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.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:01 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
ONE Vote ‘08 has sent field staff to key swing states to raise the issue of global poverty at the candidates’ events leading up to the election. Below posts from Tyler in Pennsylvania and Jedidiah in Florida.
Well, I just landed here in Pennsylvania and I’ve already hit the ground running. On April 4, a panel of Senator Obama’s senior foreign policy advisors met at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss Senator Obama’s positions on foreign affairs. While many of the questions focused on the War in Iraq, relations with China, Russia, and Pakistan, and the tension between international law and national security, one question did address issues of concern to ONE.
Dr. Susan Rice, a former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, responded to a question on economic development and combating major disease in Africa, especially in light of Senator Obama’s personal connections to the continent. She said America and the world had been “ill-served by relegating Africa to the back burner” because it is in our strategic and security interests to be involved on the continent. She said Senator Obama would pursue a more “holistic” approach, addressing “trans-national” security challenges, from terrorism and proliferation to disease and environmental degradation. She claims that one of Senator Obama¹s unique foreign policy insights was the recognition that “our national security depends on the security of people in every corner of the globe.” She said as president, Senator Obama would double foreign aid and would work to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure in developing countries.
-Tyler Bond, ONE Vote ‘08 field organizer, Pennsylvania
Friday was my first day and I had the job of going to a McCain roundtable event in Pensacola, Florida, and making sure the poorest in the world weren’t forgotten at the event.
At the event I was able to reach out to Republican leaders in the panhandle for the ONE Campaign and the global fight against extreme poverty. Clay Williams the Republican Field Staff for the Panhandle and Clay Ingram the Chairman of the Escambia County Republican Executive Committee received our platform well. I am excited to work with them in the future.
-Jedidiah Hall, ONE Vote ‘08 field organizer, Florida
March 27th, 2008 at 3:35 pm | posted by Josh Lozman
Throughout this year’s presidential campaign, the three remaining candidates have all discussed their plans to fight malaria. Malaria is the largest killer of children of under 5 in Africa. Each year, the disease claims the lives of more than 1 million people globally each year and makes between 300 and 500 million extremely ill.
Yesterday, Senator John McCain reiterated his commitment to establish the goal of eradicating malaria at a speech at the LA World Affairs Council. Senator McCain had previously announced this in an article in Foreign Affairs.
Several months ago, Senator Hillary Clinton announced a plan to eliminate deaths on the continent on Africa at a speech at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. She committed to spend $1 billion per year towards this goal.
Senator Barack Obama has committed to doubling funding for the President’s Malaria Initiative as well as lift a cap on the United States contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Malaria is a disease that we know how to stop. Bed nets and indoor spraying of houses with insecticides coupled with prophylactic and curative treatments are all inexpensive and highly effective ways to prevent transmission of the disease and prevent severe illness or death in those that do get. The fight against malaria is primed for an increased fight and ONE is pleased that the presidential candidates have given it so much attention. ONE will continue encouraging the candidates to discuss their commitments on malaria and tackle other critical global development challenges.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:36 pm | posted by Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer
Wednesday, Sen. McCain returned to NH to hold a town hall meeting and thank the people of New Hampshire. ONE Vote ‘08 members made it out on the trail one more time for help raise our voices for the poorest people on Earth. We had ONE members in the front rows, in the balcony, and a few even on stage.
As soon as Sen. McCain came on stage he noticed us in our ONE shirts and thanked us for being there and he even had ONE’s Marine Michael Castaldo stand and recognized him in front of everyone.
After a few questions, Sen. McCain spoke about ONE and had the microphone passed to Michael. Michael spoke about ONE and mentioned NH’s Senator Sununu’s efforts to restore and secure billions to the International Affairs Budget. Check it out:
As the town hall ended, I was able to speak directly with Sen. Joe Lieberman and told him about the Biden-Lugar Amendment to restore 4.1 billion dollars of critical life saving funds to the Budget. He told me that he would support it and to count him in. (The amendment passed, with his vote, at 1 a.m. today.)
And as Sen. McCain made his way to his campaign bus, ONE member Emerson Lennon was able to make it through the crowd to reach him right before he took off.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:32 am | posted by Kim Smith, ONE Regional Field Organizer
In the week leading up to this past Tuesday’s Texas primary, ONE members in Waco realized they had a unique opportunity to help in the fight against extreme poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
More than 30 volunteers came out throughout the week attending events for Governor Huckabee, and Senators Clinton and McCain. Armed with ONE T-shirts, homemade signs, and their passion for ONE’s issues - volunteers and made sure that the candidates from both parties knew that Texans want our next president to be a leader in fighting for the world’s poorest people.
On Thursday, February 28th volunteers attended the Mike Huckabee rally in Waco, Texas, where they were able to meet the governor. After talking to the candidate about fighting poverty around the world, the volunteers were also excited that they were able to meet Huckabee supporter Chuck Norris at the rally.
The next day more ONE volunteers came out for Senator Clinton’s rally where they had seats right in front so that the senator could see them with their ONE shirts and poverty-fighting signs.
Then on Monday, March 3rd, Senator McCain was in Waco for a town hall and again, ONE was there! Justin Kralemann, president of the Baylor University ONE Student group, attended and sent me this note:
We just got in from the McCain Town Hall, during his speech, the senator asked everyone in the meeting to look at me and my fellow ONE members who were present. He talked about ONE and how young Americans are working together for a great cause. All of the cameras turned to us in our ONE tee-shirts. When he opened it up for questions, he asked me to take 60 seconds to tell everyone what ONE was. I then thanked him on behalf of over 100,000 ONE members in Texas for going “On the Record†and if elected, to visit Africa in his first term.
Thanks to all the volunteers in Waco who came out to support ONE and the world’s poorest people. For the ONE supporters out there in Wyoming, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, as your primaries near, keep an eye out for candidates coming to your city, because we also need you to hit the campaign trail as ONE!
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 12th, 2008 at 6:34 pm | posted by Ranna Lanagan, ONE Regional Field Organizer
With the so-called “Chesapeake Primary” in full swing, ONE members in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. have the rare opportunity to get close to the candidates as they make their way around the region.
We caught up with Sen. McCain at a rally in Virginia — held in a unique, but apropos location for this candidate, an aviation museum. After he spoke, he worked his way into the crowd and we ducked under a wing to meet him before he exited.
I caught up with him at the door as he was leaving, but when he saw my ONE shirt, he paused and immediately praised our efforts. As I thanked him for his pledge to eradicate malaria, it struck me that this is an incredible time for our country. All over America, regular people like you and me are speaking with one extraordinary voice to the next president of the United States, and letting him or her know that we want a president who is committed to ending global poverty and keeping America strong.
Going forward, it’s vital that the candidates continue to hear from ONE members around the nation, so get out there!
February 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am | posted by Virginia Simmons
Michael Gerson penned an op-ed in the Washington Post today titled “Why McCain Endures,” which sites the senator’s support for ONE Vote ‘08.
An excerpt:
“McCain has argued that the “protection and promotion of the democratic ideal” is the “surest source of security and peace.” He calls for a “League of Democracies” that would “relieve human suffering in places such as Darfur, combat HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, fashion better policies to confront environmental crises. …” And McCain is one of the strongest Republican supporters (along with Huckabee) of the commitments of the bipartisan ONE Campaign to treat global AIDS, eradicate malaria, fight hunger and provide clean water in the poorest places on Earth. (By way of disclosure, I sit on the advisory board of ONE Vote ‘08.)
This kind of foreign policy idealism has been reaffirmed, not because it is wildly popular but because it is unavoidable. America faces a series of challenges — from terrorism to drug cartels to infectious disease — that take root in failed regions of the world. Our efforts to oppose despair and disorder have a very realistic purpose. The tradition of moral internationalism — which reaches back to Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan — is more necessary than ever. And it is durable enough to survive some serious, early mistakes in Iraq.
The lessons of the McCain resurrection run deeper than the limits of talk radio: Candidates of unity are more appealing and electable. American ideals are indispensable in the conduct of American foreign policy.
If you have an online subscription to the Washington Post, you can read the full version here - or you can also read it on the blog “Real Clear Politics” here.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:53 am | posted by annisa.wanat
When the snow finally stopped falling Friday afternoon, I dug my car out of a good 8 inches of snow so I could drive to the Chicago suburbs to hear Sen. John McCain speak. I got a little choked up when his wife introduced him with a story about how she fell in love with an orphan girl in Bangledesh and brought her home to raise (without telling her husband first - who knew) and McCain went into his speech. I listened intently and got excited when he talked about wanting to inspire the next generation of Americans to do something greater than themselves.
When he was working the rope line later, I got to shake his hand and give him a band. He looked at my ONE shirt and said with all sincerity , “Oh, I forgot to mention you guys” and grabbed the band.
See and you thought an Arizonian in Chicago in February was the beginning of a joke. There is no joking about the world’s poor and I hope the next president (whoever he or she is) remembers that. And to all you in Illinois and the other super Tuesday states, remember to use your voice for the world’s poor and choose the candidate who you think has the best ideas on how to make poverty history. Check out all their platforms at www.onevote08.org/ontherecord.
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.
