VOA慢速英語:Week of Final Presidential Debate Ends With More Campaign Activities

[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is IN THE NEWS in Special English. [00:15.54]This week, the two main candidates for president of the United States [00:20.36]held their final debate before the November sixth election. [00:26.09]After the debate, opinion surveys showed a close race [00:31.47]between President Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. [00:38.39]Recently, the two men have been visiting states that could help decide the election. [00:45.55]Each state has a set number of electoral votes based on its population. [00:51.72]In all states but two, the candidate who wins the popular vote [00:56.10]wins all of that state's electoral votes. [01:03.37]The candidate receiving at least two hundred seventy electoral votes becomes president. [01:09.54]On Wednesday, Mr. Obama declared he would pull "an all-nighter," [01:15.41]going from California to Florida, to Virginia and then Ohio. [01:24.42]This week, he also made campaign appearances in Nevada, Iowa, Colorado and Illinois. [01:29.20]Mr. Romney targeted Nevada, Iowa and Ohio. [01:35.62]Historically, no Republican Party candidate has won the presidency [01:39.86]without first winning Ohio's electoral votes. [01:46.73]At some campaign stops, Mr. Obama used the word "Romnesia" -- [01:53.75]combining his opponent's name with the word that describes someone who forgets things. [01:56.69]"If you can't remember what you said just a week ago, [02:01.37]if you can't remember the plans on your own web site, [02:08.54]and you're worried you might be coming down with a case of Romnesia, [02:11.98]I want you to know Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions. " [02:16.50]In Illinois, Mr. Obama became the first president [02:20.93]to mark his ballot before the presidential election. [02:26.28]A short time later, he spoke of the ease of voting early, [02:33.54]saying the process takes the worry out of having to make sure you vote on a single day. [02:41.16]On Friday, Mr. Romney urged his supporters in Ohio to vote early. [02:46.03]More than thirty states offer some form of early voting. [02:54.10]Earlier in the week, Mr. Romney promised to improve education and get the economy going. [03:00.22]He also said that Mr. Obama's campaign is beginning to weaken. [03:04.90]"His campaign gets smaller and smaller and focused on smaller and smaller things. [03:10.52]Our campaign in about big things. Because we happen to believe that America faces big challenges, [03:16.39]we recognize that this a year with big choice and that Americans want to see big changes, [03:18.43]and I am going to bring it this country." [03:23.11]The former governor has also used his campaign events to criticize [03:26.35]the way President Obama has directed the economy. [03:32.77]In one speech, he asked supporters if they could deal with [03:38.65]four more years of twenty-three million Americans looking for a good job. [03:45.61]As the election nears, many observers are still not sure who will win. [03:51.09]Phil Wallach works at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. [03:54.77]"I think the race has stabilized at a dead heat [04:00.89]and I think it's likely that we will go into Election Day not knowing who's going to come out the winner." [04:06.17]Mr. Wallach believes that, in the end, the president will be re-elected. [04:13.04]But another observer, Scot Faulkner, believes Mr. Romney is now leading [04:20.27]in the final days of the campaign. He adds that as the end of campaign nears, [04:25.50]both candidates are urging voters to get out and vote early. [04:27.84]"It's going to be energizing their base. [04:30.92]They already know who their base votes are and [04:33.06]making sure they get out and vote. [04:37.25]And at the moment Romney has the fervor [excitement] factor over Obama, [04:42.63]but Obama has the ground game over Romney so that makes for a very interesting final phase." [04:44.37]And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Kim Varzi. I'm Christopher Cruise.

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