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小部分艾奥瓦州选民，些选民由选民、政党工作人员、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，有电视新闻评论员一直怀疑艾奥瓦州是否会在预选会议期间站出支持貝拉克，暗示尽管他是一位充满活力和不寻常候选人，但他仍然无法将热情转化为选票。