飓风“桑迪”增加美国大选不确定因素

Gallup suspended its nightly polling of the presidential race. State officials asked residents to bring political lawn signs indoors, so they wouldn't become projectiles. President Barack Obama canceled campaign-trail appearances and Mitt Romney suspended much of his campaigning.

盖洛普(Gallup)中止了针对本次总统选举每晚进行民调的做法。各州官员要求居民把草坪上的政治标语拿回室内，以免被狂风卷走。美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)取消了参加竞选活动，罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)也暂停了大部分竞选造势活动。

Hurricane Sandy on Monday disrupted many elements of the presidential contest, leaving the two political campaigns and campaign strategists trying to navigate a wild card in the election and unclear on which side stood to benefit more.

周一袭来的飓风“桑迪(Sandy)扰乱了选战中的许多要素，两方的竞选团队和竞选策略人士都在努力把握选情中的不确定因素，他们无法弄清楚哪一方将在风暴过后受益更多。

With no full sense yet of how many people would be affected by the storm, and how severely, most strategists said it was too early to understand its effect on the race.

目前还无法全面获知将有多少人受到风暴影响，或是影响程度如何。大多数策略人士说，现在判断飓风对选情的影响为时过早。

Fred Malek, a Romney fundraiser and supporter, said the focus on the storm would slow Mr. Romney's momentum by distracting from the election. 'The main story for the next couple days is going to be Sandy, so, naturally, it interrupts anybody's momentum,' he said.

罗姆尼的筹款人和支持者马利克(Fred Malek)说，风暴将会分散人们对大选的注意力，削弱罗姆尼的竞选势头。他说，未来几天的主要话题是“桑迪，这自然会打断候选人的竞选势头。

At the same time, Mr. Malek said it was late in the election process for voters to change their views of Mr. Obama's leadership skills based on how he handles the storm.

马利克说，在选举的晚些时候，选民们可能会根据奥巴马对风暴的处理情况改变对奥巴马领导能力的看法。

Democrats saw potential for Mr. Obama to gain and lose ground from his shift to emergency-management mode.

民主党人认为，奥巴马着手开展应急管理工作之后，既有可能赢得支持，也有可能失去支持。

'To the extent there is a crisis and the president provides the kind of leadership he does in a crisis, it inures to his benefit,' said Mark Mellman, a Democratic political strategist. 'If things don't go well in terms of responding, that could inure to his detriment.'

民主党策略人士梅尔曼(Mark Mellman)说，如果危机发生的时候总统能展示出相应的领导力，这对他有利，但如果应急反应方面做得不好，则可能给他带来不利影响。

Even with Messrs. Obama and Romney canceling appearances, the political machinery ground on. Strategists gamed out whether the storm, by keeping people home, would increase viewership of campaign ads - and whether those ads would look off-key amid TV images of people struggling in the storm.

尽管奥巴马和罗姆尼都取消了在竞选活动中露面，政治机器仍在单调而乏味地继续。策略人士纷纷猜测，许多人因风暴被迫呆在家中，这是否会增加竞选广告被看到的几率，或者，在人们在风暴中挣扎的电视画面中，这些广告的出现是否显得不合时宜。

Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney super PAC, announced it would spend more than $2 million to run an ad in Pennsylvania - including in Philadelphia, which lies in Sandy's path - criticizing Mr. Obama's economic stewardship.

支持罗姆尼的超级委员会“重建我们的未来(Restore Our Future)宣布，将斥资超过200万美元在宾夕法尼亚推出一个广告，批评奥巴马的经济管理能力。广告的覆盖地区包括位于“桑迪的行进路线上费城。

Political operatives said that as of Monday afternoon, it was premature to silence the guns of the campaign, since the eastern seaboard hadn't yet incurred serious damage. That likely will change Tuesday if the country wakes up to images of wrecked coastlines and stories of casualties.

政治竞选专家说，在周一下午之前停下竞选活动为时过早，因为东部沿海地区并没有受到严重影响。如果周二出现沿海地区遭到破坏和人员伤亡的消息，情况就不同了。

Early voting was suspended in some places, a potential problem for Mr. Obama, whose campaign is relying heavily on locking in votes before Election Day. But the disruptions, so far, weren't large, affecting Maryland and the District of Columbia - which Mr. Romney isn't contesting - as well as at least one county in North Carolina, a battleground state.

一些地方的提前投票已经中止，这可能会为奥巴马带来不利影响，因为在选举日之前锁定投票对奥巴马的选情至关重要。但是到目前为止，受到影响的范围不大，仅包括马里兰州和哥伦比亚特区，以及战场州北卡罗来纳州的至少一个县。罗姆尼目前已经放弃了马里兰州和哥伦比亚特区。

Virginia, a battleground state affected by the storm, closed some polling sites but allows only limited early voting by absentee ballot.

在受到风暴影响的摇摆州弗吉尼亚州，一些投票点已经关闭，但是有限的以缺席选举的方式进行的提前投票仍然可以进行。

Some of the states most affected─New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware - will be in the Obama column, storm or no storm. The swing states of Ohio and Florida weren't directly in the storm's path.

一些受影响最严重的州──纽约、新泽西、马里兰和特拉华州──不管有没有暴风雨都会支持奥巴马。摇摆州俄亥俄和佛罗里达并不位于风暴的行进路线上。