05 November 2009

Vocabulary In the News : 4 November 2009 – The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey)

NJ_TR

Visit the newspapers homepage at: http://www.northjersey.com

The top headline of Wednesday’s front page from concerned Tuesday’s election results for the state of New Jersey. New Jerseyans went to the polls on Tuesday to elect a governor as well as other state positions. If you go to the polls, you go vote at polling station you are registered at.

The race between incumbent Governor Corzine and Republican candidate Chris Christie was very close but in the end, Christie managed to sway the majority of voters in his favor. To sway literally means to swing move gently from side to side but it can also mean, as in the front page headline, to influence or change someone’s opinion. You could also say that Christie’s campaign and program for New Jersey held sway (to hold sway – irregular verb) over the voters of New Jersey. Another way of saying this is that the voters fell under Christie’s sway and elected him governor.

Read more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/governorsrace2009.html

In an opinion article also found on the front page, the author states that the GOP (Grand Old Party – the other name for the Republican Party) is rudderless no more. A rudder is a flat piece of wood or other material in the back of a boat that is moved to change the direction the boat travels. Idiomatically, if we say a group or organization is rudderless, we say that they lack a clear aim, purpose or direction. The GOP in New Jersey now has the governorship in a state that is traditionally a Democratic bastion and is no longer rudderless.

Read more at : http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/political_stile/State_GOP_is_rudderless_no_more.html

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