New York s old people rebel

　　紐約老人起來反抗

　　To the barricades for Medicare

　　老年保健醫療制度的障礙卡

　　A by-election may be a referendum on theRepublicans health plans

　　或許遞補選舉是對共和黨保健方案的一次公民選票

　　NEW YORKis a blue state. Its governor, Andrew Cuomo, is aDemocrat, as are its two senators. But chunks of it arevery conservative, such as the reliably Republican26th congressional district in western New York. Itspans the suburbs of Buffalo, across hundreds ofacres of farmland, to the suburbs of Rochester.Registered Republicans outnumber registeredDemocrats there by around 30,000. George Bushhandily won the district in 2004, though he lost thestate by 19 points. In 2008 it was one of only fourNew York districts that voted for John McCain over Barack Obama. Chris Lee, the Republicanwho had represented the district since 2008, won a whopping 74% of the vote at the 2010mid-term election. He stepped down in February after a gossip website posted shirtlesspictures he had sent to a woman he had met on Craigslist.

　　紐約州在圖中為藍色區域。紐約州總檢查長安德魯??科莫和紐約州兩名參議院是民主黨員。不過大部分紐約人都很保守，如位于紐約西部的共和黨的第26個國會區。它跨越了水牛城的郊區，橫跨大片農田，一直延伸直到羅切斯特市。已注冊的共和黨人要比民主黨人多上30,000人左右。2004年，盡管喬治??布什在紐約州的選票輸給對手19個百分點，但他輕易地贏得了這個地區的選票。2008年，它是紐約州四個投給約翰麥凱恩的選票多于投給奧巴馬的選票的地區之一。自2008年來，克里斯??李成為這個地區的代表，以遙遙領先的74%的選票贏得了2010年中期選舉。他之所以于二月下臺，是因為一個緋聞網站張貼出了他的赤膊照片，他曾經將這些照片發給在克雷格清單上認識的一個女人。

　　The special election to fill the Craigslist congressmans emptyseat will take place on May 24th. Jane Corwin, a wealthy conservative member of the stateAssembly, should on past form be a shoo-in, but recent polls indicate she has an unexpectedbattle on her hands. According to one recent poll Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is just a fewpoints behind Ms Corwin, and another shows her in the lead. Jack Davis, the self-financedindependent tea-party candidate, is also performing solidly in the polls. At first glance itappears that Mr Davis, a former Republican who also ran for office as aDemocrat, may be siphoning support away from Ms Corwin.

　　克雷格清單事件導致國會議員職位空缺，這次特別選舉將在5月24日舉行。簡??科溫是紐約州參議院的一名富有的保守派成員，之前她很被看好，不過最近選票對她不利，這意味著她要投身到意料之外的選票交戰中。據最近的一次選票顯示，民主黨人凱西??胡赫爾選票僅次于科溫一些，另一次選票中顯示胡赫爾居于領先地位。自行籌資的獨立黨派茶會選手杰克??戴維斯在近日的投票中的成績也表現出強勁之勢。戴維斯此前是一名共和黨員，同時也作為民主黨的候選人參加競選，結果當然失敗了，乍看之下，他似乎是通過虹吸原理，從科溫那里贏來選票。

　　But the fall in Ms Corwins support could be more because of her endorsement of Paul Ryans proposal to replace Medicare, the public health-care scheme for the elderly, with diminishing government subsidies for private insurance. Her opponent, Ms Hochul, has made Medicare the main issue of her campaign. We can alter the national debate with one election, she says. Voting for her, she claims, would send a message to Republicans in Washington. She has received the backing of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, which previously campaigned for the Republican who represented the area until 2008. Her message is going down well in the district, where almost a quarter of voters are over 65 and almost two-thirds are over 45.

　　不過，科溫選票下跌原因遠不止如此，這緣于她對保羅??瑞安提議替換老年保健醫療制度的支持，老年保健醫療制度是對老年人公共保健的方案，該提議提出削減政府對私人醫療保險的津貼。她的競爭對手胡赫爾將老年保健醫療制度作為她競選的主要方案，她說：我們可以通過一次選舉改變全國民眾爭論。她宣稱，投票給她，就以為著向華盛頓的共和黨員發出信息。她已經獲得了全國維護社會保障和醫療保險委員會的支持，此前該組織為共和黨競選，在2008年前共和黨是該地區的代表。胡赫爾的思想在該地區十分受歡迎這里有四分之一的選民超過了65歲，三分之二選民超過了45歲。

　　A loss in the 26th would be a huge embarrassment for the Republicans, suggesting that many other seats might be at risk in 2023. So the party has been pumping money into the race, and has also started to send in the heavy artillery. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, campaigned for Ms Corwin last week, and John Boehner, the speaker of the House, appeared at a Corwin fund-raising lunch on May 9th. He said there that the Democrats are hoping they can steal this election so they can continue to move their agenda, which is more taxes and higher spending. This got loud jeers from the faithful, but it remains to be seen whether ordinary elderly voters will agree.

　　對于共和黨民來說，若第26區選舉失敗將會是一個莫大的羞辱，這意味著2023年有更多的國會議員的位置將受到威脅。因此，共和黨在這次競選中投入大量資金，并開始著手向重型火炮注資。眾議院的多數黨領袖埃里克??坎托上個星期為科溫爭取選票，眾議院發言人約翰??博納在5月9日參與了科溫的籌資午餐會，他在聚會上說：民主黨人希望他們能偷走此次共和黨選舉勝利的果實，這樣他們就可以繼續更改議事日程，增加稅收、擴大支出。此番言論受到了忠誠的民主黨人的大肆嘲笑，不過普通的老人選民是否同意這一觀點，還有待觀察。

　　The turnout tends to be low in special elections, as elsewhere; but politicians can usually depend on older voters to make the effort. In the 26th district, the voting intentions of the elderly have never been more important.

　　和其他地方一樣，此次參與遞補選舉的人數偏少，但一般來說，政客們依賴于老人選民為此次選舉投上關鍵票。在第26區，該地區老年人投票意圖的重要程度可謂是史無前例。

　　New York s old people rebel

　　紐約老人起來反抗

　　To the barricades for Medicare

　　老年保健醫療制度的障礙卡

　　A by-election may be a referendum on theRepublicans health plans

　　或許遞補選舉是對共和黨保健方案的一次公民選票

　　NEW YORKis a blue state. Its governor, Andrew Cuomo, is aDemocrat, as are its two senators. But chunks of it arevery conservative, such as the reliably Republican26th congressional district in western New York. Itspans the suburbs of Buffalo, across hundreds ofacres of farmland, to the suburbs of Rochester.Registered Republicans outnumber registeredDemocrats there by around 30,000. George Bushhandily won the district in 2004, though he lost thestate by 19 points. In 2008 it was one of only fourNew York districts that voted for John McCain over Barack Obama. Chris Lee, the Republicanwho had represented the district since 2008, won a whopping 74% of the vote at the 2010mid-term election. He stepped down in February after a gossip website posted shirtlesspictures he had sent to a woman he had met on Craigslist.

　　紐約州在圖中為藍色區域。紐約州總檢查長安德魯??科莫和紐約州兩名參議院是民主黨員。不過大部分紐約人都很保守，如位于紐約西部的共和黨的第26個國會區。它跨越了水牛城的郊區，橫跨大片農田，一直延伸直到羅切斯特市。已注冊的共和黨人要比民主黨人多上30,000人左右。2004年，盡管喬治??布什在紐約州的選票輸給對手19個百分點，但他輕易地贏得了這個地區的選票。2008年，它是紐約州四個投給約翰麥凱恩的選票多于投給奧巴馬的選票的地區之一。自2008年來，克里斯??李成為這個地區的代表，以遙遙領先的74%的選票贏得了2010年中期選舉。他之所以于二月下臺，是因為一個緋聞網站張貼出了他的赤膊照片，他曾經將這些照片發給在克雷格清單上認識的一個女人。

　　The special election to fill the Craigslist congressmans emptyseat will take place on May 24th. Jane Corwin, a wealthy conservative member of the stateAssembly, should on past form be a shoo-in, but recent polls indicate she has an unexpectedbattle on her hands. According to one recent poll Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is just a fewpoints behind Ms Corwin, and another shows her in the lead. Jack Davis, the self-financedindependent tea-party candidate, is also performing solidly in the polls. At first glance itappears that Mr Davis, a former Republican who also ran for office as aDemocrat, may be siphoning support away from Ms Corwin.

　　克雷格清單事件導致國會議員職位空缺，這次特別選舉將在5月24日舉行。簡??科溫是紐約州參議院的一名富有的保守派成員，之前她很被看好，不過最近選票對她不利，這意味著她要投身到意料之外的選票交戰中。據最近的一次選票顯示，民主黨人凱西??胡赫爾選票僅次于科溫一些，另一次選票中顯示胡赫爾居于領先地位。自行籌資的獨立黨派茶會選手杰克??戴維斯在近日的投票中的成績也表現出強勁之勢。戴維斯此前是一名共和黨員，同時也作為民主黨的候選人參加競選，結果當然失敗了，乍看之下，他似乎是通過虹吸原理，從科溫那里贏來選票。

　　But the fall in Ms Corwins support could be more because of her endorsement of Paul Ryans proposal to replace Medicare, the public health-care scheme for the elderly, with diminishing government subsidies for private insurance. Her opponent, Ms Hochul, has made Medicare the main issue of her campaign. We can alter the national debate with one election, she says. Voting for her, she claims, would send a message to Republicans in Washington. She has received the backing of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, which previously campaigned for the Republican who represented the area until 2008. Her message is going down well in the district, where almost a quarter of voters are over 65 and almost two-thirds are over 45.

　　不過，科溫選票下跌原因遠不止如此，這緣于她對保羅??瑞安提議替換老年保健醫療制度的支持，老年保健醫療制度是對老年人公共保健的方案，該提議提出削減政府對私人醫療保險的津貼。她的競爭對手胡赫爾將老年保健醫療制度作為她競選的主要方案，她說：我們可以通過一次選舉改變全國民眾爭論。她宣稱，投票給她，就以為著向華盛頓的共和黨員發出信息。她已經獲得了全國維護社會保障和醫療保險委員會的支持，此前該組織為共和黨競選，在2008年前共和黨是該地區的代表。胡赫爾的思想在該地區十分受歡迎這里有四分之一的選民超過了65歲，三分之二選民超過了45歲。

　　A loss in the 26th would be a huge embarrassment for the Republicans, suggesting that many other seats might be at risk in 2023. So the party has been pumping money into the race, and has also started to send in the heavy artillery. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, campaigned for Ms Corwin last week, and John Boehner, the speaker of the House, appeared at a Corwin fund-raising lunch on May 9th. He said there that the Democrats are hoping they can steal this election so they can continue to move their agenda, which is more taxes and higher spending. This got loud jeers from the faithful, but it remains to be seen whether ordinary elderly voters will agree.

　　對于共和黨民來說，若第26區選舉失敗將會是一個莫大的羞辱，這意味著2023年有更多的國會議員的位置將受到威脅。因此，共和黨在這次競選中投入大量資金，并開始著手向重型火炮注資。眾議院的多數黨領袖埃里克??坎托上個星期為科溫爭取選票，眾議院發言人約翰??博納在5月9日參與了科溫的籌資午餐會，他在聚會上說：民主黨人希望他們能偷走此次共和黨選舉勝利的果實，這樣他們就可以繼續更改議事日程，增加稅收、擴大支出。此番言論受到了忠誠的民主黨人的大肆嘲笑，不過普通的老人選民是否同意這一觀點，還有待觀察。

　　The turnout tends to be low in special elections, as elsewhere; but politicians can usually depend on older voters to make the effort. In the 26th district, the voting intentions of the elderly have never been more important.

　　和其他地方一樣，此次參與遞補選舉的人數偏少，但一般來說，政客們依賴于老人選民為此次選舉投上關鍵票。在第26區，該地區老年人投票意圖的重要程度可謂是史無前例。