美國國會女議員巴赫曼宣佈競選總統

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has formally launched her campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Bachmann is not the best known Republican running for president for next year, but she does have a growing national following among conservative voters who are looking for an alternative to the current front runner, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

明尼蘇達州選出的國會女衆議員米歇爾.巴赫曼正式競選總統大選共和黨黨內提名。巴赫曼在角逐明年總統大選的共和黨人中並不是最有名的，但她在全國保守派選民中的支持度逐漸攀升，這些選民在尋找除了目前領先者、也就是前任麻薩諸塞州州長羅姆尼之外的人選。

Michele Bachmann kicks off bid for US president

Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign in the town where she was born, Waterloo, Iowa. “We can win in 2012 and we will win!” she exclaimed.

米歇爾.巴赫曼在她出生的小鎮愛奧華州的滑鐵盧展開競選活動，巴赫曼說：“我們可以在2012年勝利，我們將會勝利！”

Bachmann has been elected to Congress three times from neighboring Minnesota, but her Iowa roots could help her next year when Iowa begins the presidential nominating process with its presidential party caucuses, now set for February.

巴赫曼在隔州的明尼蘇達州三次獲選爲國會衆議員，但她的愛奧華州背景有助於她明年在愛奧華州的總統初選投票黨內提名過程中脫穎而出。總統初選投票將在明年二月舉行。

Polls indicate close run with Romney

Bachmann got some good news in the latest Des Moines Register poll that found her nearly tied with Mitt Romney for the top choice among Iowa Republicans. Romney had 23 percent support followed closely by Bachmann at 22 percent. The rest of the Republican field lagged behind.

巴赫曼在《狄蒙紀錄報》最新的民調中出現了好消息。這項調查顯示，她幾乎和羅姆尼並駕齊驅，成爲愛奧華州共和黨人的首選。羅姆尼獲得23%選民支持，而巴赫曼的22%緊追在後。其他的共和黨競爭者都遠遠落後。

Bachmann hopes to capitalize on her support among two key Republican voting groups in the race for the 2012 nomination, social conservatives and Tea Party activists pushing for a smaller central government.

巴赫曼希望利用她在兩個共和黨關鍵投票團體的支持度，幫助她贏得2012年提名。這兩個團體是社會保守派，以及推動小政府的茶黨活動人士。

“Government thinks they know better how to make a better life for us. They think they create jobs. They even think they can make us healthier. But that is not the case. We have to recapture the founder’s vision of a constitutionally conservative government if we are to secure the promise for the future,” she said.

巴赫曼說：“政府認爲他們比我們知道怎麼讓我們生活得更好。他們認爲他們創造了工作。他們甚至認爲他們可以讓我們更健康。但並不是這樣的。如果我們要展望未來的話，我們必須重現立國者的立憲保守政府理念。”

Like many other Republican presidential candidates, Bachmann contends the image of the United States around the world has declined under the leadership of President Barack Obama.

就像許多其他共和黨候選人，巴赫曼聲稱，美國在奧巴馬總統的領導下在全世界的形象沒落。

“And we can not afford four more years of a foreign policy with a president who leads from behind and who does not stand up for our friends like Israel, and who too often fails to stand against our enemies," she stated. "We cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama!”

巴赫曼說：“我們承受不起另外四年這樣的外交政策，跟一個總統只會在幕後領導，不僅不支持我們的盟友、像以色列，也常常無法對抗我們的敵人。我們承受不起另外四年的奧巴馬。”Political experts say Bachmann made a strong showing at the most recent Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire and the latest poll results suggest she has vaulted into the top tier of candidates that includes Mitt Romney.

政治專家說，巴赫曼最近在新罕布什州的共和黨總統辯論表現出色，而且最新民調結果顯示，她已經躍升進入包括羅姆尼在內的前排候選人。

Some of Bachmann’s gain may be coming at the expense of former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. He was seen by many analysts as a potentially strong contender when he first got into the race.

巴赫曼獲得的一部分支持可能將犧牲前明尼蘇達州長蒂姆.普蘭提。他在剛開始角逐時，許多分析人士看好他是名具備潛力的競爭者。

Nominee, still too early to call

But Pawlenty only received six-percent support in the Des Moines Register poll in Iowa even though he has intensively campaigned there for months.

但即使普蘭提已經在愛奧華州密集競選了好個月，他在愛奧華州《狄蒙紀錄報》只獲得了6%的支持率。

Pawlenty spoke on NBC’s Today program. “These early polls are not very good predictors of how the race is going to come out. If they were we would have Hillary Clinton as president. So there is still plenty of time to do well in Iowa and beyond,” he said.

Political analysts note the 2012 presidential campaign is still in its early stages and the actual process of selecting a nominee will not begin until early next year.

政治分析人士注意到，2012年總統大選競選活動還處於初期階段，一直要到明年年初纔會真正開始選出候選人。

But Michele Bachmann’s early bump in the polls and her proven ability to raise campaign funds should make her a formidable candidate in a crowded Republican presidential field.

但是巴赫曼在民調的早期勝利，以及她籌募競選資金的能力，應該會使她在擁擠的共和黨提名競賽中成爲令人生畏的候選人。