Romney, Gilmore, Brownback in South Carolina

The South Carolina Republican Party held its annual state convention Saturday, May 19th in Columbia. Three presidential hopefuls – former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback – made appearances. The state party delegates also heard from South Carolina’s own US Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint, as well as Governor Mark Sanford.

Half a dozen eager volunteers distributed wristbands, copies of Bono’s “On the Move,” pins, and fact sheets to attendees, with dozens of the Republicans attending signing up to become members of ONE. Staff and volunteers also talked with all three presidential hopefuls, as well as sitting Governor Mark Sanford and former South Carolina Governor David Beasley. Each was given a wristband, a sticker, and a copy of “On the Move.” All were very responsive and expressed sincere interest in the ONE Campaign.

Because of the heavy overlap of attendees, ONE’s presence at the convention complimented earlier outreach programs at the Silver Elephant dinner and the “First in the South” Republican Primary Debate. We will continue our efforts, and increase the tempo, by hosting additional pre-primary events across the Palmetto State in the coming weeks.

Arkansas: From 0 to 37 (Cities of ONE) in 6 Months

When I joined ONE in December 2006 I was not entirely sure how I was
going to get involved and use my voice to help fight extreme poverty and
AIDS around the world. I was just one person in Arkansas, but thinking
about my own son and thinking about the fact that every day almost
30,000 children under age 5 will die from preventable and or treatable
diseases I knew I had to take action!

While on www.one.org I found
information on how to make your city a “City of ONE” and got to work
with my home town of Sherwood, Arkansas. It didn’t stop there though I
kept going, with a goal of getting every city in Arkansas on the ONE
map! To date I have worked with mayors and city councils across the
state and have 37 “City of ONE” proclamations, more than any other state
in the Nation. Now the governor has proclaimed Arkansas as a “State of
ONE” and it is time to celebrate!

For the occasion we are hosting “ONE Arkansas” in Little Rock on May 31,
2007, at 2:00 p.m. in the State Capitol Rotunda. This special event
brings Arkansas ONE supporters together to celebrate Governor Mike
Beebe’s leadership in declaring Arkansas a “State of ONE” in 2007, 37
Cities of ONE across the State, and to celebrate the leadership that
Arkansas’ elected officials have demonstrated on both the state and
federal levels.

I will be speaking at ONE Arkansas and other confirmed speakers at the
press conference include Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, Group Vice
President of Enterprise and Agriculture for Winrock International David
Norman, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Heifer
International Tom Peterson, and other representatives from the
community.

If you are one of the over 12,000 ONE members in Arkansas, please come
out and join me next Thursday because when we work together as ONE we
are helping to change lives in Africa and the world’s poorest countries.

ONE Breaks 100,000 MySpace Friends!

The ONE Campaign MySpace page that San Diego ONE member Danny Castro built back in May 2005 has broken 100,000 friends! This makes it one of the most popular groups on MySpace.

When I started on staff last summer, Danny had already been doing hours of online work for ONE every day. Danny maintains the page and takes the time to send every new member a personal welcome message. He estimates that he’s spent 1,200 hours on the page over the last two years.

A note from Danny:

“Encouraging people to visit ONE.org, learn more about the Campaign and get involved is something that just seemed natural to me after I knew what ONE was doing…It’s been a great experience for me. ONE supporters rallied behind the cause, really got the word out, and together we’ve built an extremely successful site working for a cause I believe in. I’ve also had some fun opportunities as a result.

Check out ONE Campaign MySpace page and join if you haven’t already. Also, note that Danny is featured in the group’s “top friends.” Go ahead and send him a quick note of thanks.

Romney Run-In, 8am

Another early day on the campaign trail.

The governor was very kind and supportive of ONE. He encouraged us to keep getting out there and showing the country how important the campaign to make poverty history is.

I know my kids really understand that there is a direct link to poverty and global stability and in turn national security. They want a safe and peaceful world for them and the boys and girls they may never meet.

Now off to Nashua.

A Cause Worth Facebooking For

The first donation is in!!

Facebook just launched an exciting new feature called Causes. Users can create a cause, and these causes can support a non-profit of their choice. Through this new feature, Jesse Knutson, a ONE supporter from North Dakota, just donated $50 to ONE, which is sure to be the first of much more to come.

You can join the ONE Campaign cause, or you can start your own cause to support ONE!
Check it out.

John Edwards to Build Cabinet (Position)

In an address before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, John Edwards identified global poverty as critical to American national security. In the speech, Edwards proposed an increase of $5 billion in annual foreign assistance and the creation of a cabinet level post to lead an effort which would include the means to “educate every child in the world.”

An excerpt from the speech:

“Any new strategy must include new preventive measures to win the long-term struggle and fuel hope and opportunity. This includes strong and creative diplomacy, and also new efforts to lead the fight against global poverty. I’ve proposed a plan to lead an international effort to educate every child in the world. As president, I would increase foreign assistance by $5 billion a year to make millions of people safer, healthier, and more democratic, and by creating a cabinet-level post to lead this effort.”

The full text of the speech can be found at the Edward’s Campaign website.

Giuliani Not Taking New Hampshire for Granite

Rudy Giuliani gave a campaign stump speech in Keene, New Hampshire, on Wednesday. ONE members Kevin Schmitt and Melissa Skinner traveled there to make sure that the mayor heard from the ONE Campaign while he was in the Granite State.

When they finally got to Keene, they found out that the event was unfortunately closed to the public. But ONE members, Kevin and Melissa went above and beyond and waited two hours for the event to finish. After waiting patiently in the hot sun, a campaign staffer approached them and took them to meet privately with the mayor. They told me that Rudy was very familiar with the ONE Campaign and told them that our work fighting AIDS in Africa was very important. Melissa even put the ONE band on the mayor’s wrist you see in the photo.

By uniting as ONE, we have a unique and historic opportunity to make sure that the next president of the United States knows that fighting global disease and extreme poverty in the developing world is an American priority.

Hunting Duncan Hunter

On Wednesday I attended a Duncan Hunter Meet and Greet in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina.

I arrived probably a good 45 minutes before Congressman Hunter arrived and just set up in the room where everyone was scheduled to meet. Everyone was very nice and knowledgeable about the ONE Campaign itself. I had no problems getting introduced and explaining to Congressman Hunter what ONE was all about. He was cordial and was not hesitant to take a bracelet.

Attached is the picture that I got.

Brownback Backs ONE in Iowa

Senator Sam Brownback was at Glen Oaks Country Club in Des Moines today to share lunch and meet with Iowa pastors and church representatives.

Brownback was in Sioux City earlier in the day before heading to Ames and Davenport later in the evening. He’ll conclude his Iowa trip tomorrow with a stop in Cedar Rapids at the Marriot Hotel.

ONE members were able to meet with Brownback in Des Moines where he took a ONE band and said what a wonderful job he thought the ONE campaign was doing.

To Be Continued…

A couple weeks ago, we asked you to tell your members of Congress to support the U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act, a bipartisan bill led by Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Christopher Shays (R-CT).

Committed ONE members volunteered last week by helping sort and deliver these letters, but due to your overwhelming response, we are still finishing up personally delivering the letters to your Congress members’ offices.

This afternoon, I stepped aside from my PC for a while and made my way down to the Hill to help finish off the delivery process.

In one of the last offices I visited, the staff assistant for a congressman from Iowa greeted me warmly and asked if I worked for the ONE Campaign. After I told him I did, he proudly showed me his wrist, upon which hung two ONE bands! He let me know that he was a big ONE fan and to keep up the good work.

It is difficult to believe that in our day and age, 10 million children under the age of five still die from preventable diseases each year. In such a crisis, each vote in Congress is important, and ONE members are doing their part to bring an end to extreme poverty and preventable global diseases. Thanks to you, that movement is stepping forward once again. Tomorrow, we will finish off the delivery process. Stay tuned for updates.