Just like ONE Vote ’08, we asked the candidates to make time for the more than 7,000 Arkansas ONE members and the world’s poorest people and answer our 2010 ONE Vote question:

Q: 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 they said:

Rep. John Boozman: The American people understand that our blessings as a country come with a certain set of responsibilities. Time and again, we have stood up and answered history’s call. When it comes to global disease, poverty, and hunger, our current calling in Africa is no different.

As a nation, we share a moral responsibility to respect the dignity of all human beings—regardless of their political clout in Washington or their instrumental financial worth. As Chair of both the Congressional Malaria and the House Hunger Caucus as well as member of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, I have pushed for responsible foreign aid programs; research incentives to combat rare, orphan, and neglected diseases; and renewed efforts and energy to end festering conflicts on the continent.

These initiatives are consistent with our security interests, foreign policy goals, and moral obligations as a country.

Moreover, I believe global health and humanitarian aid is an area where legislators can build consensus and find commonsense, bipartisan solutions. In Congress, I have worked with advocates and allies of all stripes to advance legislation for African child health programs, HIV/AIDS research and treatment, refugee assistance, and responsible humanitarian aid that addresses problems, strengthens institutions, and empowers individuals, without creating undue government dependency.

If elected to the Senate, I look forward to working with the ONE Campaign, as well as other interested parties, to continue this fight and address these critical challenges.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln: In particular, I have consistently supported programs such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The United States has a responsibility and a moral obligation to help the international community, especially developing countries, address the devastating effects of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and I remain concerned about the devastating effects of infectious diseases around the world.

The MCC provides economic assistance through a competitive selection process to developing nations that are pursuing political and economic reforms. In recent years, funding through the MCC has gone toward a number of critical initiatives in developing countries, such as improved transportation and infrastructure, private sector development and watershed management and agriculture support.

Further, as chair and co-founder of the Senate Hunger Caucus, I have been a leader in the Senate in working to alleviate food insecurity in the United States and abroad. Providing hunger relief to those in need is not only the right thing to do but also helps maintain stability, enabling investment and economic development which benefits not only the recipients of assistance but also current and future economic partners.

We would like to thank both Sen. Lincoln, Rep. Boozman, 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.

Want to get involved? Connect with other Arkansas ONE members at the ONE: South Central Region Facebook Group and Twitter.

We held events last week starting with general information awareness on Monday and culminating in a documentary film festival on Thursday and Friday. During the week, we also collected canned goods which we donated to the Arkansas Rice Depot, a local food bank. Luckily, the UALR school newspaper The Forum did a front page story prior to our events and we also hung flyers around campus to get people excited! We had a bake sale under the premise of “Feeding You to Feed Others” on Wednesday.

Throughout the week we also had guest speakers and a blood drive on campus. Many professors brought their students to one or more of our films, which really generated a lot of interest. I know I had a lot of questions and interest in ONE, so I hope that students will follow through and sign up on the website or Facebook! I know we have a lot more Arkansans sporting the white ONE bands now!

–Samantha Platte, Arkansas ONE Member

Thursday’s first ever “ONE Student | ONE Vote” event at the University of Central Arkansas was a huge success! Politico’s executive editor and co-founder Jim VandeHei moderated the discussion. The conversation leaders included UCA President Lu Hardin, national security expert with the Century Foundation Jeffrey Laurenti, State Senator Gilbert Baker, UCA professor Dr. Elaine Fox and two UCA students – Brooks Cato, who lived in Tanzania, Thailand and Costa Rica, and Emily Daniel, who participated in relief efforts in Central America.

The conversation covered reasons why students should be involved in the upcoming 2008 presidential elections and all of the different ways that involvement could occur. The conversation then shifted to ways we can become involved in our community to help those who most need our help around the world. Both Emily and Brooks have traveled abroad, as had other members of the panel, and had seen the extremely dire circumstances that many in the world’s poorest countries live in.

The panelists took questions from the student audience of more than 150 UCA students. Among the questions was one from a UCA student from Nigeria, who asked what UCA was doing to expand its study abroad programs. UCA President Hardin responded that it has been one of his top priorities to expand the program, and in the five years he’s been
president, the program has more than doubled in size.

Students left ONE Student | ONE Vote energized and enthusiastic about all of the different ways they could be involved in their community, as students and in the upcoming 2008 election.

-Kimberly Cadena