As Denver’s Mile High Stadium packed in tens of thousands of U2 fans to kickoff the USA U2 360˚ tour on Saturday, 30 ONE Colorado teammates armed only with iPads recruited more than 3,400 new members.

Volunteering at a U2 show with ONE is easily one of the most exciting events I’ve experienced. This show, however, stood above the other two I’ve participated in. Over the past few months ONE Colorado has been building teams in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and elsewhere in the state.

These teams pulled together, along with members from ONE partner organizations BeadforLife, Ten Thousands Nets and Mothers Acting Up, to show what it looks like to stand up for the world’s poorest people as one. It is an honor to be a part of a team which is equally strong talking foreign development policy with Senators Bennet and Udall as they are recruiting 3,400 new members at a U2 concert.

Now that Election Day is here and our ONE Vote 2010 campaign is coming to a close, we thought it would be cool for our members to see what Nick’s day-to-day life is like. For instsance, I had no idea that it involved so much driving. And I didn’t know how early he had to wake up, either. Enjoy this piece, and make sure to leave a comment and say hi to Nick. -Malaka Gharib

6:30 AM:
Rhonda the Honda (the name of my car) and I start off the day driving from Denver toward Greeley. To the west, the front range of the Rocky Mountains. To the east, the sunrise. This is the second best part of the morning (coffee is the first — which I had no time to make this morning, grrrrrrrr).

8:00 AM:
Arrive in Greeley to meet six ONE volunteers, including ONE’s newest campus leader, Sarah from University of Northern Colorado.

8:15 AM:
Senator Michael Bennet arrives at the Weld County Democrat Headquarters in a big, red tour bus.

8:45 AM:
After ONE members thanked Sen. Bennet for his support of ONE, I said a quick goodbye and grabbed a picture before hopping on the road again with Rhonda the Honda. This time to Fort Collins!

9:45 AM
Arriving in Fort Collins. Admittedly, I am happy to see I had beat the big red bus, but then again it is about six times the size of Rhonda the Honda.

10:00 AM
Sen. Bennet arrives at the Larimer County Democratic Headquarters. This time, Senator Mark Udall, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Rep. Betsy Markey have joined the party. We have ONE bands for all!

10:15 AM
ONE member LouAnne speaks to Sen. Bennet while I talk with Senator Udall, a former ambassador for ONE during ONE Vote ’08.

11:45 AM
The Bennet bus arrives in Longmont, Colorado. Sen. Udall is wearing his ONE band that he got at the last rally!

11:55 AM
ONE meets Sen. Bennet for the third time that day and before lunch!

12:15 AM
Driving the final stretch along the front range of the Rocky Mountains to Denver. It’s difficult to keep your eyes on the road when you have such a beautiful view to the west!

1:00 AM
Back in Denver, I grab lunch at a local restaurant.

2:00 PM
Leave the restaurant and head to the Denver ONE Campaign Office (aka. home). Time to do laundry before the candidates think I smell funny.

3:00 PM
Pulling up the candidate’s websites, I discover the next two days are filled with events across the ENTIRE state. Time to make some calls to our amazing volunteers!

10:00 PM
Heading to bed early. Leaving at 6am tomorrow for Eagle, CO to meet Senate candidates Ken Buck and Michael Bennet with more ONE members!

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 State Organizer, Colorado

Colorado co-chair Governor Bill Ritter with ONE members

ONE member Rachael Stamps with Senator Bennet’s wife Susan Daggett

With a week and a day until election day, candidates are doing whatever they can to campaign around the state of Colorado. Last week, President Clinton campaigned for Senator Bennet in Denver, and on Saturday, the senator’s wife, Susan Daggett, and Governor Bill Ritter campaigned for Bennet in Golden, Colorado.

In a small coffee shop nestled next to the mountains, the governor and Mrs. Daggett spoke to a room full of voters. Afterward, ONE member Rachael Stamps and I spoke to Governor Ritter and thanked him for his support as a co-chair for the state during ONE Vote ’08. Mr. Ritter reiterated his support of ONE and talked about his prior work in Zambia on nutrition issues.

We also spoke with Mrs. Daggett, who wore the ONE band last Monday at the rally with President Clinton. She was happy to see ONE again and we asked her to encourage her husband to champion global poverty issues in the Senate. She gladly wore the ONE band again and posed for a picture.

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, Colorado

A coalition of six Denver churches came together on Saturday to host a screening of “The Lazarus Effect,” as well as a panel of experts from Compassion International, the Infectious Diseases Institute, Bloom Church and ONE.

The event was held in the beautiful building of First Baptist Church, directly across the street from the Colorado State Capitol Building. After the Lazarus Effect screening, the panel was scheduled to speak for 30 minutes, aided by questions from audience and me. What took place was a 1-hour-and-15-minute dialogue between the audience and the panelists. Some of the themes included the importance of funding programs like the Global Fund and PEPFAR, and also ensuring that the governments receiving such funds are accountable and efficient. Sidney Muisyo, Vice President for the Africa region at Compassion International, talked about Compassion’s Leadership Development Program, which is addressing governance issues by providing students of strong character with a college education that will enable them to positively influence the direction of their countries.

Dr. Charles Steinberg, an HIV/AIDS physician in Uganda, has set up clinics supported by PEPFAR. He has seen the lifesaving effects of ARVs, but he also argues that it’s important that funding remain consistent. If a patient is unable to access ARV treatment for even a very short amount of time, they can develop a resistance to the drug requiring a more rare and expensive drug, which often is not available in developing nations such as Uganda.

You can download a podcast of the audio from the panel “Seeking Practical Solutions to HIV/AIDS in Africa” at Bloom Church’s website. Thank you to our panelists and their organizations (Sidney Muisyo, Compassion International; Dr. Charles Steinberg, the Infectious Diseases Institute; Andrew Arndt, Bloom Church and Keren Dongo, ONE), our cosponsoring churches (Bloom Church, Denver Community Church, First Baptist Church, Park Church, New Denver Church and Christ Church) and our partners BeadforLife for providing free bracelets to all of our audience members!

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, Colorado

While on the ONE Vote campaign trail, I’ve learned that there is nothing more important than positioning yourself strategically on the rope line so you can catch a candidate as they come offstage. Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple because being one of the few individuals that actually shakes the candidate’s hand in a room full of thousands of people is statistically speaking, well, difficult. I encountered one such scenario last night at a rally for Senator Bennet featuring former President Bill Clinton.

There were 12 ONE members at the rally, so it was easy for us to split up and cover multiple parts of the rope line. Jeb Barrett and his sister were the first ONE members to grab Senator Bennet and President Clinton as they came off stage. Jeb gave both of them ONE bands before they continued down the line shaking hands. In the middle, ONE volunteer CDL Valerie Bobalek thanked President Clinton for his recovery work in Haiti following the earthquake. “It just breaks your heart, doesn’t it?” he said.

Finally, as Senator Bennet began to head backstage, ONE members Ismay and Kyrzia Parker grabbed him for one last picture. They also banded his wife Susan Daggett and his daughter. Ismay asked the Senator to continue to support ONE.org and the fight against poverty. Senator Bennet complimented ONE and our efforts as he made his way off stage.

President Clinton, who had pointed directly at Kyrzia’s ONE sign and gave two thumbs up as he went onstage, gladly posed for a picture with her on his way backstage. In his speech, President Clinton talked about the importance of cheap AIDS drugs for developing nations and his experiences in places where people live on less than $2 each day.

I was proud to watch ONE volunteers as their passion drove them through a crowd of thousands of people to the front of the rope lines in an effort to advocate for the world’s poorest people. They succeeded not once, but three times.

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 State Organizer, Colorado

U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck held a tour stop in Broomfield, Colorado yesterday and ONE member Susan Eberling and her daughter were there to meet him. It’s the third time this week that ONE members have spoken to Ken about how fighting poverty and strengthening national security go hand in hand. The message is simple: It’s about saving lives, but it’s also about promoting goodwill and stability in poor countries.

Many thanks to Ken Buck! At each stop he has welcomed ONE members and posed for pictures with them. On Tuesday, ONE members even got to meet Senator John Thune at a Ken Buck rally.

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, Colorado

ONE members Rachael Stamps and Matthew McAllister meet Ken Buck in Littleton, Colorado

ONE members meet Senator Thune in Littleton, Colorado

Senator John Thune of South Dakota campaigned in Littleton, Colorado today for Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck. ONE members Rachael Stamps, Matthew McAllister and I caught up with both Sen. Thune and Ken Buck to talk to them about ONE and U.S. efforts to save millions of lives in Africa.

I spoke with Sen. Thune about his vote for PEPFAR, and mentioned the efforts of ONE Vote 2010′s advisory board members, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and former Senator John Sununu. Sen. Thune thanked ONE and happily put on a ONE band. Check out our video with Sen. Thune above.

Ken Buck, who has seen ONE members at four events in the past week, always makes a point to come over and talk with us about ONE. ONE members thanked him for listening to our concerns. ONE volunteer Matthew McAllister spoke to Mr. Buck about the life-saving effects of anti-retroviral drugs of those living with AIDS in Africa.

“PEPFAR,” Matthew said, “is America’s flagship of compassion to the world’s poor.” Seeing the effect this has on strengthening America’s national security and furthering America’s global leadership, Mr. Buck was very interested and asked me to send him more information about the life-saving program.

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, Colorado

ONE member Valerie Bobalek with Senator Michael Bennet

ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.

For the second time in less than a week, ONE members caught up with both Ken Buck and Senator Michael Bennet after a debate in Colorado.

Last night’s debate in Denver was the fourth Senate debate this election season, and ONE volunteer and congressional district leader Valerie Bobalek and I arrived in our ONE shirts ready to meet the candidates.

After an exciting debate, Valerie and I ran to the front of the stage. We spoke with Ken Buck first. It was our third meeting with Mr. Buck in a week, and before Valerie could thank him for listening to the concerns of ONE members, Buck thanked us for coming out and posed for a picture.

Afterward, we found Senator Bennet who (once again) positively proclaimed, “You guys are everywhere!” as he did at last week’s Pueblo, Colorado debate.

The candidates had many hands to shake on their way out the door, but ONE’s presence stood out. It’s important in these tough economic times that our leaders understand that their constituents support development programs and that it fosters greater national security and global leadership.

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, Colorado

ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.

“You guys are everywhere!” That’s what Sen. Michael Bennet said when he saw ONE at the third Colorado Senate debate last night in Pueblo, Colorado. ONE members Paul and Tatsue, along with Tatsue’s two children, met Colorado Senate candidates Ken Buck and Sen. Bennet at the debate and expressed the importance of fighting extreme poverty and disease. The small auditorium was packed with about 400 people, but both candidates gladly took the time to step to the side for photos with us.

Before and after the debate, many Buck and Bennet supporters asked us what ONE was. We proudly explained that we are a nonpartisan advocacy organization of 2 million members — 20,000 in just Colorado — committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease in the poorest parts of Africa.

One man was happy to hear we are nonpartisan. “You just don’t find that often at these events,” he said. “Ending poverty is something we can all agree on,” I replied, “Republican, Democrat or Independent!”

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 Colorado members on Facebook and Twitter.

-Nick Stevens, ONE Vote 2010 state organizer, Colorado