美国国家公共电台 NPR The Republicans Who Could Keep A Hold On Blue States This Year

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Democrats² in Maryland control most of the major seats of power, except for one. Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, is up for re-election on Tuesday. And according to the polls, he is up by double digits³ over his Democratic challenger. Maryland is a state, by the way, that President Trump⁴ lost by more than 25 points. NPR's Brakkton Booker reports.

BRAKKTON BOOKER, BYLINE⁵: With approval ratings hovering⁶ around 70 percent, Larry Hogan is one of the most popular governors in the country. That's got many in the state singing Hogan's praises, literally⁷.

MARY BETH CAROZZA: (Singing) There's a good guy named Larry Hogan, who was fed up with the way our state was going.

BOOKER: At a campaign stop in Salisbury, along Maryland's conservative-leaning Eastern Shore, Mary Beth Carozza performs a song written to the "Brady Bunch" theme.

CAROZZA: (Singing) The Hogan Bunch. The Hogan Bunch.

BOOKER: Carozza is hoping to ride Hogan's coattails to a victory of her own. The state's GOP is hoping to elect her and a handful of others to bust⁸ up the Democrat¹'s veto-proof majority in the state Senate.

LARRY HOGAN: We absolutely need to send her to the Maryland State Senate because she is never going to make a living as a singer.

BOOKER: After taking the stage, Governor Hogan highlights his accomplishments⁹ that play well with voters in this rural part of the state.

HOGAN: We've got 250 fees, 850 regulations. And you may have heard something about this - we cut tolls¹⁰ for the first time in 50 years by $317 million.

BOOKER: What is noticeably absent, though, was any mention of the divisiveness of national party politics. After all, Trump plays well here, and Hogan needs voters like Hala McIver. She's originally from Egypt, has been in Maryland for nearly 40 years and likes the governor's independent streak¹¹, even if it means Hogan distancing himself from the president.

HALA MCIVER: I'm for Trump. He doesn't like him, and that's fine with me. I respect that.

BOOKER: Hogan won't go out of his way to criticize Trump, but, when prodded¹², like he was during a debate in September, he has a ready list to tick through.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HOGAN: Well, I - you know, I would tell him that he's his own worst enemy and that he should stop tweeting.

BOOKER: Hogan says he stood up to Trump when the president wanted to nix federal funds for Chesapeake Bay cleanup. And...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HOGAN: I was the only governor in America to withdraw troops from the border when he was separating families. So there's not a whole lot of things that I have in common with the president.

BOOKER: Larry Stafford disagrees. He heads the group Progressive Maryland.

LARRY STAFFORD: He can play a nice political game and say that he is distanced from Donald Trump, but he's not someone who's going to stand up when Donald Trump is at his worst.

BOOKER: Stafford is backing Hogan's opponent, former NAACP President Ben Jealous. But despite Democrats outnumbering Republicans in Maryland by a 2-to-1 margin¹³, Jealous is trailing by about 20 points in the polls and has been heavily outspent this campaign. Here's Jealous speaking on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE KOJO NNAMDI SHOW")

BEN JEALOUS: Politics always comes down to a battle between organized money and organized people. And if I was like Larry Hogan and was out there willing to take corporate¹⁴ contributions, which I don't, or take corporate PAC contributions, which I don't, perhaps we would have more money, too.

BOOKER: While progressives try to link Hogan to Trump, other Democrats welcome him with open arms. At a rally in the left-leaning and vote-rich Montgomery County, Hogan is endorsed¹⁵ by the Democratic mayor of Gaithersburg, Jud Ashman.

JUD ASHMAN: I've been asked a lot lately how I, as a Democrat, could even consider voting for a Republican during this Trump era.

BOOKER: Taking the stage, the governor stands above a sign that reads, Democrats for Hogan. Hogan tells the crowd not to let party labels influence their votes.

HOGAN: It's one of the things that I'm disgusted with. And quite frankly¹⁶, I think we're setting an example for the rest of the nation about how you can work together to get things done.

BOOKER: If Hogan wins, he'll be the first Republican governor to win re-election in 64 years. Brakkton Booker, NPR News.

1 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。

2 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》

3 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 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。

5 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。

6 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

9 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

11 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

12 prodded   

v.刺，戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• She prodded him in the ribs to wake him up. 她用手指杵他的肋部把他叫醒。
• He prodded at the plate of fish with his fork. 他拿叉子戳弄着那盘鱼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

14 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

15 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。