密歇根新闻广播 富人的政治幻想

 

Men in late middle age are capable of daydreaming¹. For most of us, these dreams are fairly pedestrian. Maybe, just maybe, we might be the first 60-something to suddenly break into the major leagues. Maybe that one lottery² ticket I buy every Thanksgiving will turn out to be a big winner and I'll be able to quit my job.

Those are fairly typical fantasies. But things change for those few of us who actually do have a whole lot of money. Some do things like acquire a 24 year old girlfriend, whether they are already married or not. Others buy large boats, or perhaps a Maserati.

And a select few – a self-selected few – with millions to squander³ – run for governor or senator. There's Shri Thanedar on the Democratic side, for example, a nice man with not a day's worth of experience in government. He's willing to spend more than five million of his own money on a quixotic quest for his party's nomination⁴ for governor.

And now comes one Sandy Pensler, a rich guy from Grosse Pointe witha private equity⁵ firm and four manufacturing plants. He just announced that he's prepared to spend millions to win the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate next year, and then defeat incumbent⁶ Debbie Stabenow. Now, if I were unscrupulous, I'd tell Mr. Pensler,

"Sandy, I've got a deal for you. Instead of running, take half of what you want to spend on that race, give it to me, and we will both be better off." That would be unethical, and in any event Pensler wouldn't listen.

But I'd still be right.

Michigan Republicans have a special set of fantasies about Stabenow, fantasies that reemerge every six years, about a year and a half before the election. They become convinced they can beat her. Last summer, all sorts of people were jumping into the race or seriously talking about it. Then, as the days shortened, most sobered up.

They noted⁷ her $7 million dollar campaign fund, her ability to appeal to usually Republican groups like farmers, and the fact that she has been elected to the Senate three times by margins⁸ that have steadily⁹ grown. Five years ago, she was supposed to be toast when Former House Intelligence Committee Chair Pete Hoekstra took her on.

As summer wore on, the field of candidates dwindled¹⁰, and last week, Congressman¹¹ Fred Upton of Kalamazoo, the GOP's last best hope, said thanks but no thanks. That left Republicans with John James, a little-known businessman, and the bow-tie wearing former Michigan Supreme¹² Court Chief Justice Robert Young, as candidates, neither with much in campaign funds.

So, enter Sandy Pensler, who has a Harvard law degree, and says Stabenow doesn't understand economics. Well, we'll see. The most interesting thing I know about Pensler is that when he was a young business turnaround specialist, he tried to sell the New York Mets to one Donald Trump¹³, an attempt that ended badly. "We had a little altercation¹⁴ over some stuff," he told his fellow Republicans on Mackinac Island two months ago.

I'd like to know more about how that went down. Now, of course, he thinks the Donald's policies are terrific. What voters think of Pensler's candidacy remains¹⁵ to be seen.

Jack¹⁶ Lessenberry is Michigan Radio's Senior Political Analyst¹⁷. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 daydreaming   

v.想入非非，空想( daydream的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stop daydreaming and be realistic. 别空想了，还是从实际出发吧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Bill was sitting and daydreaming so his mother told him to come down to earth and to do his homework. 比尔坐着空想， 他母亲要他面对现实，去做课外作业。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

3 squander   

v.浪费，挥霍

参考例句：

• Don't squander your time in reading those dime novels.不要把你的时间浪费在读那些胡编乱造的廉价小说上。
• Every chance is precious，so don't squander any chance away!每次机会都很宝贵，所以不要将任何一个白白放走。

4 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。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

6 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。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

9 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

10 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 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。

12 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

13 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。

14 altercation   

n.争吵，争论

参考例句：

• Throughout the entire altercation,not one sensible word was uttered.争了半天，没有一句话是切合实际的。
• The boys had an altercation over the umpire's decision.男孩子们对裁判的判决颇有争议。

15 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。

16 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

17 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。