September 30, 2004 Contact: Michelle Collins / Votergasm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: michelle@votergasm.org

RUSH LIMBAUGH FLIP-FLOPS ON VOTERGASM.ORG

Public Demands Straight Answer From Radio Personality About Position On Election-Night Sex Parties

(New York, NY) Radio personality Rush Limbaugh has taken two opposing stances in two days regarding 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.

On Tuesday, he told his listeners to “shut down” Votergasm.org through a denial of service (DoS) attack. On Wednesday, he said, “I am not trying to shut you down. I am trying to do the exact opposite.” After comparing Votergasm to voter fraud and prostitution on Tuesday, Rush said Wednesday that he was trying “to generate business, traffic, if you will, for the [Votergasm.org] website.”

“With Rush Limbaugh's support, Votergasm can achieve its fantasy of sending 100,000 voters to the polls and catalyzing 250,000 orgasms for young voters on November 2," said Votergasm director and spokeswoman Michelle Collins. "That is, unless Limbaugh flip-flops again."

Limbaugh, whose show reaches 22 million listeners each week (although only a fraction of those are tuned in at any given moment), attempted to clarify his position on Wednesday: “When I said, ‘Shut it down,’ I said, ‘Let's shut 'em down. Let's everybody go visit the website.’ I didn't want to shut 'em down, shut 'em down, shut 'em down.”

“Does Rush want me to have sex with a voter on election night or not?,” asked New York resident Lyndon Kennedy, 23. “Tuesday he said Votergasm was partisan. Wednesday, he admits it’s not. Who knows what he’s going to say next? Can I trust this man?”

Votergasm.org was launched on September 4 by recent graduates of Columbia, Harvard, and UW-Madison. 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 15,000 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.

"We applaud Limbaugh for his courage to speak frankly about the need for more orgasms in American political life,” said Votergasm’s Michelle Collins. “We hope that other radio and television hosts will follow his lead."

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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