2007年VOA标准英语-New Hampshire Vows to Stay 'First in Nation’ fo

By Kane Farabaugh
Concord¹, New Hampshire
12 June 2007
 

The U.S. Constitution does not outline how a political party can nominate a candidate for president.  The process simply has evolved over time, and now both major parties -- the Democratic and Republican -- rely on state primary elections to determine their candidates for the general election.  VOA's Kane Farabaugh spent time in the first state to hold a primary election -- New Hampshire -- where the growing influence of the media has prompted the state to hold earlier primaries each four-year election cycle.

It is a source of pride to the people in the northeastern state of New Hampshire. A tradition marked by signs and etched in stone in the state capitol, Concord.

But when William Gardner ran for New Hampshire's Secretary of State in 1976, the state's presidential primary election could hardly be described as a political milestone³. "New Hampshire has had the "first in the nation" primary since 1920.  For the first half of the century it was not a national or internationally significant event."

It was during Gardner's second year in office -- 1977 -- when lawmakers passed legislation making the state primary election the "first in the nation."  Gardner describes New Hampshire's now famous political winter tradition as an important part of the "American Dream."  "It first of all gives an average person the opportunity to have a chance to be president.  It keeps the American dream alive that any person's son or daughter can someday grow up to be president because you don't have to be the most famous or have the longest purse strings⁴ to be able to win here."

New Hampshire is a state of roughly 1.3 million people.  The 2000 Census⁵ shows that 96 percent of the population is white.  A majority of voters in the state call themselves independent as opposed to Republican or Democrat².  Because of that fact, and its status as first in the nation, New Hampshire is an important stop on a candidate's campaign itinerary⁶.

Senator John Mccain, a Republican candidate from Arizona said to an audience, "One of the first priorities is that if they ever want to embark⁷ to any path to citizenship⁸ is that they must first learn English."

New Hampshire campaigners

Often candidates will make an effort to connect with voters one-on-one, because they know this is a state that can make or break their political future.  But the state's special status is threatened by changes in the presidential election cycle next year.

For the 2008 election, at least 10 states have already scheduled compressed primaries for February 5th, a date known as "Super Tuesday."  That number could grow to 25 as other states pass legislation in the coming months.

The chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Fergus Cullen, says the change does not give candidates much time to build or gain political momentum⁹ after they stump¹⁰ in New Hampshire. "Because of the compression, a candidate who stumbles may not have time to recover.  A candidate who exceeds expectations many not have time to capitalize on that success.  They literally¹¹ won't be able to cash the checks fast enough to fund their campaign in the next state.  It increases the odds¹² that one party or the other might nominate somebody who is not electable before they can put a stop to that."

Leon Panetta served as former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff. He says that the Super Tuesday calendar compression would seem to help the candidates with the most money. "And that probably favors not only Hillary Clinton -- Barack Obama is raising a lot of money. On the Republican side it probably favors somebody like Mitt¹³ Romney who has raised a tremendous amount of money as well."

A compressed primary calendar impairs¹⁴ a lesser-known candidate's ability to increase visibility with voters in other states.  Critics of the Super Tuesday also contend that it gives more importance to political advertising¹⁵ since it leaves less time for the candidates to actually meet with voters in person.

The state of Florida has scheduled its primary in 2008 for January 29th.  New Hampshire state law requires primary elections held here to occur at least seven days before any other state. 

Some, like Fergus Cullen, speculate that New Hampshire could move its primary to late 2007. "I suspect it will probably be earlier than people generally think it is.  I also expect that we will have a British style snap election, where the Secretary of State will say it will be four weeks from tomorrow, or it will be six weeks from tomorrow, maybe less.  That's what I'm expecting - no one can tell."

The person who can tell is not saying much about his plans this year."Some time this coming fall is most likely when the date will be set," Cullen added.

Despite the changes this election year, the campaign is in full swing in New Hampshire, thanks in part to political debates held at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.  Off campus, handshakes and town hall meetings ushered¹⁶ in the latest round of campaigning in a state that hopes to keep its relevance¹⁷ -- and its source of pride -- intact for 2008, and beyond.

1 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。

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 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

4 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

5 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

6 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

7 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

8 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

9 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。

10 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

13 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。

14 impairs   

v.损害，削弱( impair的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Smoking impairs our health. 吸烟会损害我们的健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Almost anything that impairs liver function can cause hepatitis. 任何有损于肝功能的因素，几乎都会引起肝炎。 来自辞典例句

15 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

16 ushered   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
• A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。