In the News: Bear Hugs. No. Seriously.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:25 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
There was a great ONE story in the U.K. newspaper the Guardian this week. The article focuses on a term Tucker Eskew suggested for ONE’s new form of bird dogging presidential candidates: bear hugging, as well as ONE’s “get out the vote” plans in the early primary states, new TV ad, and on ONE Vote ’08’s overall mission and effectiveness.
Excepts from Monday’s Guardian article:
Tucker Eskew, a former aide to president George Bush who works with One, has even coined a fitting name for the group’s less confrontational approach: “bear-hugging”.
Bear-huggers are One organizers or members who show up at campaign events with questions about Aids, early education and healthcare in developing nations. The “hugs” they receive can be as brief as a handshake encounter or more profound, in the form of anti-poverty policies that many presidential hopefuls provided to One this month.
Whether through small steps or great leaps, however, the group sees this presidential election as pivotal to its far broader mission.
….Of its estimated 2.4m members, One estimates that 80% are registered voters and more than 50,000 live in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, sites of the first three presidential primaries.
….For former Iowa lieutenant governor Sally Pederson, the initiative is already bearing fruit. Pederson serves as a One representative in her state and said she is impressed by the number of Kiwanis and Lions clubs - which are influential in the heartland but leery of politics - that have asked her to speak about the group’s goals.
“That said something. This is not just happening in Des Moines, or large cities, or just among people who are politically active,” Pederson said. “This is something that is going on in small towns.”
Read the full article here.
-Virginia Simmons
December 19th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
This is a GREAT article, Virginia. Thank you so much for posting it here in the ONE Blog!
I must applaud the efforts of our fellow ONE supporters in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada for all the ground-breaking work that they have put into our ONE Vote ‘08 initiatives in their states.
You all have done a TREMENDOUS amount of good for our movement to make extreme poverty history.
It is up to all of us around the country to pick up the torch and carry it for ONE when the Presidential primaries hit our states (For us in Texas, that will be in March). We must never diminish our high commitment to ONE for our movement exists to make our world a fairer place for everyONE.
Take very good care of each other, my friends. Blessings are always around!
ALWAYS ONE in the Spirit, debbie