美国国家公共电台 NPR When Your Living Room Becomes A 2020 Campaign Stage, 'It's Pretty Surreal'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Presidential candidates trying to make an impression on Iowa voters will often do so from inside a stranger's home. This house party for presidential hopefuls has a long and storied tradition in the state, as Iowa Public Radio's Clay Masters explains.

LIZ ADELMAN: Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome.

CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE¹: Standing² at the base of a stairwell in her Des Moines living room, Liz Adelman...

ADELMAN: Hello, everybody.

MASTERS: ...Introduces California Senator Kamala Harris.

ADELMAN: ...To have you in my living room is quite an honor.

(LAUGHTER)

MASTERS: There's snacks, soda³ and water - no wine. It's not even noon yet. Adelman's dog Millie (ph) wags at guests as they arrive. This mother of three and public relations professional is not endorsing⁴ Harris, although she's among her favorites running. But Adelman, like many Iowans planning to caucus⁵, was happy to invite her into her home.

ADELMAN: We've done this before, so I kind of knew the drill of what to expect in terms of food and, you know, put everything in cabinets to hide. (Laughter) I guess it doesn't normally look this clean.

MASTERS: Adelman is originally from outside Washington, D.C., and never experienced anything like this until moving here 10 years ago.

ADELMAN: That's pretty surreal that you can have a candidate running for president in your living room.

MASTERS: It gives campaigns like Harris' an intimate and inexpensive venue⁶ to connect with voters.

KAMALA HARRIS: I am running for president of the United States, and I am a candidate. And I would love to have everyone's support, so I'm going to get that out of the way. Please, I'd love to have your support.

(LAUGHTER)

MASTERS: This house party had a guest list while others are more of a town hall, where anyone can show up and ask questions. Earlier this month, candidate Beto O'Rourke visited six separate houses on one Saturday in Des Moines. The former Texas congressman's campaign staff readied this house on the city's south side as people slowly trickled⁷ in.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Come on in. If y'all want to come around, you can take a seat here. We can go upstairs and hang on the balcony.

MASTERS: Homeowner Nathan Blake tells the crowd he and his family had just moved in, and hosting a presidential candidate hurried their unpacking⁸.

NATHAN BLAKE: I'm glad that we made it work - really, really happy that all of you are here, whether you're a supporter of Beto or just, as I've been saying this week, Beto-curious (ph)...

(LAUGHTER)

BLAKE: ...It's really good to have you here. You know, we only have 10 months to decide.

MASTERS: O'Rourke takes questions. Among them is one from Dante Powell (ph).

DANTE POWELL: Hello, Beto. How are you doing?

BETO O'ROURKE: I'm good. How are you?

POWELL: I'm pretty chill.

MASTERS: Powell asks O'Rourke about what he would do as president to repair relationships between black people and law enforcement. After the house party, as people line up to take selfies with O'Rourke on the front lawn, I asked Powell how he felt about the response.

POWELL: I feel like I got a shockingly great answer. I was not prepared for how honest he was. So I appreciated very much him going into detail the way he did and owning the inherent racism⁹ in the systems that I was asking about.

MASTERS: Powell tells me he likes O'Rourke but he's far from picking a favorite. Many Democrats¹⁰ here feel the same way. They're still deciding. House parties aren't just for Iowa's big population centers.

KURT MEYER: We have to resort to every trick that we can.

MASTERS: That's Kurt Meyer. He knows a thing or two about hosting presidential house parties in his small town of Mona, near the Minnesota border. He's been doing it for years. This cycle, Meyer has even provided a bed to a couple of Democratic candidates who stumped¹¹ in his living room.

MEYER: We have accommodations to put you up for the night. And that affords people an opportunity to not only get to know the candidate but for us to get to know the candidate in a more informal setting. And with nice weather in the months ahead, expect many Democrats in Iowa to open their homes for candidates so they can work to winnow¹² one of the biggest fields Democrats have seen in recent history.

For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in Des Moines.

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1 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。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

4 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；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：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

5 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

6 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

7 trickled   

v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Blood trickled down his face. 血从他脸上一滴滴流下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tears trickled down her cheeks. 热泪一滴滴从她脸颊上滚下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 unpacking   

n.取出货物，拆包[箱]v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的现在分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等）

参考例句：

• Joe sat on the bed while Martin was unpacking. 马丁打开箱子取东西的时候，乔坐在床上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They are unpacking a trunk. 他们正在打开衣箱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

10 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》

11 stumped   

僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的过去式和过去分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说

参考例句：

• Jack huffed himself up and stumped out of the room. 杰克气喘吁吁地干完活，然后很艰难地走出房间。
• He was stumped by the questions and remained tongue-tied for a good while. 他被问得张口结舌，半天说不出话来。

12 winnow   

v．把（谷物）的杂质吹掉，扬去

参考例句：

• You should winnow out the inaccuracies of this paper this afternoon.你今天下午把这篇文章中不精确的内容删掉。
• We should winnow out the errors in logic.我们应该排除逻辑中的错误。