美国国家公共电台 NPR In Tennessee Senate Race, Democrat Tries To Show He Can Overcome Political Tribalism

 

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Tennessee has emerged as one of the most surprising Senate battlegrounds this year. Former Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen has a chance to flip² the open seat held by retiring Senator Bob Corker. But his opponent, Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, is emphasizing how the race could decide control of the Senate. As NPR's Jessica Taylor reports, that's left some voters struggling with whether they can cross party lines.

JESSICA TAYLOR, BYLINE³: At Phil Bredesen's hour-long health care roundtable in Covington, Tenn., last month, the words Republican, Democrat¹ or Trump⁴ didn't come up once. Instead, Bredesen spoke⁵ very little as he encouraged the dozen women gathered in a hospital conference room to simply tell him their stories.

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PHIL BREDESEN: Basic thing I'm trying to accomplish here is this. When you talk with people, health care often comes up as an issue.

TAYLOR: Erica Glass, a full-time⁶ student and mother of three, spoke about how difficult it's been getting care for her 5-year-old daughter Hadelynn, who was born with a birth defect. Glass voted for Trump in 2016 and is still undecided in this Senate race but said she liked how Bredesen listened to her concerns.

ERICA GLASS: A lot of people want to hear the negative of things instead of focusing on the positive and how it can benefit them. So I think if we can just all be more positive and be more open-minded, it would probably benefit everybody a little bit better.

TAYLOR: Glass is exactly the type of voter Bredesen will have to sway if he wants to have a chance to beat Blackburn. Bredesen was first elected governor in 2002 and then won re-election in 2006 in a landslide⁷, carrying all 95 counties. But even voters who like him as governor say there's a big difference in choosing a senator. Here's Faye Stubblefield, a Robertson County commissioner⁸ who was at an event for Blackburn earlier that week in Portland, Tenn.

FAYE STUBBLEFIELD: I voted for Bredesen for governor. I thought he was an excellent governor. I think he did great things for our state. However, Washington's a different animal. Washington - you don't necessarily vote for what you think is best for the people. You vote party lines.

TAYLOR: Bredesen says he knows he has to convince voters he'll continue the independent streak⁹ he cultivated as governor.

BREDESEN: Party for me as an organization I belong to. It's not a religion. I don't think that I will go to hell if, you know, Chuck Schumer doesn't like what I say about something or other.

TAYLOR: Bredesen has been holding small events on local issues including health care as well as trade and tariffs¹⁰ that have affected¹¹ Tennessee's agriculture community and even on Asian carp, an invasive species that's harmed the West Tennessee fishing industry. And there areas where he agrees with President Trump like on rolling back regulations. To him the famed mantra that all politics is local still holds true. But Bredesen also isn't naive¹² about the heavy lift in front of him. He knows how far the Democratic Party has fallen in the South.

BREDESEN: The Democratic Party, my party, has been getting too elitist and a little too distant from the concerns of, you know, the very down-to-earth people that have always been the base of the party. And I made President Obama unhappy during his election when I suggested one time that he spend more time in Walmart and less time in Europe.

TAYLOR: Sara Gangaware voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and attended the roundtable with Bredesen. She's voted for Republicans in the past but is supporting Bredesen this fall because she thinks he'd best carry on the centrist, pragmatic tradition that other Tennessee senators recently have, including the retiring Bob Corker, who's had plenty of praise for Bredesen.

SARA GANGAWARE: It is a serious problem that people are so blindfolded¹³ by party issues and they make decisions based simply on a party. If you get right down to it, it's almost gang-like activity.

TAYLOR: On the campaign trail, Blackburn hammers home that Bredesen would vote with Democrats¹⁴ while she would vote to support President Trump's agenda.

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MARSHA BLACKBURN: Tennesseans want somebody who is going to stand with President Trump and build that wall. I will build that wall with President Trump.

TAYLOR: But even in such a polarized environment there are signs that Blackburn could be toning down her rhetoric¹⁵ to appeal to that middle that Bredesen is courting. Her opening general election ad released this week didn't even mention that she's a Republican. Jessica Taylor, NPR News.

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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 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

7 landslide   

n.(竞选中)压倒多数的选票；一面倒的胜利

参考例句：

• Our candidate is predicated to win by a landslide.我们的候选人被预言将以绝对优势取胜。
• An electoral landslide put the Labour Party into power in 1945.1945年工党以压倒多数的胜利当选执政。

8 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

9 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

10 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

13 blindfolded   

v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的过去式 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗

参考例句：

• The hostages were tied up and blindfolded. 人质被捆绑起来并蒙上了眼睛。
• They were each blindfolded with big red handkerchiefs. 他们每个人的眼睛都被一块红色大手巾蒙住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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》

15 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。