Ask the Candidates About Darfur:

In a 2006 episode of the award-winning television show, "The West Wing", the Bartlet administration attmpted to broker a deal that would end the genocide in Darfur. On screen, the characters proved to be unsuccessful, mimicking the many failed attempts that the international community has made thus far at ending the continuining violence in the region.

Off-screen, the actors who starred in The West Wing are asking the presidential candidates to take action to end the genocide. You can watch Bradley Whitford and Melissa Fitzgerald of West Wing fame in this video, as they call attention to the important role that citizens can play in making Darfur a priority for the presidential campaigns.

Washington — “Ask the Candidates,” an interactive nationwide campaign to make ending the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, a priority for all of the 2008 presidential candidates, is making headway in Iowa. Currently the focus is on early primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

In Senator John McCain's video interview on Darfur, he talks about working with other democratic nations in order to stop the genocide. In particular, Senator McCain says,

"We need to provide whatever logistics, whatever financial and whatever other assistance we can to any peacekeeping force . . . in order for us to have some kind of real effective force on the ground."

Click on Read More to view the rest of the video.

You can find more on all the candidates' position on Darfur on their candidate profiles.