The Iowa ONE team headed up to Ames in the early morning on the 11th for one of the biggest Republican sponsored events of the year. The Ames Straw Poll is an all day event that brings together Republican presidential campaigns and the states most active voters face to face. The ONE campaign was a major sponsor of the event and had a booth alongside the presidential campaigns outside of Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State University Campus. Throughout the day country music artist Rockie Lynne performed on behalf of ONE and talked to the crowd about the importance of the campaign.

ONE members had many interesting conversations with people who had done work through their church in places as diverse as western Africa or Brazil. One theme continually came up, while we champion countries that improve their economies those living in poverty are often forgotten.

Tens of thousands were on hand for the event but that didn’t stop Senator Sam Brownback from stopping by the ONE booth. He gave us a strong endorsement and talked about how helping people living in poverty is a moral issue for America. The senator gave us our first video clip which can be seen on YouTube.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney also stopped by and thanked the volunteers for their hard work and dozens of campaign staff and volunteers came by to get bands, tote bags and water bottles.

The event was one of our most successful so far as we signed up almost 700 new supporters and educated thousands more.

-Jeff Yanecek, IA ONE Volunteer