2007年VOA标准英语-US 2008 Presidential Campaign Starts in New Ham

By Kane Farabaugh
Manchester, N.H.
07 June 2007
 

The U.S. presidential election is nearly a year and a half away, but voters in the northern state of New Hampshire will get their chance to help select the Republican and Democratic parties' candidates in January, in the nation's first presidential primary election. Campaigning is already increasing in tempo¹ in New Hampshire, where all Democratic presidential hopefuls appeared together recently for a nationally televised debate about the Iraq war, domestic security, health care and other issues that are important to Americans.

A campaigner creates a political campaign poster

You can find them on the streets.  You can find them on the phones.  People like Fran Egbers work as foot soldiers in the volunteer armies recruited by all major political candidates. Their mission is to get the candidate's message out to the public and rally support. New Hampshire is a state where every vote counts.

"It is an independent state,” Egbers explains.  “It had been more conservative up until last year. [Now is] The first time ever that we have a Democratic [state] House and [state] Senate in New Hampshire. And we went blue, and we'll get much bluer in the years to come."

In American political jargon², a "blue state" favors Democratic candidates at election time. Although New Hampshire is now considered "blue," a majority of voters say they are independent or undecided. 

U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd is one of at least eight presidential "hopefuls" in the Democratic Party, hoping to become the party's official presidential candidate next year. He is up against big names like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But New Hampshire is known for being unpredictable in primary elections, and Dodd hopes support from here will help him win at the Democrats³' nominating convention next year in late August.

"One thing I can tell you for certain is, it's very open,” Dodd says.  “The idea that this is down to a two-person or three-person race, they'll tell you in New Hampshire and they'll tell you in Iowa -- that's not the case at all."

Christopher Dodd is hoping to reach voters through his volunteers and through his message, delivered on this occasion by the Cable News Network and a local television station. Those media outlets⁴ co-hosted the Democratic hopefuls' live, nationally televised debate from Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire's largest city [Manchester].

Not far away from the Saint Anselm campus, supporters of Senator Barack Obama gathered at a pub to watch the debate and cheer on their favorite. Obama has been in the U.S. Senate for less than two and a half years, but his political popularity is growing rapidly nationwide.

Like most of his competitors, the young senator from Illinois vows⁵ to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. That promise resonates with younger voters like Jared Milrad, who sees the debate as a chance for Obama to reach a wider audience.

"There are still some people, particularly in my generation, that don't even know this guy,” Milrad says.  “So it's going to have to be in people's homes, it's going to have to be on the streets [that we recruit voters]. A couple of months ago, we were up here for [a] 'Draft Obama' [rally] and we were just walking the street and trying to connect with people there. I think it's really going to have to be reaching out. It's not going to be this same old spin I've seen growing up.”

Presidential campaigns in this country are more than just popularity contests and political spin. There are real issues that people in New Hampshire are concerned about, such as health care and the war in Iraq. Connecting with those voters and offering a solution for their concerns are how candidates gain support. It is also how their campaigns gain political momentum⁶ in the months leading up to the New Hampshire primary in January. That first statewide popular vote will show which candidates really are on the road to the White House.

1 tempo   

n.(音乐的)速度；节奏，行进速度

参考例句：

• The boss is unsatisfied with the tardy tempo.老板不满于这种缓慢的进度。
• They waltz to the tempo of the music.他们跟着音乐的节奏跳华尔兹舞。

2 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

3 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》

4 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

6 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。