VOA标准英语2008年-Voters in Nevada Take Part in Presidential Cauc

By Mike O'Sullivan
Las Vegas
19 January 2008

Voters in the Western state of Nevada are taking part in party caucuses² Saturday to help choose the nominees³ for U.S. president. Mike O'Sullivan has a preview from Las Vegas on the first-in-the-West presidential polling.

For both major parties, the race is competitive this year, says Nevada Republican spokesman Steve Wark.

"This is the very first time since 1926 that a sitting president or vice⁴ president has not been running for the nomination⁵ in either one of the two parties. And so it's a wide open, fluid landscape that both parties are playing on," he said.

On the Democratic side, a poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, released Friday, showed Senator Hillary Clinton with a nine point lead over Senator Barack Obama, with former Senator John Edwards in third place.

Among Republicans, the poll showed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt⁷ Romney leading Senator John McCain by 15 points. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee was in third place.

This year's Nevada caucuses have taken on added importance in the national race because of their timing⁸. With help from a Nevadan who is U.S. senate majority leader, Senator Harry⁹ Reid, the Democratic Party advanced its caucuses to January, making them among the first in the nation. Republicans followed suit and are also holding their caucuses Saturday.

Democrat⁶ Kirsten Searer says Nevada's diversity makes the state's vote important for her party.

"This is the first real test of the minority communities amongst these presidential candidates," said Searer. "Nevada has almost 40 percent minority population, largely Hispanic population."

Sylvia Scott is part of that minority population. An African-American, she moved here with her family from Chicago, the home of Democratic candidate Barack Obama. She likes his stand on the issues, especially on the environment, and plans to attend a caucus¹ to support him.

"It's exciting to us. Yes. [We're] looking forward to change," she said.

Participation¹⁰ in the Nevada caucuses has historically been low. For the Democrats¹¹, the turnout grew to 9,000 in 2004. With all the attention focused on this year's caucuses, Democratic Party officials expect a turnout as high as 40,000.

Voters in many states voice their preference for nominees in primary elections. A caucus is less formal. Democratic Party official Kirsten Searer says it is simply a meeting of neighbors.

"And instead of casting ballots¹², you elect delegates in favor of the candidate that you like," said Searer. "For example, my home precinct has eight delegates. And what happens is they say, OK, if you are [for] candidate A, you go in this corner; if you're for candidate B, you go in that corner. And you count heads. One candidate might get four of those delegates."

Or three delegates, or five, or none.

The Nevada Republican party has a similar process, but their caucus voters cast secret ballots.

Democrats who are working Saturday in the entertainment district can attend special caucuses set up by their party in casinos. Some supporters of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton challenged the plan in court after unions for hotel and casino workers endorsed¹³ Barack Obama. A federal judge rejected the lawsuit¹⁴, allowing the special caucuses on Saturday.

Steve Wark says a competitive race has generated interest, and most voters expected to take part in these caucuses have never done it before.

"Nevada is totally wide open. It's wide open to all the candidates, and it's going to be a tremendous learning experience for thousands of people," he said.

Democrat Kirsten Searer adds that Nevada's caucuses are the first test in the West in this election year, and the country is watching.

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 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

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 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。

6 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。

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 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

9 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

10 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

11 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》

12 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。