“The Pest” Rides Again:
Is he buggin’ ya? He means to bug ya.

BONO PRESSURES CANDIDATES TO FOCUS ON THE POOR

WASHINGTON — The anti-poverty campaign founded by U2 rocker Bono and others is investing $30 million to pressure the presidential candidates to focus on the oft-forgotten issue, with its leaders arguing on Monday that helping the poor is a national security issue.

Dubbed ONE Vote ’08, the bipartisan political push aims to get President Bush’s successor to commit to taking concrete steps to combat hunger and disease while improving access to education and water across the globe.

“People do not go to war with people who have saved their children’s lives,” former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, told reporters at a church in the nation’s capital.

Frist is co-chair of the effort to mobilize activists to pressure the 18 or more presidential aspirants through the media and grass-roots work. The other co-chair also is a former Senate Majority leader, Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

“Some of the most vivid memories of our experience (in Congress) didn’t happen in Washington, they happened in Africa,” Daschle said. “It is incumbent on all of us to recognize that this must be a key part of national domestic security.”

Created in 2004 by rocker Bono and the country’s leading anti-poverty groups, the ONE organization counts 2.5 million members from across the political spectrum and all 50 states. The organization has attracted high-profile support from a wide range of celebrities, including Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Until now, the focus has been on raising awareness of global poverty and encouraging activists to lobby Congress to devote more money to the cause.

Now, the mission will include mobilizing activists. Among the donors: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

For months, scores of volunteers wearing black-and-white ONE T-shirts and carrying placards have been attending presidential debates and some campaign events by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and other Democrats, as well as Republicans such as John McCain and Mitt Romney.
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