Senator Hillary Clinton is challenging her Democratic Party presidential rival, Senator Barack Obama, to a debate. The call is part of the escalating rhetoric between the two as they campaign in the central state of Indiana.
美国民主党总统参选人希拉里.克林顿参议员向党内竞选对手巴拉克.奥巴马参议员提出进行辩论的挑战。目前双方正在美国中部的印第安纳州全力竞选，言词交锋日益激烈。
Clinton is trailing Obama in delegates and in the popular vote, and she has been putting pressure on him to hold more debates before the May 6 primary elections in Indiana and the Southern state of North Carolina. On Saturday, Clinton called for a 90-minute debate without a moderator. "I hope we will be able to have a good old-fashioned Lincoln-Douglas debate right here in Indiana, so that you can see for yourself to make the decision about who our next President should be," she said.
克林顿参议员的代表票和选民票都落后于奥巴马参议员。克林顿一直在向奥巴马施加压力，要求他在5月6号印第安州以及北卡罗来纳州举行初选之前进行更多的辩论。星期六，克林顿参议员呼吁进行一场没有主持人的90分钟的辩论。她说：“我希望我们能够在印第安纳州进行一场林肯-道格拉斯式的老派辩论，以便选民们亲眼看看并决定应该选谁担任下一届总统。”
The style of debating where each side presents an argument gets its name from the 1858 debates in Illinois between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.
1858年，美国联邦参议院候选人林肯和道格拉斯在伊利诺伊州进行了多次辩论，双方在辩论中各自提出自己的观点。后来，人们把这种辩论方式称为林肯-道格拉斯式的辩论。
Obama's campaign aides say they are studying the debate request. Obama has complained that in the last debate, on April 16th, the moderators focused too much on political trivia and too little on real issues.
奥巴马竞选助手表示，他们正在研究这个辩论请求。奥巴马抱怨说，上一次在4月16号举行的辩论中，主持人过于注重鸡毛蒜皮的小事，而对真正的议题几乎没有触及。
Clinton told a crowd in South Bend, Indiana Saturday she is focusing on the substance of the issues, while Obama is relying on style. "I have been very specific across Indiana and America to talk about solutions, because my campaign is about solutions, not speeches. It is about working to make the changes that we know we must have," she said.
星期六，克林顿参议员在印第安纳州的南本德市对集会人群表示，她注重问题的实质，而奥巴马却依赖形式。她说：“我在全美和印第安纳州一直在详细论述解决问题的办法，因为我的竞选就是要找到解决问题的办法，而不是夸夸其谈，我们要努力实现变革，我们知道，这些变革是必须进行的。”
At a rally in Anderson, Indiana, Obama responded to critics who say he has not been tough enough in responding to Clinton's verbal jabs. "I am not interested in fighting people just for the sake of scoring political points or getting on the cable news shows. If I am going to fight somebody, it is going to be fighting over the American people and what they need. I will fight for health care. I will fight for a good education system. I will fight to make sure that people have good jobs and good wages. I will fight to the death to make sure that America is safe. Those things I will fight for. That is what I will fight about," he said.
在印第安纳州安德生市的一个集会上，当有人批评奥巴马对待克林顿的口枪舌箭反应不够强硬时，奥巴马回答说：“我不希望仅仅是为了赢得政治得分或攀上有线电视新闻节目而与某人作战。如果我要和某人作战，我就要为美国人民以及他们的需要而战，就要为改善医疗保健、争取好的教育体制，确保人民有好的工作和收入而战。我会为确保美国的安全而奋战至死。这些才是我要为之而战的事情。”
Polls show that Obama has a substantial lead in North Carolina, and that in Indiana, the two Democrats are either even or Obama has a slight lead.
民意调查显示，奥巴马在北卡罗来纳州遥遥领先，而在印第安纳州，两位民主党总统竞选人要么不相上下，要么奥巴马略微领先。
The presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, did not make any campaign appearances Saturday, after appearing in the Southern state of Arkansas Friday with former Governor Mike Huckabee, a one-time rival for the Republican presidential nomination.
基本获得共和党总统候选人提名的麦凯恩参议员星期六没有在竞选活动中亮相。星期五，他和前阿肯色州州长哈克比一起出现在阿肯色州。哈克比一度是共和党总统竞选人之一。 |