“On The Record”

By responding to ONE members' 60,000+ petition signatures asking them to go "On the Record," nine leading U.S. presidential candidates directly addressed global poverty in a manner never seen before during a presidential campaign. The "On the Record" movement built on months of grassroots organizing by ONE members in key states who followed the candidates, asked them questions, and made sure they were thinking about issues related to global poverty. The final video submissions and issue positions submitted by the candidates allowed ONE to build a powerful online tool for comparing where the candidates stood on global poverty and preventable diseases.

Moving into the primaries and general election, "On the Record" gave ONE members a concrete resource with which to hold the presidential candidates accountable for the promises they made. From questions at campaign events to holding the candidates to their commitments, "On the Record" was the backbone of ONE's advocacy efforts in the 2008 presidential race.

The commitments themselves represented major advances in building political will to fight global poverty. Then-Senator Obama made a new pledge of up to $1.3 billion annually for innovative approaches to getting clean water and sanitation to people who need it in the developing world. Senator John McCain pledged that, if elected, he would set a goal of eradicating malaria, saving millions of lives. These pledges are just a few of the groundbreaking promises and plans put forward by many candidates.

"On the Record" was the centerpiece of the ONE Vote '08 campaign, which received the prestigious Center for Global Development Commitment to Development Award for 2008. Most importantly, "On The Record" was key to the successful effort to make global poverty a leading foreign policy issue in 2008.