经济学人85:佐治亚州的参议院竞选 在"桃州"扔烂果

 Georgia's Senate race佐治亚州的参议院竞选Tossing rotten fruit in thePeachState在“桃州”扔烂果Two Republicans brawl 1 over the right to take on Michelle Nunn两名共和党人争夺与米歇尔·纳恩女士竞争的机会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 2 Kingston, two Republicans tussling for a United States Senate seat, look surprisingly trim despite tucking into turkey and gravy 3, 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.

在佐治亚州，竞选公职是很挑战人的体重的。几乎每一位候选人在一次竞选结束后都要留下品尝当地沙拉放得很少的美食。大卫·珀杜和杰克·金斯顿这两位共和党人正在为争取美国参议院的席位展开一场较量。尽管他们都吃很多的火鸡、肉汁、冰激凌、油炸鱼和培根夹心饼干，但他们还是消瘦地很快。这是一场持久而又艰难的战役，也许正是这场艰苦的战役，使得他们形容消瘦。
Originally there were seven Republicans jostling for the nomination 4 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 5 Obamacare and federal spending; both revere 6 growth and fiscal 7 reform. Their pitches to primary voters therefore stress their personalities 8, their achievements and the other chap's flaws.
本来有七名共和党人争夺提名，取代退休的Saxby Chambliss。在经过第一轮的投票后，只留下了珀杜先生和金斯顿先生，最后的决胜选举是在7月22日。在政治观点上，他们两个人之间并没有太大的区别。他们都是社会保守派，都反对奥巴马的医改和联邦支出，都支持增长和财政改革。因而面对初选的选民，他们着重强调自己的个性、个人成就和竞争对手的缺点。
佐治亚州的参议院竞选.jpgMr Perdue is an ex-boss of Reebok, a maker 9 of sports kit 10, 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 11 himself as something fresh and his rival as a cobwebbed incumbent 12. “If you like what is going on inWashington, then vote for my opponent,” he tells crowds.
珀杜先生是运动装备生产商锐步和折扣商店Dollar General的前老板，他之前从未当选过。金斯顿先生是一位职业政治家，自1993年以来，他一直在国会任职。珀杜先生将自己描绘成拥有新思想的人，而将他的对手形容成布满蜘蛛网的现任。他对公众说：“如果你想要像华盛顿那样的话，就投票给我的对手吧。”
That opponent paints himself as a faithful public servant, dedicated 13 to his district in Savannah. Mr Kingston chides 14 his multimillionaire adversary 15 for being “out of touch”. In a televised debate on July 13th he sneered 16: “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.”
而他的对手则把自己描绘成一位忠实的公仆，献身于他的选区萨凡纳。金斯顿先生斥责他的千万富翁对手与社会“脱节”。在7月13日的一场电视辩论中，他嘲讽说：“你住在一个有一层又一层大门的房子里。我认为做一个公仆就是要有社会性并知道应该如何服务于公众。”
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 17 had taken “17 years to deepen this port five feet” and scoffed 18: “In the real world you would have been fired for that and here you want a promotion 19.”
珀杜先生拒绝为他拥有的财富和成功道歉。当金斯顿先生吹嘘他在深化萨凡纳港这个公共项目中起到的重要作用时，珀杜先生回击说国会“用了17年的时间，只深化了港口5英尺”，并嘲笑说：“如果是在现实社会，你早就因此被解雇了，而现在，你却还想要升职。”
Nonetheless, the polls favour Mr Kingston. Despite Mr Perdue's pedigree, the Chamber 20 of Commerce backs the congressman. Its political director, Rob Engstrom, says Mr Kingston's past efforts to slash 21 spending and create jobs explain why. He adds that the congressman has never voted for a tax increase.
尽管如此，民意更支持金斯顿先生。不管珀杜先生的血统如何，商会还是更支持这位国会议员。其政治主任罗布·恩斯特罗姆说，金斯顿先生之前为削减开支和创造就业机会付出的努力解释了这一现象。他还补充说金斯顿先生在任国会议员时，从来没有投票支持过增加税收。
The owner of Redneck Gourmet 22, 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.
一家在纽南，名叫“乡下人的美食”的餐馆主人曾接待过两位候选人，但他两个人都不看好。“作为一个中小企业主，我更注重那些能够帮到我的。”他说。一位客户，梅林·达曼苏尔认为，珀杜先生缺乏经验恰恰是他的长处。但他也并不完全是局外人：他的表弟是佐治亚州前州长桑尼·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 23 in 2003. A voter inWoodstocksays she abandoned Mr Kingston because of his “nasty” campaign ads.
金斯顿先生已经开始了一场残酷的战役，他指责他的对手破坏工作岗位，骗取联邦资金，支持增加税收，试图让珀杜一家人听起来像格鲁吉亚·波吉亚家族。一名监察员Factcheck.org批评金斯顿制作了一个广告 “多次发表误导声明”，来针对珀杜先生，在他担任一个2003年破产的纺织公司老板的时期。一个在伍德斯托克的选民说，她放弃了金斯顿先生因为他制作了“恶心”的竞选广告。
The congressman has a scandal of his own: a donation of $80,000, linked to a Palestinian felon 24 facing deportation 25. 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.
这位国会议员自己也有一个丑闻： 8万美元的捐赠，与一个面临被驱逐出境的巴勒斯坦重罪犯有关。卡特斯维尔的Phyllis Maybern说，因为这件事，她不会投票给金斯顿先生。与此同时，珀杜先生也面临一个诘难，是有关他在格鲁吉亚港口当局的事。两年前，他和他那位有名的表弟合伙收购一个运输公司，珀杜先生就职于港口管理局董事会时，这个公司赢得了萨凡纳港的一个合同。此外，通过珀杜州长，他还赢得了一个职位。
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 26 batter 27 each other, the weaker they will be in the general election, she hopes. The race is one of the Democrats 28' 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.
初级选取的获胜者将要面对的竞争对手是米歇尔·纳恩，她不仅是一位社区组织者，也是萨姆·纳恩的女儿。她是前民主党参议员，在格鲁吉亚仍很受欢迎。她希望，她的共和党对手创伤彼此越重，在最后的选举中就越不占优势。这次竞争是今年民主党能获得共和党参议院席位的希望之一。乔治亚州立大学的史蒂夫·安东尼认为，金斯顿先生是唯一的可以击败纳恩女士的候选人，并且很可能因此再一次被触动。