On Thursday afternoon, I was enjoying a lobster roll with a friend at Brown’s Lobster Pool in Seabrook, New Hampshire when my phone alerted me that Governor Sarah Palin was at a private residence around the corner attending a clam bake.
We drove over to the residence, where I was able to chat with her briefly before she entered the house party. We talked a little about her last trip to New Hampshire during the 2008 election cycle and then she asked what I was working on these days. I told her all about the ONE Campaign and how we work to save millions of lives in places like Africa. She was familiar with ONE and our causes, she told me that Franklin Graham (a mutual friend with Bono) had told her all about the work we’re doing. They even went on a humanitarian trip to Haiti to look at the devastation from the earthquake last year.
Recently, as we wrote about on the ONE blog, Senator Joe Lieberman signed on to become a cosponsor of the Water for the World Act (S.624) which so many ONE members across the US have enthusiastically supported and encouraged their senators to do the same.
In addition to signing on this important piece of legislation introduced by Senator Richard Durbin, Senator Lieberman has a special message for ONE members which I’ve included below. We’ll continue to keep you posted on mounting momentum and new developments for the Water for the World Act, which you can ask your senators to support here.
Below is the message from Senator Lieberman and a list of current Water for the World cosponsors. Thanks for all your hard work!
Ask your senator to sign on as a cosponsor for the bipartisan Water for the World Act, and don’t forget to share the petition with your friends.
And the list of 18 current cosponsors (2 more to go to reach our goal of 20!):
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Sen. Bob Corker, Bob (R-TN)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Sen. Byron Dorgan D-ND)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT)
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Sen. McCain has been spending a lot of time campaigning here in New Hampshire and as you can see on the blog, ONE has been with him every step of the way. But Sen. McCain has also brought some special guests with him on the campaign trail.
A few days ago, ONE member Melissa Skinner was able to speak with CT Rep. Chris Shays as he campaigned for McCain. Many ONE members know Rep. Shays best for his his work during the 2007 CR to help save and secure over a billion dollars of life-saving, poverty-reducing funds. When Melissa thanked him, the congressman immediately put on a ONE band and said that he was very familiar with the campaign.
And this morning, I was able to speak briefly with Sen. Lieberman after he gave an interview for McCain in Concord. He immediately knew what ONE was and told me that we have done a remarkable job pointing out the problems of AIDS and poverty in Africa to America – and that he is proud to see that America has responded.
I told him that Sen. McCain points out ONE in his crowds all the time and he told me that is because Senator McCain truly believes in our work and that it is not political posturing. I thanked Sen. Lieberman and he gladly accepted a ONE band.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
