Sen. Chris Dodd
Last weekend, ONE volunteers went to Sen. Chris Dodd’s Vegas office opening, Gov. Bill Richardson’s Reno office opening, and a BBQ with Elizabeth Edwards.
At the Dodd event, I spoke with the senator and thanked him for his support on the Foreign Operations budget this year. He spoke about the need to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and recalled some experiences from his time in the Peace Corps.
Reno ONE volunteers attended Bill Richardson’s Northern Nevada office opening. They thanked him for his commitment in the fight against extreme poverty – and for his endorsement of ONE Vote ’08.
Gov. Richardson mentioned that everywhere he goes, ONE volunteers are always there to greet him.
Thurdsay night, Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson participated in a live, televised forum at Howard University.
ONE volunteers seized this opportunity to send these presidential candidates a message when they arrived at the forum. Each volunteer got one sign that said one of the following words, “What will you do to end extreme poverty and AIDS?” We set up across from a sea of presidential candidate supporters and signs. We could tell that lots of people were intrigued by our unique message. Cars slowed down while they passed us on busy Georgia Avenue to see what we had to say! Our group traveled a few blocks down the sidewalk (in order!), shouting our message so other groups saw us, too. A few limos and town cars with dark tinted windows passed by us, so we can only speculate on who may have been inside!
An hour into our demonstration, our shouting was overpowered by a torrential storm, but that didn’t stop us until our signs were dripping ink and unintelligible!
This was just one of many times the candidates and their supporters will see ONE in the crowd urging both to make ending extreme poverty and AIDS a top priority in the 2008 elections.
By the way, a similar forum with the Republican candidates will occur in September at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Read more on the presidential forums here.
Yesterday, our Marine ONE, Michael Castaldo and his family did a “double banding” of both Sen. Dodd and Rep. Shea-Porter in Rochester, NH.
Michael had previously banded two candidates in one day when he banded Sen. Obama and Mayor Giuliani at different events, but this was the first time he spoke with two elected officials at one event.
Michael thanked Sen. Dodd for his work in the Senate and thanked Rep. Shea-Porter for joining in a bi-partisan effort to defeat an amendment last week that would have severely cut life-saving and poverty-reducing funds for the developing world. He also thanked her for voting for HR2764 which passed the House and included more than a 2 billion dollar increase in US efforts to combat global poverty and global disease – something that the ONE Campaign was urging members to call their representatives on last week.
Good people on both sides of the aisle in DC are making real, and concrete efforts, to fight global hunger and extreme poverty. By recognizing their efforts on behalf of all Americans, we can encourage them to do even more and ultimately make poverty history.
Presidential hopeful Sen. Chris Dodd came to Nashua, NH, today to hold a rally about national service. A group of ONE members came out to make sure that the Senator saw, and heard from ONE Vote ’08 while on the campaign trail.
After the speech, ONE members – both Republican and Democrat – were able to talk with Sen. Dodd about fighting AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, and let him know that it is an important issue to Americans.
ONE member, and staunch conservative, Kevin Keefe was able to give Sen. Dodd a ONE band and thank him for the Global Child Survival Act that he introduced in the Senate with Sen. Smith (R). Sen. Dodd said that he was very familiar with the ONE Campaign noticed the ONE shirts and bands in the crowd.
By organizing, and coming together as ONE, we are making sure that the poorest people on Earth are not forgotten here in the Granite State. Saving lives in the developing world is an issue that is uniting all Americans and through ONE Vote ’08, we will make sure that all candidates from both sides of the political aisle know that our generation can and will make extreme poverty history.
Faster than we expected.
More to come soon…
We expect a vote for the Smith-Dodd amendment, to save $2.2 billion dollars in the international affairs budget, in the next two to four hours.
There’s still time to call 1-800 786-2663 and encourage your senators to vote yes!
Please take two minutes to make this call; passing this amendment could mean saving hundreds of thousands of lives in the world’s poorest countries.
Below is our most up to date list of the now 36 senators who have signed their names in support of the Smith-Dodd amendment:
Evan Bayh (D- IN)
Sherrod Brown (D- IL)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Daniel K. Inouey (D-HI)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT)
Richard G. Lugar (R-IN)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)
Ben Nelson (D-NE)
Barack Obama(D- IL)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
John E. Sununu (R-NH)
Ted Stevens (R-AK)
John E. Sununu (R-NH)
George Voinovich (R-OH)
David Vitter (D-LA)
John Warner (R-VA)
Jim Webb (D- VA)
The Senate Budget Committee drafted a budget for 2008 that cuts the international affairs budget by $2.2 billion below the president’s request. Thankfully, Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) have created an amendment to restore this critical funding.
The Senate is set to vote for the amendment sometime today. In the few hours that remain, please take two minutes to call 1-800 786-2663 and urge your state’s senators to fully fund the fight against extreme poverty in 2008 by voting YES on the Smith-Dodd amendment. (We’ll keep you posted as the vote comes to the floor.)
You’ll find more information, and all the talking points you’ll need for your quick calls, here.
Below, the list of senators currently signed on as supporting the Smith-Dodd amendment:
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Daniel K. Inouey (D-HI)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT)
Richard G. Lugar (R-IN)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)
Ben Nelson (D-NE)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
John E. Sununu (R-NH)
Ted Stevens (R-AK)
John E. Sununu (R-NH)
George Voinovich (R-OH)
David Vitter (D-LA)
