September 29, 2004 Contact: Michelle Collins / Votergasm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: michelle@votergasm.org

RUSH LIMBAUGH ATTACKS VOTERGASM.ORG

Talk Radio Host Assaults Youth Campaign for Voter Registration,

Election-Night Sex; Sexy Young Voters Hit Back

(New York, NY) Rush Limbaugh called on his 14.5 million listeners Tuesday to “shut down” Votergasm.org, the web campaign encouraging young people to pledge to vote, have sex with a voter on election night, and withhold sex from non-voters. Ignoring the fact that Votergasm.org is non-partisan, Limbaugh falsely claimed that the group was encouraging “orgasms and sex for votes for Kerry.”

“Rush Limbaugh has crossed the line,” said Votergasm spokeswoman Michelle Collins. “He’s turning election-night sex into a partisan issue. Votergasm is trying to bring people together in an orgy of civic participation—but Rush Limbaugh is splitting them apart.”

She added, “Rush Limbaugh is perpetuating the stereotype that conservatives are uptight losers who hate sex. We think that’s just wrong.”

Votergasm.org was launched on September 4 by recent graduates of Columbia, Harvard, and UW-Madison. Its goal: send 100,000 youth voters to polls this fall, and catalyze 250,000 orgasms by the morning of November 3. The site asks visitors to sign the Votergasm Pledge to have sex with a voter on election night—and withhold sex from non-voters for the next four years. (More than 10,000 people have signed so far.) In addition, it provides tools to organize election-night Votergasm parties and features erotic pictorial guides to activities such as requesting an absentee ballot.

Limbaugh learned of Votergasm.org through an article in Boston University’s Daily Free Press entitled “Votergasm Entices New Voters Through Sex.” Erroneously imputing a partisan motive to the site, he called on his listeners to mount a “denial of service attack,” flooding Votergasm.org with more simultaneous visitors than the site could handle. Minutes later, he triumphantly announced, “We've shut down the server, folks… that was the objective here.”

“Limbaugh’s intimidation tactics will not distract Votergasm from its mission: to increase voter turn-on,” Collins said. “Voting and sex are absolutely critical to the future of America. Without them, our nation could not survive. What does Rush Limbaugh have against sexy young voters, anyway?”

Votergasm.org is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to reverse two disturbing trends in American society: low voting rates among young people, and unacceptably low rates of youth sexual activity.

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