Obama to Formally Kick Off Campaign Against Romney

 　　With just over six months to go before the U.S. presidential election, President Barack Obama plans to use events next week in key election battleground states to formally kick off his campaign against the presumptive Republican nominee¹, Mitt² Romney.

　　Obama campaign officials say the president and first lady Michelle Obama will formally start the general election campaign May 5 with appearances in Ohio and Virginia.

　　Mr. Obama has essentially³ been campaigning for months.  He has made numerous trips to promote his policies, combined with fundraising speeches that have raised tens of millions of dollars for his re-election bid.

　　Ohio, which he won in the 2008 presidential contest against Republican nominee John McCain, and Virginia, which also went Democratic, are a major focus of the Obama re-election team.

　　The White House rejects criticisms raised in the media, and by Republicans, that trips combining fundraising with policy promotion⁴ have essentially allowed Mr. Obama to campaign at taxpayers⁵' expense.

　　Press Secretary Jay Carney calls the allegations attempts to politicize the issue of presidential travel, saying Mr. Obama follows the same rules as previous occupants of the White House.

　　"The arguments about this are coming from people who know we assiduously follow all the rules in terms of the delineations between campaign travel and official travel, just as our predecessor⁶ did," said Carney.

　　Mr. Obama spent two days this week promoting his proposals to lower the cost of loans for college students, stopping in North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa, but also tacked⁷ on fundraising events.

　　On Capitol Hill, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, called the president's travels "political stunts⁸."

　　"These are [political stunts] and frankly⁹ they aren't worthy¹⁰ of his office," said Boehner.

　　The political warfare¹¹ between Mr. Obama and Romney has already escalated¹².  Mr. Obama says Romney and Republican proposals he supports would set back economic recovery and undermine the middle class.

　　Romney brands Obama policies on everything from job creation to energy policy a failure.  The two criticized each other in recent remarks at separate locations.

　　OBAMA:  "I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.  Michelle wasn't.  But somebody gave us a chance."

　　ROMNEY:  "I know the president likes to attack fellow Americans.  He is always looking for a scapegoat¹³, particularly those that have been successful like my dad, and I'm not going to rise to that."

　　Meanwhile, the White House is using Vice¹⁴ President Joe Biden to hit at Romney on foreign policy issues.

　　Speaking in New York City, Biden characterized Romney criticisms of Mr. Obama on relations with Russia and the president's handling of the Iran nuclear issue as ignorant and misinformed.

　　"If that is what Governor Romney means by a very different policy [on Iran], he should tell the American people," said Biden. "He should say so.  Otherwise, the governor's tough talk about military action is just that, talk, and I would add counterproductive talk.

　　A Romney campaign official Thursday said Mr. Obama's "abdication¹⁵ of leadership" on foreign policy would be a central issue in the campaign.

　　President Obama has been encouraged by recent poll numbers, including those in battleground states, although most political analysts¹⁶ say the November election is likely to be very close.

　　Obama officials say Mr. Obama will use appearances to further clarify his record on economic recovery and contrast it with Romney proposals.

　　As in any national contest, both candidates run certain risks from being seen as turning sharply negative or personal as they campaign in the coming months.

1 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。

2 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。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

5 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

6 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

7 tacked   

用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝

参考例句：

• He tacked the sheets of paper on as carefully as possible. 他尽量小心地把纸张钉上去。
• The seamstress tacked the two pieces of cloth. 女裁缝把那两块布粗缝了起来。

8 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

10 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

11 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

12 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

13 scapegoat   

n.替罪的羔羊，替人顶罪者；v.使…成为替罪羊

参考例句：

• He has been made a scapegoat for the company's failures.他成了公司倒闭的替罪羊。
• They ask me to join the party so that I'll be their scapegoat when trouble comes.他们想叫我入伙，出了乱子，好让我替他们垫背。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

15 abdication   

n.辞职；退位

参考例句：

• The officers took over and forced his abdication in 1947.1947年军官们接管了政权并迫使他退了位。
• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor.因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。

16 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。