Andrea mentioned that fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa was an important issue to her as a young Republican and spoke of President Bush's work leading US efforts. Gov. Romney commented how Bush had just proposed 30 billion dollars over the next 5 years to help prevent and treat the spread of global AIDS. I was able to talk with the governor about how I have repeatedly heard him call for a "Second Marshall Plan" that would reach out to marginalized countries around the world and address issues of humanitarian care and basic education. I told him that actions like that show the rest of the world the type of people we Americans are.

During the stop, Gov. Romney was asked to sign an autograph book from a young NH child. She asked him to name three good role models for her. Gov. Romney responded by telling her: "Ronald Reagan - he was a President, Bono - lead singer of the group U2 for his work to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa, and Franklin Graham - a religious figure". Although I do not think the girl knew who any of those people were, I gave her a ONE band and explained how the ONE Campaign works to fight disease and poverty in extremely poor places around the world.

Gov. Romney made his way to the exit and we told him to "save lives in Africa" on his way out. He smiled at us and told us he would do his best.

In it he asks us all to call our representatives in Congress before noon tomorrow to ask them to support the Fairness Amendment for the Farm Bill.

Get to it people!

-At RAGBRAI, the annual bike ride across in Iowa, we signed up new members, banded people, and bike riders and spectators wore ONE shirts all over town.

-Chris Matthews taped an interview with Lance Armstrong with ONE supporters in the background. The members wore ONE shirts and placards and Chris even signed our ONE wristband! MSNBC will be rebroadcast it at 7 PM.

-Tonight ONE will have a great presence at a local Blues Traveler and The Nadas concert. A 'The Nadas' band members will have a ONE Vote '08 shirt on during the performance and will mention ONE on stage.

Today, Sen. McCain made a brief appearance in a downtown Nashua restaurant to talk with voters. I made the stop with a few ONE members to show support for the ONE Vote '08.

I noticed Mayor Bernie Streeter and Commander Dalianis in the crowd (both are NH ONE Ambassadors), and a few local business owners that were at our ONE launch. ONE member, and staunch conservative, Kevin Keefe came with me and so did ONE member Brandon Laws who will be interning with Gov. Richardson this summer.

While wearing his ONE band, Kevin approached Sen. McCain and told him that he is a conservative that supports the ONE Campaign and noted President Bush's past efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. He told Sen. McCain that it was important to reform the Farm Bill, especially the cotton payments, to allow the poorest people on Earth a way to trade out of poverty.

Brandon told Sen. McCain that it was important to save lives in Africa and offered him a ONE band. But Sen. McCain refused it. Instead he pulled up his sleeve and showed us the ONE band he was already wearing! He even told Brandon "Did you think I would let you catch me without wearing this"?

We were all stunned and thanked the senator for wearing the ONE band and urged him to fight global disease and global extreme poverty.

Afterward Brandon told me, "It makes you feel good to know that no matter where you fall in the political spectrum, there are candidates on both sides of the fence that are willing to fight to make the world better by supporting the work of ONE and by helping us put an end to extreme poverty and AIDS in Africa.

With your help we can push Congress to make the right decision tomorrow, and in the process help protect small farmers here and abroad from subsidies that leave them unable to compete fairly. Please take a moment to call your member of Congress and tell them to vote YES on the Fairness Amendment. The ONE Campaign has set up a 1-800 number (1-800-786-2663) to direct you to your congressional office.

"But Peter," you may ask, "what if I'm not sure exactly what to say?" No problem, loyal ONE member! We have a set of talking points to help you with your call, as well as a form to register your call when you finish. With just a few minutes of your time, you can lend small farmers everywhere a much needed helping hand.

I spoke to Senators Clinton and Biden, and they thanked us for fighting for international AIDS and poverty relief. We also signed up new ONE members at the viewing parties, including people working for the various campaigns.

All of the ONE staff and volunteers worked hard for the Charleston debate. It was well worth it and we won't be resting anytime soon, since the national College Democrats of America convention will be at the University of South Carolina from July 26-29. Several of the candidates will be rolling through Columbia for the convention and they will be seeing some familiar faces in ONE bands and shirts.

Listen today at 10 am (EST) to the Diane Rehm show on NPR. Please call into her show and express support in the Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment. When you call in please mention BFW's website, www.bread.org or www.bread.org/farmbill for listeners to find out how they can make a difference. Thanks everyone!

(You can listen to the live feed if you don't have access to your local NPR station.)

The ONE Campaign supports The Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment - Fairness Amendment for short - an amendment which aims to right the wrongs of the Farm Bill in its current form. This amendment has seen a considerable amount of support from both sides of the aisle, and with good reason. The amendment reduces damaging subsidies, expands an overseas school lunch program by $1.1B, implements a fair and modern safety net to protect farmers from crop price reductions, and reduces direct payments - a system enacted over a decade ago to wean farmers off subsidies that has proven ineffective -overall this reform package will save at least $10 billion.

Take advantage of this historic opportunity to tell your representative that you support the Fairness Amendment. Right now, unfair subsidies are distorting trade and hurting small farmers from the Heartland to Sub-Saharan Africa. If enough ONE members like yourself let their voices be heard, it won't be long before we see real reform on this issue.

UPDATE: Read the Fairness Amendment factsheet