纽约时报 弗吉尼亚领导人将民主党人拖入噩梦(3)（在线收听）

“To show a firm grasp of the obvious, the optics would be difficult and the substance would be difficult,”

针对要是诺瑟姆和赫林两人留任而费尔法克斯被革职，情况会如何这一问题，

said State Senator J. Chapman Petersen, who is white,

州参议员查普曼·彼得森，白人，说到，

about how it would look if Mr. Northam and Mr. Herring remained in office while Mr. Fairfax was exiled.

“要表现出对显而易见的事物的坚定把握，无论是大家对这件事的印象，还是问题的实质都会变得很棘手。”

Women and African-Americans have never been more politically powerful:

美国的女性群体和非裔人群从来没有拥有过现在这样强大的政治影响力：

The Democrats’ 40-seat win in the House midterm elections in November,

对民主党而言，无论是11月中期选举时赢得40个众议院席位，

as well as their 2017 triumph in the top Virginia races,

还是2017年在弗吉尼亚顶级竞选中胜出，

was powered in no small part by those voters.

很大程度上都得益于有这些选民的支持。

And with Republicans barely hanging on to their legislative majority in the Virginia Capitol,

眼看共和党人在弗吉尼亚州议会上勉强才保住了立法的多数席位，

Democrats were counting on the same two blocs to propel them to victory in this fall’s election of all 140 delegates and state senators.

今年秋季的选举，民主党还要指望这两个群体来推动他们赢得拿下全部140名代表和州参议员名额的胜利。

Ultimately, some Democrats here said, they must begin the process of emerging from the wreckage that is the executive branch of Virginia state government

该州一些民主党人表示，事到如今，他们必须通过向或许称得上是他们最忠实的选民的人群——黑人女性寻求帮助了，

by turning to what is perhaps their most loyal constituency: black women.

藉此从维吉尼亚州政府行政部门这一废墟中走出来。

And barely hours after Ms. Watson came forward on Friday saying she was raped by Mr. Fairfax in 2000 when they were students at Duke University,

上周五，沃森站出来说自己在2000年，当时他们两人都还是杜克大学的学生，被费尔法克斯强奸过。就在她说出此事的几个小时后，

several senior Virginia Democrats began making the case that should Mr. Northam continue his refusal to resign,

维吉尼亚州一些资深民主党人就指出，如果诺瑟姆继续拒绝辞职，

he ought to appoint State Senator Jennifer McClellan to replace Mr. Fairfax if he quits or is impeached.

那他就应该在费尔法克斯辞职或被弹劾后，任命州参议员詹妮弗·麦克莱伦来接替费尔法克斯。

(It is not certain that Mr. Northam could appoint any successor to Mr. Fairfax, scholars said,

(诺瑟姆是否有权指定费尔法克斯的继任者还不确定，学者们说，

because of conflicting provisions and interpretations of the Virginia Constitution and state law.)

因为弗吉尼亚州宪法和州法律的条款和解释是相互矛盾的。）

Ms. McClellan, who is black, is a longtime Richmond legislator

麦克莱伦女士，黑人，长期担任里士满的议员，

who was already thought to have statewide ambitions and has a close relationship with Senator Tim Kaine.

人们认为她是有往州一级奋斗的雄心壮志的。此外，她还与参议员蒂姆·凯恩有着密切的关系。

“Jennifer would make an exceptionally good lieutenant governor,”

“詹妮弗会成为一名非常出色的副州长的，”

said C. Richard Cranwell, a former state Democratic chairman and legislator, when asked about the senator.

在被问及这位参议员时，前州民主党主席、议员C·理查德·克兰韦尔评价道。

Delegate Charniele L. Herring, who is the chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus and a former chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia,

众议院民主党核心小组主席兼弗吉尼亚州民主党前主席沙尔内莱·赫林说到，

said, “African-American women have been a core, consistent base, and it’s important that we as a party reconcile with them.”

“非裔美国女性一直都是一个核心的、始终如一的选民基础，作为一个政党，与她们达成和解是很重要的。”

But some of the country’s most prominent black women were just as confounded about the way forward as any Democrat in Virginia.

然而，和弗吉尼亚州任何一位民主党人一样，就连一些最著名的黑人女性也对前进的道路感到迷茫了。

“This has been one of the most difficult political weeks of my life,”

“这是我一生中最艰难的政治周之一，”

said Donna Brazile, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

民主党全国委员会前主席唐娜·布拉齐尔说。

“There’s no playbook for this.”

“因为现在的情况没有任何剧本可以参照。”