VOA常速英语2007年-US Presidential Contenders Enter Final Week Bef

By Jim Malone
Washington
27 December 2007

U.S. presidential contenders are making a final push for votes with one week to go until the first test of the 2008 election campaign, the Iowa presidential caucuses² on January 3.  VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has a preview from Washington.

For the next week, the Midwest state of Iowa will be the center of the U.S. political universe as the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates make a closing appeal for support.

In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination³, the latest polls show a tight race among three contenders, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York.

"We know that the next president will face a daunting⁴ agenda," Clinton said.

Clinton is emphasizing her experience in Congress and as First Lady while Obama contends he represents the kind of change he says voters are looking for.

Obama made his case during a recent speech in Waterloo, Iowa.

"So I want to know, are you fired up?  Ready to go?  Fired up?  Ready to go?  Let us go change the world!  Thank you, Waterloo," Obama said.

Other Democratic contenders include New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Congressman⁵ Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Senator Mike Gravel⁶ of Alaska. 

In the Republican race in Iowa, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is hoping his recent surge in public opinion polls will carry him to victory.

"I am the guy who worked my way up through it and there are a whole lot of people in America who believe that the president ought to be a servant of the people and ought not to be elected to the ruling class," Huckabee said.

Huckabee moved ahead of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt⁷ Romney in Iowa in several recent polls, and Romney has responded with a barrage⁸ of negative television ads.

"I do not have any problem shrinking away from our differences on issues and talking about the differences," Romney said.

Romney remains⁹ in the lead in New Hampshire.  New Hampshire hosts the first presidential primary on January 8, five days after the Iowa vote.

Among the other top Republican contenders are former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Senator John McCain of Arizona.

Also in the running in the Republican field are Congressman Ron Paul of Texas and Congressman Duncan Hunter of California.

As the first test in the 2008 election cycle, the Iowa caucuses will get massive news coverage¹⁰ and should provide the winners the opportunity to get off to a fast start in the battle for the party nominations¹¹.

"The Iowa caucuses are important because they are the first nominating contest in the election year," said Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University in Washington.  "They are caucuses, but that simply means you have to come to a meeting to vote."

Most of the presidential contenders have been on the campaign trail for much of the past year, but the Iowa vote represents the official start to the 2008 campaign year.

"It is important for the American people, who are not a particularly political people, they have other things on their mind," said Stephen Hess, an expert on politics at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "It is not until they really start to focus, and the focus is brought together by an election or a caucus¹, which is a type of election, and then they really start to hone in on the presidential election, which will not come until November."

Candidates do not necessarily have to win in Iowa to keep their campaigns alive.  But those who do poorly may be forced to quit the race fairly soon.

Historian Allan Lichtman predicts the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire will quickly narrow the field of contenders in both parties.

"This year, everyone thinks that the Iowa caucuses are going to winnow¹² down the field of candidates, probably to maybe three on the Democratic side and four on the Republican side," he said.

After Iowa and New Hampshire, the presidential campaign moves on to Nevada, South Carolina and Florida during the month of January.

The primary season reaches a climax¹³ on February 5, when more than 20 states hold nominating contests in a single day.  The party nominees¹⁴ will be confirmed at national conventions in late August and early September.

1 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。

2 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

3 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。

4 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

5 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

6 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

7 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。

8 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

9 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。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

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。

13 climax   

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

参考例句：

• The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
• His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

14 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