Bob Dole looked across the stage at George McGovern, noting the unique experience they both shared as losing presidential candidates.

"Here's the good news," Dole quipped at a ceremony honoring he and McGovern as recipients of the 2008 World Food Prize. "We finally won something. Shows you should never give up!"

Dole and McGovern held court for about an hour at the State Historical Society on Wednesday, capping the first day of celebrations of the World Food Prize. The former senators traded jokes, told stories from their decades in public service and discussed the issue that brought them to Des Moines _ hunger.

McGovern and Dole will formally receive the 2008 World Food Prize on Thursday in a ceremony at the state capitol. They are being honored for the creating the George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and Nutrition Program.

The program, which was established in 2000, has provided more than 22 million meals to children in 41 countries.

Established in 1986, the World Food Prize was created by Iowa native Norman Borlaug, who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for spurring the so-called "Green Revolution." He created the World Food Prize to honor efforts to solve global hunger problems. Recipients are awarded a $250,000 cash prize, which Dole and McGovern will split.

Former senators Dole and McGovern are the most famous recipients of the award since it was established and they attracted an energetic crowd of about 500 people. Spiking their remarks with healthy doses of humor, Dole and McGovern drew plenty of laughs.

"We're honored to be here," Dole said, referencing his time as a presidential candidate, slogging through the run-up to the Iowa Caucuses. "I've only been here three or four hundred times."

The former senators _ a Democrat and a Republican _ were asked to recall their first experiences with the issue. McGovern recalled growing up in South Dakota, meeting a man who had not eaten in some time.

His mother decided to feed the man, he said. She offered him cornbread and the man took an unusually large slice. "He ate the whole thing all at once," he said. "That was the first time I was touched by hunger." Continued...