The ONE Vote ‘08 Blog is merging with the ONE Blog.

Head over to the ONE Blog to see the latest in the fight to end global poverty.

And check out the OV08 tag on the ONE Blog- for posts about ONE Vote ‘08 activities.

Yesterday afternoon Sen. John McCain came back to Iowa for a townhall in Des Moines; it was his first time in the state since he’s clinched the Republican Party nomination.

I attended the 500+ person event with follow ONE volunteers to make sure that Sen. McCain remembered ONE and the fight to end extreme poverty during the general campaign. Shortly after taking the stage Sen. McCain recognized the many people in the crowd wearing ONE T-shirts, and asked me to stand up. I was already seated on the stage behind him, so I was facing the crowd. Sen. McCain spoke about the ONE Campaign and why he supports what we do. He then handed the microphone over and asked me to speak a little about ONE.

First, I thanked Sen. McCain for his sharing his plans for fighting malaria last week. (All the candidates released statements) and I explained ONE’s non-partisan efforts to educate and raise awareness about extreme poverty around the globe to the hundreds of Iowans at the event.

-Libby Crimmings, Iowa ONE Vote ‘08

Vote here to send ONE super volunteer Michael Castaldo - or ONE’s Marine - to the 2008 presidential conventions to advocate for ONE. (If he wins, this group will send Michael to the Republican and Democratic conventions.)

-Virginia Simmons

Today - on World Malaria Day - all three major presidential candidates reiterated their commitments to fight malaria worldwide.

You can check out Clinton’s statement here, McCain’s here, and Obama’s statement should be live here shortly.

The three - Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama - had already told us their plans as part of ONE’s “On The Record” campaign last December.

-Virginia Simmons

On Monday, the eve of the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Senators Clinton and Obama were in Pittsburgh - rallying their faithful and any undecided voters here one last time - before voting started the next morning.

At the rally for Senator Clinton, in downtown Pittsburgh that afternoon, Bill Clinton spoke and introduced her. As he approached the stage, we were able to hand him a ONE band. When he took it, Mr. Clinton said, “I really support ONE a lot. They’re a really great organization.” When Senator Clinton made her way to the stage, we also handed her a ONE band and a ONE Vote ‘08 flyer and she too spoke of her support of ONE. We were also able to get ONE bands to other politicians supporting Senator Clinton at the event.

At Senator Obama’s rally later that night, more than 10,000 were in attendance. Senator Bob Casey appeared and spoke.

ONE was there for both candidates rallies, wearing ONE shirts, handing out ONE bands and literature and talking to supporters of both candidates about ending extreme poverty.

-Chris Geer, ONE Vote 08 field organizer

The 2008 AFAN AIDS walk was a great success. Thousands of people were in attendance to walk and raise funds for AIDS treatment and prevention here in Nevada. I attended with fellow ONE volunteer Amber McIntosh (assisted by her young daughter) and we had the opportunity to talk with hundreds of people throughout the morning about the ONE Campaign’s efforts to halt the spread of preventable diseases including malaria, TB, and HIV on a global scale. When all was said and done, we had over one hundred new signers add their John Hancock’s to the ONE Declaration. It was a beautiful morning for a gathering of people united in their desire to see a better, healthier world.

-Adam Bellamy

The Millennium Campus Network held a conference this past weekend to discuss global poverty and health. ONE’s former intern, Sam Vaghar, helped create this new network of Boston area colleges and universities, and their conference hosted over 700 students and included top global health experts like Ira Magaziner, Dr. Paul Farmer, as well as an event with musician John Legend and Dr. Jeff Sachs.

I attended the first day of the event at MIT and immediately noticed a few ONE shirts and many, many ONE bands. After opening statements and a very good speech by Sam, the keynote address was given by former presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards. In his speech, Sen. Edwards spoke about his travels to Uganda and the extreme poverty he witnessed in Africa. He spoke about the need to fight AIDS and malaria to help bring stability to poor nations and citied America’s moral standing in the world.

After his speech, I was able to briefly speak with Sen. Edwards and thanked him for raising the issues of global poverty while on the campaign trail. We even talked about the global poverty speech he gave in New Hampshire.

From the campaign trail to the colleges campuses, people everywhere are organizing and realizing that in today’s world, that we have the resources to fight global disease and end extreme - less than a dollar a day - poverty.

-Matthew Bartlett

Just four days before the crucial Pennsylvania primary, Senators Clinton and Obama were busy reaching out to as many voters as possible and ONE was there, speaking out for those living in extreme poverty.

On Friday morning, Senator Clinton held a town hall in Radnor, PA, with Congressman Joe Sestak. That evening, Senator Obama held the largest rally of his presidential campaign near Independence Hall in downtown Philadelphia. The crowd was somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 people. I was at each event speaking with supporters of both candidates about the millions of people in Africa who do not have access to clean water or staple foods.

-Tyler Bond, ONE Vote 08 field organizer

Wednesday night Senators Clinton and Obama engaged in their first debate in weeks. While they were inside the National Constitution Center discussing their plans for the country, ONE was outside making sure someone was speaking up for all those suffering from extreme poverty around the world. We were out there handing out literature, speaking with Clinton and Obama supporters, giving a voice to those who so often lack one. It was an amazing sight, being part of a crowd of hundreds of supporters, protesters, and activists. The campaign trail is hot here in Pennsylvania and we’re keeping the heat on the candidates to discuss their plans to fight global poverty.

-Tyler Bond, ONE Vote ’08 organizer, Philadelphia, PA

Sunday night’s Compassion Forum, hosted by Messiah College in Grantham, PA, brought Senators Obama and Clinton together. The event was put on by Faith In Public Life and sponsored by ONE and Oxfam America. Although he was invited, Senator McCain did not attend the forum.

With a question and answer format, moderated by Newsweek’s John Meacham and CNN’s Campbell Brown, questions ranged from the role of religion in public life to those about AIDS in Uganda and federal funding for poverty relief.
Questions were also taken from religious leaders in the audience. Reverend William J. Shaw, of the National Baptist Convention asked Senator Clinton how her administration would deal with the difficulties of providing poor people in “developing countries” with “inexpensive, generic drugs for the treatment of AIDS and other sicknesses.”

Clinton said, “I believe that our government must do so much more to get generic drugs and low-cost drugs to people suffering…not only from HIV/AIDS, but the range of diseases that affect disproportionately the poor…” Clinton went on to commend PEPFAR, calling it “a very bold and important commitment, but it didn’t go far enough in opening up the door to generics and getting the costs down.”

To work toward solutions to these and other problems, citing lack of education, malaria, and TB among them, Clinton said, “I want us to have a partnership, government to government, government with the private sector, government with our NGOS and our faith community to show the best of what America has to offer.”

Senator Obama was questioned by religious leaders as well. Frank Page, of the Southern Baptist Convention, questioned Senator Obama about faith and abstinance-based AIDS prevention programs in Uganda. In his answer, Senator Obama also complimented the PEPFAR program as “one of the success stories of this administration. We’ve seen a drastic increase in funding. And terrific work is being done between the CDC, the NIH, local AIDS organizations, NGOs.”

Obama said that as president, he would “use whatever the best approaches are, the scientifically sound approaches are, to reduce this devastating disease all across the world…” and would seek to “make antiviral drugs available to people who are in extreme poverty.”

You can read through the full transcript here.

-Chris Geer, ONE Vote ‘08 field organizer, Pennsylvania