经济学人326:北方投机佬的胜利

 　　THE night before Republicans in Alabama and Mississippi voted in their primaries, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum made their final appeals at a forum¹ in an ornate old theatre in downtown Birmingham. Mitt² Romney, whom Mr Gingrich has relentlessly³ derided⁴ as “a moderate from Massachusetts”, did not attend; nor did the libertarian Ron Paul. Both candidates were asked how they would “lead our nation back to God”. Mr Gingrich railed against “anti-Christian bigotry” among America’s “elites”. Mr Santorum boasted that he would “talk about the importance of faith in public life”. In other words, they delivered a solid hour of conservative red meat to a ferociously⁵ carnivorous audience. A poll released earlier that day showed a majority of voters in both states believing that Barack Obama was a Muslim (he is a Christian) and doubting evolution. Eight in ten voters in both states identified themselves as evangelical Christians⁶, the highest proportions so far.

　　阿拉巴马州和密西西比州共和党人在投票选举总统参选人的前夜，在伯明翰城区装饰一新的老剧院里，Newt Gingrich和Rick Santorum进行了最后的造势演说。而被Gingrich嘲笑为“马萨诸塞州温和派”的Mitt Romney并没有到场，自由派的Ron Paul也没来。当两位候选人被问到如何“把国家带回上帝面前”时，Gingrich把美国“精英”中的那些“反基督教偏执狂”责备了一通，而Santorum则吹嘘他会“讨论信仰对公众生活的重要性”。换句话说，他们花了整整一个小时，在保守派观众面前大谈保守议题，如同给凶猛的野兽喂食红肉。根据先前的民调显示，这两个州的大部分选民都认为奥巴马是穆斯林（其实他是基督徒），并且不相信进化论，而80%的选民把自己定义为福音派基督徒，创下了历史新高。

　　Both candidates drew huge cheers, but Mr Gingrich needed them more. He had won only two states, South Carolina and his home state of Georgia. Last week Mr Gingrich’s spokesman said he needed to win “everything from Spartanburg [South Carolina] all the way to Texas.” On March 13th, however, Mr Gingrich’s Southern strategy failed: Mr Santorum eked⁷ out victories in both Alabama and Mississippi, capturing 34.5% to Mr Gingrich’s 29.3% and Mr Romney’s 29% in the former and 32.8% to Mr Gingrich’s 31.2% and Mr Romney’s 30.6% in the latter. The wins capped a good week for Mr Santorum; he had won the Kansas caucuses⁸ three days earlier by 51.2% to Mr Romney’s 20.9%.

　　虽然两位候选人都获得了大量的喝彩，但明显Gingrich需要的更多，他只赢得了两个州的支持，也就是南卡罗来纳州和他的家乡乔治亚州。上周，他的发言人说他需要赢得“斯帕坦堡（位于南卡罗来纳州）到德克萨斯州的一路支持”。然而Gingrich的南方战略失败了，到3月13日，Santorum竭力维持了在阿拉巴马州和密西西比州的胜利，在阿拉巴马州获得了32.8%的支持率，而Gingrich为31.2% Romney为30.6%，在密西西比州Santorum为34.5%，Gingrich为29.3%，Romney为29%。这场胜利为Santorum愉快的一周开了个好头，接下来他又以51.2%对Romney的 20.9%赢得了堪萨斯州的核心会议。

　　Mr Gingrich lost despite lavishing⁹ attention on both states. In the week leading up to election day he held 15 rallies in Alabama and Mississippi, more by far than either of his rivals. But the advertising¹⁰ war was predictably fierce, with the vast majority of ads funded by so-called Super PACs (political action committees) rather than the campaigns themselves. In that battle the efforts of Restore Our Future, the Super PAC backing Mr Romney, dwarfed¹¹ those of its rivals. Still, Mr Romney’s few campaign appearances were token and awkward, and the Massachusetts moderate continues to struggle with the party’s conservative base. In Mississippi he won less than a quarter of voters who described themselves as “very conservative”.

　　尽管Gingrich在阿拉巴马州和密西西比州获得了大量的关注，但还是失败了。他在选举日前一周举行了15次造势集会，远远多于竞争对手，但是，广告战争还是和预见的一样惨烈，绝大多数广告赞助来自所谓的政治行动委员会（Super PACs），而不是他们自己，在这场战役中，支持Romney的超级政行会“重塑我们的未来”所花的经费大大超过了他所有的对手。尽管如此，Romney仅有的几次竞选也只具有象征意义并且显得笨拙不堪，与此同时，这位马萨诸塞州的温和派（Romney）在争取共和党保守基层这一点上依然困难重重。在密西西比州内自称为“非常保守”的选民群体中，Romney只赢得了不到四分之一的选票。（选民认为Romney不是真正的保守派）

　　A plurality of those broke for Mr Santorum. Even so, his trifecta did little to alter the direction of the race. Mr Romney’s delegate lead remains¹² formidable, and he has padded it during the past week by sweeping¹³ the board in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the US Virgin¹⁴ Islands and American Samoa, all of which send delegates to the party conventions even though their citizens cannot vote in the general election. He crushed Mr Santorum in Hawaii, which also voted on March 13th. Overall, in the week after Super Tuesday on March 6th, Mr Romney added more delegates to his haul than Mr Santorum did. His total now stands at 496, comfortably more than all his rivals combined, though with only 24 states (plus Washington, DC) yet to vote he is still a long way off the 1,144 he needs to win the nomination¹⁵ outright¹⁶.

　　虽然Santorum在三连胜中获得了多数选票，但这对选举的大趋势却没什么影响。Romney在代表人数上的领先地位依然巨大。他在过去的一周里一步一个脚印，在关岛、北马里亚那群岛、美属维尔京群岛和美属萨摩亚都大获全胜，即使那里的选民不能在大选中投票，他们依然派了代表去参加政党代表大会。3月13日，在夏威夷的投票中，他继续秒杀了Santorum。在总统竞选初选日的后一周（3月6日），Romney比Santorum增加了更多的代表，达到了496个，比他竞争对手的总和还多。虽然现在仅剩下24个州（包括华盛顿特区）还没有投票，但赢得党内提名需1144票，这依然还很大一段距离。

　　Mr Gingrich will now come under heavy pressure to withdraw: if he does, and his voters switch to Mr Santorum, Mr Romney could be in difficulties. On election night, however, Mr Gingrich said that the media has declared him dead before, and that he is no closer to quitting now than he was then. In a jubilant speech in Louisiana—which holds its primary on March 24th, after Missouri, Puerto Rico and Illinois—Mr Santorum predicted he would win the nomination outright. That is mathematically nigh-impossible. But his campaign and Mr Gingrich’s released memos¹⁷ on Tuesday detailing their similar strategies: stay in the race, deny Mr Romney a majority of delegates and then prevail at a contested convention in August. Or, as Mr Romney himself might put it, continue dividing the conservative vote, and grease his path to the nomination.

　　现在Gingrich在是否退出的问题上面临着巨大的压力：如果他退出，他的支持者会转向Santorum，Romney就会受到影响。在选举的那一晚，Gingrich说媒体在之前已经宣布他会失败，而他现在退出初选的可能并不比当时更大。在密苏里州、波多黎各和伊利诺斯州之后，Santorum又来到路易斯安那州，这里在3月24号会进行提名竞选。在充满喜悦的演讲中，他称自己会赢得党内提名，但这几乎是不可能事件。Santorum和Gingrich发布的消息显示他们的竞选活动有着相似的策略：一路坚持，让Romney无法获得超过半数代表，然后在8月的竞选大会上获胜。或者，用Romney的话来说，他们（Gingrich和Santorum）会继续分化保守派的投票，让他可以顺利走向提名。

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

2 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。

3 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

4 derided   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His views were derided as old-fashioned. 他的观点被当作旧思想受到嘲弄。
• Gazing up to the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity. 我抬头疑视着黑暗，感到自己是一个被虚荣心驱使和拨弄的可怜虫。 来自辞典例句

5 ferociously   

野蛮地，残忍地

参考例句：

• The buck shook his antlers ferociously. 那雄鹿猛烈地摇动他的鹿角。
• At intervals, he gritted his teeth ferociously. 他不时狠狠的轧平。

6 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

7 eked   

v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日

参考例句：

• She eked out the stew to make another meal. 她省出一些钝菜再做一顿饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She eked out her small income by washing clothes for other people. 她替人洗衣以贴补微薄的收入。 来自辞典例句

8 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

9 lavishing   

v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• With the private sector sitting on its hands, Western governments are lavishing subsidies on CCS. 只有一些私营部门使用碳截存技术，西方政府在这项技术上挥霍了不少的津贴。 来自互联网
• We were lavishing a little respect on China, which always works well with China. 我们给予中国一点尊重，而这样做对中国来说，通常都很受用。 来自互联网

10 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

11 dwarfed   

vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The old houses were dwarfed by the huge new tower blocks. 这些旧房子在新建的高楼大厦的映衬下显得十分矮小。
• The elephant dwarfed the tortoise. 那只乌龟跟那头象相比就显得很小。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

14 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

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 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

17 memos   

n.备忘录( memo的名词复数 )；（美）内部通知

参考例句：

• Big shots get their dander up and memos start flying. 大人物们怒火中烧，备忘录四下乱飞。 来自辞典例句
• There was a pile of mail, memos and telephone messages on his desk. 他的办公桌上堆满着信件、备忘录和电话通知。 来自辞典例句