Democrats in the United States cast their final ballots this week in primary elections for the party's presidential nomination. Senator Hillary Clinton has won a commanding victory in the Democratic presidential primary election held in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico Sunday. Despite Clinton's victory, party frontrunner Obama has drawn close to claiming the party's presidential nomination. Party officials say they want the hard-fought race to come to an end so the process of unifying Democrats behind one candidate can begin.
美国民主党人这个星期将为党内总统候选人提名举行的初选中投最后一次票。民主党官员说，他们希望这个艰难的提名争夺战尽快结束，这样民主党人就可以开始团结在一个候选人周围。
Months after the first primaries and caucuses were held in the snows of Iowa and New Hampshire, the long primary process is coming to an end with early summer contests in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.
几个月前，在大雪纷飞的寒冬，民主党在爱奥华和新罕布什尔州拉开了党内提名初选和基层党团选举的序幕。如今，波多黎各、蒙塔那，以及南达科他州也将在初夏开始的时候举行初选，使漫长的初选程序趋向结束。
At this point, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has an overall lead in delegates pledged to vote for him at the national party convention in August.
目前，伊利诺伊州的参议员巴拉克.奥巴马在整体代表数目上领先于纽约州参议院克林顿，这些代表保证在8月举行的民主党全国代表大会上投他一票。
But New York Senator Hillary Clinton has won more votes overall - with primary victories in such populous states as California and Texas.
而克林顿因为在加利福尼亚和德克萨斯等人口众多的大州获胜，她赢得了更多选民的投票。
Both are appealing to a pool of convention delegates that are not determined by primary or caucus results and are free to vote as they choose at the party convention. They are likely to provide the winning edge.
两人目前都在争取不受初选或是基层党团选举限制的全国代表大会的超级代表的票，超级代表们可以在大会上自由投票，因此，他们很可能决定最后的定局。
Party Chairman Howard Dean is urging these so-called super delegates to make up their minds as quickly as possible.
民主党主席霍华德.迪恩敦促这些所谓的超级代表尽快作出决定。
He appeared on the ABC television broadcast This Week.
迪恩这个星期在美国广播公司的节目中露面。
"This needs to end in the month of June," said Dean. "We do not want to go to the convention and have a big fight at the convention and lose the presidency."
他说：“这必须在6月份结束。我们不要在举行全国代表大会时还相持不下，最后在竞选总统中失败。”
Dean acknowledges the nomination process has created deep divisions in the party, and says Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will have to come together to heal the wounds.
"They know that," he said. "These are two real professional folks who have been around a long time. And I think they value their country more than their party and that is the most important thing."
He spoke one day after Democratic Party officials announced an agreement aimed at resolving a dispute over primary election votes in two key states: Florida and Michigan.
在迪恩发表这番讲话的前一天，民主党官员宣布了一项协议，目的在于解决佛罗里达和密西根这两个重要的州有关初选票数的争执。
Both stood to lose all their convention delegates because they defied party rules by holding their primaries too early.
这两个州由于无视民主党的规定，过早提前举行初选投票， 而将失去全国代表大会的代表席位。
In a compromise, party officials agreed to include delegates from both states, but to give each delegate only half a vote.
为达成妥协，民主党有关官员同意将这两个州的代表包括在内，但仅给每位代表一半的投票权。
The Clinton campaign - which won both states - took strong issue with the allocation of delegates. In a number of Sunday television interviews, campaign officials were defiant, and called the decision unfair.
克林顿在这两个州都获得胜利，她的竞选阵营对于这种代表票数的分配方式表示强烈反对。在星期天的几个电视节目采访中， 克林顿竞选阵营官员表示不服，认为这项决定不公平。
Campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe said the battle for the nomination will go on until either candidate gets a majority of the convention delegates.
克林顿竞选活动负责人特里.麦考利夫说，党内提名选战将继续下去，直到其中一位候选人赢得全国代表的多数。
"We are not going anywhere until someone has the magic number to become the nominee of the party," he said.
他说：“在某个候选人获得党内提名所需的多数代表之前，我们不会放弃。”
Top Obama supporters say they do not expect an imminent end to the campaign. But they do say they have the momentum, and they expect more super delegates to fall into their column in the coming days.
奥巴马的主要支持者说，他们预期竞选活动不会立即结束。但是他们说，他们的选势正旺，并预计未来几天会有更多的超级代表表态支持奥巴马。
Former Congressman David Bonior says the trend is moving in Senator Obama's direction. And he indicates the Obama campaign is ready to start mending fences with Senator Clinton and look ahead to the general election campaign against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
前国会议员博尼奥尔说，选情正向有利于奥巴马参议员的方向发展。他说，奥巴马竞选阵营准备开始同克林顿参议员修好，并把目光放在同预期是共和党总统提名人的麦凯恩参议员在全国展开的大选角逐上。
"This has been a difficult, long arduous race for all the candidates involved," said Bonior. "And she has fought with a lot of courage and Senator Clinton has broken some barriers here, important barriers. And I think it is important for people to understand that and they need to be respected for that, for the efforts they have made."
博尼奥尔说：“对所有的候选人来说，这是一次困难和持久的选战。克林顿参议员以非凡的勇气进行竞选，并打破了一些很重要的障碍。我认为，人们应理解这一点，对他们所做的努力表示尊敬，这一点很重要。”
Bonior appeared on the Fox News Sunday television program.
博尼奥尔是星期天在福克斯新闻的电视节目上说这番话的。 |