By Tim Clark

Multichannel News

Rainbow Media’s WE has also embarked on its own ambitious initiative called “WE Vote ’08,” which aims to get 1 million women registered to vote while educating them on the issues they have deemed important: healthcare, education and the economy.

“What we have built is a national campaign to reach every corner of the country and galvanize women to register to vote en masse,” WE executive vice president and general manager Kim Martin said. “Having a strong female candidate may have heightened some women’s interest in this campaign; however elections are always important for women to be involved in and we are motivating women, in a nonpartisan way, to make sure their voices are heard.”

The WE Vote ’08 campaign includes a series of public service announcements featuring female celebrities such as Kelly Ripa, Kerry Washington and LeAnn Rimes, along with a multiplatform marketing campaign designed to drive voter registration on national and local levels.

The multitiered year-long campaign will be co-chaired by 1984 vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro and former U.S. House of Representative Susan Molinari, and assembles a group of nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations, including Women’s Voices. Women Vote; America’s Promise Alliance; Women’s Campaign Forum, and The Creative Coalition, in addition to cable organizations such as the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Women in Cable & Telecommunications and the Association of Cable Communicators.

WE also interviewed celebrities at The Spirit Awards asking what issues are most important to them in the upcoming election and placed them online.

Martin wouldn’t elaborate on advertising revenue tied to WE Vote ’08, and said WE does not view this campaign as a means to promote and air other types of political programming on the network.

“What we are building here is a national grassroots campaign that hopes to reach every corner of the country,” said Martin. “WE Vote ’08 is the culmination of months of planning, outreach and research at the network, and we are very proud to have so many women leaders and key groups onboard.”