Presidential Campaign Trail Leads to US Midwest

 

By Scott Stearns

President Bush is on a campaign bus tour in the Midwest state of Wisconsin. Democrats¹ have their likely vice² presidential candidate in the Midwest as well, with Senator John Edwards campaigning in Iowa and Illinois.

President Bush lost Wisconsin by less than 6,000 votes in 2000. He spent the day campaigning in areas where his vote margins³ were strong, hoping to motivate his electoral base to put him over the top in Wisconsin this November.

"Great events will turn on this election," Mr. Bush said. "The person who sits in the Oval Office will set the course of the war on terror and set the course for the direction of our economy. I am here to ask for the vote because I have a clear vision and a strategy to win the war on terror and to extend peace and freedom throughout the world."

The president again defended his decision to invade Iraq despite the failure so far to find weapons of mass destruction, which was his biggest justification⁴ for ousting⁵ Saddam Hussein. Mr. Bush says the move has made America and the world safer from terrorist attack.

Public opinion polls show voters more or less equally divided between President Bush and his likely Democratic challenger John Kerry. Iraq remains⁶ a central issue in the election, with the latest Washington Post poll showing a record high 53 percent of Americans now saying the war was not worth fighting.

Democrats hope to take advantage of those misgivings⁷ about Iraq.

Campaigning in Iowa, Senator Edwards sought to draw distinctions between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair following the release of a British report on intelligence failures in the run-up to the war in Iraq.

"Tony Blair didn't run from the report. He didn't try to not acknowledge it," he said. "Instead, what Tony Blair said was, I take full responsibility for the mistakes."

Senator Edwards says the prime minister's response shows he understands that leadership means taking responsibility for what happens during your time in office.

"What we need in the White House is somebody who has the strength, courage, and leadership to take responsibility and be accountable not only for what is good but for what is bad. That's what John Kerry will be," senator Edwards said.

Senator Edwards says President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are trying to use the U.S. Constitution as a political tool by backing an amendment⁸ to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The federal measure to outlaw⁹ gay marriage failed to pass the U.S. Senate Wednesday, but Republican leaders say they will continue to press the issue. President Bush says traditional marriage between a man and a woman is an important part of stable families.

He has sought to characterize Senator Edwards and Senator Kerry as out-of-touch with what he calls mainstream¹⁰ American values.

"Senator Kerry is rated as the most liberal member of the United States Senate, and he chose a fellow lawyer who is the fourth-most-liberal member of the United States Senate. Now in Massachusetts, that's what they call balancing the ticket," Mr. Bush said.

If voters give him four more years, Mr. Bush says the nation will be stronger and safer.

The president will be back in Washington Thursday for a meeting with the President of Mongolia. The Kerry-Edwards campaign has a rally scheduled in the important swing state of West Virginia.

Scott Stearns, VOA News,at the White House.

注释：
Wisconsin 威斯康星州
Iowa 爱荷华州
Illinois 伊利诺斯州
margins 优势
motivate 激发
Oval Office 美国总统办公室
strategy 策略
justification 认为有理，理由
oust 驱逐
more or less 或多或少
misgiving 疑虑
run-up 事件的预备阶段
accountable 有责任的
West Virginia 西弗吉尼亚

1 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》

2 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。

3 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

4 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

5 ousting   

驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• The resulting financial chaos led to the ousting of Bristol-Myers' s boss. 随后引发的财政混乱导致了百时美施贵宝的总裁下台。
• The ousting of the president has drawn widespread criticism across Latin America and the wider world. 洪都拉斯总统被驱逐时间引起拉丁美洲甚至全世界的广泛批评。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 misgivings   

n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧

参考例句：

• I had grave misgivings about making the trip. 对于这次旅行我有过极大的顾虑。
• Don't be overtaken by misgivings and fear. Just go full stream ahead! 不要瞻前顾后， 畏首畏尾。甩开膀子干吧！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

9 outlaw   

n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法

参考例句：

• The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
• The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。

10 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。