May 6th, 2008 at 10:28 am | posted by Kim Smith, ONE Regional Field Organizer
In the days leading up to the Indiana primary, candidates were making appearances across the state - and last Thursday when Senator Hillary Clinton made a stop in Jeffersonville, ONE was there!
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. introduced the senator to the over one thousand Indianans at the event, he said that one of the reasons why America is great is that we not only help our own people, but we also help people around the world.
After Senator Hillary Clinton spoke to a crowd in the Jeffersonville High School Gym, she stayed afterward to sign autographs, take pictures, and speak to people - including me.
As Hillary worked her way through the crowd and got to me, I thanked her for going “On the Record” with ONE to lay out her plan to combat global poverty. She took a break from signing an autograph and looked up to say, “Thank you for saying that.”
All the candidates have gone “On the Record” for ONE to lay out their plans for fighting extreme poverty around the world, so if you haven’t checked them out yet, you can see on ONE’s “On The Record” minisite. The Education for All Act’s lead sponsor is Senator Hillary Clinton and if passed it would increase U.S funding for universal primary education and help get over 77 million new children around the world in school.
Wednesday night Senators Clinton and Obama engaged in their first debate in weeks. While they were inside the National Constitution Center discussing their plans for the country, ONE was outside making sure someone was speaking up for all those suffering from extreme poverty around the world. We were out there handing out literature, speaking with Clinton and Obama supporters, giving a voice to those who so often lack one. It was an amazing sight, being part of a crowd of hundreds of supporters, protesters, and activists. The campaign trail is hot here in Pennsylvania and we’re keeping the heat on the candidates about their commitments to fight global poverty.
-Tyler Bond, ONE Vote ’08 organizer, Philadelphia, PA
Sunday night’s Compassion Forum, hosted by Messiah College in Grantham, PA, brought Senators Obama and Clinton together. The event was put on by Faith In Public Life and sponsored by ONE and Oxfam America. Although he was invited, Senator McCain did not attend the forum.
With a question and answer format, moderated by Newsweek’s John Meacham and CNN’s Campbell Brown, questions ranged from the role of religion in public life to those about AIDS in Uganda and federal funding for poverty relief.
Questions were also taken from religious leaders in the audience. Reverend William J. Shaw, of the National Baptist Convention asked Senator Clinton how her administration would deal with the difficulties of providing poor people in “developing countries” with “inexpensive, generic drugs for the treatment of AIDS and other sicknesses.”
Clinton said, “I believe that our government must do so much more to get generic drugs and low-cost drugs to people suffering…not only from HIV/AIDS, but the range of diseases that affect disproportionately the poor…” Clinton went on to commend PEPFAR, calling it “a very bold and important commitment, but it didn’t go far enough in opening up the door to generics and getting the costs down.”
To work toward solutions to these and other problems, citing lack of education, malaria, and TB among them, Clinton said, “I want us to have a partnership, government to government, government with the private sector, government with our NGOS and our faith community to show the best of what America has to offer.”
Senator Obama was questioned by religious leaders as well. Frank Page, of the Southern Baptist Convention, questioned Senator Obama about faith and abstinance-based AIDS prevention programs in Uganda. In his answer, Senator Obama also complimented the PEPFAR program as “one of the success stories of this administration. We’ve seen a drastic increase in funding. And terrific work is being done between the CDC, the NIH, local AIDS organizations, NGOs.”
Obama said that as president, he would “use whatever the best approaches are, the scientifically sound approaches are, to reduce this devastating disease all across the world…” and would seek to “make antiviral drugs available to people who are in extreme poverty.”
April 10th, 2008 at 8:56 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Bono was just on Idol GIves Back encouraging everyone to sign up at ONE.org, saying: “Tonight, save a life. Tomorrow, change the world.”
After, the three current presidential candidates spoke about the importance of fighting poverty. In December, ONE members sent tens of thousands of petitions and got all the candidates to go on the record with their plans to combat global poverty.
March 5th, 2008 at 2:11 pm | posted by Josh.Lozman
Yesterday’s New York Times prominently featured an article describing the debate in the public health community about what are appropriate goals for the fight against malaria. Goals for fighting malaria vary between improving access to control and prevention measures and full eradication of the disease. Full eradication of the disease would mean that no person has the disease, but also that it exists nowhere, except as the New York Times notes, in a laboratory. This was last accomplished with smallpox when the last naturally occurring case of smallpox was recorded in 1977 in Somalia. Smallpox was certified eradicated in 1980.
The most recent round of discussions were sparked late last year when Bill and Melinda Gates called for a push towards eradication at a conference they held in Seattle. Despite the excitement created for such an initiative, the announcement enlivened debate among the scientific community about whether eradication is a realistic goal to set for the community and the potential disappointment of setting the goal and not reaching it. Smallpox had a unique set of credentials that made it a candidate for eradication, including that it could only be carried by humans rather than be primarily carried by mosquitoes in the case of malaria.
The past several years have seen a rapid increase in funding for fighting malaria. Spending from the United States, the Global Fund and World Bank on malaria from 2001 to 2003 was only $348 million. From 2004 to 2006, this number rose to just over $1 billion. The current version of the PEPFAR bill just recently agreed to in the House called for $5 billion in spending on malaria over the next 5 years from the United States alone. This would fund the United States’ proportionate share of the global estimates to achieve universal access to control and prevention for those living in endemic countries. Senators Clinton, McCain, and Obama have all committed to significantly ramp up the United States’ spending on malaria if elected president.
Though the debate about eradication versus control is one that is largely restricted to academic settings and concerns about setting realistic expectations, it is one that is likely to increasingly play out in the public discourse as the United States moves to spend more on fighting this disease.
After you check out the candidates’ responses, take a few minutes and write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Writing a letter to the editor is your chance to talk about the poverty-fighting successes highlighted on the recent presidential trip to Africa - successes ONE members have helped make possible - and our campaign urging the next president to visit Africa in his or her first term.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:56 am | posted by Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Field Organizer
Finally! The campaign comes to the Buckeye State!!
Despite it being Valentine’s Day, ONE members were out on the campaign trail last night to see Senator Clinton and make sure the Columbus community is thinking about global poverty and disease when they cast their ballet during the Ohio Primary on March 4th.
It’s only the beginning in Ohio so keep any eye out for us during the next couple of weeks. Go ONE, Go OHIO! OH-IO!!
Ambassadors Jenna Morton and Cisco Aguilar were on hand Tuesday night to spin their way through the post-debate analysis. ONE Vote ‘08 was an official co-sponsor of the debate and the logo could be seen every time Chris Mathews did a live shot of spin alley.
ONE Vote ‘08 volunteers fired up the crowd outside and passed out wristbands to debate watchers. Check out the awesome video ONE’s Matt Higginson put together from footage outside the debate.
The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, volunteers, members and coalition partners.
The content of each post and each comment represent the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ONE Campaign or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any posts expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
In the days leading up to the Indiana primary, candidates were making appearances across the state - and last Thursday when Senator Hillary Clinton made a stop in Jeffersonville, ONE was there! 
