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Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee have won the Iowa caucuses² held in that Midwestern state on Thursday. Obama, who won the most votes in the Democratic Party caucuses, is the first person of African descent to have won the first-in-the-nation political contest. Huckabee, who won the Republican contest, came from near obscurity to defeat former Massachusetts Governor Mitt³ Romney, who had outspent him on campaign ads in the state.

在美国总统大选的初选阶段，中西部的爱奥华州进行的基层党团会议选举星期四落下帏幕。伊利诺伊州联邦参议员巴拉克.奥巴马和前阿肯色州州长麦克.哈克比获得选举胜利。在民主党方面，奥巴马参议员成为在初选阶段首轮选战中获胜的第一位非洲裔美国人；而赢得共和党党团会议选举的哈克比过去几乎名不见经传，但是却击败了在该州竞选宣传上花费超过他的前麻萨诸塞州州长米特.罗姆尼。

Iowa voters gave Senator Obama a strong start on the long road that could lead to the Democratic presidential nomination⁴, with around 38 percent of the total projected vote. New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who spent much of last year trying to convince voters that she was the inevitable⁵ choice for the party, was left in a close race for second place with former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

爱奥华选民投给奥巴马参议员大约38%的选票。这个结果让他在获得民主党总统候选人提名的漫漫长路上先声夺人。尽管纽约州联邦参议员希拉里.克林顿去年利用大部分时间努力让选民相信她是民主党的必然选择，但她在选举中屈居第三，以微弱的差距排在第二名的前北卡罗来纳州联邦参议员爱德华兹之后。

Coming before reporters after the preliminary results had been broadcast by major news organizations, Senator Obama focused on the message he will bring forward to the next contests.

最初的投票结果被主要媒体播出之后，奥巴马参议员对记者说：“我们选择希望，而不是畏惧；我们选择团结，而不是分裂。我们发出的有力信息，就是美国将会出现变革。”

"We are choosing hope over fear, we are choosing unity⁶ over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America," he said.

在共和党方面，麦克.哈克比轻取对手米特.罗姆尼。

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee won handily over his closest rival, Mitt Romney. Huckabee, an ordained⁷ Baptist minister, counted on strong support from evangelical Christians⁸. Speaking to supporters, he thanked the people of Iowa.

哈克比这名基督教浸礼会牧师得到了福音派基督徒强有力的支持。

"I was not sure that I would ever be able to love a state as I love my home state of Arkansas, but tonight, I love Iowa a whole lot," he said.

他对支持者说，他感谢爱奥华的民众。他说：“我一直不敢相信有一天我能像热爱我的家乡阿肯瑟州那样热爱另一个州，但是今天晚上，我非常热爱爱奥华。”

Turnout for the caucuses was much larger than in previous years, partly because of the tightly contested races in both parties. This is the first time in more than 50 years that neither party has a president or vice⁹ president in the running.

这次基层党团会议选举的投票率比历年要高很多，部分原因是两党各自的竞选人都势均力敌。这是50多年来首次出现没有在任总统或副总统参加竞选。

The caucus¹ process here in Iowa was especially exciting on the Democratic side because of rules that allow participants to switch their allegiance if the candidate they came to support does not have enough votes to be considered viable¹⁰.

爱奥华的基层党团选举程序在民主党的选举中尤其激动人心。因为民主党的党团会议规定，如果选民中意的候选人因为没有得到足够的票数而胜选无望，那么原来支持他们的选民可以转而支持其他侯选人。

At one caucus location in West Des Moines, Democrats¹¹ came together in a school auditorium¹² to select delegates from the 212th precinct. After an initial count, the event chairman declared that Senator Joe Biden was not viable and his supporters then moved over to other candidates.

在德梅因西部的一个投票站，一些民主党选民聚集到一个学校的礼堂中，选举第212号选区的代表。经过最初点票后，该选区负责人宣布，参议员拜登没有可能胜出。原先支持他的选民转而支持其他候选人。

Karen Kraemer, who had been a leader of the pro-Biden group, told VOA why she decided¹³ to support Barack Obama rather than Hillary Clinton.

原来支持拜登的凯伦.克里莫解释她为什么转而支持奥巴马而不是支持希拉里。

"I think Hillary has too high negative feeling and I really like Obama because I think he is really going to bring the country together," she said. "I think Joe Biden would have done a great job and I really think his foreign policy is his strength and Obama did not have it, but maybe he will make Joe Biden his secretary of state if he does not make it out of Iowa."

她说：“我认为希拉里的负面感受太强，我真的喜欢奥巴马，因为我认为他会把美国团结起来。我想拜登也能做得很好，我认为他的外交政策是一个强项，这是奥巴马所欠缺的。不过如果拜登这次基层党团选举失利，奥巴马可能他会让他做国务卿。”

Now that the Iowa contest is over, the candidates move on to the first primary in this election year, which will be held in the state of New Hampshire next Tuesday.

艾奥华州的选举尘埃落定，竞选人都开始备战选举之年的首次党内初选，这次初选两党都定于下星期二在新罕普什尔州进行。