Colorado’s ONE Vote ’08 Puts Global Poverty on 2008 Election Agenda

Denver, CO-Local members of the ONE Campaign joined together tonight in downtown Denver to build momentum for Colorado ONE Vote ’08, a nonpartisan campaign aimed at educating and energizing Colorado voters and the presidential candidates on issues of extreme poverty and global disease.

In an event at the Ditto Art Gallery, area voters and ONE members talked about the need to mobilize Colorado voters and engage the presidential candidates to make the fight against global poverty and disease a key foreign policy and security issue at the 2008 ballot box. The event comes just weeks before the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Denver August 25-28 and where the ONE Campaign is planning a full slate of awareness-raising events. The ONE Campaign is planning a similar schedule of events one week later at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.

“Colorado is home to 30,000 ONE members who deeply care about the issues of extreme poverty and preventable disease, and we want to tell the presidential candidates that a little leadership on these issues will go a long way,” said Colorado’s ONE Vote ’08 Field Director, Matt Higginson. “The voices of young people, parents, grandparents, Republicans and Democrats are all part of this effort in the hope that we can gain attention for those suffering needlessly from disease and poverty. We want our next president to be fully committed to finding solutions to these problems to save lives and make our world a better, safer place.”

The mobilizing event featured a photo exhibition displaying the impact ONE Vote ’08, the ONE Campaign’s presidential initiative, has already made in Colorado and across other key battleground states. Throughout the presidential primaries and general election, ONE members have been relentless advocates for the world’s poor, talking with the presidential candidates at countless town hall meetings, speeches, rallies and diner stops and urging them to make strong commitments to combat global poverty if elected.

In the months ahead, Colorado ONE Vote ’08 will continue its high-energy grassroots mobilizing, including at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver. Throughout the convention week, the ONE Campaign will hold educational events bringing together a wide range of public officials, celebrities and grassroots members to highlight the opportunity the next president will have to tackle global poverty and disease.

Beyond its grassroots reach, ONE Vote ’08 utilizes a team of political strategists and policy experts, like former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle, national ONE Vote ’08 co-chairs. The initiative has brought together a powerful alliance of nonpartisan thinkers, top military experts, political strategists, influential faith leaders with ONE’s powerful coalition of millions of informed, active and engaged members. ONE educates the candidates and their staffs about ONE’s issues and urges them to craft commonsense, effective initiatives to include in their foreign policy platforms.

As a result of both this grassroots pressure and policy-level engagement, both Senators McCain and Obama are making commitments to these vital issues. Both have produced videos and provided specific answers to questions on HIV/AIDS, malaria, infant mortality, clean water and education in the world’s poorest countries as part of ONE Vote ’08’s ‘On the Record Challenge.  Sens. McCain and Obama also committed to visiting Africa if elected president, after ONE delivered more than 100,000 signed petitions to the candidates.

ONE Vote ’08 will continue to raise awareness of these commitments, press for more, and ensure the next president follows through on them. ONE, through its ONE Vote ’08 initiative, is not endorsing or opposing any candidate, but is encouraging all presidential candidates to address these critical issues.

On The Record is a project of ONE Action to educate voters about the presidential candidates’ plans on issues of importance to ONE Action’s members. Only 501(c)(3) activities are funded by The ONE Campaign.

The ONE Campaign is a global organization uniting millions of people to press government leaders to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease around the world. For more information, visit www.ONE.org.