Dear Jon,
It will be up to the next president to decide if the United States will keep its promises to rid the world of extreme poverty and global disease. Millions of lives and the chance to banish the most brutal suffering caused by poverty and disease are at stake.
That's why during the past two weeks, more than 108,000 ONE members like you signed petitions to Jim Lehrer, calling on him to ask John McCain and Barack Obama "Just ONE Question" on global poverty. We were disappointed that Mr. Lehrer didn't ask that question Friday night at the first presidential debate. But we are pressing forward to have global poverty on the biggest stage in American politics.
Tom Brokaw is moderating the next McCain-Obama debate on October 7 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Click the link below to add your name to our "Just ONE Question" petition, and let's make it clear that this debate will not be complete without a question on the candidates' plans to fight global poverty.
http://www.one.org/debates/o.pl?id=595-3885993-3dOb.ix&t=2
We've made solid progress in bringing this issue into the heart of the foreign policy discussion in 2008. Even in the midst of economic tumult, ONE members are keeping the candidates focused on effective, affordable solutions that are putting children in school, providing access to life saving AIDS medication and helping end hunger.
And the candidates are hearing from you that this is a critical moment in the struggle to end global poverty. On Thursday, both Barack Obama and John McCain gave major speeches laying out how America can partner with people and countries in the developing world to end the suffering caused by extreme poverty and global disease.
It's no coincidence that Thursday was also the day world leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York for an emergency meeting on the Millennium Development Goals – the global pledge made in 2000 to halve extreme poverty and global disease by 2015. The next president will make the decisions that determine whether or not we reach those goals. Those decisions will directly impact the lives of hundreds of millions of world's poorest people.
Now we have to get the message out to the media that the candidates want to engage on global poverty and the American people deserve to hear where they stand.
Click the link below to add your name to our petition to Tom Brokaw and you'll join the more than 108,000 ONE members asking for "Just ONE Question" on the candidates plans to fight global poverty.
http://www.one.org/debates/o.pl?id=595-3885993-3dOb.ix&t=3
The one billion people around the world who live on less than a dollar a day deserve Just ONE question on global poverty. We can make it happen.
Thank you for your voice,
Josh Peck, ONE.org
