Cleaning Up At The Soapboxes

What are the Iowa State Fair Soapboxes?

A twenty minute opportunity for presidential candidates to tell the crowded Iowa State Fair what they will do for our country. Rep. Duncan Hunter, Sen. John McCain, and Governor Bill Richardson were amongst the participants for the first week of the State Fair.

These candidates were hit with tough questions from ONE members about America’s role in eradicating TB and malaria and creating access to the medication needed for HIV/AIDS patients. All responded with different strong solutions. With each question ONE members asked the candidates, the crowd shouted cheers of support!

-Deborah Helsen, Iowa ONE volunteer

Hunting Duncan Hunter

On Wednesday I attended a Duncan Hunter Meet and Greet in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina.

I arrived probably a good 45 minutes before Congressman Hunter arrived and just set up in the room where everyone was scheduled to meet. Everyone was very nice and knowledgeable about the ONE Campaign itself. I had no problems getting introduced and explaining to Congressman Hunter what ONE was all about. He was cordial and was not hesitant to take a bracelet.

Attached is the picture that I got.

Silver Elephants and a Debate

On Monday night, over 1,500 people attended the South Carolina Republican Party’s annual Silver Elephant Dinner in Columbia. The ONE Campaign had members at the dinner banding presidential candidates and stickering attendees.

I banded three candidates and handed out lots of ONE stickers. Senator Sam Brownback was the first candidate I saw. I introduced myself as being with the ONE Campaign and Senator Brownback was very familiar with us. Senator Brownback said that he had met with Bono about ONE and thought it was a great campaign that Republicans should definitely support the campaign.

Next, I ran into Congressman Duncan Hunter and talked to him about ONE. Congressman Hunter put on the wristband and said that he would like to receive more information about ONE. Finally, I talked with Governor Jim Gilmore and he was familiar with ONE and also said that he would like to learn more

On Tuesday I attended the debate and the pre-debate reception with ONE volunteers and we stickered people at the pre-debate. After the debate, we rushed over the candidate functions, but the candidates came to the events and left very quickly. We made it to John McCain’s after party, but barely missed him. I talked with his Campaign Manager John Weaver about the ONE campaign and passed along our information to him.

Overall, the last two days have been a big success in SC for ONE’s outreach to Republicans and we will keep pushing forward on Saturday at the SC Republican Party Convention with a booth and volunteers.

Countdown to the GOP Debate

I’m heading over to Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA, to watch the ten Republican presidential candidates enter their first debate of the 2008 elections.

Taking stage will be: Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Representative Duncan Hunter of California, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Wisconsin Governor and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Senator John McCain of Arizona, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

We all want to hear about where the candidates stand on the issues surrounding extreme poverty, and you can still do your part by voting for this question to be asked at tonight’s debate: “Studies have found strong correlations between mass literacy and the presence of democratic political systems. What role would the expansion of primary education in the poorest parts of the world play in your national security platform?”

Watch tonight at 8pm EST on MSNBC, local NBC affiliates and streamed live on Politico.com, and stayed tuned for more notes from the field.