With less than 50 days to go until Election Day on November 4, the U.S. presidential race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama appears to be a dead heat. Analysts say the final weeks of the campaign promise to be intense and filled with partisan attacks and negative television advertisements.
离11月4号总统选举日还有不到50天，美国共和党总统候选人麦凯恩和民主党候选人奥巴马之间的竞争进入白热化。分析人士说，最后几周的竞选活动一定会非常激烈而且充满党派性攻击和负面电视广告。
The attack ads are everywhere - on television, radio and the Internet. Some of ads are created within only a few hours.
攻击对方的广告到处都是--电视、广播、互联网。有的广告是在几个小时之内就制作出来的。
A McCain campaign ad attacked Senator Barack Obama on the issue of taxes.
麦凯恩的一条竞选广告在税收问题上攻击奥巴马。
"Painful taxes. Hard choices for your budget. Not ready to lead. That's the real Obama."
广告说：“令人头疼的赋税。让你在预算上作出艰难的选择。还没有为领导国家做好准备。这就是真正的奥巴马。”
The Obama campaign responded with an attack on Senator McCain and his ties to lobbyists.
奥巴马也用广告回敬了麦凯恩，攻击麦凯恩和游说人员的关系。
"The lobbyists running his low road campaign. The money - billions in tax breaks for oil and drug companies, but almost nothing for families like yours."
广告说：“游说人员负责经营麦凯恩不光彩的竞选。他将给石油和制药公司数十亿美元的税务优惠，但你们这样的普通家庭几乎什么好处也得不到。”
But with both sides firing off negative ads at each other, experts say it is hard to know whether people are paying attention or to gauge the impact.
虽然双方展开了负面广告大战，但是专家们说，很难确定人们是否注意这类广告，也很难衡量这些广告的影响。
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake says the latest bipartisan Battleground poll, which she helped conduct, found that both Obama and McCain remain popular with the public.
民主党民意调查员莱克说，她帮助进行了最新的垮党派选情调查，并发现两位候选人都受到公众的欢迎。
"Both candidates remain remarkably personally positive," she said. "And again, you would think given a lot of the press reports that both candidates had decidedly negative views [would be viewed negatively by voters], but that is not true."
她说：“公众对两位候选人个人都依然持有十分正面的看法。你可能会想，由于媒体的大量报道，选民们会对候选人持有负面的看法。但事实不是这样。”
Both campaigns complain that their opponent's attack ads are often inaccurate and misleading.
两个竞选班子都抱怨说对手的攻击性广告时常有错误和误导性的内容。
One group of liberal activists is urging the moderators of the upcoming presidential debates to focus on serious issues and steer clear of what they regard as trivial political attacks.
Robert Borosage is president of the Institute for America's Future, which promotes a progressive political agenda.
"And the basic theme of all of this work is to demand a debate worthy of a great nation in trouble," Borosage said. "As all of you know, the presidential campaign at this point seems to be descending right now somewhere along a road to nowhere. We are talking about [celebrity] Paris Hilton and lipstick on pigs and Alaska separatism."
But experts predict the political attacks and negative ads will only increase in the final weeks of the campaign because the race has become more competitive since the party conventions.
专家们预测，政治攻击和负面广告在选举的最后几星期里只会增加，因为在政党全国大会召开后竞争变得更为激烈了。
Obama led the polls for months. But in the last few weeks, McCain has come on strong and now leads in several surveys.
奥巴马曾在几个民意调查中一直领先麦凯恩。不过，最近几个星期里，麦凯恩实力增加，而且在几项民意调查中领先。
McCain's pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate has energized social conservatives within the Republican Party.
他挑选阿拉斯加州州长佩林担任副总统竞选夥伴激发了共和党内社会保守派的热情。
And McCain now casts himself as a reformer bent on changing politics in Washington.
此外，麦凯恩现在把自己说成是一个改革者，决心改变华盛顿的政治。
"And I want to warn them, every single one of them, stand by because change is coming, and real change is coming to Washington, D.C. And we are going to shake things up," McCain said.
他说：“我要警告他们每一个人，等着瞧吧，改变就要来临，华盛顿即将迎来真正的变革。我们将对华盛顿进行重整。”
Democrats complain the attacks on Obama have distracted voters from the real issues in the campaign, especially the economy.
民主党人抱怨说，对奥巴马的攻击转移了选民对选举中真正议题的注意力，特别是对经济问题的关注。
They are urging Obama to fight back, mindful of the Republican attack ads that helped doom Democrat John Kerry's presidential bid four years ago.
他们注意到共和党人四年前的负面广告从一定程度上击垮了克里的总统竞选，因此敦促奥巴马展开反击。
In recent days, Obama seems to be taking their advice.
最近几天中，奥巴马似乎接受了他们的建议。
"Enough! I don't care what they say about me, but I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and 'Swift boat' politics. Enough is enough!," Obama said.
他说：“够了!我不在乎他们如何说我。我太爱美国了，因此我不能让他们用谎言、虚伪的愤怒和‘快船’政治又一次赢得选举。我已经受够了!“
Political analysts say this year's presidential debates will be crucial in helping voters decide what is shaping up as a very close race.
政治分析人士说，今年的总统候选人辩论十分重要，辩论能帮助选民决定这场激烈竞争到底走向何方。
Tom DeFrank is Washington Bureau Chief for the New York Daily News and has covered numerous U.S. elections. DeFrank told VOA's Issues in the News program that the debates will be especially important for Barack Obama.
"I think he is now the underdog," DeFrank said. "And I have always thought that the first presidential debate is always important in presidential elections. But I think Obama needs to be really compelling in that debate now. The stakes are much higher for him now than for McCain."
Three presidential debates are scheduled, beginning September 26 at the University of Mississippi. In addition, there will be one vice presidential debate between Republican Sarah Palin and Democratic Senator Joe Biden.
今年将举行三场候选人辩论，从九月26号在密西西比大学开始。此外，共和党人佩林和民主党人拜登之间还将举行一场副总统候选人辩论。 |