2006年VOA标准英语-Experts: Moderate Support Boosted Democrats in

By Jim Malone
Washington
09 November 2006

A number of experts say that political moderates may have been the big winners in Tuesday's U.S. congressional elections.

 
Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, left, meets with Democratic Senate Leader Harry¹ Reid of Nevada on Capitol Hill in Washington 
  
In the wake of the Democratic victories on Tuesday in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, Washington's virtual army of political experts, pundits² and pollsters has been busy analyzing³ the results for major trends.

Among their conclusions is that Democrats⁴ did well, in part, because they did a better job of appealing to political centrists than did Republicans.

Karlyn Bowman monitors public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"Republicans held their supporters and Democrats held theirs," she said.  "But Democrats won independents by 57 [percent] to 39 [percent], their largest margin⁵ among this group in 20 years," she said.

Another AEI expert, longtime Congress watcher Norman Ornstein, says Democrats were able to tap into public frustration⁶ over political gridlock in Washington.

"To some degree, this was a revolt of the moderates in this election," he said.  "It was people saying, 'you are doing nothing, you are caught up in bickering⁷, why can't you do what we pay you for, which is to get something done there in Washington.'"

Leaders of both parties seem to be paying attention, at least for now.

President Bush and Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of California both promised to cooperate following their first post-election meeting at the White House.

President Bush and Nancy Pelosi at the White House   
  
BUSH:  "We will not agree on every issue, but we do agree that we love America equally, that we are concerned about the future of this country and that we will do our very best to address big problems."

PELOSI:  "Recognizing that we have our differences and we will debate them and that is what our founders⁸ intended.  But we will do so in a way that gets results for the American people."

Pelosi will become the first woman Speaker of the House when Democrats formally take control of Congress in January.

Many of the new Democrats coming to Congress are more moderate than some of their more veteran liberal colleagues.

Analyst⁹ Norman Ornstein says that will provide a challenge for Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate.

"You have got a significant number of centrists and that is something that both [Democratic Senate leader] Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are going to have to take into account all the time as they look ahead," he noted¹⁰.  "At the same time, we saw a significant departure of moderate Republicans in both houses."

Some experts believe the loss of Republican moderates in both the House and Senate could tilt¹¹ the remaining Republicans in Congress in a more conservative direction.

Analysts¹² are also debating the likelihood of compromise between President Bush and the new Democratic-led Congress on a range of issues including Iraq and immigration.

University of Virginia expert Larry Sabato says the Democratic gains in Congress could provide President Bush with an option he did not have when Republicans were in charge of the House and Senate.

 
President Bush speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington after meeting with his cabinet 
  
"He has an extremely difficult two years in front of him," said Mr. Sabato.  "No doubt, he will enjoy parts of it, because now he has somebody to blame.  Anything that goes wrong, you can blame it on the Democratic Congress."

Others are more optimistic Congress and the White House will be able to work together.

Tim Curran edits a newspaper that covers Congress called Roll Call.  He says changes in the congressional leadership could make compromise more likely.

"In terms of the bipartisanship, I am going to fly in the face of conventional wisdom here and say that I actually think there is an opportunity for the atmosphere to improve fairly significantly, if only for the fact of the personal relationships that either now exist or did not exist before," he noted.

In addition to winning the support of moderates in this election, voter surveys indicate that Democrats also made significant gains among women, Catholic voters and Hispanic Americans.

1 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

2 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网

3 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

4 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》

5 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

6 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

7 bickering   

v.争吵( bicker的现在分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The children are always bickering about something or other. 孩子们有事没事总是在争吵。
• The two children were always bickering with each other over small matters. 这两个孩子总是为些小事斗嘴。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 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。

11 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

12 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。