Sen. McCain held a town hall meeting in Merrimack on Saturday while campaigning for president. I went with some ONE members to make sure that the world’s poorest people were represented, and as soon as I got in the door, I noticed ONE member Carly Kinney in her ONE shirt in one of the front rows!

The senator introduced Nashua Mayor Bernie Streeter, who is a NH ONE Ambassador and gave a short stump speech. He then took questions from the crowd, but stopped everything and pointed out Carly to the crowd. He asked that she stand and tell everyone about ONE. I quickly pulled out my camera and caught it on film.

After the town hall, many people came up to me, and to Carly, to say that they see the ONE ad on TV all the time. Many people were already wearing ONE bands too! I had a chance to talk briefly with Gov. Pawlenty and he was still talking about meeting ONE member Michael earlier in the day.

Just before he got on his bus, I was able to thank Sen. McCain for always taking time to make sure that the poorest people on earth had a voice in his town hall meetings. He told me that Carly did a much better job than I do, and that she is much prettier!

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Gov. Mitt Romney was campaigning here in the Granite State right after Christmas. ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo and I caught up with him at Robie’s General Store in Hooksett, to make sure that he remembers the poorest of the poor.

When Gov. Romney walked into the crowed store, he immediately recognized us with our shirts and pins, and told us that “it is good to see ONE again”, in front of the crowd! Michael quietly snuck outside by his waiting car and asked if he could get a few moments of video with the Governor. Check it out:

As we near Primary Day – Jan. 8th – here in New Hampshire, ONE is hot on the campaign trail to make sure that the next president of the United States knows that fighting global disease and saving lives in Africa is not only possible in today’s world…it is a priority.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

A note and video for Iowans from Jason Walsmith, Mike Butterworth of the Iowa-based, ONE supporting band the Nadas:

We’ve always been big supporters of the ONE Campaign. When we were given the opportunity to work closely with the campaigns newest initiative, ONE Vote 08, we were really excited to get involved. Since this summer, we’ve participated in many events with ONE including the launch of the campaign here in Iowa and the RAGBRAI concert with Blue’s Traveler in Cedar Falls. We have also showed our support by wearing ONE t-shirts, and letting people sign up to become members at our concerts.

If you haven’t already, now is a great time to get involved with ONE! As January 3rd rapidly approaches it is critical that we all get out and make our voices heard during the Iowa caucuses. Its fun, it’s easy, and as first in the nation it’s an experience unique to Iowa. It doesn’t matter who you’re supporting or what party you are affiliated with, what matters is that you can made a difference.

While you’re caucusing, why not support a great cause like ONE at the same time? Wear a ONE T-shirt, give bands and stickers to your friends and submit a plank to your party’s platform. It’s super easy and you can sign up online at:

http://www.one.org/caucusforone

After you’ve signed up, ONE will send you a free T-shirt, bands, stickers and a packet of information about caucusing for ONE. You can make a difference in Iowa and around the world, start by caucusing for ONE.

-Jason and Mike of the Nadas

Last night Sen. Obama campaigned in a very snowy Rochester, New Hampshire, but that did not stop ONE Vote ‘08 from making it out to his event to ensure that the poorest people on earth were heard in the Granite State.

ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo shot some great footage of Sen. Obama’s stump speech where he talks about US efforts to fight global AIDS and malaria and help desperately poor countries around the world.

From Africa to New Hampshire, and from Sammi in Seattle, to Debbie in Texas, and beyond…more than 2.4 million people are coming together as ONE to make sure our leaders hear our voices as ONE to save lives and end extreme poverty!

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Monday night Gov. Romney held a town hall meeting in Manchester and I attended with some ONE members to lend our voices for the poorest people on earth.

The last question of the night was posed from a NH student who asked what Gov. Romney would do to restore America’s image in the world. Gov. Romney spoke about a few different issues, and then he went into length about US efforts to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa, and other basic healthcare and education in desperate places.

Gov. Romney told the audience that he would place US regional coordinators all around the world, with what he said was a “sizeable budget” to help with things like health clinics. This is when we caught the final footage of his speech:

Afterward, I was able to thank Gov. Romney for going “On the Record” and for sharing his plans to fight extreme poverty.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

If you haven’t seen it already, this is the new ONE.org TV ad – running now in Iowa and NH and across the nation on cable networks.

Just as an added note, my mom lives in NH and says she sees it on TV all the time. Hopefully this will help introduce hundreds of thousands more people to ONE and get more people to take note of ONE’s “On The Record” site.

-Virginia Simmons

A 3 minute reel of the presidential candidates talking about ONE.

Check out all of their plans to combat extreme poverty on ONE’s new “On The Record” microsite.

-Virginia Simmons

ONE Campus Challenge TV – Office style.

-Virginia Simmons

And Bilingual ones at that!!

We’re watching again and again.

ONE Miami shows us How a “Global Day of Action Against Poverty” event is done.

Their videos are pouring in.