Bush, Kerry Campaign in Iowa

 

By Scott Stearns

President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry both campaigned in the Midwest state of Iowa Wednesday. The men spoke² at the same time at separate rallies just three blocks from each other.

Two campaigns running neck-and-neck in most public opinion polls came head-to-head in the Mississippi River town of Davenport, Iowa with competing visions of the U.S. economy and what to do about it.

President Bush lost Iowa by about 4,000 votes in the last election. This year, the latest local poll shows Iowans equally divided between the candidates, with both men polling about 47 percent.

President Bush told supporters at a rally in a riverside park that he was close in Iowa last time. This year, he says he will carry the state and win re-election.

"I'm asking for your vote because so much is at stake. We have more to do. We must work to move America forward. I want to be your president for four more years to make our country safer," Mr. Bush said.

The president says he wants to make the economy stronger and the future brighter for all Americans. He says his record tax cuts have helped the economy recover from recession.

"Because we acted, our economy since last summer has grown at a rate as fast as any in nearly 20 years," he noted³. "Because we acted, America has added more than 1.5 million new jobs since last August. Because we acted, Iowa has added more than 11,000 jobs over the past year."

President Bush says Senator Kerry wants to roll back those tax cuts to fund billions more in new government spending. Senator Kerry says the tax cuts are responsible for the huge federal deficit⁴.

Just three city blocks from the Bush rally, more than 200 business leaders endorsed⁵ Senator Kerry at what his campaign billed as an economic roundtable.

The Massachusetts senator says he will only raise rates on the top two percent of American tax payers. Everyone else, he says, will get a tax cut, along with lower rates for corporations to create more jobs.

"Some people have been surprised at the notion of a Democrat¹ calling for lower corporate⁶ tax rates. Let me tell you something. I don't care about the old debates. I don't care about the labels. I care about getting the job done and creating jobs in America and making America strong again," he said.

Senator Kerry says he will close tax loopholes that allow U.S. companies to take deductions⁷ for moving jobs overseas. He says he and running mate John Edwards will also help keep more jobs in the United States by lowering health care costs.

"John Edwards and I have a plan to do it. The people on the other side have no plan. They've had four years," he said. "They have no plan not only to provide coverage⁸ to the people who don't have it, which is important to America, but to lower the costs for everybody else."

With just 90 days to go before the election, President Bush and Senator Kerry are about even in most public opinion polls. That focuses even more attention on the more than a dozen so-called swing states that could go to either candidate. After their simultaneous appearances in Iowa, both men moved on to other important swing states, with Senator Kerry campaigning in Missouri and President Bush campaigning in Minnesota.

Scott Stearns, VOA News, at the White House.

注释：
rally 集会
block 街区
neck-and-neck 并驾齐驱的
head-to-head 短兵相接的
Davenport 达文波特
at stake 危如累卵
recession 不景气
deficit 赤字
Massachusetts 马萨诸塞州
notion 观念
tax rate 税率
loophole 漏洞
running mate（竞选副总统的）竞选伙伴
health care 卫生保健
simultaneous 同时的
Minnesota 明尼苏达州

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

7 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

8 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。