Engaging a candidate on behalf of ONE

Megan Marsh and Andrea Bateman, Bread for the World members and ONE volunteers from Colorado Springs, traveled to the beautiful mountain resort of Aspen on August 9 to attend a speech by presidential candidate John Edwards. Below is Megan's account, along with some pictures and captions.

By Megan Marsh

Andrea and I drove all the way up to Aspen to hear former senator John Edwards address an audience at the Aspen Institute. We arrived early and got to sit in the second row.

Afterwards, Mr. Edwards told us that he liked our shirts and has lots to say about what ONE is vocal about. He claimed to be the ONE campaign's biggest supporter out of all the candidates...

I think that remains to be seen, but thanks for the photo op, senator!!

He mainly spoke about domestic issues such as universal health care and eliminating tax breaks for the extremely rich. He did speak a little bit about trade and how we need to look at who it is benefiting - the multinational corporations at the expense of the middle and working class American.

I tried to ask him how he would make trade more fair for those who live in the developing world.

This was after his speech and his staffers were trying to get him out of there. He said he didn't have enough time to share everything he has to say about that, but that he does have a lot to say, and he said he is a big supporter of the ONE campaign.

"You'll notice in the first picture he's wearing a coat and tie...he quickly looked around the room and saw he was the only one in the room wearing one...you're in Colorado, senator! Lose the tie!

"That does feel better," he said after removing it."

Read what the local media had to say about Sen. Edwards' speech:
The Aspen Times
The Aspen Daily News