Obama, John, Mitt, Hillary and the Rest of You '08ers: Do This

It is called the Food Stamp Challenge. Begun by a bipartisan group of House members, the challenge is to live on an average food stamp budget -- just $3 a day -- for one week in order to raise visibility and understanding around the challenges that millions of low-income Americans face in obtaining a healthy diet under current food stamp benefit levels.

Several stories have been written about both the congressmen doing the challenge and also other, less high-profile people.

Every presidential candidate should take the challenge. After all, presidential candidates go overseas to prove their foreign policy mettle, they go to war zones or military bases to prove their defense credentials; they go to manufacturing plants and churches and sporting events too. Doesn't it make sense that they would take a single week of their lives to try and live as millions and millions of Americans do?

Write to the candidates and encourage them to take the challenge.