KFC announced recently that they plan to post a $20,000 bounty to get world hunger discussed in tonight’s presidential debate. If anyone asks a question or makes a statement on-air regarding world hunger during the debate, KFC will donate $20,000 to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Excerpts below, full “Market Watch” piece here.

“Global hunger has reached epic proportions,” KFC President Roger Eaton said. “Starvation kills more people worldwide than war, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. This issue deserves the national spotlight and we hope someone gives this important issue a voice Tuesday night.”

Global hunger has affected nearly 1 billion people due to the convergence of higher commodity and global food prices; increased competition for products that produce energy; severe droughts and floods due to climate change; and increasing demand from growing economies in Asia and South America.

The October 7th debate between Senators Obama and McCain at Belmont University in Nashville will be a town-hall format in which the candidates will have to field questions on any topic from the audience and the internet. That gives you a really unique opportunity to submit your own ONE Questions for consideration. You can do so by following this link to the MySpace “My Debates” forum:

http://www.myspace.com/mydebates

In the last 2 weeks, we’ve gotten an astounding 120,463 signatures for our “Just ONE Question” campaign, demonstrating that well over our goal of 100,000 Americans believe global poverty is a critical issue Obama and McCain should address in a major media forum.

We hand-delivered about 103,000 of those signatures to debate moderator Jim Lehrer’s office in Arlington in advance of the debate. We’re disappointed Lehrer didn’t ask our question, but our momentum is still going strong and now we’re shifting focus to the next debate: October 7th in Nashville, moderated by Tom Brokaw.

If you haven’t signed on, please sign the petition by clicking the link below.

http://www.one.org/debates

And if you have signed on already, please tell a friend.

-Emily Stivers

ONE’s new TV ad – set to air on cable nationally surrounding the upcoming president debates.

Our petition, asking debate moderator Jim Lehrer to ask “Just ONE Question” about extreme poverty now has 107.905 signatures. We’ll keep delivering new signatures as they come in, so sign on if you haven’t already.

-Virginia Simmons

On Tuesday we launched our new “Just ONE Question” campaign to get a question about global poverty included in next Friday’s presidential debate. In just 48 hours, over 45,000 of you signed the petition, putting us on the verge of surpassing our ambitious goal of 50,000!

Remember—since 1960, only 2 questions about global poverty have been asked in a presidential debate. We have it within our power to change that this year.

Please add your voice by signing the petition and be sure to share this campaign with your friends!

Petition text:

Mr. Lehrer:

At the presidential debate, please ask John McCain and Barack Obama just ONE question about their plans to fight global poverty.

Thanks for all you do,

Chris Scott

P.S. Check out this video we made for the campaign, and share it with your friends!

UPDATE [1:45 p.m.]: If you missed today’s webcast of John Edwards answering live questions at UNH and from people online, don’t despair. It’s being re-broadcast tonight at 7:00 p.m. on MTV. I don’t want to give too much away, but ONE did play a role and we learned more about Edwards’ position on global AIDS.

Today at noon, YOU’LL have the chance to ask Senator John Edwards a question when he sits down with MTV, MySpace and a college audience at the University of New Hampshire.

No more tired questions from talking heads. You’ll get to submit your questions online in real time and hear them read by MTV correspondents. This is your chance to ask John Edwards – and in the weeks ahead all the other major presidential candidates from both parties – hard-hitting questions about what the next president should do to fight extreme poverty and global disease.

Here’s how to get in on the action:

1. Visit our question page for advice how to formulate a question about extreme poverty.
2. Watch the MTV/MySpace Presidential Dialogue with John Edwards live today online at 12:00 p.m. EST on MTV.com or MySpace.com/election2008.
3. During the debate, submit your question for John Edwards on MTV.com, or through MySpaceIM.
4. Use the live polling feature to rate each answer either: ‘agree,’ ‘disagree,’ ‘full of bull,’ ’scripted/canned,’ ’sincere/authentic,’ or ‘well argued.’
5. Stay tuned and let’s hear how John Edwards plans to end poverty if he’s elected president.
6. If you can’t watch live, it’ll be broadcast on MTV tonight at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Remember to include in your question that you’re a member of the ONE Campaign, a movement of over 2 million Americans working together as ONE to end extreme poverty and global disease and save millions of lives in the world’s poorest countries.

-Aaron Banks