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，预会议往往会吸引小部分艾奥瓦州，些由年长、政党工作人、长期党派人士组成——些人通常都遵循久经考验真理。

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，有线电视新闻评直怀疑艾奥瓦州是否会在预会议期间站出来支持貝拉克，暗示尽管他是位充满活力和不寻常候人，但他仍然无法将热情转化为票。