CONCORD – Democrats and Republicans crowded into a hot, stuffy storefront yesterday and cheered together for a campaign to drive Presidential candidates into discussion of world poverty.

ONE Vote '08 is a bipartisan national group that wants discussion of extreme poverty and disease to be part of national debate leading up to November 2008 elections.

Moral obligations and national security go hand-in-hand on the issue, state co-chair Joe Keefe of Manchester said.

"Our job is to make sure people recognize the connection between generosity and security," Keefe said. By easing poverty in third-world countries, the U.S. will also address one of the root causes of terrorism, he said.

The national and state chairman of the Republican and Democratic parties have endorsed the campaign, which was launched with help from U2 rocker Bono. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a $22 million grant to the effort.

In New Hampshire, state and national chairs came out yesterday to encourage some of the 17,000 volunteers who've signed up in support. Co-chairing the state effort with Keefe is Republican Richard Ashooh of Bedford. National chairs are Jack Oliver, national vice chair of finance for Bush-Cheney '04, and Michael McCurry, former press secretary to President Bill Clinton.

The campaign also has support of New Hampshire's entire Congressional delegation, and will post field staff in Concord.

Similar efforts are being launched in South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada, organizers said.

Ashooh said that with its first-in-the-nation Presidential primary, New Hampshire has "a unique obligation." Because it is not dominated by labor, farming or other narrow interests groups, the discussion of national priorities can range wide without being seen as self-serving, he said.

"We can reach around the globe to help the neediest," he told a crowd of about 100.

Oliver said that "No candidate can come to New Hampshire and not answer questions," he said. "Can we get you all to ask the questions?" Worldwide, he said, 30,000 people die of poverty-related ailments and 10,000 children in Africa die of malaria and diarrhea every day.

McCurry said with volunteers showing up at every campaign event, "We're going to force them to make them make this a priority "¦ We will hold them accountable for what they tell us during the campaign once they get elected."

ONE Vote is still working on exact wording of a pledge for candidates to sign.

McCurry said that even before the pledge is done, "We want to make it impossible for candidates to come to New Hampshire and not answer questions about this." In a display of how bipartisan the effort is, McCurry later told reporters that President Bush deserves credit for his work on issues directly related to the ONE Vote effort, and Oliver credited the Clinton Foundation for being "unbelievably generous," in its work on world poverty.

McCurry said ONE Vote is already having an effect, pressuring Congress in February to add $1 billion in the fight against extreme poverty. Campaigns are starting to notice, he said.

"I feel like with the one campaign we've already won, because we're bringing people together."