High-powered Celebrities, Executives, Artists and Athletes Join Declare Yourself for the 2008 Presidential Election

LOS ANGELES, July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Attracting a powerful list of some of the most influential personalities in entertainment, media, sports and the arts, Declare Yourself, the national nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter initiative, is pleased to announce its Advisory Board and Friends rosters for the 2008 election. Declare Yourself's first star-studded event of the campaign season is scheduled for September 27 at the historic Beverly Hills Post Office.

In addition to founder Norman Lear, Declare Yourself's Advisory Board is comprised of JJ Abrams, Tyra Banks, Tim Davis, Ben Goldhirsh, Stuart Scott, Ben Silverman, Charlie Walk, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, David Rockwell, and Atoosa Rubenstein. Members of the board provide strategic and creative insight, advice and ideas that will be activated between now and the U.S. Presidential election on November 4, 2008.

As Friends, over 20 major celebrities will be lending their significant star power to Declare Yourself to get every 18-year old to register and vote. These include Freddy Adu, Jessica Alba, Carlos Boozer, Sasha Cohen, Rosario Dawson, Hilary Duff, Adrian Grenier, Sam Hornish Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mandy Moore, Shawne Merriman, Amber Tamblyn, Aisha Tyler and Kate Walsh, who join Declare Yourself's previously announced spokespersons America Ferrera and Hayden Panettiere. Additional Friends will be joining the campaign throughout the year. A comprehensive list of the campaign's Friends is available at Declare Yourself's website at http://www.declareyourself.com/.

"In 2004, Declare Yourself demonstrated exceptional success in mobilizing young people to register and vote and I'm honored to be on their Advisory Board," said Tyra Banks. "We're going to shake things up this time and really focus on those first-time voters. It's going to be fun."

Declare Yourself patriotically re-launched the week of 4th of July, with a multi-tiered platform aimed at engaging young Americans in the voting process. Major partners include Yahoo! (Premier Online Information Partner), MySpace (Premier Social Networking Partner), YouTube, Google, Friendster, Evite, Good Search, Clear Channel, Comedy Central and American Eagle Outfitters. With their support, Declare Yourself is positioned to drive millions of young adults to its online voter registration tool and to the polls.

Declare Yourself registered more than 1.2 million young people (ages 18-29) in the 2004 and 2006 elections. The 2008 nonprofit campaign has been created in response to research which shows that getting a young person to register and vote at age 18 is the strongest predictor of lifelong voting behavior. The campaign builds on the momentum of the record number of young

voters in 2004 and an increase of more than two million young voters in the 2006 midterm election over 2002.

"We have brought together some of the strongest minds and best personalities in the country, and they know how to speak to and reach young people," said Lear. "We're so thankful for each of our distinguished Advisory Board members and Friends, and it's their dedication and commitment that will enable us to reach our goal."

About Declare Yourself

Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to energize and empower every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the 2008 presidential election. Partnering with leaders in education, the entertainment industry, popular online destinations and media outlets, the fashion industry and retailers, Declare Yourself registered well over one million people in the 2004 and 2006 elections at http://www.declareyourself.com/. Declare Yourself, founded by Norman Lear, was launched in 2003 as the culmination of the Declaration of Independence Road Trip, a nationwide multi-media exhibit and tour of an original copy of the Declaration of Independence.