VOA标准英语2008年-Obama-Clinton Nomination Race Heads for Final P

By Jim Malone
Washington
30 May 2008

The long running battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination² may be in its final days. Both contenders are campaigning for delegates in the final three primaries between now and Tuesday. And both campaigns will be watching a meeting of the Democratic Party's rules committee on Saturday that will attempt to resolve a dispute over primary votes in the states of Florida and Michigan. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington.

Saturday's meeting at a Washington hotel represents Hillary Clinton's best hope of cutting into Barack Obama's lead in the overall delegate count before the primary season ends on June 3.

The Democratic Party Rules Committee will attempt to resolve the dispute over the primary votes in Florida and Michigan. The national party voided the results of those primaries after both states defied party rules and moved up their primaries into January, instead of holding them later in the year.

Clinton won both of those primaries, and her campaign argues the results should be recognized, which would cut into Obama's lead in the delegate count.

Obama supporters say that the results should not count because Obama took his name off the Michigan ballot³ before the vote, and because neither candidate campaigned in either Michigan or Florida in deference⁴ to national party rules.

After Saturday's party meeting, the focus will be on three remaining Democratic primaries. Puerto Rico votes on Sunday, while Montana and South Dakota close out the primary calendar with contests on Tuesday.

Despite her fading hopes of winning the nomination, Senator Clinton continues to argue that she would be the stronger Democrat¹ to run against the presumptive Republican nominee⁵, Senator John McCain.

"Who do you believe is best prepared and ready to be commander in chief and president on day one, to start making those tough decisions that our next president will have to make," she asked.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Senator Obama increasingly has shifted his attention away from Clinton, and is now focused on what he expects will be a showdown with Senator McCain.

"I am happy to have a debate with John McCain about the Bush-McCain foreign policy, because their foreign policy has not worked, and we cannot keep on doing the same thing over and over again," he said.

Clinton is favored in Sunday's vote in Puerto Rico, while Obama has an edge in the polls in Montana and South Dakota.

Democratic congressional leaders are hoping for a quick resolution of the Democratic nomination contest after Tuesday's primaries. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry⁶ Reid are urging the remaining uncommitted superdelegates to publicly support one of the candidates once the primary season ends.

"I think the time has come to end this," he said.

Superdelegates are party officeholders and activists⁷ who can vote for either candidate. Political experts expect most of the remaining superdelegates will rally to Obama after Tuesday's voting, setting the stage for the Illinois senator to clinch⁸ the nomination.

John Fortier, who monitors U.S. politics at the American Enterprise Institute, told VOA's Encounter program that Obama's march to the nomination appears to be on track, even though Clinton may win a few more delegates in the remaining primaries.

"Overall, it is a small claim that she can make, and Barack Obama, with those delegates he will win plus the march of the superdelegates, slowly, day by day, into his column, ultimately will be building a lead, and will get to one of the various magic numbers we have for the nomination," he said.

Once he secures the Democratic nomination, Senator Obama would then have the challenge of unifying⁹ the Democratic Party and winning over Clinton supporters in time for the party's national nominating convention in late August.

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 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 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

4 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

5 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

6 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。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。

9 unifying   

使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一

参考例句：

• In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外，他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
• There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题，把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。