Gov. Huckabee’s bus just rolled into Concord to greet supporters at the Barley House here in New Hampshire. As I got off the bus, ONE member Lindsay was able to quickly slip him a ONE band. Check it out:
I had a few seconds to talk with Gov. Huckabee before he entered the event and I thanked him for his strong endorsement of PEPFAR and his support in expanding the highly regarded AIDS program. He thanked me and thanked the ONE Campaign. I even spoke with Gov. Huckabee’s son, who told me how he saw ONE all over Iowa and even ran into ONE’s Marine Michael Castaldo the other day.
It is insane here in New Hampshire, there is a lot on the line and tensions are running high. There were so many people at this stop that we could not get in, in fact MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was shut out of the event too.
But ONE has been here all year talking with the candidates about the importance of US efforts to save lives in Africa and other developing areas. They know us, they know what we want, and here in New Hampshire, we have a broad movement of Americans that are realizing what we can do when we unite as ONE to make poverty history.
Last night, Huckabee and Obama won the Republican and Democratic caucuses in Iowa.
Last month, both of these candidates went on the record with ONE with their plans to combat global poverty. Their videos are below. Their written plans for the five items below at this link.
Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
Eradicating malaria;
Improving child and maternal health;
Achieving universal primary education; and
Cutting in half the number of people without clean water or enough food.
On Saturday morning I attended a rally for Governor Mike Huckabee at Lizard’s Thicket (yes, this is a restaurant!) in Columbia, SC. It was our first encounter with the Governor since he went “On The Record” for ONE.
I thanked him for participating. He told me that he enjoyed the opportunity and said that making the presidential candidates go on the record about our issues is a great idea. Although we were not able to take a photo with him, we did present him another ONE band, which he gladly accepted it.
On Friday, I went to a Chamber of Commerce Lunch, with some ONE members, to see Gov. Mike Huckabee.
There was a lot of press at this event, and ONE’s Marine, Michael Castaldo was able to talk with and band CNN anchor Anderson Cooper right before Gov. Huckabee gave a short speech.
After the event, ONE members Michael and Kevin tried to make their way to speak with Gov. Huckabee about ONE and the world’s poorest people, but the press crowd was too big. But right as Gov. Huckabee exited the room, Michael and Kevin were able to briefly engage with him. Michael told him that both Republicans and Democrats were coming together to fight global AIDS, and as soon as Gov. Huckabee saw Michael’s shirt, he told him that our issues are bigger than just Republicans and Democrats and that fighting global AIDS transcends politics and speaks to our humanity.
They were both able to thank him for his endorsement of PEPFAR as he made his way out the door. We would have had the entire engagement on tape, but someone forgot to hit the “record” button! I snapped a quick photo and I am sure that Gov. Huckabee ran into a few more ONE members urging him to become a leader in the fight against global disease and extreme poverty throughout his trip through NH.
Iowans for AIDS Action held candlelight prayer vigils at churches, schools, and in front of campaign offices all across the Hawkeye state. ONE joined the activist group at multiple locations to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS leading up to World AIDS Day this Saturday.
At the University of Northern Iowa, AIDS activists and ONE members were joined by Delaware senator and presidential hopeful Joe Biden as he lit a candle and participated in the ceremonies.
Governor Huckabee recently released a statement outlining his plan to fight global HIV/AIDS if elected president. Governor Huckabee committed to supporting President Bush’s $30 billion plan over five years for a second round of the emergency AIDS plan. The Governor also committed to increasing support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
ONE Vote ’08 applauds the governor for releasing his plans to fight HIV/AIDS. We look forward to hearing more from the governor about his plans to fight global poverty and disease.
ONE member Libby Pederson outdid herself this weekend in Iowa, delivering “On the Record” campaign petitions from more than 50,000 ONE members to four of the presidential campaigns. The petitions ask the candidates to go on the record, in writing and on camera, to tell us exactly what they plan to do to end extreme poverty and global disease.
But we won’t hear back from them until they hear from us, and that’s what petition delivery is all about. Check it out below.
Here’s Libby Pederson delivering a petition to a Chris Dodd campaign staffer.
There she is again outside Joe Biden’s HQ.
And inside Mike Huckabee’s office.
What a trooper, once again, handing petitions to a staffer from the Barack Obama campaign.
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