VOA常速英语2007年-Iowa Caucus Opens US Presidential Selection Pro

By Jeffrey Young
Washington
14 December 2007
 

The central U.S. state of Iowa, and several other states, have an alternative way to select presidential nominees¹ for the Democratic and Republican parties. In this segment of "How America Elects," VOA's Jeffrey Young explains how a caucus³ differs from a primary election.

The blazing summer heat is long gone, but in Iowa and some other states, presidential politics remains⁴ red hot. And now, it is time to make decisions.

Iowa makes the first official decisions of the 2008 White House race. Iowa, and several other states, do not hold initial, or primary elections for selecting presidential candidates. They use a different system, called a caucus.

Caucuses⁵ are more complicated than a primary election, as Benjamin Ginsberg at Johns Hopkins University explains.

"People registered in a particular political party assemble in a variety of places across the state," he says. "And there, they discuss, they debate, and at the end of the evening, a vote is taken of those assembled. And then all of those votes from across the state are tallied⁶."

These votes determine how many delegates supporting each candidate will go to the convention that nominates that party's official presidential contender.

The caucus process requires candidates to work hard in every corner of the state to round up supporters, as Democrat² John Edwards demonstrated in 2004.

"I came here to ask you to caucus for me. I need you. I cannot do this without you. I need you to get your friends, your family, your neighbors to the caucuses," he said. 

And, as this John Kerry campaign worker from 2004 explains, caucuses, unlike primaries, do not always begin with firm candidate decisions.

"They have not quite made up their mind, and probably, people do not want to say they made up their mind. They want to be convinced up to the last minute. But they are listening."

There are political observers who contend that caucuses produce very skewed results.

"Caucuses definitely do not represent the electorate⁷ at large," says Mark Rom at Georgetown University. "Those people who will devote the time and attention to go to the caucuses are the most partisan⁸ members of the electorate. Republicans tend to be much more conservative than the electorate [at large], if they go to the caucuses. Democrats⁹ tend to be much more liberal than the electorate [at large], those who go to the caucuses."

But others see the caucus system as being closer to a democratic ideal. That is the view of Lorenzo Morris at Howard University.

"It is true that caucuses not only reflect opinion, they [also] form opinion. And that is the ideal of a democracy - that people do not come to any encounter with their own opinions absolutely, but [instead] are open to exchange and discussion so that you build on the pluralistic diversity. Different segments [and] different interests, but they find a common denominator," Morris said. 

For Iowa, what really matters above all is that it selects candidates, and their convention delegates, first among all of the states, before the first primary election is held in the northeastern state of New Hampshire.

1 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 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。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 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

6 tallied   

v.计算，清点( tally的过去式和过去分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• The girl tallied them with her eyes for a moment. 新娘用目光把这些化妆品清点了一下。 来自教父部分
• His account of the accident tallied with hers. 他对事故的陈述和她的相吻合。 来自辞典例句

7 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

8 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

9 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》