Romney, Paul, Santorum Tied in Iowa Caucuses

 　　Social conservative Rick Santorum, anti-war advocate Ron Paul, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt¹ Romney are virtually tied in early vote counting in the U.S. state of Iowa, in the first nominating contest of the 2012 presidential election.

　　With 22 percent of the votes counted, the race is going as expected so far. But nearly half of Iowa voters said before the caucuses³ that they were still making up their minds, so the final outcome is impossible to predict.

　　Candidates have been furiously campaigning in Iowa, where residents braved the winter cold to cast their votes at party caucus² meetings across the state Tuesday evening.

　　The Democratic Party also holds its caucuses.  President Barack Obama is unopposed for the party nomination⁴ but hosted a live web chat with supporters in Iowa Tuesday night.  He faces a difficult test to win another term in the November election.  The nation's economy has recovered sluggishly⁵ from the 2007-2009 recession, leaving many voters questioning his leadership.

　　Campaigning for the Republican nomination, Paul, a U.S. representative from Texas, promoted his anti-war stance at a high school outside the state capital, Des Moines.

　　"There is no reason in the world that we cannot be strict constitutionalists, strong national defense⁶ and say that we should not send young people off to war unless it's absolutely necessary and necessary for our national security," he said.

　　At that same "Rock the Caucus" event, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum encouraged students to hold their president and presidential candidates accountable.

　　"Every decision that's going to be made during the next few years, whether 'Obamacare' is repealed⁷ or whether it's kept in place, whether taxes are going to grow, whether this deficit⁸ that is now crushing the economy and will crush your pocketbooks in the future is going to be dealt with so you won't have a lower standard of living. Those are the issues," he said.

　　Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said she is the one true core conservative in the race. "Of all the candidates, I am the complete package, the one that's most in the image and likeness⁹ of a Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher¹⁰.  That's what our country needs right now.  That's what our candidate needs to be to take on Barack Obama, to beat him and make him a one-term president," she said.

　　Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told reporters that President Obama's health care reform is all wrong, and that the Massachusetts health care plan Romney supported as governor was a model for the policy.

　　“It’s real easy.  I said, we looked at it, we studied it, we concluded it was wrong.  Unlike Romney, I’ve concluded it was wrong.  He’s still defending it.  Nobody at the White House has said they relied on Gingrichcare to design Obamacare.  They have said very clearly they relied on Romneycare.  They actually had Romney staff in the White House helping¹¹ design Obamacare," he said.

　　Voters in Iowa often do not pick the eventual¹² presidential nominees¹³ for either the Republicans or Democrats¹⁴.  But the state's caucuses can push weak contenders out of the race, or propel stronger candidates to success in other states during the next several weeks.

　　Of the seven Republican contenders, one, the former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, has not campaigned in Iowa.  He is pinning his hopes on a good showing in the New Hampshire state primary January 10.

1 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。

2 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

3 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

4 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。

5 sluggishly   

adv.懒惰地；缓慢地

参考例句：

• The river is silted up and the water flows sluggishly. 河道淤塞，水流迟滞。
• Loaded with 870 gallons of gasoline and 40 gallons of oil, the ship moved sluggishly. 飞机载着八百七十加仑汽油和四十加仑机油，缓慢地前进了。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821

6 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。

7 repealed   

撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
• The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。

8 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

9 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

10 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

13 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

14 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》