希拉里,聚焦2008

Thank you! God bless you! God bless you and god bless America.

With an easy victory for reelection to the senate behind her, Hillary Clinton is now actively¹ drumming up support for a presidential bid.

It's not a slam dunk for her, er, but she began as a very formidable candidate, who can raise the money, who has the national name recognition and contacts.

Of course she's been in the White House before as first lady. And during her six years as a senator, Clinton has proven to be a savvy² political operative. She supported president Bush in the war in Iraq, but opposed all of the president's tax cuts. (Mr. President last year...)Clinton has ten million dollars in her war chest and a formidable political advisor³ in her husband. But the former president's transgression⁴ could hurt her as the Democrats⁵ choose their candidate.

If they believe that she is too polarizing a political figure, or regarded as too liberal, carrying too much Clinton family baggage, that's gonna hurt her within the Democratic Party and hurt her chances for winning the nomination⁶.

Right now Clinton is the Democratic front runner. Recent poll show her closest contender is Illinois Senator Barack Bama. Either will be an ahistoric choice, she could be the first woman president; he could be the first African American.

And together we're gonna change the country.

Obama is a bright-star but a relative newcomer with just two years in the Senate. Time editor Richard Stengel, whose magazine recently put both Clinton and Obama on its cover, says both have a shot at the White House.

I think we vote more about personality and competence⁷, rather than color or gender⁸, and I think if people feel that they're competent, that they are able, that they are smart, that they would allow them to be in their living room day after day, that's the really determinative factor.

Insiders will watch Clinton and Obama position themselves in the new Democratic controlled Senate. But with a year before the first primary, it's still any one's ball game.

N. Susan Anna, CBS news, New York.

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slam dunk :Am E something that is very successful 成功的行为
formidable:very impressive in size, power or skill and therefore deserving respect and often difficult to deal with 令人敬畏的
savvy:informal knowing a lot about something and able to make good judgments about it 精通的,明智的
war chest :mainly journalism money that a political party or a business has available to spend on something such as an election campaign or a business deal 战争基金
transgression :something that is not allowed by a law, custom, or religion 违反

1 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

2 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 transgression   

n.违背；犯规；罪过

参考例句：

• The price can make an action look more like a transaction than a transgression.罚款让一个行为看起来更像是一笔交易而不是一次违法行为。
• The areas of transgression are indicated by wide spacing of the thickness contours.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。

5 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》

6 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。

7 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

8 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。