ONE campaign
Have you heard the candidates discuss global poverty?
Only two questions on global poverty have ever been asked in the history of modern presidential debates. Two. That's less than 1 percent of all questions asked.
A significant amount of the first debate — which was supposed to focus solely on foreign policy — was devoted to the economic crisis. Yet even in the 60-odd minutes spent discussing international issues, noticeably absent was any reference to how the candidates would address global poverty.
In response, the ONE campaign is renewing its effort to have debate moderators ask the candidates what they plan to do to fight global poverty. The ONE campaign delivered 103,000 signatures to Jim Lehrer before the first debate — to no avail — and now plan to deliver 150,000 signatures to Tom Brokaw before next Tuesday's debate. (Myspace users can submit questions directly to Brokaw for consideration.)
One billion people live on under $1 a day — the definition of extreme poverty. Every year 10 million children die from preventable poverty-related malnutrition and infections. Over 850 million people in the world are undernourished.
Surely it's in our national interest to help alleviate extreme poverty. Let's hope the candidates are forced to address it.
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