January 7th, 2008 at 1:08 pm | posted by Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer
Gov. Huckabee’s bus just rolled into Concord to greet supporters at the Barley House here in New Hampshire. As I got off the bus, ONE member Lindsay was able to quickly slip him a ONE band. Check it out:
I had a few seconds to talk with Gov. Huckabee before he entered the event and I thanked him for his strong endorsement of PEPFAR and his support in expanding the highly regarded AIDS program. He thanked me and thanked the ONE Campaign. I even spoke with Gov. Huckabee’s son, who told me how he saw ONE all over Iowa and even ran into ONE’s Marine Michael Castaldo the other day.
It is insane here in New Hampshire, there is a lot on the line and tensions are running high. There were so many people at this stop that we could not get in, in fact MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was shut out of the event too.
But ONE has been here all year talking with the candidates about the importance of US efforts to save lives in Africa and other developing areas. They know us, they know what we want, and here in New Hampshire, we have a broad movement of Americans that are realizing what we can do when we unite as ONE to make poverty history.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am | posted by Virginia Simmons
Last night, Huckabee and Obama won the Republican and Democratic caucuses in Iowa.
Last month, both of these candidates went on the record with ONE with their plans to combat global poverty. Their videos are below. Their written plans for the five items below at this link.
Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
Eradicating malaria;
Improving child and maternal health;
Achieving universal primary education; and
Cutting in half the number of people without clean water or enough food.
On Saturday morning I attended a rally for Governor Mike Huckabee at Lizard’s Thicket (yes, this is a restaurant!) in Columbia, SC. It was our first encounter with the Governor since he went “On The Record” for ONE.
I thanked him for participating. He told me that he enjoyed the opportunity and said that making the presidential candidates go on the record about our issues is a great idea. Although we were not able to take a photo with him, we did present him another ONE band, which he gladly accepted it.
On Friday, I went to a Chamber of Commerce Lunch, with some ONE members, to see Gov. Mike Huckabee.
There was a lot of press at this event, and ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo was able to talk with and band CNN anchor Anderson Cooper right before Gov. Huckabee gave a short speech.
After the event, ONE members Michael and Kevin tried to make their way to speak with Gov. Huckabee about ONE and the world’s poorest people, but the press crowd was too big. But right as Gov. Huckabee exited the room, Michael and Kevin were able to briefly engage with him. Michael told him that both Republicans and Democrats were coming together to fight global AIDS, and as soon as Gov. Huckabee saw Michael’s shirt, he told him that our issues are bigger than just Republicans and Democrats and that fighting global AIDS transcends politics and speaks to our humanity.
They were both able to thank him for his endorsement of PEPFAR as he made his way out the door. We would have had the entire engagement on tape, but someone forgot to hit the “record” button! I snapped a quick photo and I am sure that Gov. Huckabee ran into a few more ONE members urging him to become a leader in the fight against global disease and extreme poverty throughout his trip through NH.
Iowans for AIDS Action held candlelight prayer vigils at churches, schools, and in front of campaign offices all across the Hawkeye state. ONE joined the activist group at multiple locations to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS leading up to World AIDS Day this Saturday.
At the University of Northern Iowa, AIDS activists and ONE members were joined by Delaware senator and presidential hopeful Joe Biden as he lit a candle and participated in the ceremonies.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:55 am | posted by Josh Lozman
Governor Huckabee recently released a statement outlining his plan to fight global HIV/AIDS if elected president. Governor Huckabee committed to supporting President Bush’s $30 billion plan over five years for a second round of the emergency AIDS plan. The Governor also committed to increasing support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
ONE Vote ‘08 applauds the governor for releasing his plans to fight HIV/AIDS. We look forward to hearing more from the governor about his plans to fight global poverty and disease.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:45 am | posted by Aaron.Banks
ONE member Libby Pederson outdid herself this weekend in Iowa, delivering “On the Record” campaign petitions from more than 50,000 ONE members to four of the presidential campaigns. The petitions ask the candidates to go on the record, in writing and on camera, to tell us exactly what they plan to do to end extreme poverty and global disease.
But we won’t hear back from them until they hear from us, and that’s what petition delivery is all about. Check it out below.
Here’s Libby Pederson delivering a petition to a Chris Dodd campaign staffer.
There she is again outside Joe Biden’s HQ.
And inside Mike Huckabee’s office.
What a trooper, once again, handing petitions to a staffer from the Barack Obama campaign.
On Saturday, Gov. Huckabee campaigned in New Hampshire. He started his day bright and early with a fun run in Durham, NH, where ONE member Andrea joined him, running in her ONE shirt. She told me that Gov. Huckabee immediately commented on ONE, and a photo of them ran on the front page of Foster’s Daily Democrat, a NH newspaper, on Sunday.
But Gov. Huckabee ran into ONE again on Saturday night when ONE members Carly and Rachel attended a house party in Amherst, NH. Carly wrote me:
“It went pretty well the other night at the Huckabee house party! We shook Gov. Huckabee’s hand and thanked him for supporting the ONE Campaign. You could tell when he saw our shirts that he knew immediately where we were from and what we wanted. It was great! Not only that, but we talked to many other people at the party about ONE, what the ONE Campaign is trying to do, and gave them some bands. All in all, I’d say it was successful!”
Here in the Granite State, you never know where you will run into a presidential candidate, and you never know where you will run into, or in this case with, ONE!
September 20th, 2007 at 11:55 am | posted by Field
This afternoon ONE Vote ‘08 had a unique opportunity to meet with Gov. Huckabee on the campus of the University of South Carolina. On hand for the event were students from the University and several local media outlets including WACH Fox 57 and the student newspaper, ‘The Daily
Gamecock’.
Governor Huckabee gave a speech on his presidential platform and then opened the floor up for Q and A. The moderator for the event was a member of the student senate. He selected only 4 questions from a stack of index cards and our question was selected.
We asked him the following, “With your background as a Baptist Preacher you must highly value moral and personal responsibility. The ONE Campaign is devoted to making America responsible for providing aid to the less fortunate around the world. How will your adminisitration aid in the fight against global poverty?”
His answer was similar to the answer he provided me back in August. He stated that we were “the most unique and well established of all the bi-partisian campaigns and that we are rooted in humanitarianism, not politics.” He stressed that it is our responsibility to act, but “we must be sure that America acts and acts in a manner that we do not forget about our people all the while
ensuring that the less fortunate are truly receiving our aid”.
We thanked him for answering our question and for his support. I also, personally thanked him for his support for USC as we play LSU in Baton Rouge, La. He joked with the crowd saying that one of the scariest places in all the world even after travelling to Iraq is Baton Rouge on a Saturday evening during the fall. But he also said that with Spurrier good things can happen!
September 14th, 2007 at 1:25 pm | posted by Steve.Wilson
Today I had the chance to talk directly with Gov. Mike Huckabee over a conference call the governor held for bloggers.
The governor and I got off on the right foot: before I even got the chance to ask my question, the governor told me that this morning he sported a ONE t-shirt at his breakfast event in Iowa, and that he’s proud to be a part of the ONE movement.
I asked him about how addressing global poverty can play an important role in America’s security and how saving children from preventable diseases not only is a moral obligation, but presents an opportunity for America to generate goodwill and create a more stable world.
The governor answered that he also sees the issue as having two sides, or as he put it “two arms on the same body.”
One arm is humanitarian. When children are needlessly dying, communities are being ravaged by disease and families are struggling to obtain safe water, the governor said America has a moral obligation to act.
The other arm, the governor said, is strategic. He said one way to combat terrorism is to take away the terrorists recruits. Terrorists prey on the desperate and the uneducated. They are allowed to organize and grow in unstable places. He said that by helping to save lives and helping countries develop sustainable, productive economies, America will make a safer world.
The governor finished by saying that he admires ONE not only because of the issues it talks about, but the manner in which it does. He said ONE is doing something remarkable and effective: instead of being divisive and muddling in the typical partisan debate, ONE is rising above political parties and reaching out to all Americans.
Thanks to the governor for his support and, of course, for wearing his ONE gear!
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.
