Illinois Senator Barack Obama took a giant step toward securing the Democratic Party's presidential nomination Tuesday with a decisive win in the North Carolina primary and a close second place finish in Indiana. Pressure is expected to mount on rival Hillary Clinton in the days to come to abandon her presidential campaign and rally behind Obama as the eventual Democratic nominee.
伊利诺伊州参议员巴拉克.奥巴马向确保获得民主党总统提名迈出了很大一步。星期二，他在北卡罗来那州赢得决定性的胜利；在印第安纳州的初选中，他又以非常接近的选票获得第二。未来几天，他的对手，参议员希拉里.克林顿面临放弃总统竞选的压力将越来越大，而奥巴最终成为民主党总统提名人的支持也会与日俱增。
Barack Obama reasserted political momentum with his victory in North Carolina, and Hillary Clinton now appears to be running out of time and money in her bid to stop his march to the Democratic nomination.
奥巴马在北卡获胜后，再次巩固了他的政治势头，而克林顿现在看起来好像已经没有足够的时间和金钱来阻止奥巴马向获得民主党提名迈进。
In his victory speech, Obama focused less on Clinton and more on what kind of campaign he would run against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
在获胜感言中，奥巴马没有把矛头过多地集中在克林顿参议员身上，相反，他更多地谈到自己将如何竞选，挑战可能获得共和党提名的参议员约翰.麦凯恩。
"We are the party of [Thomas] Jefferson and [Andrew] Jackson, of [Franklin] Roosevelt and [John] Kennedy, and that we are at our best when we lead with principle, when we lead with conviction, when we summon an entire nation to a common purpose and a higher purpose," he said.
“我们是杰斐逊、杰克逊、福兰克林以及肯尼迪总统的政党。当我们坚持原则，坚守信念、号召整个国家为共同的目的和更高的理念而努力的时候，我们所向披靡。”
Clinton vowed to compete in upcoming primaries in West Virginia and Kentucky and made another appeal for money for her campaign, which she has been funding recently out of her own pocket.
克林顿参议员誓言将完成即将到来的西维吉尼亚洲和肯塔基的初选。她还为自己的竞选再次筹集款项。最近以来，她一直用自己口袋里的钱在竞选。
But Clinton also repeated her vow that she will support Obama if he becomes the Democratic nominee.
但是，克林顿也一再重复说，如果奥巴马获得民主党的提名，她将会支持奥巴马。
"No matter what happens, I will work for the nominee of the Democratic Party, because we must win in November!"
“不管发生什么，我都将为民主党提名人去努力，因为我们必须赢得11月的选举。”
Obama added to his lead in the delegate count and total popular vote on Tuesday. And even though Clinton has vowed to fight on, most experts see little chance for her to win the Democratic nomination at this late stage in the primary process.
星期二，奥巴马不仅在代表票数目，而且在普选票中继续保持领先地位。尽管克林顿发誓要继续战斗，许多专家认为在目前，也就是初选的最后阶段，她几乎没有机会赢得民主党提名。
Larry Sabato directs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
维吉尼亚大学政治中心主任拉里.萨巴托说：
"The race is approaching its logical conclusion and barring some massive development that no one foresees, Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee for president," he explained.
“逻辑上说，这次竞选已经接近结束， 基本上不会发生大家可以预见的大的变数。奥巴马将获得民主党的总统提名。”
Clinton's only remaining hope is to convince enough uncommitted superdelegates that she would be a stronger nominee against Republican John McCain in November.
克林顿唯一的希望是说服足够多的目前还没有表态的超级代表，让他们知道，在11月份的美国总统大选中， 如果她作为民主党提名人将会更强有力地挑战共和党对手麦凯恩。
Superdelegates are Democratic officeholders and party activists who can support any candidate they want regardless of caucus and primary results in their states.
所谓的超级代表就是民主党内的官员以及一些党内的活动人士。这些人可以不顾初选或是基层党团选举的结果，支持任何一名候选人。
About 500 of the nearly 800 superdelegates have already declared their support for one of the two candidates, and the rest remain uncommitted. Neither candidate can win enough delegates in the remaining primaries to claim the nomination outright, so superdelegates will provide the margin of victory for the eventual nominee.
Many experts now expect more superdelegates will flock to Obama in the wake of Tuesday's primaries.
许多专家认为，在星期二的胜利后，更多的超级代表就会趋之若骛，支持奥巴马。
Bill Beaman is editor in chief of Politics magazine, formerly known as Campaign and Elections.
比尔.比曼是一份政治杂志的主编，这份杂志先前以竞选和选举著称。
Beaman says most superdelegates would be reluctant to deny Obama the nomination given that he is on track to win more delegates and popular votes than Clinton.
比曼说，在考虑到奥巴马将赢得更多的代表票和选民票后，大多数的超级代表不愿意否决奥巴马的提名。
"You have to remember that most superdelegates are elected officials," he explaine.d "They have constituencies they need to worry about, and some 20 to 25 percent of the Democratic base is the African-American vote. What it would do to African-American support, in my view, to take the nomination at this stage from Barack Obama is something that superdelegates would not even want to venture to find out."
“你必须记得，大多数的超级代表是民选官员。他们也有自己的选区需要担心。大约百分之20到25的民主党的基础是非洲裔美国人的选票。这对非洲裔美国人的支持会产生什么作用？在我看来，这个阶段夺去奥巴马的提名，超级代表甚至不愿意冒险去寻找这个答案。”
Beaman and other experts predict Democrats will unite behind Obama once the primaries draw to a close in early June.
比曼和其他专家预测， 一旦六月初的初选接近尾声，民主党人会团结在奥巴马的身后。
Despite Obama's strong showings in both North Carolina and Indiana Tuesday, voter exit surveys suggest he will have to do a better job of appealing to working class white voters if he is to defeat John McCain in November.
Once again, expert Larry Sabato.
"There are a number of pitfalls along the way, not least his demonstrated lack of appeal to downscale whites and conservative Democrats, and he is going to have to work hard to solve those problems before he can win a general election," he noted.
Also of concern to Obama is the fact that about half the voters in both North Carolina and Indiana said the controversy involving his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, was an important issue in their vote.
Six more Democratic contests remain before the primary season ends on June 3. The Democrats hold their national nominating convention in late August, while the Republicans convene theirs the first week in September.
在六月三号的初选季节结束前，民主党还有六场初选。民主党人将在八月底举行全国代表大会上推出民主党总统候选人的提名。 而共和党则在九月的第一个星期举行他们的提名大会。 |