As longtime readers know, I spent the week before Election Day 2006 in southern Ohio volunteering for Victoria Wulsin's congressional campaign. I did this partly because it was an extremely close race in our struggle to retake the House, but also because of Victoria's background helping the poor in Africa. I'm convinced that one of the most effective ways to overcome global poverty is to elect leaders willing to use America's massive power to deal with the problems the Third World faces. (Victoria ended up losing 51-49 in the second-reddest district in Ohio, while being outraised $2 million to $1 million. But she's running again, and you might hear more about her in this space in the future.)
One of the things that makes me such a John Edwards booster is his oft-expressed commitment to dramatic action on global poverty. In his speech at the Take Back America conference, he discussed providing clean water and sanitation in poor countries, supporting microfinance, and educating children who would otherwise never go to school. Edwards likes to pitch this as a way to restore America's international reputation -- which it is -- but it's tremendously valuable for its own sake.
