Open Letter to Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton

[NastyRiffraff]

One of you will be the Democratic nominee. If we do it right, one of you will be the next President of the United States. That, as you know, gives enormous responsibility to all American people, as well as people all over the world.

I strongly supported John Edwards before he bowed out. I support him still, largely because of his concentration on finally doing something substantive to bring people out of poverty. That took a tremendous amount of courage; talking about the poor isn't a traditional vote-getter. But, as John said, it's immoral to be silent when thousands of people have no health care, when thousands of our veterans sleep under grates, when a mother must choose between heating her home and feeding her children.

So, now you want my vote. Here's what you need to do to earn it. Make good on the promise you made to John Edwards, and as he said, through him to the country. Make poverty a central issue in your campaign. Make it strong, and make it immediately. I don't mean mentioning it in passing while touting your ability to lead the country and "make us safe." I don't mean the old, tired platitudes. I'm talking about passion; the kind of passion that tells me you mean it; that you'll follow through; that you're angry that people in the richest country in the world don't have enough to eat, that many die...yes, die...from lack of health care.

Some say this is a losing issue because "poor people don't vote." Don't they? What about the thousands who were shut out of voting in Ohio because their precincts were understaffed and had too few voting machines? Some waited, in the cold rain, until 3:00 a.m. to vote. Do you think that happened in the well-to-do precincts? And for the homeless, there's a very good reason they don't vote: in many states they can't. Although all states allow people living in shelters to register to vote, many states require a mailing address to register. And two states (Louisiana and Virginia) don't allow people living on the streets to register at all. And only ten states have enacted a Homeless Voting Rights statute.

If you pledge to help people rise out of poverty, you'll have your voters, and so will the Democratic party of the future. We know Republicans won't do it. If you don't, who will?

I'll be watching. So will others who care about what John Edwards campaigned so hard for. One of you will get my vote in the general election. Who that will be, as far as I and others are concerned, depends on who best follows through on a promise.