Running for president is like enter-ing a competitive eating contest and a beauty pageant all at once. Candidates are expected to eat local specialties often and with gusto, yet still look at-tractive and fit.

參選總統就像同時參加吃東西比賽及選美。選民往往希望候選人吃吃當地名產，不但要吃得津津有味，吃相還得迷人稱頭。

So it is no wonder that many of this year's candidates have what might be called food issues-the same kinds that plague the rest of us, especially at this time of year, but exacerbated by the brutal demands of campaign life.

怪不得今年不少候選人有所謂的飲食問題，也就是困擾我們其他人同樣的問題，尤其每年這個時候（指感恩節），候選人尤其因競選活動的野蠻要求而更加惡質。

The Democratic contenders include Gov. Bill Richardson, a veteran of the Atkins and liquid diets who wears a double chin despite daily workouts. Senator Barack Obama, who was chubby as a child, refers to himself as skinny in speeches and barely touches fatty foods — except at events like the Iowa State Fair, where he ate caramel corn, pork and a corn dog for the cameras. At one campaign event, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said she prayed to God to help her lose weight.

民主黨參選人，包括州長李查森長期奉行阿金減肥法及攝取流質食物，他雖然每天健身仍有雙下巴。參議員歐巴馬童年時很胖，現在則言稱自己瘦巴巴，也幾乎不碰肥胖的食物，除了在像愛阿華州農特產品展等場合，為了上鏡，他當時吃了焦糖爆米花、豬肉和熱狗玉米棒。在一次競選場合，參議員希拉蕊．柯林頓說，她祈禱上帝能幫她減重。

On the Republican side, there is Mike Huckabee, a self-described “recovering food addict” who lost 110 pounds a few years ago. Rudolph W. Giuliani and Fred D. Thompson are on diets imposed by their wives. Mitt Romney is so vigilant about nu-trition that he eats the same thing ev-ery day: his wife's granola for breakfast, a chicken or turkey sandwich for lunch, and pasta, fish or chicken for dinner.

在共和黨陣營，哈克比自稱「對食物上癮現正勒戒中」，他幾年前掉了110磅重。朱良尼和湯普森則奉老婆之命正在節食。羅尼也因十分小心攝取營養，每天吃的東西幾乎一成不變：早餐吃太太準備的燕麥片，午餐以雞肉或火雞三明治打發，晚餐則吃義大利式麵食、魚肉或雞肉。

And John McCain probably spoke for all the candidates when he arrived at a New Hampshire college for a speech recently and surveyed the snack foods set out backstage. “I’d love some spaghetti,” he said wist-fully, as if a warm, comforting meal could somehow be conjured out of the air.

馬侃可能一語道盡所有候選人的心聲，當他最近到新罕布夏一所大學演講，環顧後台一字排開的餐點時，他充滿渴望地說：「好想吃點義大利麵！」好像一頓溫暖舒適的晚餐會憑空出現。

The candidates are “for all intents and purposes out of control of their diets,” said Walter Scheib, former White House chef to the Clintons and the Bushes. Many big events on the preprimary calendar, the Iowa State Fair, an everything-fry for instance, seem as likely to produce heart attacks as votes.

曾任柯林頓和布希白宮主廚的薛伯指出，總統候選人「為了種種用意和目標往往飲食失控」。初選前行程表上的許多大型造勢場合，以炸物為主的愛阿華州農特產品展為例，拉選票似乎和製造心臟病的機率一樣高。

Those wanting to be president must never, ever refuse or fumble the local specialties, lest they repeat the sins of John Kerry (dismissed as effete when he ordered a Philly cheese steak with Swiss in 2004) or Gerald R. Ford (on a 1976 swing through Texas, he bit into a tamale with the corn husk still on).

那些志在當總統的人，千萬絕對不能拒絕或搞砸地方美食，以免重蹈柯瑞或福特的覆轍。柯瑞2004年點一份費城牛肉三明治上面加瑞士起司時被罵娘娘腔，缺乏男子氣概。 1976年，福特到德州拜票時，竟咬一口墨西哥玉米粽，玉米葉還在。

Downing a regional delicacy with aplomb, Mr. Scheib said, tells voters: “I'm one of you. I'm part of this area. Vote for me. There are few things more personal than eating, and if you reject someone's food, you kind of reject them.”

前白宮主廚薛伯說，自信豪邁的大口吃下地方美食，以行動告訴選民：「我是你們當中的一份子，我也是在地人，投我一票。沒什麼比吃更貼近人性，你拒絕某些人的食物，多少等於拒絕了他們。」

So this fall, Mr. Giuliani has visited what seems like every diner in New Hampshire. Mrs. Clinton introduced calorie and fat counts on White House menus when she was first lady, but a few weeks ago in Tama, Iowa, she had a loose meat sandwich and fries.

因此，今秋朱良尼幾乎遍訪新罕夏州每一家餐廳。希拉蕊還是第一夫人時，率先在白宮食譜上註明卡路里和脂肪量；但幾周前到愛阿華州塔瑪市拜票時，她點了絞肉漢堡和薯條。

Food and drink have been central to American campaigns since colonial days, said Nancy Beck Young, a histo-rian at the University of Houston. In 1758, running for office in Virginia, George Washington dispensed rum, beer and cider to voters.

休士頓大學歷史學家南西．貝克‧楊格說，自殖民時代以來，飲食一直是美國選戰核心。1758年，美國國父華盛頓在維吉尼亞州競選公職時，大量分送蘭姆酒、啤酒和西打給選民。

Candidates-and even their spouses — must keep the pounds off, or risk the sort of ridicule that Bill Clinton and Al Gore endured. Elizabeth Ed-wards once landed at an airport in the 2004 election campaign to find a sign that said “fatso” waiting for her. This time around, she has whittled herself by several dress sizes while campaigning.

候選人，甚至他們的配偶，必須減重，否則就得像柯林頓和高爾經常忍受冷嘲熱諷。伊莉莎白．愛德華茲2004年競選途中到一處機場時，竟有人高舉寫著「肥嫂」的牌子等她。這次選戰，她一下減了好幾個尺碼。

Huckabee also eats lightly, sticking largely to salads, protein bars and steamed vegetables. Once so over-weight as governor of Arkansas that a chair collapsed under him at a meet-ing, he said in an interview that obe-sity could put politicians at a disad-vantage. "If you're really overweight, some people just look at you and im-mediately sort of write you off," he said. "They just assume you're undis-ciplined."

哈克比飲食也很清淡，大半吃生菜沙拉、高蛋白營養棒及清蒸蔬菜。哈克比在阿肯色州州長任內曾因過分超重，在一次會議中竟坐垮一張椅子，在一次訪問中他說，肥胖可能使候選人處於劣勢。他說：「如果你真的超重，有些選民光看你那副德性就立刻把你刷掉，他們認定你不能自律。」

（取材自紐約時報）