CNN 2010-11-05

It’s Tuesday November 2nd, Election Day in America. All of the stumping¹, debating,mudslinging comes down to this, the stakes are huge, control of Capital Hill, the future of the president’s agenda, and today, we as Americans decide our path forward. Millions of voters heading to the polls, now opening 42 states and D.C., up for grabs 37 Senate seats, and all 435 House seats, it’s a lot of races, but control of Washington hinges on two magic numbers, 10 and 39. Republicans need 10 extra seats to claim the Senate majority, on the House side, they need 39.

So coast to coast, candidates are still stumping, knocking on doors calling supporters ,working to get every last potential voters to the polls. We’ve dispatched the best political team on television, the key races across the country to track the latest developments, and what it all means for you.

Jim Acosta, in Nevada. David, in Florida, Carol Costello, in Ohio, and our Drew Griffin, in Alaska. Now more than $3.5 billion have been spent, making this the most expensive midterm campaign ever, historic spending as some big time political players fight for their future, the most powerful man in the senate, majority leader Harry² Reid is in a dead heat with Republican challenger Sharron Angle in Nevada, in fact ,Michelle Obama swung through Las Vegas yesterday, and their hug is front page news in the review journal. Now Jim Acosta is live in Las Vegas, Jim,how are things looking out there right now.

Well, Cara, you know, there was no bigger political jackpot for the Republicans than the prospect³ of taking down Harry Reid, not only is he the Senate majority leader, he is one of the architects of the Obama agenda, and his oppnent in this race , the Tea Party backed for Republican Sharron Angle, she is giving Harry Reid the fight of his life. The latest polls show she is perhaps couple of points ahead, Democrats⁵ feel pretty good about the early voting so far, they think that might favor Harry Reid so far in this race. As you mentioned, both of these candidates are really trying to fire up these, their base in these last hours of the campaign. Harry Reid had Michelle Obama , perhaps the most popular Democrat⁴ in the country campaigning for him. Sharron Angle spent the last 24 hours doing a lot of interviews with conservative talk radio in on FOX News. So both trying to work up and excited their base, but don’t count on Harry Reid just yet, keep in mind back in 1998, he won an election in this state and Senate, by less than 500 votes, but he is doing more than just battling Sharron Angle in this race, he is battling this economy.Not only does Nevada have the distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the country, it also has highest foreclosure rate. So Harry Reid is fighting this election battle on all fronts, and on top of all of that, you have to keep in mind this is a crowed ballot⁶, not only do you have Harry Reid and Sharron Angle's names on the ballot, you also have Tea Party candidate named Scott Ashijan and something called none of the above, people can actually vote for none of the above in the state, and they are probably going to do that, the polls close at 7 o'clock, and we will be watching .
 

1 stumping   

僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的现在分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说

参考例句：

• She's tired of stumping up for school fees, books and uniform. 她讨厌为学费、课本和校服掏腰包。
• But Democrats and Republicans are still dumping stumping for the young. 但是民主党和共和党依然向年轻人发表演说以争取他们的支持。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

3 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

4 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。

5 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》

6 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。