America’s election
美国大选
Half-way there
下半场拉开帷幕
Feb 7th 2008
From The Economist print edition
The Republicans, at least, seem to have found a decent candidate
看来共和党已经找到了一位体面的候选人
Illustration by Kevin Kallaugher
WINSTON CHURCHILL, that famous half-American, once said that his mother’s countrymen could always be counted on to do the right thing, after exhausting the available alternatives. His words would apply well to the Republican Party just now. Having lengthily lionised “America’s mayor”, Rudy Giuliani, looked longingly at Reagan-lite Fred Thompson, flirted with millionaire Mitt Romney and sung along with preacherman Mike Huckabee, the party’s voters have sensibly plumped for John McCain, the only Republican whom pollsters give a chance of keeping the White House out of Democratic hands (see article). It is possible—just—to imagine Mr McCain failing to carry the nomination after Super Tuesday, which saw him win three times as many delegates as his nearest rival, Mr Romney, who suspended his campaign. But that would now require spectacular intervention by the Almighty on behalf of the admittedly pious Mr Huckabee.
声名显赫的温斯顿•丘吉尔拥有一半美国血统，在谈到母亲的同胞时，他曾作出如下评论：美国人在试遍各种可供选择的方案后，一定会做出正确的决定。如今的共和党恰恰印证了这句话。他们先是将鲁迪•朱利安尼奉为“美国的市长”，称道之声，不绝于耳；后又对佛莱德•汤普森寄予厚望，希望他继承里根总统的衣钵；忽而垂青于百万富翁米特•罗姆尼；忽而与传教士迈克•赫卡比放声高歌；但最后，共和党的选民终于理智地选择了党内唯一有望与民主党人争夺总统宝座的候选人：约翰•麦凯恩。在刚刚结束的超级星期二预选中，麦凯恩赢得的代表人数是紧随其后的米特•罗姆尼三倍之多，后者现已宣布退出竞选。虽然麦凯恩代表共和党角逐总统大选尚未成为定局，但要从他手中夺走党内提名，除非万能之主出手相助无比虔诚的赫卡比先生。
