VOA双语新闻：民主党这个星期或产生总统候选人

　　U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton has won Sunday's Democratic presidential primary contest in the commonwealth 1 territory of Puerto Rico, soundly defeating rival Senator Barack Obama by a two to one margin 2. The Clinton victory comes near the end of the U.S. presidential primary season, and will only slightly erode 3 Obama's lead among party delegates that will determine the Democratic presidential nominee 4.

美国参议员克林顿星期天赢得民主党在美国领地波多黎各举行的总统候选人初选，以二比一的优势击败对手奥巴马参议员。克林顿在即将结束的党内初选中赢得这项胜利，只能稍稍缩小奥巴马已经领先的党代表票数上的优势。这些党代表将决定民主党的总统候选人提名。

Conventional wisdom holds that, at this point, Hillary Clinton has only the faintest hopes of securing the Democratic nomination 5. Nevertheless, she is finishing the primary season on a strong note. In recent weeks, she has scored overwhelming victories in the states of West Virginia and Kentucky. Now, she adds Puerto Rico to her win column.

普遍的看法是，在目前情况下，克林顿参议员要想夺取民主党提名的希望已非常渺茫。但是无论如何，她仍然以强劲的姿态结束初选过程。最近几个星期，克林顿在西维吉尼亚州和肯塔基州都赢得压倒性胜利。现在，她又赢得了波多黎各。

Exit polls in the island territory showed her winning among all age groups, and among both men and women. Puerto Ricans may vote in primary contests, but not in the presidential election in November.

对投票后选民的民调显示，克林顿在波多黎各的民主党初选里，赢得了所有年龄层和男女两性的选民的支持。波多黎各人可以在党内初选投票，但是没有权利在11月的总统大选时投票。

Obama still holds a comfortable lead among party delegates accrued 6 from states and territories that have held primaries and caucuses 8 since the beginning of the year. But Clinton's recent victories have, by some calculations, put her ahead in the popular vote tally 9 of all ballots 10 cast in the primary season to date.

奥巴马仍然掌握著自今年初以来各州和属地党内初选的党代表总票数的领先地位。但是克林顿最近的胜利，按照某种计算方式，使得她在迄今为止的普选票数上领先。

Clinton highlighted her popular vote totals in a victory speech to supporters in Puerto Rico.

克林顿参议员在波多黎各对支持者发表胜利演说时，强调了她在普选总票数上的胜利。

"More people have voted for us than for any candidate in the history of presidential primaries," said Hillary Clinton. "We are winning the popular vote. And it is important where we have won. We are winning these votes in swing states and among the very swing voters [that] Democrats 11 must win to take back the White House."

克林顿说：“比起美国总统候选人初选历史上的任何参选人，我们赢得的票数都更多。我们在普选票数方面打了胜仗。这是一场重要的胜利。我们赢得了那些中间州里的举棋不定的选民的选票，这是民主党要夺回白宫必须赢得的。”

Clinton added that so-called "super delegates" - party elders and elected officials who may endorse 12 any candidate - will ultimately decide who becomes the Democratic presidential nominee. She urged super delegates to pick the strongest candidate to go up against Republican John McCain in November, and said she is that candidate.

不过，克林顿补充说，所谓的超级党代表将最终决定谁能成为民主党总统候选人。所谓超级党代表是指民主党的民选官员和知名人士，他们可以自由选择属意的候选人。她敦促这些超级党代表选择最强而有力的候选人在11月大选时对抗共和党的麦凯恩，而她就是这样的候选人。

But the Obama campaign counters that Clinton's popular vote argument is flawed, since it does not take into account vote tallies 13 from many caucus 7 states. Furthermore, Democratic Party rules do not mention the popular vote as a criterion for determining a presidential nominee, a point made by Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs on ABC's "This Week" program:

但是奥巴马阵营反驳克林顿普选票数领先的说法。奥巴马阵营说，这是因为克林顿没有将许多举行基层党团会议选举州的票数计算进来。再说，民主党的规则是并不将普选票数作为决定总统提名人的标准。奥巴马阵营发言人吉布斯对美国广播公司的“本星期”电视节目说：

"The nomination is decided 14 by the number of delegates that you have, and I think that the winner of the majority of those delegates will soon be Senator Obama," said Robert Gibbs.

“总统候选人提名是由你所获得的党代表票数来决定，而我认为，获得大多数党代表票数的胜利者即将属于奥巴马。”

Saturday, Clinton picked up two dozen delegates when the Democratic Party reinstated primary votes from Florida and Michigan. Those states had been stripped of their delegates after moving up their primary dates in violation 15 of party rules. The party opted 16 to count each delegate from those states as a one-half vote.

After the Puerto Rico primary, Obama stands less than 50 delegates away from clinching 17 the nomination, with just two states - Montana and South Dakota - left to vote. There are more than 150 super delegates who have yet to endorse either candidate. Party leaders are pressuring all remaining super delegates to make their preference known after the final primaries this Tuesday. Should they do so, the Democratic presidential nominee will likely be known sometime this week.

在波多黎各初选之后，奥巴马现在只差不到五十张党代表票数就可以赢得民主党提名，现在只剩下两个州蒙塔纳州和南达科塔州还没有举行初选。目前还有超过一百五十名的超级党代表还没有决定他们的选择。民主党领导层已经施压，要求所有尚未表态的超级党代表在本星期二最后的党内初选结束后，做出选择。如果情况这样发展，那么，民主党的总统提名人将可能在本星期某个时刻产生。