blue blood
昨日のJTの見出しです。blue bloodは「貴族の血統、名門の出」という意味です。
blueはもちろん血液の色でなく、血管の色のことです。由来はスペイン語の「青い血 (sangre azul)」で、黒人のムーア人に支配されていたスペインで、白い肌に血管が青く浮き出るのが純粋なスペイン人であるというところからの説が有力です。
見出しの方はbloodを数えていますので、ここでは「二世議員」ということでしょう。runningは「立候補する」と「血液が流れる、血統を受け継ぐ」という意味がかけてあります。ちなみに、５人の候補者の中には山口関係者が２人います。（UG）
LDP race is on, with five blue bloods running
The Liberal Democratic Party's presidential campaign officially kicked off Friday in a five-horse race, with Shinzo Abe, Nobutaka Machimura, Nobuteru Ishihara, Shigeru Ishiba and Yoshimasa Hayashi vying for the task of regaining the government helm.
The election will decide who will lead the party in the next general election, which could come as soon as this fall, as well as possibly determine the next prime minister, since the LDP holds a lead over the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in recent surveys.
Despite the incumbent Sadakazu Tanigaki giving up his bid for re-election, the diverse set of candidates include a former prime minister, a veteran LDP faction leader, the current secretary general, an expert on security and diplomatic issues and the first Upper House member ever to run in the race.
