美国国家公共电台 NPR Democrats Built A Small-Donor Money Machine. Now, Republicans Want Their Own

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Small donors¹ are one of the big reasons Democrats² now control the House of Representatives. The independent digital fundraising platform called ActBlue helped make that happen. Now Republicans want their own version of ActBlue. Here's NPR's Peter Overby.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE³: In the House races, Democrats raised more than $62 million from donors of $200 or less. They beat Republicans among small donors by better than 2 to 1. This gusher⁴ shocked Republicans. Here's Virginia Congressman⁵ Dave Brat⁶ in a pre-election debate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DAVE BRAT: Millions and millions of dollars are coming in from Nancy Pelosi and every leftist group, including ActBlue. Please go research those groups. They are trying to buy this election.

OVERBY: Buying it with contributions averaging less than $50, according to ActBlue data. ActBlue isn't a party committee. It's a nonprofit entity⁷, like a utility, facilitating the flow of liberal money by processing credit card contributions at no charge to candidates. Any Democratic candidate or organization can use it. This election cycle, it handled contributions totaling $1.6 billion.

TOM EMMER: That's something that definitely has to happen on the Republican side.

OVERBY: Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer is the incoming chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which exists to help elect Republicans to the House. He's pushing the idea of a Republican ActBlue.

EMMER: This past midterm shows that waiting to do that has frankly⁸ put our candidates in a - at a severe disadvantage.

OVERBY: Here's the ironic⁹ part - small donors used to be a powerful weapon for the GOP 40 years ago. But now the party's strength is in billionaire money. One example - Miriam Adelson. President Trump¹⁰ gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom this month for her philanthropy.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I know the work you've done, and you have been truly incredible. Here to celebrate Miriam's award is Sheldon.

OVERBY: Charity aside, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson are also big Republican donors, giving nearly $300 million in the past four years. Emmer's goal of a partywide digital platform has its own obstacles. Here's one problem - Republicans already have a lot of digital fundraising platforms. As Emmer pointed¹¹ out, they're run by political consultants¹² as profit-making enterprises.

EMMER: I want to be careful with this because, you know, this isn't to be critical of anybody who's been involved. But it's just a fact that there are too many people who I think have protected territory, and they want to be that facilitator because of the financial incentive¹³.

OVERBY: Meanwhile, Trump's re-election campaign is gobbling up small contributions - nearly $14 million since he took office. Any new fundraising platform also faces a potential conflict. If it has links to party organizations, its hands will be tied whenever a Republican insurgent¹⁴ challenged a sitting House member.

DAVID KARPF: You're going to have outsiders who are trying to disrupt the system who are very popular with small donors. And the party's going to want to stand behind their incumbent¹⁵.

OVERBY: David Karpf is a political scientist at George Washington University.

KARPF: Doing what ActBlue does requires flexibility¹⁶ and giving up control. The Republican Party historically hasn't been great at this. They've wanted to provide a slate¹⁷ of candidates, say they're endorsed¹⁸ and then encourage people to donate to them.

OVERBY: So any new fundraising platform might be going up against the Republican establishment. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

1 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 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。

4 gusher   

n.喷油井

参考例句：

• We endeavour to avoid the old,romantic idea of a gusher.我们力图避免那种有关喷油井的陈旧的、不切实际的计划。
• The oil rushes up the tube and spouts up as a gusher.石油会沿着钢管上涌，如同自喷井那样喷射出来。

5 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。

6 brat   

n.孩子；顽童

参考例句：

• He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。
• The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。

7 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

8 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。

9 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

10 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。

11 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

12 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

13 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

14 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

15 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。

16 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

17 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

18 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》