美国有线新闻 CNN 2012-11-08

 First up, we want to talk a bit about how this day is going to go. For starters, it’s already going. In a unique election day tradition, two New Hampshire towns started voting at midnight. For the rest of the country, polls started opening up as early as 5:00 Eastern time this morning. By noon Eastern, voters will be casting ballots¹ in all 50 states. Polls start closing at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. And then the closing kind of move their way across the country. The voters are deciding on the presidency², of course, but also U.S. Senate and House races, some governors races, state and local elections, and proposed state laws. We’re going to have more on that coming up. 

 

The presidency is expected to be a close race. In fact, a new CNN poll showed president Obama and former Governor Romney in a dead heat. Governor Romney is scheduled to visit Ohio and Pennsylvania today. President Obama is planning to spend the day in Chicago. Now, as the votes are counted and the election results start coming in, both candidates are going to be keeping a close eye on the electoral college count. That is the big prize today. Tom Foreman explains why and how this works. 

 

The electoral college in its essence is basically a compromise, a compromise between having Congress select all of our president, which Congress once did, and letting us by popular vote select our president. The electoral college is what actually elects a president. We all think we do, we don’t really. We don’t really. What we do is we vote for these people. These people are the ones who actually have the vote that actuate everything, that make it happen. Each state selects its electors from a bunch of the good citizenry of that state, and they are proportional by the size of the congressional delegation⁴ from the states. For example, all of your Congress members and your senators combined produce the number of electoral votes you get in your state. So, California gets a whole lot, Texas gets a lot, Montana, North Dakota, not so much. The behavior of the electors is one of the great acts of trust in this country, because only in a few places are they actually bound to what the people and the population say. The can change their minds, and there have been rare occasions in which electors have gone to the actual process of electing the president and said, I disagree with my state, and they have cast another vote. One of the big reasons you always hear for the electoral college is that it evens out power a little bit. If you just had a popular vote, then the most populous⁵ state would really consolidate⁶ all the power, and if you lived in a place like North Dakota, you would have very, very little influence or ability to create any influence, unless you banded together with a bunch of other states. And beyond that, all the campaigning would only happen in giant population centers. The biggest con³ you hear is that it can override⁷ the popular vote. People can triangulate the electoral votes, and actually win the presidency when most of the people in the country do not want that person in the Oval Office. 

 

So 435 congressional seats, plus 100 seats in the U.S. Senate and three electors for the District of Columbia, that all adds up to 538 electoral college votes. It takes a majority of these votes, at least 270 to win the presidency. John King looks at the math for both of the candidates to see how votes could add up to history. 

 

Look at this, if president can take Iowa, can take Wisconsin and can take Ohio, it’s game over. If nothing else changed on the map, that would get the president to 271, and it would be game over. That’s why the president is ending his campaign right here in the heartland, places where he can talk about the auto⁸ bailout. He thinks that’s a big plus for him. So that’s one way. That is the president’s quickest way. I won’t say it’s the easiest, but it’s his easiest, not an easy way to 270. So what does that mean? It means for starters, Governor Romney has to take the state of Ohio. 

 

Let’s take these back and make them tossups and show you. That was the president’s fastest way. How does Governor Romney get there? He has to win the state of Florida. Not negotiable. Governor Romney needs Florida, he needs those 29 electoral votes. He has to take North Carolina. We already have it leaning that way, and he has to take Virginia as well. That’s 13 more. That would get Governor Romney there. Then, the governor’s most reasonable scenario⁹ is to take Ohio. No Republican has ever won without it. If Governor Romney can get those electoral votes, plus Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio, what does that do? That would get him to 266. Over here in the east, he would need just one more, any one of the remaining states. If Governor Romney can do Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio, any one of the remaining states would put him over the top. That’s what make this one so, so, so important. 

 

So who do you want to win? We’ve seen so many polls in this race for so many weeks now, we’re taking our own informal poll at cnnstudentnews.com. Tell us whether you’re hoping for the incumbent¹⁰ president, the former governor or someone else to lead the country.

1 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

3 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

4 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

5 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

6 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

7 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

8 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

9 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

10 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。