Columbia, SC- South Carolina’s ONE Vote ’08 campaign today added to its high-profile, bi-partisan state leadership team as three prominent South Carolinians signed on as ONE Vote ’08 Ambassadors.

The three new South Carolina ONE Vote ’08 Ambassadors, Dr. Andrew Sorensen, president of the University of South Carolina, Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, and State Senator Robert Ford, will help lead the movement to make the fight against global poverty a key foreign policy and security issue in the 2008 South Carolina presidential primary.

“Ending poverty and increasing our own security are issues that we can tackle in our lifetimes. Through brave presidential leadership and popular will we can improve the lives of millions who lack basic food, education, medical care and access to clean water,” said Dr. Sorensen. “I am honored to join ONE Vote ’08 as we urge the presidential candidates to address these incredibly important global issues.”

“I am proud to be a member of this bi-partisan coalition that is committed to solutions, not politics,” said Lt. Gov. Bauer. “I look forward to serving not only as an Ambassador, but as an active member of the campaign”.

As ambassadors, Sorensen, Bauer and Ford will help raise awareness about extreme poverty and disease and discuss the strategic and cost-effective steps the next president can take to fight it like never before.  They will help advise the ONE Campaign to reach more South Carolina voters, speak on behalf of the organization, and urge Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to address issues of hunger and malnutrition, clean water and children’s health by incorporating them into their 2008 platforms.

Dr. Sorensen has a long history of commitment to core issues of the ONE Campaign. Dr. Sorensen served on the DHHS Secretary’s Council on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness (2002-2005) and now serves on the National Board of Public Health Examiners and the National Institutes of Health National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity.

Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is joins long-time political colleagues Congressman Joe Wilson and Senator Bill Frist in their efforts to raise awareness and seek solutions to some of the most pressing problems of our time. Having traveled extensively in third world and emerging countries the Lt. Governor has seen first hand the effects of poverty, starvation and preventable disease on their populations.

South Carolina ONE Vote ’08 has 29 ambassadors, including:

Joe Wilson (co-chair)

Jim Hodges (co-chair)

Barbara Nielsen

Joe Erwin

Bob Coble

Leon Love

Reverend Charles Jackson

Leslie Burton

Dr. DeAnne K. Hilfinger Messias

Minor Shaw

Floyd Nicholson

Nic Billig

Hiram Spain

Oran Smith

Hunter Howard

Rev. Ronnie E. Brailsford, Sr.

Inez Tenenbaum

Steven Benjamin

I.S. Leevy-Johnson

Tameika Isaac Devine

Jack Meadors

Ted  Felder

Jamarr Brown

Wendell Estep

Jim Sonefeld

Ashley Landess

Dr. Andrew Sorensen

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer

State Sen. Ford