Saturday was a successful day for the ONE Campaign in Charleston, South Carolina where the Giuliani held an event at the Double Tree Hotel in the historic downtown district.

Within the 100-person audience, ONE members were present proudly displaying their ONE T-shirts. I was able to personally speak with Mayor Giuliani who stated “This is a great campaign. You are doing great work. Keep it up.” He also readily and eagerly accepted and put on a ONE band.

-Leslie Burton, SC ONE Ambassador

ONE’s Matthew Barlett catches up with the mayor in NH last week.

I just received the results of a survey of 500 likely Republican Iowans caucus goers. Read through the full findings at one.org/polls.

Some highlights:

* Three in four voters (77%) agree that the Unites States has a moral obligation to address problems like disease, hunger and lack of economic opportunity in the poorest countries because it was built on a solid foundation of faith that teaches us to help others. When millions
of children around the world are dying from preventable diseases and hunger, 79% of Republicans agree that we have a moral obligation to do what we can to help.

* Eight in ten Republicans (80%) agree that the next President should keep the commitments made by President Bush to prevent and fight the spread of AIDS in Africa.

* The poll found that Mitt Romney leads among the Republican Presidential candidates with 35% of the vote, followed by Rudy Giuliani (12%), Fred Thompson (11%) and Mike Huckabee (11%). Another 10% of voters are undecided.

ONE’s Marine Michael Castaldo got a hot tip that Mayor Rudy Giuliani was going to make an appearance at Chowerfest in New Castle, NH and sent me this amazing email:

“Well it was a hot one and for a chowder fest and that does not bode well. Since I was early, I put myself to use and helped set out the cold drinks and get the tables ready for the chowder. When it was time to serve the chowder I was the one ladling it out of the massive pots into the chaffing dishes for service by the proud chefs.

In between I went around saying hello to the many guests that had assembled, and making sure the host’s family, and the Rudy staffers were banded. I found myself as usual at these events bumping into a few other former marines and as is also usual, we ended up congregated in a corner, and this time we talked about the ONE Campaign. Each marine in turn told his version of why extreme poverty and its eradication was the key to national security. Each of them would gladly re-up and serve alongside the other – you could see it in their eyes…

Moments later the wives, standing along side each other, shook their heads in agreement and almost in unison said “that’s what you are always saying honey”. Then one former marine said “Africa is the key” – I swear it was not me. He had never heard of the ONE campaign before.

As for the mayor – I was able to thank him for the comments he made during his speech on international affairs recently. I told him “I think you have taken a page out of the ONE Campaign’s play book” – he smiled broadly and said “The ONE Campaign has it right”. He then was kind enough to pose for a picture accepting a ONE band…”

The fight against global disease and global extreme poverty is not an easy job – but with the help of ONE’s Marine Michael, and all 2.4 million ONE members, we can save millions of lives around the world by lending our talents and voice to ONE Vote ‘08. This is our chance to make poverty history.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

On Thursday, Mayor Giuliani came through a country store in Nashua, New Hampshire. I caught up with him with a few ONE members to talk about US efforts to fight global poverty and disease.

After giving a quick speech, Rudy made his way through the crowd to our group of ONE members. I told him that President Bush has been a leader in the fight against global AIDS in Africa and I asked him, if elected President, if he would help poor African farmers the chance to trade their way out of poverty. He said that he stands behind that effort 100%. He said that he recognized ONE and told everyone how much respect and admiration that he has for the organization.

Even though it was a busy event, Mayor Giuliani took a moment to pose with 2 ONE members before he got on his campaign bus. He reiterated to the group and the small press corp how much he admired the ONE Campaign and the work we are doing.

Later in the week, Mayor Giuliani ran into more ONE members in Manchester and spoke with them about the importance of our issues and how much he enjoys seeing ONE members on the campaign trail. ONE member Neil thanked the Mayor and told him that he would see more of us along the way.

Fighting global poverty and disease is not an issue that one party owns – for our nation to truly live up to our values and make poverty history, it will take an American effort. From the activist on Main Street, to the halls of DC and on to the White House – ONE Vote ‘08 is the grassroots movement of people that will save lives and help make a better and safer world for everyone.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Tuesday, presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani made his way through South Carolina, and I was able to meet him at a town hall event in Columbia.

Giuliani said that I worked for a great organization, posed for a picture with me, and readily accepted a ONE T-shirt. It was also heartening to meet ONE members in the crowd wearing their wristbands. Several people in the audience also asked me about ONE Vote ‘08, and I was able to discuss with them our goals in the fight against extreme poverty.

-Mekell Mikell, SC Co-Field Director

Mayor Rudy Giuliani came to Rochester, NH on Tuesday to give a policy speech. A group of ONE Vote ‘08 members attended in ONE shirts to represent and give voice to the poorest people in the world.

Although the topic of the speech was unrelated to ONE’s issues, we saw many ONE bands in the crowd, which is now becoming usual campaign attire for many NH voters.

After the speech, Mayor Giuliani shook a few hands and signed a few autographs before heading out to his next event. But ONE member Lindsay Pippins was able to talk with the Mayor about ONE. She told him that she was a member of the ONE Campaign and offered the mayor a ONE band. He put it on and said that he loves the ONE Campaign. She asked him to join our efforts to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. He said that he would, and they even briefly discussed Lindsay’s friend that is doing mission work in Kenya.

From New Hampshire and across the nation, people are using their voice to make sure that all of the 2008 candidates know that the time to make poverty history is now. Through ONE Vote ‘08 we will ensure that the next president of the United States is leading the fight against global disease and extreme poverty.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani opened campaign offices in South Carolina Wednesday, and we made sure to make ONE’s presence felt. My state Field Co-director Mekell Mikell and I took part in the grand opening of the headquarters in Columbia. We talked with the executive directors and field directors, who showed a great interest in ONE and said that they looked forward to working with ONE Vote ‘08 in the future.

On Tuesday evening, two ONE members met with Ann Romney, who was in South Carolina as part of the “Women for Mitt Bus Tour.” Mrs. Romney stressed the importance of family values and afterwards took the time to speak to each person in attendance. They talked with her about ONE Vote ‘08, and she quickly accepted a ONE band, wore it throughout the evening, and thanked ONE for being at the event.

Last week, Mayor Rudy Giuliani came to Robie’s famous country store in Hooksett, NH, where every candidate running for president has stopped for decades.

I was able to talk with the mayor about ONE and the ability for the poorest people in the world to “trade their way” out of poverty. The mayor was very receptive to this idea and told me that he believes that is one of the best ways to overcome poverty. I told him that is why it is very important to reform the farm bill and US cotton subsidies that distort and devastate the agricultural industry in Africa.

I gave the mayor a ONE band which he accepted. On his way out the door, Marine Michael and his sons were there for the good “photo-op”. Mayor Giuliani told them that they all looked good in their ONE shirts and that ONE was a great organization!”

Yesterday, our Marine ONE, Michael Castaldo and his family did a “double banding” of both Sen. Dodd and Rep. Shea-Porter in Rochester, NH.

Michael had previously banded two candidates in one day when he banded Sen. Obama and Mayor Giuliani at different events, but this was the first time he spoke with two elected officials at one event.

Michael thanked Sen. Dodd for his work in the Senate and thanked Rep. Shea-Porter for joining in a bi-partisan effort to defeat an amendment last week that would have severely cut life-saving and poverty-reducing funds for the developing world. He also thanked her for voting for HR2764 which passed the House and included more than a 2 billion dollar increase in US efforts to combat global poverty and global disease – something that the ONE Campaign was urging members to call their representatives on last week.

Good people on both sides of the aisle in DC are making real, and concrete efforts, to fight global hunger and extreme poverty. By recognizing their efforts on behalf of all Americans, we can encourage them to do even more and ultimately make poverty history.