Unsurprisingly caucuses tended to attract a small and static cross section of the Iowa electorate, made up of older voters, party functionaries, longtime partisans—those who hewed, in general, to the tried-and-true.

不出所料，预选会议往往会吸引一艾的选民，些选民由年长的选民、政党工作人员、长期的党派人士组成——些人通常都遵循久经考验的真理。

For months, the cable news commentators had doubted that Iowans would stand up for Barack at caucus time, insinuating that as dynamic and unusual a candidate as he was, he still wouldn't manage to convert the enthusiasm into votes.

几个月来，有线电视新闻评论员一直怀疑艾是否会在预选会议期间站出来支持貝拉克，暗示尽管他是一位充满活力和不寻常的候选人，但他仍然无法将热情转化为选票。