VOA标准英语2008年-New Hampshire Becomes New Battleground for US P

By Meredith Buel
Manchester, New Hampshire
05 January 2008

New Hampshire is the new battleground for U.S. candidates seeking the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations¹. The state is home to the nation's first presidential primary next Tuesday and recent public opinion surveys say the political races are very close. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel has details in this report from Manchester, New Hampshire.

The day after the Iowa caucuses², the top Republican and Democratic candidates descended³ on the northeastern state of New Hampshire, where the next major contest will be held in the presidential race.

Dante Scala, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, says Illinois Senator Barack Obama is expected to get a major boost from his victory in Iowa.

"Barack Obama has shown that he is for real and that is going to have a big effect on undeclared, independent voters here in New Hampshire," he said.

New Hampshire's independent voters, those who are not registered for the Democratic or Republican parties, makeup⁴ about 45 percent of the electorate⁵.

Obama, who is campaigning to be the first black man elected as America's president, easily defeated former Senator John Edwards and New York Senator and former first lady Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses.

Scala says a majority of New Hampshire's independent voters are planning to cast their ballots⁶ in the Democratic primary and many are leaning toward voting for Obama after his victory in the Iowa caucuses.

"So the worry for Hillary Clinton is not that she is not going to get her vote out, because she has got the organization to do that," he said. "The worry for her has to be that her turnout will be swamped by undeclared voters, who are Democratic leaning, turning out for Obama next Tuesday."

At Obama's headquarters here in Manchester more than 100 supporters are making phone calls to voters, urging them to support their candidate.

Laura Tsunoda, who is 18 years old and lives across the country in San Diego, California, is a typical Obama volunteer.

"It is a really compelling time," she said. "It is such an important election and such an interesting year. This is a candidate who I feel so inspired by and I feel really lucky to be a part of it."

Regarding the Republican candidates, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, relied heavily on support from evangelical Christians⁷ to win a decisive victory in Iowa.

In New Hampshire, polls say he currently trails former Massachusetts governor Mitt⁸ Romney and Arizona Senator John McCain.

Political analyst⁹ Dante Scala says McCain, who won the New Hampshire primary during an unsuccessful bid for president in 2000, is winning support from voters who had backed former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"For the last couple of weeks John McCain is the only Republican in New Hampshire who has had significant momentum¹⁰," he said. "He gained that momentum by stealing it from Rudy Giuliani. As Giuliani has slipped and slipped in the polls, those moderate Republicans up here who are thinking about Giuliani are going back to old familiar, they are going back to John McCain."

Between now and next Tuesday the presidential candidates will be campaigning throughout New Hampshire. They have scheduled debates and are flooding the airwaves with television commercials.

Scala says the main issues of concern for voters here include the war in Iraq, the war on terror, health care and illegal immigration.

1 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

2 caucuses   

n.（政党决定政策或推举竞选人的）核心成员( caucus的名词复数 )；决策干部；决策委员会；秘密会议

参考例句：

• Republican caucuses will happen in about 410 towns across Maine. 共和党团会议选举将在缅因州的约410个城镇进行。 来自互联网

3 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

4 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

5 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

6 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

8 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。

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 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。