VOA标准英语2008年-Clinton Presses On, Despite Calls to Abandon Pr

By Jim Malone
Washington
08 May 2008

Democratic Party presidential contender Hillary Clinton shows no signs of quitting the race, despite calls from some fellow Democrats¹ that it is time to concede the nomination² fight to rival Barack Obama.  VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has the latest on the presidential campaign from Washington.

Hillary Clinton campaigned in West Virginia in advance of next Tuesday's primary, and left little doubt it was full steam ahead, despite her disappointing showings this week in North Carolina and Indiana.

"I think we want to keep this going so that the people of West Virginia's voices are heard and their votes are counted!   This is a little bit like deja vous all over again," Clinton said. "Some in Washington wanted us to end our campaign, and then I won New Hampshire.  Then we had huge victories on Super Tuesday, then we won Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania, and I was never supposed to win Indiana.  Well, I am running to be president of all 50 states, and I want to be sure that we count all 50 states."

On Tuesday, Senator Obama scored a 14-point victory over Clinton in North Carolina and narrowly lost to her in Indiana.

Those results have spurred some Democrats to urge Senator Clinton to abandon her White House bid and throw her support to Obama to help the party retake the presidency³ in November.

Obama spent part of Thursday meeting with uncommitted superdelegates in Washington and asking for their support.  Superdelegates are Democratic officeholders and party activists⁴ free to support either candidate at the party convention.

Among the latest prominent Democrats to declare for Obama is former Michigan Congressman⁵ David Bonior.  He had managed John Edwards' presidential campaign this year and spoke⁶ about his decision to support Obama on MSNBC television.

"This is a watershed⁷ year, and he has the ability to deliver a message that unifies⁸ the country, he has the ability to deliver a message that supports working people in a way that we have not seen in a long, long time," Bonior said.

Bonior's decision came a day after former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern announced he was switching his support from Clinton to Obama.  

West Virginia is one of six Democratic contests to be held between now and June 3 when the primary season will end.

Clinton campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, told NBC television that Senator Clinton will not fight Obama for the nomination all the way to the Democratic national convention in late August.

"I think the superdelegates are going to move very quickly within a week or two after June 3, and I think it will be all over," McAuliffe said. "I do not see it going to the convention.  We will have a nominee⁹ in June.  But with seven million people yet to vote, let us let them vote."

Most of the nearly 800 superdelegates have committed to either Obama or Clinton, and the remaining uncommitted superdelegates will provide the winning margin¹⁰ to one of the contenders to secure enough delegates to win the party nomination.

Some Democrats worry that the lengthy¹¹ and bitter nomination contest will hurt the party's chances against the presumed Republican candidate, Senator John McCain, in November.

But Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the longer than expected campaign has helped the party by registering hundreds of thousands of new Democratic voters.

"Me, I like combat," Pelosi said. "You know, I think the best training for campaigning is campaigning, so I think that as they have campaigned, the support in our country has grown for our Democratic message.  Look at, more than a million Democrats voted in Indiana.  That was great, and a big, strong vote in North Carolina of Democrats turning out.  So this is all very healthy."

Pelosi is a superdelegate to the national convention, but has not expressed a preference in the presidential race.

1 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》

2 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。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

8 unifies   

使联合( unify的第三人称单数 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• Team-Based Concurrent Engineering Unifies your design team and aids complex debug efforts. 以团队为基础的并行工程使你的设计团队融为一体并协助复杂的调试。
• He saw God's complete moral excellence that unifies His attributes. 他看见上帝完美的道德贯穿着祂所有的属性。

9 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

10 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

11 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。