VOA常速英语2008年-Huckabee Wins West Virginia in Early Super Tues

By Cindy Saine
Washington
05 February 2008

First results of Super Tuesday primaries are already in from the state of West Virginia, where former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has won the Republican nominating convention. U.S. voters are going to the polls or local caucuses¹ in 24 states across the country today to choose their favorite Republican or Democratic presidential candidate.  VOA Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.

Voters are having their say in states across the country from Massachusetts on the east coast to California in the West. 

In the race for the Republican nomination², latest opinion polls show Arizona Senator John McCain with a commanding lead over the three remaining candidates, former Massachusetts Governors Mitt³ Romney, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Representative Ron Paul of Texas. 

McCain was confident today in New York, looking beyond the primaries to the general election.

"We're going to win today, and we're going to win the nomination and we're going to win the presidency," he said.

Romney made a last-minute dash across the country to try to prevent McCain from wrapping up the nomination.  Romney said he is the "true conservative" in the race, seeking to exploit mistrust of McCain, considered by many conservatives as a Republican maverick⁴ on issues such as immigration and campaign-finance reform.

"We are going to hand the liberals in our party a little surprise on Tuesday evening when we take California, and we take Georgia, we take states across the country and we get this nomination," he said.

But Romney himself got a surprise in the first contest to be decided⁵ Tuesday, the Republican convention in West Virginia.  Romney won the first round of voting, followed by Huckabee, with McCain third.  But in the second round of voting, McCain's supporters reportedly switched over to vote for Huckabee to prevent Romney from winning, giving Huckabee the state's 18 pledged delegates.

In the Democratic Party race, a new average of five national public opinion polls show Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama locked in a virtual tie for nomination. 

The states voting today include large, populous⁶ ones such as California and New York, rich in the delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Hillary Clinton headed out to vote early in New York, the state she represents.  She said today's Super Tuesday contest in so many states represents new and unknown territory.

"Both intriguing⁷ and somewhat mystifying, because none of us really understands what the impact of all these contests on one day will be for any of us," she said.

The biggest prize in terms of delegates is California.  Illinois Senator Barack Obama sought to lower expectations about his staging an upset victory in that crucial state.

"Senator Clinton, I think, has to be the prohibitive favorite going in, given her name recognition, but we have been steadily⁸ chipping away," he said.

Surveys show that Obama has caught up with Clinton in California.  Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns say it is unlikely either one emerge from Super Tuesday with enough delegates to lock up the nomination.

1 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

2 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。

3 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。

4 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

7 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。