Republican candidate John McCain is hoping to reverse the dynamics of the race for the White House in his final presidential debate with Democratic candidate Barack Obama. Trailing in national polls and in key states, McCain will have another chance to try to win over independent and undecided voters, while Obama is hoping to avoid any costly mistakes.
共和党总统候选人麦凯恩希望通过他与民主党候选人奥巴马的最后一次辩论来扭转入主白宫的竞争趋势。在全国和关键州的民调中，麦凯恩都落后于奥巴马。星期三的辩论给麦凯恩又一次争取独立或尚未决定的选民的机会，而奥巴马则希望自己不要犯严重错误。
Going into the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. a new national poll by CBS News and the New York Times shows Barack Obama with a commanding 53-39 percent lead over John McCain. Other polls also show Obama ahead by a lesser margin. Wednesday night's debate is to focus entirely on the economy and other domestic issues. The two candidates will be seated at a table with veteran CBS moderator Bob Schieffer.
辩论将在星期三晚上在纽约州亨普斯特德的霍夫斯特拉大学举行。根据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻节目和纽约时报共同进行的最新民调显示，奥巴马以百分之五十三的强大支持率胜过麦凯恩的百分之三十九的支持率。其它的调查结果也显示奥巴马领先，但差距较小。星期三辩论的焦点集中在经济等国内问题上。两位候选人将和哥伦比亚广播公司的资深主持者鲍伯.西弗同坐一桌。
Political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia says McCain faces a tough challenge in trying to stem the steady shift of voters towards Obama over the past couple of weeks.
维吉尼亚大学的政治分析家萨巴托说，麦凯恩在努力制止这几星期来选民不断转向奥巴马阵营的趋势方面，面临艰巨的考验。
"It's McCain's last opportunity to communicate with tens of millions of voters in an unfiltered way," Sabato said. "He has to do what he can, within the format of the debate, to add a new element to the election or change the direction of the election. That is asking a great deal under difficult circumstances."
他说：“这是麦凯恩直接与千百万选民交流的最后一次机会。他必须在辩论方式允许的范围内竭尽所能，给这次选举添加新动力因素，或者改变这次选举的发展方向。这是在困难的处境下提出的很高要求。”
McCain has taken a new approach this week, positioning himself as an underdog in the presidential race fighting for Americans facing tough economic times. He is reaching out to older Americans, with a new economic plan that calls for reducing the tax on early withdrawals from retirement accounts and cutting the tax rate on capital gains in half, among other measures. The current economic crisis has hurt McCain, as many voters blame his Republican Party, which has held the presidency for the last eight years.
麦凯恩本周采取了新的方针，把自己置于选战中占下风的地位，为面临艰难经济局面的美国人而奋斗。他希望通过一项新的经济计划来争取年龄较大的美国人。他的计划主张降低提前提取退休款项的税金，把资本赢利的税率减半等其他做法。目前的经济危机对麦凯恩不利，因为许多选民把罪责归咎于这八年来执政的共和党，而共和党是麦凯恩所属的政党。
Melissa Wade, Executive Director of Debate at Emory University and an expert in debate training, says McCain needs to deliver a more even and steady performance than he did in the first two debates with Obama.
韦德是埃默里大学辩论部门的执行主任，也是辩论训练专家。她说，麦凯恩在这次辩论中的言谈方式需要比前两次与奥巴马的辩论更为平静稳健。
"McCain has appeared to be more erratic and less organized which has turned into a metaphor for some of the, I think, decisions made in his campaign," Wade said.
她说：“麦凯恩曾经显得比较飘忽不定，不那么有条不紊，我认为，这象征他在竞选中所作的某些决定。”
Wade says Obama has appeared calm and presidential, and that he is much improved from his early days on the campaign trail during the Democratic primaries.
韦德说，奥巴马一直显得沉稳、有总统气度，而且与竞选早期他在民主党初选期间的表现相比，他已大有改进。
"At the end of the day he was calm, he was reasonable, he was steady," Wade noted. "This is a man who has learned in every date he has been in in the last year-and-a-half. He has gotten better each time. He was very rough when he first started. In every debate encounter he seems to learn something."
她说：“总的来说，他很沉着、通情达理而且稳健。这个人在这一年半来的每一天，都在学习长进。每一次他都有进步。在初试身手时，他显得缺乏经验。看来通过每一次论战他都学到了一些经验。”
McCain has suggested that he may bring up Obama's association with Vietnam War-era radical William Ayers during the debate. His campaign is running a number of TV and radio ads attacking Obama for working on foundations with Ayers. But the latest CBS-New York Times poll suggests that many voters appear to be turned off by McCain's negative attacks. Twenty-one percent of voters say their opinion of McCain has grown worse over the last couple of weeks. Many analysts and debate experts also agree that it is risky for a candidate to launch personal attacks against an opponent in a face-to-face debate format.
麦凯恩曾提出，他可能在辩论中提及奥巴马与越战时代的极端主义分子威廉 .艾尔斯之间的交往。他在竞选活动中作了许多电视和广播广告攻击奥巴马与艾尔斯的协作关系。但是哥伦比亚广播公司最近的民调显示，许多选民看来对麦凯恩的负面攻击产生了厌感，百分之二十一的选民说，他们在最近几星期来对麦凯恩的看法比过去更不好。许多分析人士和辩论专家也一致认为，候选人在面对面的辩论中向对手发起人身攻击是有风险的。 |