ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like this one from our field team and organizers on the road.
Beth talks to Gov. Christie as he puts on a ONE band
Last Friday, I attended a GOP rally in Lebanon, Ohio with appearances by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. I had the chance to talk and give a ONE band to Gov. Pawlenty, who immediately recognized my shirt and shook my hand. I told him “I know you’ve seen us out on the trail before,” and he said he has seen ONE across the country, and said we are doing great work!
Then, I spoke with Gov. Christie, who also knew about ONE and went on to compliment our efforts, too. I even spotted two staffers wearing ONE bands, and one of them told me he hasn’t taken his ONE band off in two years!
Saturday and Sunday, three ONE members and I attended a couple of events with Congressman and Minority Leader of the House, John Boehner. We were able to catch up with him on Sunday and told him how President Bush was historic in starting programs like PEPFAR and supporting the Global Fund. We told him that we hope that he will continue leadership on ONE’s critical life-saving issues. He told us that he was very familiar with ONE and took a ONE band from us!
Tomorrow is Election Day! Be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter for frequent updates.
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
Philadelphia Mayor Nutter with his ONE band
As the clock ticks closer to Election Day, ONE member Barb Barrar was out on the trail engaging US Senate candidates all weekend! On Saturday, Barb attended a rally for Pennsylvania Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak, featuring President Obama. While she wasn’t able to catch the President, she did speak with the congressman and reminded him of the work ONE is doing to fight extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
On Thursday afternoon, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell traveled to the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester, N.H., to campaign for John Stephen, who is running for governor of New Hampshire.
He said that he was given a white ONE band and he gladly accepted another one from me. We chatted about how PEPFAR was started under President George Bush and how John McCain has always been a great friend to ONE members along the campaign trail.
Come November 3rd, our elected California senator will represent the largest single-state constituency of ONE members around the world. And since we enjoy an international stage here in the Golden State, quite often our conversations don’t reflect on whether, but rather how we tackle extreme poverty and preventable disease around the world.
Whether you live in NorCal or SoCal, or identify yourself as a progressive or conservative, the facts remain the same. In less than a decade, support for the Global Fund has helped save 5.7 million lives, while 2.7 million lives have been spared from HIV/AIDS because of the U.S. initiative known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
For months now, ONE members have been hitting the trail in the Granite State to urge continued leadership in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease in Africa, and to make sure that the next senator from New Hampshire knows that saving lives in the poorest nations on earth is not only possible, but it is a priority. US Senate candidates Kelly Ayotte and Paul Hodes have seen ONE at their campaign events across the state, worn their ONE bands, posed for pictures and talked with ONE members about US efforts to save lives in Africa.
Just like ONE Vote ’08, we asked candidates to make time for the ten thousand New Hampshire ONE members, and the world’s poorest people, and answer our 2010 ONE Vote question:
ONE’s vision for Africa is rooted in a moral and humanitarian desire to help the most vulnerable people, a recognition that building economic opportunities abroad creates opportunities at home, and a strategic understanding that our national security is intertwined with the stability of poor countries across the globe. Through bipartisan cooperation in Washington, the US has been a leader in helping provide millions of Africans with life-saving medicine, children with the chance to go to school, and women with the tools to feed their families, while investing in sustainable economic growth and tackling corruption to ensure scarce resources are used as intended.
How best can the US continue to tackle global disease, poverty, and hunger?
Here is what each one of them told ONE:
Kelly Ayotte (R)
Paul Hodes (D)
We would like to thank both Kelly Ayotte, Paul Hodes, their campaign staffs and all of the ONE members who used their voices to help make this happen. We are proud of American efforts to save lives in the poorest nations on earth, and encourage continued leadership in the Senate, no matter who wins in November.
But we are not done yet, ONE members will continue to be in action across New Hampshire as we continue to advocate for life saving policies and programs for the world’s poorest people. Help us keep the pressure up over the next 11 days by joining Team New Hampshire: http://www.one.org/us/actnow/vote2010/state/join.html?state=newhampshire
And be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 New Hampshire members on Facebook and Twitter.
- Matthew Flanders, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, New Hampshire
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like this one from our field team and organizers on the road.
ONE members posing with a Pres. Clinton.
Last night, 15 ONE members and I attended a rally for U.S. Senate candidate Lee Fisher, who was joined by special guest, former President Bill Clinton.
We all had our “ONE Vote 2010” shirts on and took up an entire row in the middle of the 600-seat auditorium.
Everyone was full of energy and excited to hear Pres. Clinton speak. He briefly mentioned Haiti in his speech which focused mainly on the economy.
ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.
Beth and Gov. Huckabee
This morning, I was able to catch up with Gov. Mike Huckabee at a luncheon for U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman in Mason, Ohio. I told Gov. Huckabee about our efforts in Ohio with ONE Vote 2010.
I also thanked him for his support for ONE and for being a champion of ending extreme poverty. As a former presidential candidate, Huckabee participated in “On the Record” during ONE Vote 2008 and traveled to Rwanda with ONE. He told me how thrilled he was to be a part of the trip with ONE, how he wishes us the best of luck, and thanked us for all that we do.
Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Ohio members on Facebook and Twitter.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
