Gov. Romney held a town hall meeting in Nashua to finish up Labor Day campaigning in the Granite State. A group of ONE members, including Keith Spano, Elizabeth Laws, and ONE’s Marine Michael, all decked out in ONE Vote ‘08 shirts, attended to make sure that the bottom billion people in the world were represented.

Although we did not get a chance to ask a questions, we made sure that the crowd was well aware of the ONE Campaign by passing out ONE bands and ONE Vote ‘08 literature. Many of the Romney staffers are very supportive of the ONE Campaign and wore their white ONE bands throughout the event.

After Gov. Romney’s speech, we all made our way to the Governor to thank him for talking about the need to reach out to Africa through medical diplomacy and technology. We thanked him for his ideas and he told us that it was good to see us again.

Michael was able to give a ONE band to Ann Romney which she immediately put on, having seen them many times before all across the nation.

It was a long day for many ONE members seeing Sen. Dodd, Sen. Obama, and Gov. Romney at many different settings. But rarely do you get to speak with so many of our nation’s leaders, and potentially the next president of the United States, and we were going to make sure that they heard from the ONE Campaign!

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Last night all of the major republican candidates were in New Hampshire for the FOX News and NH GOP “First in the Fall” Debate. ONE Vote’08 was there and we were joined with many ONE members and dedicated volunteers as we rallied outside the Whittemore Center before the debate.

ONE Vote ‘08 had the privilege of being a co-sponsor of the debate which included a pre- debate reception that many of our NH ONE Ambassadors and special ONE guests attended. We mingled with some of New Hampshire’s biggest names in politics with a conveniently located ONE banner in the background. We were excited to see Republican Leader Senator Ted Gatsas, State Senator Robert Clegg, and NH ONE Vote 08 ambassadors Jeff Rose, as well as our NH ONE VOTE ’08 co-chair Rich Ashooh.

Thousands of people filed into the Whittemore Center and were handed sponsorship bags that included pamphlets on ONE Vote ‘08. 75 of our ONE members and volunteers were able to go inside the debate, all sporting ONE bands, pins, and stickers.

After the debate, one of our staffers joined some of the nation’s most notable reporters and press in the spin room. He had the opportunity to speak with a top adviser to Governor Romney, and speak directly with Senator Brownback and Governor Huckabee. He even saw McCain advisor and special advisor to ONE, Mark McKinnon, who was proudly sporting his ONE band and very interested in ONE VOTE ‘08’s on the ground activity.
Michael Castaldo, one of our super volunteers chatted with Soren Dayton a blogger from Eyeon08.org.

-Andrea Synborski

I just received the results of a survey of 500 likely Republican Iowans caucus goers. Read through the full findings at one.org/polls.

Some highlights:

* Three in four voters (77%) agree that the Unites States has a moral obligation to address problems like disease, hunger and lack of economic opportunity in the poorest countries because it was built on a solid foundation of faith that teaches us to help others. When millions
of children around the world are dying from preventable diseases and hunger, 79% of Republicans agree that we have a moral obligation to do what we can to help.

* Eight in ten Republicans (80%) agree that the next President should keep the commitments made by President Bush to prevent and fight the spread of AIDS in Africa.

* The poll found that Mitt Romney leads among the Republican Presidential candidates with 35% of the vote, followed by Rudy Giuliani (12%), Fred Thompson (11%) and Mike Huckabee (11%). Another 10% of voters are undecided.

Saturday morning was beautiful in Concord, NH so ONE member Todd – who attended our ONE Vote ‘08 office opening – and I went to a local diner to see Gov. Romney’s son, Craig, and the Mitt Mobile.

Craig Romney and his wife Mary spoke with a few NH voters and I was able to talk with them while they ate breakfast with a few staffers and their son Parker Mitt. I thanked Craig for his dad’s recent comments about reaching out to Africa with medical diplomacy and technology. Craig immediately recognized the ONE Campaign and told me about the ONE tent that was at the Iowa state fair.

I am sure the Mitt Mobile will be back in New Hampshire and will undoubtedly see many more ONE members out on the trail who believe we can beat global poverty and preventable disease.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

Gov. Romney held a town hall meeting in Londonderry, New Hampshire, the other day. Like many candidate events in New Hampshire, there were ONE bands everywhere you looked.

Here in New Hampshire, a lot of people from both parties are turning to ONE, and turning out to the candidate events to make sure each and every person running for president, knows that as Americas, we want our nation to be a leader in the fight against global poverty and AIDS in Africa.

This was Gov. Romney’s only public event in New Hampshire that day and after the event there was not much time to talk with him so I snuck around the back of the location to where some of the press had gathered around his vehicle.

After a few questions from the press, Gov. Romney’s campaign officials said that he had to leave, but as he turned around I was able to thank him for talking about the need to reach out to impoverished countries in Africa and fight AIDS and poverty through medical diplomacy and technology.

I also handed him a copy of the New Hampshire Union Leader Op-Ed that had just been published that day by our ONE Vote ‘08 New Hampshire co-chairs, Joe Keefe and Rich Ashooh.

No matter the event, ONE members are finding ways to make our collective voices heard. Each time a ONE member takes an email action, writes a letter to a newspaper, or phones their elected leaders in Congress, they are acting on behalf of the more than 2.4 million Americans and the bottom billion people in the world that live in extreme poverty. We are being heard across the country and we are stronger, when we act as ONE.

-Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional Organizer

The Iowa ONE team headed up to Ames in the early morning on the 11th for one of the biggest Republican sponsored events of the year. The Ames Straw Poll is an all day event that brings together Republican presidential campaigns and the states most active voters face to face. The ONE campaign was a major sponsor of the event and had a booth alongside the presidential campaigns outside of Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State University Campus. Throughout the day country music artist Rockie Lynne performed on behalf of ONE and talked to the crowd about the importance of the campaign.

ONE members had many interesting conversations with people who had done work through their church in places as diverse as western Africa or Brazil. One theme continually came up, while we champion countries that improve their economies those living in poverty are often forgotten.

Tens of thousands were on hand for the event but that didn’t stop Senator Sam Brownback from stopping by the ONE booth. He gave us a strong endorsement and talked about how helping people living in poverty is a moral issue for America. The senator gave us our first video clip which can be seen on YouTube.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney also stopped by and thanked the volunteers for their hard work and dozens of campaign staff and volunteers came by to get bands, tote bags and water bottles.

The event was one of our most successful so far as we signed up almost 700 new supporters and educated thousands more.

-Jeff Yanecek, IA ONE Volunteer

On Monday, Mitt Romney was in Elko, Nevada and our ONE members had yet another chance to show a presidential hopeful that the issues of extreme global poverty and disease are very important to many Americans.

ONE members Hannah, Joe, and I attended Mitt Romney’s early-morning campaign stop. I was given the opportunity to stand, as a representative of ONE, and ask Governor Romney what he would do as president to combat global poverty. Romney stressed the importance of developing relationships with other nations that could help to facilitate a reduction in the problems that many third-world nations face. He even mentioned a meeting he had with Bono.

It is clear that other ONE members are doing their job, because upon being handed the ONE band and Bono’s “On the Move” book, Governor Romney made the statement that he had received the book at just about every campaign stop thus far. Another success for the ONE Vote ‘08 initiative!

Let’s continue to show all of our presidential candidates that their voting public believes in the perspectives and goals of the ONE campaign, and that they should too!

-Adam Bellamy, NV ONE volunteer

From the Washington Post’s campaign coverage:

“Mitt Romney caught some flak in conservative circles when he was quoted this month telling an Iowa audience that the U.S. should learn from the popular social service functions of groups like Hezbollah and invest more in delivering medical services abroad to build goodwill and weaken the hold of extremists.

But it turns out the former Massachusetts governor may just have been practicing smart politics. A poll of New Hampshire voters released yesterday found that voters in both parties — even the Granite State’s famously penny-pinching conservatives — are open to presidential candidates making a case for a surge in spending on foreign aid.

The poll, of 1000 likely primary voters, was conducted by ONE Vote 08, a $30 million effort that is funded in large part by Bill Gates and linked to the ONE Campaign of U2’s Bono, and intended to make global poverty and global health a major issue in the 2008 presidential race. It found that 70 percent of Republicans believe that the America’s standing has suffered in recent years; that 70 percent of Republicans agree that reducing poverty, treating preventable diseases and improving education in poor countries will make the world safer and the U.S. more secure; and that 67 percent of Republicans believe that it is important for presidential candidates to discuss their plans for addressing global hunger and poverty. (The percentages were not surprisingly even higher among Democratic voters.)

While it might seem as if many voters would find it hard to admit themselves uninterested in fighting global poverty, those advising the ONE Vote 08 campaign said they see real significance in the figures.

“The numbers make a compelling case for a sea change in the way the electorate is thinking about how we address these issues,” said former Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry, in a conference call with reporters. “Instinctively, many Americans see that this would be a smart thing to do.”

And notably, this goes for Republican voters too, said Tucker Eskew, who oversees global communications strategy for the Bush Administration. “It’s in our enlightened self interest, and I believe Republican candidates will enunciate on that and lead on it in the months ahead,” he said.

–Alec MacGillis”

Mitt Romney made a campaign stop at the Puritan Restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire today. ONE member Andrea Synborski and I were able to talk with Gov. Romney about global disease and global poverty before he headed in for a town hall meeting.

Andrea mentioned that fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa was an important issue to her as a young Republican and spoke of President Bush’s work leading US efforts. Gov. Romney commented how Bush had just proposed 30 billion dollars over the next 5 years to help prevent and treat the spread of global AIDS. I was able to talk with the governor about how I have repeatedly heard him call for a “Second Marshall Plan” that would reach out to marginalized countries around the world and address issues of humanitarian care and basic education. I told him that actions like that show the rest of the world the type of people we Americans are.

During the stop, Gov. Romney was asked to sign an autograph book from a young NH child. She asked him to name three good role models for her. Gov. Romney responded by telling her: “Ronald Reagan – he was a President, Bono – lead singer of the group U2 for his work to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa, and Franklin Graham – a religious figure”. Although I do not think the girl knew who any of those people were, I gave her a ONE band and explained how the ONE Campaign works to fight disease and poverty in extremely poor places around the world.

Gov. Romney made his way to the exit and we told him to “save lives in Africa” on his way out. He smiled at us and told us he would do his best.

“Gov. Mitt Romney came to New Hampshire on Sunday for a series of public events. Along the way, he ran into a few ONE members who were out to show support for the world’s poorest people.

At a luncheon in Nashua, ONE member Andrea was able to talk with Gov. Romney’s wife Ann Romney. She gave her a ONE band and Ann told her that everywhere she goes, she is always getting a white ONE band.

Gov. Romney finished the day by hosting an “Ask Mitt Anything” town hall in Exeter. During his stump speech, he said that the United States needs to reach out to many countries around the world like Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and named other African countries. He talked about the strength of America and not just in our military might, but in the compassion and values of all American people.

In a response to a question about the global AIDS pandemic, Gov. Romney said that he would work with the other developed nations around the world to help fight the spread of the preventable disease and treat people that are inflicted.

He went even further and said that he wants to see better hospitals and schools in these countries too so that people are not being treated and educated by extremist groups. Gov. Romney told the crowd that he had just talked with the US Secretary of Health and Human services about Medical Diplomacy. Gov. Romney said that Fidel Castro has a group of doctors that go around the world to help impoverished people with cataracts surgery. People call it a “miracle surgery” and Romney said that Castro uses this treatment to help gainer public favor and opinion around the world. He said that the US needs to do a better job of doing similar work around the world and that as president he would make sure that the United States leads the way.

After the event, I spoke with Gov. Romney’s son Craig and gave him a ONE band. Other ONE members spoke with Gov. Romney about ONE Vote ‘08 and the Governor said that he had met with Bono in NYC and stands behind the ONE Campaign.

I caught up with Romney just as he was leaving and thanked him for remembering the bottom billion people in his speech. I also asked him to reform the Farm Bill to allow poor African farmers the opportunity to trade their way out of poverty. He thanked me and headed out.

I did not get many good pictures but when I went to my car, I discovered that Gov. Romney and his family were parked right next to me. I managed to take a few photos before they were done for the day and even noted Gov. Romney’s grandson Parker Mitt playing with a ONE band.