Reuters Rings in New Year with our ONE Marine

Check out the January 1, 2008 Reuters piece on former marine and ONE super activist Michael Castaldo.

Excerpt below:

RYE, N.H., Jan 1 (Reuters) - The war in Iraq, the war on terrorism and how to improve America’s image abroad are hot issues as presidential hopefuls court New Hampshire voters before the state’s Jan. 8 nominating primary.

But former U.S. Marine Michael Castaldo has been working tirelessly since February to focus voters on another foreign-policy issue — how the United States can do more to combat extreme poverty in places like Africa, eradicate malaria, combat AIDS/HIV and secure fair trade rules for poor nations.

As a volunteer for the One Campaign — an alliance of more than 100 charities funded by Irish rock star Bono and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — Castaldo says he has attended more than 200 campaign appearances since February…

Castaldo — who served as a Marine from 1984 to 1990, votes Republican and is an atheist — attends as many campaign events as time permits to press Republicans and Democrats alike to signal their support for One’s agenda.

Those tactics seem to be paying off. At almost every McCain campaign stop in the Granite State, the Republican from Arizona hands over his microphone to a One volunteer to tell voters about its agenda.

Castaldo asks candidates questions and says he gets supportive answers from Democrats, including front-runners Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama as well as from Republicans including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani….

Since taking up the cause in earnest, Castaldo says he has clocked 10,000 miles (16,000 km) driving across New Hampshire and donated more than 2,000 hours of his time. A former stockbroker and now a full-time homemaker, he and his wife have three children — one with autism and one with Asperger’s disorder, a related condition.

Read the full piece here.

-Virginia Simmons

Clinton Files for NH Primary. ONE Is There.

Sen. Hillary Clinton filed for the New Hampshire Primary on Friday and like every other candidate, she sat down at the famous desk in the NH Secretary of State’s Office, the same seat that a few of the girls from the African Children’s Choir sat in last week.

Sen. Clinton was joined by her state co-chair Bill Shaheen and greeted by NH State Sen. Maggie Hasson, both NH ONE Ambassadors. I could even see Sen. Hasson’s ONE band when she shook hands with Hillary!

After filing, Hillary made her way through the Hall of Flags and when she saw me, she noticed my ONE Vote ‘08 pin, and came right up to me asking about the ONE Campaign. I was able to talk with her about President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the new, fresh but struggling Liberia. Hillary told me how she has known President Johnson Sirleaf for years and how supportive she was.

Right before Hillary left the state house to give a speech to the large crowd that had gathered outside, ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo in his black ONE shirt, was able to catch the attention of Hillary and yelled out, “Madame Senator!” while holding out a ONE band. Hillary stopped and went over to Michael and immediately put on a ONE band and made her way to the stage where she saw and heard from many more ONE members in the crowd.

The NH filing period closes today, but ONE’s work is not done! From Sammi in Seattle, to Michael in the Granite State, and the 2.4 million ONE members in between, we are all doing our part to make sure our nation is doing everything we can to fight global disease and extreme poverty. We will make sure that the next president of the United States knows that saving lives in the poorest nations on Earth is not just possible, it is a priority!

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer