
在人人都在预测蓝色海啸将席卷参议院和众议院之际,我想写点反其道而行之的东西。
With everyone and his brother predicting that a blue tsunami will wash over the Senate as well as the House, I want to write something contrarian.
这样一来,如果共和党人真的守住了参议院,我就会因为挑战传统智慧而居功至伟。而如果他们没有守住,我也不会被逐出政治评论界——大家只会说,好吧,他在里面加了很多前提条件。
This way, if the Republicans do hang on to the Senate, I’ll get credit for defying the conventional wisdom. And if they don’t, I won’t get kicked out of the punditocracy – folks will just say well, he put a lot of caveats in there.
事实是,我不知道谁会拿下这个上议院,你也不知道。网上或广播里的所有夸夸其谈者和投机者也不知道。
The truth is, I don’t know who is going to capture the upper chamber, and neither do you. And neither do all the pontificators and speculators online or on the air.
我确实知道,共和党正在将数千万资金注入他们本可能输掉的竞赛中,在最后两周里,这给他们的人——甚至是身陷丑闻的肯·帕克斯顿——在广告宣传上带来了巨大优势。但在提前投票的时代,一旦选民下定决心,金钱并不总是能改变选民的想法。
I do know the GOP is pouring tens of millions into contests they might otherwise lose, giving their people – even scandal-scarred Ken Paxton – a huge advantage on the airwaves in the final two weeks. But money doesn’t always move voters once they’ve made up their minds in this era of early voting.
当唐纳德·特朗普每天都在大喊“假装我在选票上”时,缅因州的苏珊·柯林斯是否足够讨人喜欢,能够再次击败咄咄逼人的特洛伊·杰克逊(谢天谢地,不是那个怪人格雷厄姆·普拉特纳)?我们懂的,总统先生。
Is Maine’s Susan Collins liked enough to hang one more time against aggressive Troy Jackson (and thankfully not weirdo Graham Platner), when Donald Trump shouts every day ‘Pretend I’m on the ballot’?" We got it, Mr. President.
乔什·图雷克是艾奥瓦州的一名议员,也是一名患有脊柱裂的轮椅篮球运动员。他的共和党对手、众议员阿什利·辛顿表示,她不想要“无休止的战争”,但欢迎特朗普来访。
Josh Turek is an Iowa legislator and also a wheelchair basketball player who suffers from spina bifida. His GOP opponent, Rep. Ashley Hinton, says she doesn’t want "endless wars" but welcomes a Trump visit.
她谈到了开放边境和变性手术等问题。图雷克则将重点放在伊朗战争和由于国会未能修改《平价医疗法案》而飙升的医疗保险费上。
She’s talked about such issues as open borders and transgender surgery. Turek has focused on the Iran war and soaring health premiums because Congress failed to amend the Affordable Care Act.
在特朗普昨天竞选过的邻近堪萨斯州,民主党人亚当·汉密尔顿是一家卫理公会大型教堂的创始人,在这个保守的州这似乎是一个巨大的优势,但一些民主党人却对宗教方面感到反感。曾在美国陆军预备役服役的产科医生、共和党参议员罗杰·马歇尔因《纽约时报》关于他起诉拖欠账单的患者的报道而受到打击。
In nearby Kansas, where Trump campaigned yesterday, Democrat Adam Hamilton is the founder of a Methodist mega-church, which would seem like a big plus in that conservative state, but some Dems are turned off by the religious aspect. Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, an obstetrician who served in the Army Reserves, was hurt by a New York Times report on him suing patients who were behind on their bills.

顺便说一句,你曾想过会看到共和党人直接放弃北卡罗来纳州并将资金引导至其他地方(将胜利拱手让给前州长罗伊·库珀)的那一天吗?总统特朗普前往堪萨斯州为参议员罗杰·马歇尔助选因此我可以得出三点结论:许多这类竞选都有1到2个百分点的“领先优势”,这在误差范围内,而且在非大选年民调往往是不准确的。
By the way, did you ever think you’d see the day when the Republicans just gave up on North Carolina and steered their money elsewhere (conceding the win to former Gov. Roy Cooper)? So I can conclude three things:
共和党正在深红色的州进行防守——特朗普在堪萨斯州?——这就是为什么民主党人越来越确信这是他们的大年。而且,用蒂普·奥尼尔的名言来说,所有政治都是地方政治。
Many of these races have 1-or-2 point "leads," which is within the margin of error, and polling is often inaccurate in an off-year election. The GOP is playing defense in ruby-red states–Trump in Kansas?—which is why Democrats are increasingly confident this is their big year. And, in the famous Tip O’Neill saying, all politics is local.

可能会有一个大型教堂的人、一个坐轮椅的人,或者是前阿拉斯加女众议员玛丽·佩尔托拉——她是一名支持“鱼类、家庭、自由”的前部落法官,但前工作人员称曾听到她使用可怕的污蔑言语。
There may be a mega-church guy or a man in a wheelchair or ex-Alaska congresswoman Mary Peltola, a former tribal judge who’s for "Fish, Family, Freedom," but who former staffers say they heard using awful slurs.
*有这么多难分高下的悬念,你究竟该如何预测选情?当然,共和党人希望让全国相信,所有民主党人都像密歇根州的社会主义者阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德一样,当被问及如果以色列遭到攻击他是否会提供军事援助时,他表示宁愿把钱花在本土。
How on earth do you handicap races with so many toss-ups? Of course, Republicans want to make the country believe that all Dems are like Michigan socialist Abdul el-Sayed, who, when asked whether he’d provide military aid if Israel was under attack, says he would rather spend the money at home.
我仍然认为民主党需要有拉斯维加斯的运气才能赢得足够多的参议院席位以取得控制权。他们还必须捍卫自己的地盘。但(这里留个退路)我并不是说这不可能发生。
I still think the Democrats will need to have Vegas luck to win enough Senate races to take control. They also have to defend their own turf. But (escape hatch here) I’m not saying it couldn’t happen.