2007年VOA标准英语-McCain Enters US 2008 Presidential Race

By Jim Malone
Washington
01 March 2007

Arizona Senator John McCain has made it official.  He will seek the Republican Party's presidential nomination¹ next year.  VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has more on McCain's bid for the White House from Washington.

 
John McCain in New York, 28 Feb 2007

It was no surprise that John McCain announced he is running for president, but the forum² was unexpected.  McCain did it on the Late Show program with David Letterman on CBS television.

"I am announcing that I will be a candidate for President of the United States," he said.

McCain says he will make a formal announcement speech in April.

The Arizona senator has been considered the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination ever since President Bush won re-election in 2004.  Mr. Bush cannot run for a third term, so the 2008 race has prompted large fields of candidates in both major political parties.

Despite his frontrunner status, McCain has trailed in some recent public opinion polls.  The latest survey by The Washington Post and ABC News showed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading for the Republican nomination with the support of 44 percent of those polled, compared to 21 percent for McCain.  The same survey one month earlier also had Giuliani ahead, but by the smaller margin³ of 34 percent to 27 percent.

University of Virginia political analyst⁴ Larry Sabato has been paying close attention to the polls.

"McCain needs some momentum," he said.  "He started out this campaign with a much better chance than he appears to have now.  For the nomination, he is now trailing Rudy Giuliani.  For the general election, he is saddled with President Bush's Iraq policy that he has embraced."

McCain has emerged as perhaps the foremost Republican supporter of President Bush's troop surge in Iraq.

He recently defended the new military strategy on the Don Imus program on MSNBC.

"And those who want to leave, just withdraw, I think they have an obligation to tell people what they think is going to happen," he said.  "I know what is going to happen.  It is going to be chaos⁵ and genocide and it will spread throughout the region and we will be involved again in one way or another."

Some analysts⁶ believe McCain is taking a political gamble with his high-profile support of the president's Iraq policy, given the opposition⁷ evident in public opinion polls.

Stuart Rothenberg publishes an independent political newsletter in Washington.

"You listen to Senator McCain and he will emphasize that he disagreed with the policy early on in term of the U.S. not having an enough troops," he explained.  "He thought [former Defense⁸ Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld was inept⁹ and incompetent¹⁰, the wrong person, and he will continue to be critical of how the war was handled.  But overall, his support for the president is pretty strong on the war and increasingly he is identified with it."

In addition to his stand on Iraq, McCain also has a challenge in winning votes among conservative Christian¹¹ voters, an important constituency within the Republican Party.

McCain was critical of some religious conservative leaders during his 2000 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, when he lost out to Texas Governor George Bush.

But in recent months, McCain has tried to mend fences with religious conservatives and is emphasizing his generally conservative voting record on social issues like abortion¹².

But analyst Charles Cook says some conservatives remain wary¹³ of McCain.  Cook is editor of the Cook Political Report and he recently appeared on the C-SPAN public affairs TV network.

"A lot of these folks were never terribly comfortable with McCain, even though he really voted with them the vast majority of the time," he said.  "But they always really doubted, 'Is he one of us?'"

 
Mitt¹⁴ Romney, 7 Feb 2007
In addition to McCain and Giuliani, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is in the running for the Republican nomination.  Others who have either formally announced or who are considering a bid include Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, California Congressman¹⁵ Duncan Hunter, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson and former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.

1 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

2 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

3 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。

4 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。

5 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

6 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。

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 inept   

adj.不恰当的，荒谬的，拙劣的

参考例句：

• Whan an inept remark to make on such a formal occasion.在如此正式的场合，怎么说这样不恰当的话。
• He's quite inept at tennis.他打网球太笨。

10 incompetent   

adj.无能力的，不能胜任的

参考例句：

• He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
• He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。

11 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

12 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

13 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

14 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

15 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。