Hollywood and Washington, D.C. joined forces last week when producer Norman Lear, famous for All in the Family and Stand by Me, introduced Declare Yourself, a new campaign to encourage young voters to participate in the 2004 election.

Described as a "national, nonprofit, nonpartisan campaign," Declare Yourself targets young Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 to increase voter turnout.

According to the Federal Election Commission, only 36 percent of eligible young people voted in the 2000 election.

The campaign will embark on a nationwide tour starting in January 2004.

The tour will reach 18 campuses across the country, but will not stop at Penn State.

The tour misses Penn State because of criteria for choosing the campus locations.

"It came down to student population, cities and the schedules of the primaries," said Christy Salcido, from the Declare Yourself campaign.

The tour, featuring several famous poets performing excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, hopes to rally young Americans around activism, voting and democracy.

Penn State students can still experience the performances from video clips available on the campaign's Web site at www.declareyourself.com.

Organizers hope to appear at summer music festivals and conduct a nationally televised concert in the fall.

Declare Yourself will also create public service announcements featuring actors, musicians and athletes.

Using his status as a Hollywood icon, Lear has also enlisted the help of many high-profile celebrities to promote the new campaign.

Drew Barrymore helped to launch the campaign last week.

Other celebrities, such as Mel Gibson, Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon, will lend their support by increasing publicity for the campaign and encouraging young Americans to find their own reasons to vote in the 2004 presidential election.

Eric Plutzer, Penn State associate professor of political science, said the Declare Yourself campaign might not be effective because direct contact with a campaign representative-- not education -- is the key to success.

"The only get-the-vote-out campaigns that are proven effective are those involving face-to-face contact and that directly encourages young people to vote. Just using the mail, radio and Internet is useless," Plutzer said.

"To be really effective you have to get to know the person and follow up."

Visitors to the Web site can register to vote online and request an absentee ballot for those students attending out-of-state schools.

The site also has political news and information on candidates and parties.

Some students said that they think this campaign is a step in the right direction because it connects voting with concepts which young people can relate to.

"I think this campaign will help because young people are always online," Michelle Wale (junior-kinesiology) said.

"Using the Web site to help voter turnout is a good way to reach kids."

Francine DeCerbo (junior-agricultural business) said using celebrities is also a good way to connect with young voters.

"I think if kids relate to the people they are putting out there the campaign could help encourage more young people to vote," she said.

Other students said they were not surprised by the low voter turnout, but the campaign could help by spreading the word.

"Most young people probably don't vote because they don't think their vote is heard or that it doesn't matter," Manjiree Kulkarni (sophomore-mathematics) said.

"The campaign is trying to increase awareness, which is probably a good place to start."