting access, like, you know, expanding absentee voting. That's become a real hang-up for states with Republican governors and legislatures like Georgia and New Hampshire.

KHALID: So Domenico, I want to ask you, though, a quick follow-up about South Carolina itself going first because, you know, as Barbara was saying, the decision got kind of slammed in some quarters, at least that's what I saw in some of the public conversation that spilled over. Is it kind of a done deal that South Carolina is going to go first despite some of this criticism?

MONTANARO: Well, some of the criticism really centered around the fact that South Carolina was a state that really propelled President Biden - now-President Biden...

KHALID: Yeah.

MONTANARO: ...To the nomination¹⁴. And he's the one who pushed for South Carolina to go first. So a lot of people see that as a bit of political payback, you know, and didn't like the optics of that. But what Democratic strategists tell me is that there's almost no way that Biden will be derailed anyway. So it doesn't particularly matter which states and that, you know, he has his prerogative¹⁵ to go this direction. But I did speak with Faiz Shakir, who is - who was Bernie Sanders' campaign manager in 2020 and is a voting DNC member.

FAIZ SHAKIR: South Carolina has no business going first for a variety of reasons. You know, it is a heavily anti-union state, heavily opposed to democratic values. You look at their war on women. You look at the very conservative nature of the culture of that place.

MONTANARO: Yeah. The basic idea from him is that the states that go first should be the most competitive states in the general election so that Democrats can try to win over those voters and win in general elections.

SPRUNT: To that point, Domenico, it was really interesting because, you know, we talk about the process of the DNC changing the slate of states. But, I mean, this was a long process. It didn't just happen in December. States were making pitches over the last year to the committee about, you know, why they deserved to go first. And a lot of states seemed to feel blindsided when the actual decision came out for that very reason that you alluded¹⁶ to about South Carolina's competitiveness because from jump, the bylaws committee had said that one of the factors they were looking for when they would pick this new set of states is who's competitive in the general election, in addition to, you know, diversity and voter access. And, you know, South Carolina is not what we think of when we think of a state that's competitive in the general.

KHALID: I guess what I'm hearing from supporters of the decision to put South Carolina first is, well, it's a fairly small state. It's a state that candidates and campaigns could travel across. And they don't have to have particularly well-endowed campaigns to make their pitch in South Carolina, as opposed to a state like Michigan or Georgia that's just much more expensive to campaign in.

MONTANARO: Well, there's also a little bit of track record. You know, South Carolina was moved into the first four state windows and has been doing this since 2008, where candidates have now gotten kind of used to how to campaign in the state. You're right that retail¹⁷ politicking¹⁸ is also potentially possible there because it's smaller. But, you know, the real elephant in the room here is that 60-plus percent of the primary electorate¹⁹ in South Carolina are Black voters. And that's a big reason for why Democrats feel like this state should go first. It's been there before. And they feel like that, you know, this is a way for Democrats to really appeal to Black voters, which is a voting bloc²⁰ that is one of the most, if not the most strongly Democratic group. And anybody who's going to win the nomination is going to need Black voters on their side.

FADEL: NPR's Domenico Montanaro, Asma Khalid and Barbara Sprunt. For more, you can find the NPR Politics Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

(SOUNDBITE OF IKEBE SHAKEDOWN'S "RIO GRANDE")

1 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》

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 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

4 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。

5 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

6 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

7 vocally   

adv. 用声音, 用口头, 藉著声音

参考例句：

• She is not SCREAMER or MOANER - She is VOCALLY APPRECIATIVE. 她并不乱叫或发牢骚，只是用声音表示喜怒。
• The left has been vocally against. 左派力量一直竭力声讨。

8 vetting   

n.数据检查[核对，核实]v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的现在分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• Scripts had to be submitted to Ministry of Information officials for vetting. 必须把脚本提交给信息部官员审查。 来自互联网
• Their purpose in clicking deeper into a site is one of vetting. 他们深入点击网站的目的是一种诊疗。 来自互联网

9 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

10 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。

11 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

12 penalize   

vt.对…处以刑罚，宣告…有罪；处罚

参考例句：

• It would be unfair to penalize those without a job.失业人员待遇低下是不公平的。
• The association decided not to penalize you for the race.赛马协会决定对你不予处罚。

13 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。

14 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。

15 prerogative   

n.特权

参考例句：

• It is within his prerogative to do so.他是有权这样做的。
• Making such decisions is not the sole prerogative of managers.作这类决定并不是管理者的专有特权。

16 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

17 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

18 politicking   

n.政治活动，竞选活动v.从政( politic的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A lot of politicking preceded the choice of the new director. 在选新领导人之前进行了大量的拉拢活动。 来自辞典例句
• This colleague is always politicking. 这位同僚总是忙于政治活动。 来自互联网

19 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

20 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。