美国国家公共电台 NPR DNC Votes To Largely Strip 'Superdelegates' Of Presidential Nominating Power

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Democratic Party appears poised¹ for a big change in the way it chooses its presidential nominees³ by reducing the role of party leaders known as superdelegates. The DNC has been meeting in Chicago this week. They'll vote on proposed new rules today. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from Chicago.

DON GONYEA, BYLINE⁴: The proposed rule changes are controversial. Here's how Democratic Party Chairman Tom Perez addressed the packed room for the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting two days ago.

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TOM PEREZ: Somebody asked me earlier today, well, are you concerned that there could be some passionate⁵ disagreements? And my answer to that is come to my house at Thanksgiving.

GONYEA: Superdelegates are party insiders, elected officials, members of Congress and high-ranking party activists⁶ from every state. Under current rules, they can support any candidate they want independent of what Democratic primary and caucus⁷ voters do during the primary campaign season. Under the new proposal, they don't get a vote at the nominating convention unless the first ballot⁸ fails to produce a nominee². After that, they can join other delegates until someone wins a majority. Before the plan came to the full DNC for final approval here, it won support in several earlier meetings. There has been dissent⁹ this week, including from some African-American DNC members like Virgie Rollins of Detroit.

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VIRGIE ROLLINS: I'd want to emphasize again that it took years for African-Americans to be sitting at this table and being a part of the DNC.

GONYEA: Rollins and others liken this to taking away their voice, to disenfranchisement. DNC vice¹⁰ chairman Michael Blake of New York City, he's also African-American, disagreed. He says this will give more of a voice to more people, signaling that the Democratic Party welcomes them.

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MICHAEL BLAKE: We are having a conversation about individual power when people who need power right now are the folks in Flint or the folks that are struggling with lead paint and the folks that are wondering if they have a discriminatory, racist¹¹, sexist, modernistic demagogue in the White House right now.

GONYEA: The push for changes came about after the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton was the overwhelming favorite of the superdelegates. She also won a solid majority among delegates awarded in primary contests and caucuses¹². But there was a perception particularly among supporters of her main challenger, Senator Bernie Sanders, that she had an unfair advantage from the beginning. Now, one potential 2020 hopeful was here making the rounds, a long shot to be sure, Michael Avenatti, who has been taking on President Trump¹³ as the attorney for adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Whether it's for publicity¹⁴ or for real, he's not being coy.

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MICHAEL AVENATTI: Why don't people just come out and say, yeah, I'm seriously considering running for president? I mean, I think that this is part of the problem. People don't call it like they see it. People don't tell people like it is.

GONYEA: To that end, he added...

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AVENATTI: So when somebody asks me, are you seriously considering running for president, I say, yeah, I'm seriously considering running for president. If they ask me if I made up my mind, I say, no, I have it because I haven't.

GONYEA: And with that, he made his way to a nearby caucus meeting that was wrapping up and delivered an unscheduled two-minute speech. There were a lot of empty chairs but cheers, too, and lots of selfies. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Chicago.

1 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

2 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。

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 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

6 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》

7 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。

8 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

9 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

10 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。

11 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

12 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

13 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

14 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。