ONE Vote ‘08 has sent field staff to key swing states to raise the issue of global poverty at the candidates’ events leading up to the election. Below posts from Tyler in Pennsylvania and Jedidiah in Florida.

Well, I just landed here in Pennsylvania and I’ve already hit the ground running. On April 4, a panel of Senator Obama’s senior foreign policy advisors met at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss Senator Obama’s positions on foreign affairs. While many of the questions focused on the War in Iraq, relations with China, Russia, and Pakistan, and the tension between international law and national security, one question did address issues of concern to ONE.

Dr. Susan Rice, a former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, responded to a question on economic development and combating major disease in Africa, especially in light of Senator Obama’s personal connections to the continent. She said America and the world had been “ill-served by relegating Africa to the back burner” because it is in our strategic and security interests to be involved on the continent. She said Senator Obama would pursue a more “holistic” approach, addressing “trans-national” security challenges, from terrorism and proliferation to disease and environmental degradation. She claims that one of Senator Obama¹s unique foreign policy insights was the recognition that “our national security depends on the security of people in every corner of the globe.” She said as president, Senator Obama would double foreign aid and would work to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure in developing countries.

-Tyler Bond, ONE Vote ‘08 field organizer, Pennsylvania

Friday was my first day and I had the job of going to a McCain roundtable event in Pensacola, Florida, and making sure the poorest in the world weren’t forgotten at the event.

At the event I was able to reach out to Republican leaders in the panhandle for the ONE Campaign and the global fight against extreme poverty. Clay Williams the Republican Field Staff for the Panhandle and Clay Ingram the Chairman of the Escambia County Republican Executive Committee received our platform well. I am excited to work with them in the future.

-Jedidiah Hall, ONE Vote ‘08 field organizer, Florida

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Florida, Pennsylvania, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Barack Obama, ONE Vote 08. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.