So, to get around to politics, ONE has launched ONE Vote '08, as lobbyists to do this:
ONE Campaign Jumps Into 2008 Politics
ONE Campaign Begins $30 Million Effort to Pressure Candidates on Poverty
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
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The official launch rally was held on May 16, 2004 at Liberty Mall in Philadelphia. About 2,000 people attended, including Bono, Dikembe Mutombo, Michael W. Smith, Richard Stearns (President of World Vision), and David Beckmann (President of Bread for the World).[2]
In December, ONE announced a $3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[3] Corresponding with this announcement, ONE tried to show the bi-partisan nature of its campaign by having Mark McKinnon, an advisor to President Bush, and Mike McCurry, an advisor to the Kerry Campaign, go on CNN’s Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff in support of ONE.[4]
On May 22, 2007 the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria announced that it had saved 1.8 million lives since 2002, including a roughly doubling of services in the past year. ONE took partial credit for this increase since ONE members advocated for the increases to the Global Fund in both 2006 and 2007.[5]<
In June 2007, ONE launched ONE Vote '08.[6] to mobilize American voters to engage the presidential candidates about the issues of global diseases and poverty. ONE Vote '08 seeks to have all the candidates make the fight against global poverty a key part of their national security and foreign policy platform. ONE Vote '08 is co-chaired by former Senate Majority Leaders, Sen. Tom Daschle (Democratic party) and Sen. Bill Frist (Republican party). Since the launch, state-wide initiatives have been established in each of the four early primary states - Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.[7][8][9][10] [11][12] In addition, the ONE Vote initiative has produced official and unofficial endorsements from presidential candidates John Edwards and Bill Richardson.[13][14
ONE Campaign Jumps Into 2008 Politics
ONE Campaign Begins $30 Million Effort to Pressure Candidates on Poverty
By MARY CLARE
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON
The anti-poverty campaign founded by U2 rocker Bono and others is investing $30 million to pressure the presidential candidates to focus on the oft-forgotten issue, with its leaders arguing on Monday that helping the poor is a national security issue.
Dubbed ONE Vote '08, the bipartisan political push aims to get President Bush's successor to commit to taking concrete steps to combat hunger and disease while improving access to education and water across the globe.
"People do not go to war with people who have saved their children's lives," former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told reporters at a church in the nation's capital.
Frist is co-chair of the effort to mobilize activists to pressure the 18 or more presidential aspirants through the media and grass-roots work. The other co-chair also is a former Senate Majority leader, Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
"Some of the most vivid memories of our experience (in Congress) didn't happen in Washington, they happened in Africa," Daschle said. "It is incumbent on all of us to recognize that this must be a key part of national domestic security."
Created in 2004 by rocker Bono and the country's leading anti-poverty groups, the ONE organization counts 2.5 million members from across the political spectrum and all 50 states. The organization has attracted high-profile support from a wide range of celebrities, including Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Until now, the focus has been on raising awareness of global poverty and encouraging activists to lobby Congress to devote more money to the cause.
Now, the mission will include mobilizing activists. Among the donors: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
For months, scores of volunteers wearing black-and-white ONE T-shirts and carrying placards have been attending presidential debates and some campaign events by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and other Democrats, as well as Republicans such as John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Activity will only increase in the coming months, with town-hall-style events, mailings, a celebrity bus tour and TV advertisements.
For now, the focus is on the early primary states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But the effort eventually will be expanded to the more than dozen states holding contests on Feb. 5, and will continue through the general election.
At least one candidate, Democrat John Edwards, has focused on combatting poverty, heading an anti-poverty center in North Carolina in recent years.
In the fall, the group will ask candidates to sign a pledge and embrace a platform that lays out concrete steps to:
Fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Improve child and maternal health.
Increase access to basic education, particularly for girls.
Provide access to clean water and sanitation.
Reduce by half the number of people worldwide who suffer from hunger.
On the Net:
ONE: one.org
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
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