19.presidential primary 总统预选
The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses is one of the first steps in the process of electing the President of the United States of America. The primary elections are run by state and local governments, while caucuses are private events run by the political parties. A state primary election usually is an indirect election: instead of voters directly selecting a particular person running for president, it determines how many delegates to each party's national convention each candidate will receive from the state.
更多内容请点击wikipedia：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_primary
第二段：
1.—and raise money off the back of it—是不是以投票的胜利为基础来筹措资金？
2.primary voters——初选选民
还有就是本段最后一句话中的They指得是Iowan还是the most dedicated of Republicans ？而且这句话要表的意思我也没太搞清楚，请教楼主啦
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第三段：
True to form, Mrs Bachmann and Mr Paul came in first and second, with 29% and 28% of the 17,000-odd votes respectively.
True to form——一如既往
这句说的是不是巴赫曼夫人和保罗像从前一样胜出了？
另外，名列投票榜首是不是位列第一第二名
那接下来就是“they”,认为这里是补充说明前面的情况，那就是这些共和党的铁杆粉丝要比Republican primary voters 更加religious and conservative ，更不用说普通选民了。
最后一句是说他们（the most dedicated of Republicans ）都比Republican primary voters更加虔诚，当然比一般的选民（general electorate）更加虔诚。
最后一句存在三类选民，1、the most dedicated of Republicans。2、Republican primary voters ， 3、general electorate。他们三者的虔诚程度，是1>2>3
Races for the Republican nomination almost always involve a prominent right-wing insurgent, along the lines of Mrs Bachmann, who usually loses out to an establishment candidate like Mr Romney in the end.
个人觉得会输给正统候选人的是 “ right-wing insurgent”，Bachmann和Romney不过是两个代表，也就是说Bachmann是右翼抗议分子的代表，或者一个例子，而Rommny是正统候选人的代表。
Republicans thinking of joining the race will be emboldened by the unexpectedly slow pace of the recovery
这个，我觉得是说，经济复苏出乎意料的慢，帮助共和党内有参选打算的人，迈出参选的这一步
join the race应该是参选，没有看出联合竞选的意思。
He hit the campaign trail in Iowa himself this week, urging Republicans to do more to help the jobless.
这个感觉楼主有点儿偏差
奥巴马于本周，前往爱荷华进行连任游说，敦促当地共和党多多帮助失业人士。
1) Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who withdrew his bid for the Republican nomination after finishing third in a straw poll of candidates in Ames, Iowa, on August 13th.
原：明尼苏达州的前州长提姆・鲍雷蒂(Tim Pawlenty)，8月13日，在爱荷华州艾姆斯结束的第三次非正式投票总统候选人后，提姆退出了共和党的提名。
评：finishing third是说他在straw poll里排名第三
2) Along with the usual cheers for talk of American greatness, reverence for the constitution, admiration for soldiers and suspicion of the federal government, this year’s Ames crowd clapped and whooped at any mention of protecting the unborn, defending marriage, adhering to biblical principles and especially at every use of the word “Iowa”.
原：伴随着常规的庆祝言论，包括美国的伟大、对宪法的崇敬、对士兵的敬佩以及对联邦政府的怀疑，今年艾姆斯市民们对于保护胎儿、捍卫婚姻、坚守圣经原则以及特别是用到“爱荷华州”这个词时，都鼓掌高呼。
评：这句是说Ames人对候选人发言中什么样的言论反响最强烈，后面翻的都很好，就是前面usual cheers，翻做“常规庆祝言论”有些不明所以，似乎是说“除了那些通常都反响热烈的言论，如美国的伟大等”
3) Moreover, Ames is a bring-your-own-voters affair.
原：而且，艾姆斯市是赢得自己选民的地方。
评：Ames的非正式投票不一样的地方是，一般选举投票是要当地的注册选民、而且要自费去、出车费这样的行为是非法的拉票，而这个投票中，每个候选人可以把外地选民带来投票、给选民们出车费等等，差不多是“招徕自己的支持者投票”。
4) All this means that candidates like Mrs Bachmann, a conservative firebrand who was born in Iowa, and those with small but devoted followings, such as Ron Paul, a libertarian from Texas, tend to do well. True to form ......
原：这一切意味着，出生在爱荷华州的保守主义煽动者巴赫曼夫人，还有那些支持者人数较少但是都和忠诚的竞选者，诸如来自于德州的自由主义者荣•保罗（Ron Paul），都趋向于努力表现。
评：tend to do well不是说他们要努力表现，这整句是预测他们俩这样的候选人在这样的投票中的"结果会(倾向于)比较好"。后面的true to form是回应tend to do well的预测，是说，实际结果符合预测。
5) Mr McCain had not bothered to campaign for the straw poll and got less than 1% of the vote.
原：麦凯恩没有参与非正式竞选，只获得了不到1%的选票
评：有点较真儿了，不过我觉得bothered的那份不屑的语气没翻出来比较可惜。另外，campaign for是说没有积极运动，但是名字还是在vote中出现的，跟完全没有参与的participate还是有区别。
6) It also helps to identify the candidate with the most appeal to the party’s right wing.
原：同样也能有助于鉴定候选人是否符合政党右派的要求。
改：it也有助于分辨出最受共和党右翼派支持的候选人 / 对共和党右翼派最具吸引力的候选人。
7) Mrs Bachmann, who wants the federal government to cut spending by almost half overnight and has battled against gay marriage for her entire political career, fits the bill perfectly.
原：巴赫曼夫人希望联邦政府一次性将支出消减一半，而且在其整个政治生涯中反对同性恋婚姻，这些完全符合共和党的要求。
评：这句是承上，the bill指的是the party's right wing的要求，说成整个共和党有点儿大了。毕竟这篇文章强调的是要辩证地看Straw poll，说它不代表caususes，强调是right wing不算我较真儿
背景知识的补充，收益良多啊！
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