Des Moines, IA — Today, at a major event at the Iowa State Historical Society, ONE launched Iowa ONE Vote ’08, an unprecedented, high energy, non-partisan campaign to save lives and secure America’s future by energizing presidential candidates and ONE’s 20,000 Iowa members to make the fight against global extreme poverty a key foreign policy issue in the 2008 Iowa Republican and Democratic Caucuses.

The goal of the campaign is to save lives and secure America’s future by energizing presidential candidates and ONE’s 2.4 million members across the United States to make the fight against extreme global poverty a key foreign policy issue in the 2008 presidential election.

Iowa ONE Vote ’08 Co-Chairs former Governor Terry Branstad and former Lt. Governor Sally Pederson launched the aggressive mobilization and multi-media campaign in Des Moines today.

“Iowa’s position as the first in the nation caucus gives us a unique opportunity to ask presidential candidates directly about a vital part of our foreign policy, eradicating global poverty and disease,” said Terry Branstad, a Republican and former Iowa Governor. “The Iowa ONE Vote ’08 Campaign is a way to combine our voices to send a message to our next President and other policymakers that Iowans are ready to step up to this challenge.”

“Iowa ONE Vote ’08 is an exciting opportunity to increase awareness of these issues and raise their visibility in the upcoming Iowa Caucus,” said Sally Pederson, a Democrat and former Iowa Lt. Governor. “I’m proud to work with Governor Branstad, the ONE Campaign and ONE’s 20,000 grassroots activists in Iowa to accomplish that goal through Iowa ONE Vote ’08.”

The African Drum Corp Tubabu performed at the launch. Tubabu is a percussion ensemble from Des Moines that performs traditional West African rhythms and songs. Their high energy performances feature rhythms from Mali, the Ivory Coast and Guinea played on authentic African instruments.

Iowa’s leaders have been throwing their support behind ONE for some time, showing that they care about and are demonstrating leadership on these issues. Under Governor Tom Vilsack’s administration, Iowa became a State of ONE. Several Iowa cities followed suit by becoming Cities of ONE, including Des Moines, Ames, Cedar Falls, Manchester, Iowa City and Clinton.

Iowa’s faith community will play a vital role in Iowa ONE Vote ’08 because of the tremendous number of Iowa caucus goers whose faith guides their presidential preference. Christian Conservative Leader and ONE Board Member Marlys Popma said, “I truly believe that it is our Christian responsibility to care for those less privileged than us, which is why I signed onto this very important initiative. Iowa Christians are in a unique position to bring not only salt to our world but also light.”

“For Christians our obligation to the poor of this world is clear. Jesus said that when we care for the least of humanity we express our love for Him. And conversely when we neglect the least of humanity that we are rejecting Him,” said Pastor Bill Bernau of Grace Lutheran Church of Adel, Iowa.

Former Ambassador and head of the World Food Prize Kenneth Quinn also voiced his support, “ONE shares the philosophy of the World Food Prize that no matter our party, ethnicity, religion or ideology, saving children and families from hunger and preventable diseases is the right thing to do. Iowans have also embraced this philosophy and our moral obligation to help.”

Iowa’s Team of ONE

Already a large number of Iowa leaders are lining up to join. ONE’s Leadership Team in Iowa for ONE Vote ’08 includes: Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Sally Pederson, Senator Tom Harkin, Congressman Bruce Braley, Congressman Dave Loebsack, Congressman Jim Leach, Ambassador Mary Kramer, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy, former University of Iowa Basketball Player Kenyon Murray, Christian Conservative Leader Marlys Popma, Christian Radio Talk Show Host Maxine Seilman, Pastor Mike Householder of Lutheran Church of Hope, Pastor Pat Quaid of Lutheran Church of Hope, Des Moines Councilwoman Christine Hensley, Tom Bedell, Pastor Bill Bernau of Grace Lutheran Church, The Nadas and Brother Trucker.

The National Campaign

U2’s Bono, co-founder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), and a major force in the creation of ONE, has already met with many of the leading Democratic and Republican candidates, echoing the calls of ONE’s grassroots forces who are meeting these candidates as they travel across the country. Along with coalition partners, DATA is leading on the development of the policy platform and working with ONE on direct engagement with candidates.

Democratic and Republican presidential candidates recently answered a question about what they would do for Africa for a special July 2007 Africa-focused issue of Vanity Fair (www.vanityfair.com). ONE co-founder Bono was Vanity Fair‘s first ever guest editor for the issue.

ONE Vote ’08 national co-chairs Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle will travel the country talking with candidates and voters about America’s role in the world and what the next president can do to save lives and secure our future.

ONE Vote ’08 plans to spend a minimum of $30 million on this mass mobilization and media effort throughout the 2008 election cycle. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided a $22 million grant to ONE to support ONE Vote ’08.

ONE: A Record of Action

ONE Vote ’08 capitalizes on the successe ONE has had demonstrating to America’s leaders that poor countries in Africa and around the world are an opportunity, not a burden. ONE is a broad-based coalition of more than 100 partners composed of the nation’s leading relief, humanitarian and advocacy organizations, including DATA, World Vision, CARE and the NAACP. ONE has also rallied nearly 2.4 million Americans of all walks of life. Together, ONE members and ONE partner groups encourage America’s leaders to do more to eradicate global poverty.

In March of 2007, ONE’s grassroots supporters and its partners successfully fought for and won the full restoration of a $2.2 billion cut to the International Affairs budget, which contains critical global poverty funding. In February 2007, ONE members sent more than 200,000 letters encouraging Congress to protect $1 billion in funding in the FY2007 budget for the fight against extreme poverty; Congress responded by committing to a $1.45 billion increase.

This past month, the House of Representatives demonstrated bi-partisan support for a historic increase of over $2 billion in poverty-fighting development assistance over last year. The funds were included in the FY2008 State-Foreign Operations spending bill, which passed the House in late June.