The poor
The best thing that can be done for the poor is to make sure the economy is booming and healthy. The tax cut end of this equation is in play, now we need to deal with excessive Federal spending, and Bush needs to be leaned on.
This approach isn't as attractive to policitians as the idea of setting themselves up as the "Saviors of the Poor, Without Whom All Would Surely Perish (vote for me!)" but it works.
I have no idea what's happening to the current poverty rate. The most recent numbers are from the height of the recent recession.