WASHINGTON (CNN) – New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will outline what his presidential campaign is describing as a “21st Century Marshall Plan,” to address several issues facing the nation and the international community.
Specifically, Richardson’s campaign said he will talk on Thursday about climate change, pandemic diseases and refugee crises and “will call for doubling our foreign development assistance to 2% of our federal budget.”
“These are not just the problems of individual nations,” Richardson will say in the speech, according to excerpts provided by his campaign. “They are the problems of an independent world. We are the most powerful nation in the history of the world. Yet, we are not immune from such threats. It will take vigilance and bold action now, to preserve our safety for the future.”
Last night Gov. Bill Richardson spoke at the Latino Summit Meeting at Southern New Hampshire University. I decided to go with ONE member Josh to see Gov. Richardson’s address.
We stood in the balcony as Gov. Richardson spoke about shifting US foreign policy and priority to the “poorest of the poor”, he spoke about clean water and education efforts in Latin America. He went on to talk about micro lending and the work of Muhammad Yunas and the Grameen Bank, and explained to the audience how Yunas won the Peace Prize for helping to provide small loans directly to people in the developing world.
After his speech, he took questions from the crowd and one of the first questions was from Guy, an exchange student that attends SNHU. Guy asked Gov. Richardson what type of relations the US would have with Africa if he were elected president. Gov. Richardson talked about expanding funds to fight AIDS, and would propose funds for healthcare and education to fight extreme poverty. He said that Africa would be a priority in his administration and that the US would devote ample resources.
As Gov. Richardson left the event, I was able to speak with him briefly and I gave him a custom made ONE band especially for him. Because Gov. Richardson has such large hands and wrists, he has told me in the past that the ONE bands do not fit him that well, so I cut two ONE bands in half and connected them to create a larger ONE band. He laughed and put it on immediately and told me how much he supports and believes in the ONE Campaign. I thanked him for speaking about the world’s poorest people and told him to keep it up.
Gov. Richardson has a few more campaign stops in New Hampshire, and I am quite sure he will run into more ONE members today!
Bill Richardson spent the day campaigning in Las Vegas on Saturday. He made stops at the Cark County Democrats Club meeting and opened a new office in East Las Vegas.
During both events, Governor Richardson commented on the need to fight extreme poverty and global disease, and thanked The ONE Campaign for leading this fight and attending his office opening.
Megan Jones was able to ask Governor Richardson about how the trade agreements under his Marshall plan would help in the fight against global poverty. See his response in the video attached:
Governor Bill Richardson made this promise at a campaign stop in Florence, South Carolina, yesterday. The presidential hopeful also thanked the ONE Campaign for coming to his event and encouraged members of the audience to speak to us and find out more about ONE, which they did.
Richardson also told the crowd “the ONE Campaign wants to push the idea that America needs to lead the way in so many ways.” He continued to wear the band we gave him for the entire event and proudly showed it to everyone in the room.
His Political Director in South Carolina, James Dukes, also came to the event wearing his white band. We thanked Governor Richardson for supporting ONE and making Africa a focus of his political platform.
Sunday morning in New Hampshire, and I went to the Red Arrow Dinner in Manchester to catch up with Gov. Richardson with some ONE members.
Melissa Skinner was able to speak with Gov. Richardson about her recent trip to Namibia and thank him for talking about the need for the US to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty throughout the continent of Africa.
Gov. Richardson was very enthusiastic about ONE but told us that the ONE band was too small for his wrist. He stretched it out and put it on anyway before he headed off.
ONE member Ben who happened to be going to get some morning pancakes, thanked him for his efforts in Darfur.
Later in the day, ONE’s Marine Michael and ONE member Maria Gonzales caught up with Gov. Richardson in Dover. They told me that Gov. Richardson spoke all about the ONE Campaign and urged people to get involved. He said that Africa should be a priority in America’s foreign policy.
Gov. Bill Richardson was in New Hampshire on Sunday and made a stop at a Nashua Multicultural Street Fair. I caught up with him with ONE member Brandon Laws.
You may remember Brandon from a McCain post a while ago when he spoke with the senator about the need to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa. Brandon is a long time ONE member and even attended the 2006 Stand-Up event in Manchester. Not only is Brandon a ONE Campaign volunteer, but he is now volunteering for Gov. Richardson’s presidential campaign.
When Gov. Richardson saw my shirt, he yelled out to me “Africa! Poverty! AIDS! ONE Campaign!” Brandon and I were able to thank him for his efforts on the ground in the Sudan and for making sure that Africa was one of his top priorities in his own campaign.
Later in the day, ONE member James Leon attended a house party with Gov. Richardson and gave him a ONE band. Jim said that he instantly recognized it and Jim laughingly told him “Don’t let me catch you not wearing your ONE band”!
No matter which candidate, no matter what party, no matter what setting – ONE Vote ’08 is there to give voice to the poorest people in the world and make sure the next president is taking action to save lives in Africa.
On Friday, ONE member Keith Spano traveled to Peterborough, NH, to see Gov. Richardson. Keith has been a ONE member for a while and always makes sure to call Congress during ONE action alerts.
In a black ONE Vote ’08 shirt and white ONE band, Keith made sure Gov. Richardson saw him and recognized his shirt.
All over New Hampshire, and across America – ONE members are taking to the campaign trail to make sure the bottom billion people in the world are not forgotten in the 2008 presidential campaign. ONE Vote ’08 will ensure that the next President of the United States is a global leader in the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa.
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.
