美国国家公共电台 NPR Iowa Democrats Want Back Control Of The State, Starting With The Governor

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

All right. We're going to go now to Iowa. High stakes there for Democrats² who will go to the polls tomorrow to pick a candidate to run against the state's Republican governor. Iowa Public Radio's Clay Masters reports the candidates are scrambling³ for votes.

CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE⁴: With early voting underway and less than two weeks before the Iowa primary election, three women came forward. They accused one of the Democratic candidates for governor, State senator and labor⁵ attorney Nate Boulton, of sexual misconduct. The 38-year-old, who was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, suspended his campaign. Now the remaining five candidates are working to woo Boulton's supporters. Danny Homan is the president of the state's largest public sector⁶ union, which endorsed⁷ Boulton. He's disappointed but not deterred⁹.

DANNY HOMAN: I am going to do everything within my power to elect a Democrat¹ governor of this state in every other elected office that we possibly can.

MASTERS: Nate Boulton, the first-term senator, has been a champion for union worker rights in the Legislature. Homan says he'll now support whoever gets the nomination¹⁰ to take on Republican Governor Kim Reynolds.

HOMAN: Not necessarily because I believe in everything that they stand for but because I believe in absolutely nothing that Kim Reynolds stands for.

MASTERS: Before Boulton dropped out, polls showed him as the most likely to pull ahead of the front-runner, Fred Hubbell. He's a 67-year-old businessman. Hubbell has put over 2 million of his own dollars into his campaign and is massively outspending all of the other candidates. That's something one of his competitors, longtime Democratic operative John Norris, pointed⁸ out in a debate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN NORRIS: Fred told me before either one of us got in that I couldn't win because he's going to have all the money - honest story.

MASTERS: But his wealth doesn't bother Felicia Hilton. She gathered with other Hubbell supporters outside the final debate.

FELICIA HILTON: If Fred Hubbell is willing to spend every dime¹¹ that he has, in my opinion, to save Iowa from this radical¹², extreme Republican Party that we have right now, I'm all for it.

MASTERS: Republicans took over the state House last year, passing many conservative priorities, like gutting¹³ public sector union rights and passing the country's most restrictive abortion¹⁴ law. A judge last week temporarily blocked that one. While walking into that final debate, Hubbell tells me the state's a mess.

FRED HUBBELL: We need to fix this state. We need to turn it around and take it back where most Iowans want it.

MASTERS: Hubbell blames what he calls mismanagement on Governor Kim Reynolds. She's never been elected to the job. She was lieutenant¹⁵ governor and took over last year after President Trump¹⁶ tapped former Governor Terry Branstad to become the U.S. ambassador to China. Reynolds is unopposed in her primary and is running ads introducing herself to Iowans.

(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)

KIM REYNOLDS: My husband and I used to wave goodbye in the driveway as we took turns leaving for work and watching the girls...

MASTERS: While campaigning at a Des Moines bar, one of the Democratic candidates, Cathy Glasson, meets with supporters. Glasson is a nurse and union leader who has a lot of support from Iowans who backed Bernie Sanders in 2016. She's calling for things like Medicare for all and stricter gun control. Glasson says her opponents are not being bold enough.

CATHY GLASSON: They think by staying in the center and doing status quo politics as usual is how to beat her. It's absolutely not the way to beat her because Democrats have lost 11 out of the last 14 governor's races by doing that.

MASTERS: Betty Solomon, a retired¹⁷ teacher, thinks Glasson would win in a matchup against Reynolds.

BETTY SOLOMON: I think she's trying to make up for a lot of lost years that we've been sitting on the fence and not really addressing the problems that have been building up to this point.

MASTERS: And if Democrats can't take over the governor's mansion¹⁸, the party will face even bigger problems in gaining back the ground they've lost in the last decade. For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in Des Moines.

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 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 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》

8 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。

9 deterred   

v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣，可他却不罢休。
• Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句

10 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。

11 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

12 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

13 gutting   

n.去内脏v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的现在分词 )；取出…的内脏

参考例句：

14 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

15 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

16 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。

17 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

18 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。