万花筒2008-02-07:What's At Stake On Super Tuesday

Sky's Charlotte Hawkins outlines what's at stake for the candidates on the biggest day in the run-up to the US presidential elections.

The states are up for grabs today, count for just half of the delegates at the party conventions in the late summer. Now in the democrat¹ race six states have officially voted already and it's a straight fight between Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama took first blast, winning the Iowa caucuses³ in early January but then Mrs Clinton struck back with an unexpected victory in New Hampshire. Since then Clinton won in Nevada and Obama took south Carolina. Michigan and Florida's primaries don't count because of a dispute over how they brought their elections forward. So the democratic rivals are equal when it comes to states, but Hillary Clinton is ahead on the number of delegates. As of tonight, she has two hundred and sixty one to Barrack Obama's a hundred ninety. The winner needs two thousand and twenty five to win the party's nomination⁴.  

Now in the race to become the republican nominee⁵, eight states have voted. Mik, Mike Huckabee got off to a flying start by taking Iowa. Then John Maccain won in New Hampshire, Mitt⁶ Romney took Wyoming, Michigan and Nevada before John Maccain won in South Carolina. Last week, he also took Florida but Romney won again at the weekend in Maine. The Florida win put John Maccain ahead in the delegate race. He has ninety-three to Mitt Romney's seventy-seven. Mike Huchabee has forty. The winning republican candidate will need the backing of one thousand one hundred and ninety one delegates to win the nomination. So it 's all to play for as we are going to Super Tuesday. 
 

WORDS IN THE NEWS     

1. up for grabs : phrasal

If something is up for grabs, it is available to anyone who is interested. (INFORMAL) 

2. caucus² : n-count

A caucus is a group of people within an organization who share similar aims and interests or who have a lot of influence. (FORMAL) 

3. strike back : phrase

If you strike back, you harm or criticize someone who has harmed or criticized you. 

4. get off to a flying start : phrase

If someone or something gets off to a flying start, or makes a flying start, they start very well, for example in a race or a new job.

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 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。

3 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

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 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

6 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。