評論
打印
Georgia's Senate race
佐治亞州的參議院競選
Tossing rotten fruit in thePeachState
在“桃州”扔爛果
Two Republicans brawl over the right to take on Michelle Nunn
兩名共和黨人爭奪與米歇爾·納恩女士競爭的機會
RUNNING for office inGeorgiacan be hard on the waistline. At nearly every campaign stop a candidate must sample the local culinary delights, which rarely consist of salad. David Perdue and Jack Kingston, two Republicans tussling for a United States Senate seat, look surprisingly trim despite tucking into turkey and gravy, ice cream, fried fish, bacon-filled biscuits and more besides. The battle has been long, hard and close; perhaps the sheer effort of fighting it has kept them in shape.
在佐治亞州，競選公職是很挑戰人的體重的。幾乎每一位候選人在一次競選結束后都要留下品嘗當地沙拉放得很少的美食。大衛·珀杜和杰克·金斯頓這兩位共和黨人正在為爭取美國參議院的席位展開一場較量。盡管他們都吃很多的火雞、肉汁、冰激凌、油炸魚和培根夾心餅干，但他們還是消瘦地很快。這是一場持久而又艱難的戰役，也許正是這場艱苦的戰役，使得他們形容消瘦。
Originally there were seven Republicans jostling for the nomination to replace Saxby Chambliss, who is retiring. After a first round of voting, only Mr Perdue and Mr Kingston are left; the run-off is on July 22nd. On policy, there is not much to choose between them. Both are social conservatives. Both revile Obamacare and federal spending; both revere growth and fiscal reform. Their pitches to primary voters therefore stress their personalities, their achievements and the other chap's flaws.
本來有七名共和黨人爭奪提名，取代退休的Saxby Chambliss。在經過第一輪的投票后，只留下了珀杜先生和金斯頓先生，最后的決勝選舉是在7月22日。在政治觀點上，他們兩個人之間并沒有太大的區別。他們都是社會保守派，都反對奧巴馬的醫改和聯邦支出，都支持增長和財政改革。因而面對初選的選民，他們著重強調自己的個性、個人成就和競爭對手的缺點。
Mr Perdue is an ex-boss of Reebok, a maker of sports kit, and Dollar General, a discount store. He has never held elected office before. Mr Kingston is a career politician, having served in Congress since 1993. Mr Perdue portrays himself as something fresh and his rival as a cobwebbed incumbent. “If you like what is going on inWashington, then vote for my opponent,” he tells crowds.
珀杜先生是運動裝備生產商銳步和折扣商店Dollar General的前老板，他之前從未當選過。金斯頓先生是一位職業政治家，自1993年以來，他一直在國會任職。珀杜先生將自己描繪成擁有新思想的人，而將他的對手形容成布滿蜘蛛網的現任。他對公眾說：“如果你想要像華盛頓那樣的話，就投票給我的對手吧。”
That opponent paints himself as a faithful public servant, dedicated to his district in Savannah. Mr Kingston chides his multimillionaire adversary for being “out of touch”. In a televised debate on July 13th he sneered: “You live inside a gate inside a gated community with a gate on your house. I think being a public servant is being public and knowing how to serve.”
而他的對手則把自己描繪成一位忠實的公仆，獻身于他的選區薩凡納。金斯頓先生斥責他的千萬富翁對手與社會“脫節”。在7月13日的一場電視辯論中，他嘲諷說：“你住在一個有一層又一層大門的房子里。我認為做一個公仆就是要有社會性并知道應該如何服務于公眾。”
Mr Perdue refuses to apologise for his wealth and success. When Mr Kingston boasted of his role in a public project to deepen the port of Savannah, he shot back that the congressman had taken “17 years to deepen this port five feet” and scoffed: “In the real world you would have been fired for that and here you want a promotion.”
珀杜先生拒絕為他擁有的財富和成功道歉。當金斯頓先生吹噓他在深化薩凡納港這個公共項目中起到的重要作用時，珀杜先生回擊說國會“用了17年的時間，只深化了港口5英尺”，并嘲笑說：“如果是在現實社會，你早就因此被解雇了，而現在，你卻還想要升職。”
Nonetheless, the polls favour Mr Kingston. Despite Mr Perdue's pedigree, the Chamber of Commerce backs the congressman. Its political director, Rob Engstrom, says Mr Kingston's past efforts to slash spending and create jobs explain why. He adds that the congressman has never voted for a tax increase.
盡管如此，民意更支持金斯頓先生。不管珀杜先生的血統如何，商會還是更支持這位國會議員。其政治主任羅布·恩斯特羅姆說，金斯頓先生之前為削減開支和創造就業機會付出的努力解釋了這一現象。他還補充說金斯頓先生在任國會議員時，從來沒有投票支持過增加稅收。
The owner of Redneck Gourmet, an eatery in Newnan, has played host to both candidates, but is unconvinced by either: “As a small-business owner I look out for the things that are going to help me,” he says. A customer, Melinda Mansour, reckons that Mr Perdue's inexperience “is the best thing he's got going for him.” But he is not exactly an outsider: his cousin, Sonny Perdue, wasGeorgia's previous governor.
一家在紐南，名叫“鄉下人的美食”的餐館主人曾接待過兩位候選人，但他兩個人都不看好。“作為一個中小企業主，我更注重那些能夠幫到我的。”他說。一位客戶，梅林·達曼蘇爾認為，珀杜先生缺乏經驗恰恰是他的長處。但他也并不完全是局外人：他的表弟是佐治亞州前州長桑尼·普度。
Mr Kingston has run a bare-knuckle campaign, accusing his opponent of destroying jobs, scrounging federal dollars and favouring tax hikes, and generally trying to make the Perdue family sound like the Georgia Borgias. Factcheck.org, a watchdog, criticises oneKingstonad for making “multiple misleading claims” about Mr Perdue's time as boss of Pillowtex, a textiles firm that went bust in 2003. A voter inWoodstocksays she abandoned Mr Kingston because of his “nasty” campaign ads.
金斯頓先生已經開始了一場殘酷的戰役，他指責他的對手破壞工作崗位，騙取聯邦資金，支持增加稅收，試圖讓珀杜一家人聽起來像格魯吉亞·波吉亞家族。一名監察員Factcheck.org批評金斯頓制作了一個廣告 “多次發表誤導聲明”，來針對珀杜先生，在他擔任一個2003年破產的紡織公司老板的時期。一個在伍德斯托克的選民說，她放棄了金斯頓先生因為他制作了“惡心”的競選廣告。
The congressman has a scandal of his own: a donation of $80,000, linked to a Palestinian felon facing deportation. Phyllis Maybern, from Cartersville, says she won't vote for him because of it. Mr Perdue, meanwhile, faces difficult questions about his time at the Georgia Ports Authority. A trucking company he bought two years ago with his well-known cousin won contracts atSavannah's port while Mr Perdue served on the Ports Authority's board. Moreover, he was appointed to the post, by Governor Perdue.
這位國會議員自己也有一個丑聞： 8萬美元的捐贈，與一個面臨被驅逐出境的巴勒斯坦重罪犯有關。卡特斯維爾的Phyllis Maybern說，因為這件事，她不會投票給金斯頓先生。與此同時，珀杜先生也面臨一個詰難，是有關他在格魯吉亞港口當局的事。兩年前，他和他那位有名的表弟合伙收購一個運輸公司，珀杜先生就職于港口管理局董事會時，這個公司贏得了薩凡納港的一個合同。此外，通過珀杜州長，他還贏得了一個職位。
The winner of the primary run-off will face Michelle Nunn, a community organiser and the daughter of Sam Nunn, a former Democratic senator who is still popular inGeorgia. The more her Republican foes batter each other, the weaker they will be in the general election, she hopes. The race is one of the Democrats' few hopes of picking up a Republican-held Senate seat this year. Mr Kingston is the only candidate who could beat Ms Nunn, reckons Steve Anthony of Georgia State University, and the likelier to get a shot at doing so.
初級選取的獲勝者將要面對的競爭對手是米歇爾·納恩，她不僅是一位社區組織者，也是薩姆·納恩的女兒。她是前民主黨參議員，在格魯吉亞仍很受歡迎。她希望，她的共和黨對手創傷彼此越重，在最后的選舉中就越不占優勢。這次競爭是今年民主黨能獲得共和黨參議院席位的希望之一。喬治亞州立大學的史蒂夫·安東尼認為，金斯頓先生是唯一的可以擊敗納恩女士的候選人，并且很可能因此再一次被觸動。
