The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies
Contact
Raenell Dawn
raenelldawn@comcast.net
+1-503-393-1949 (Oregon)

Peter Brouwer
pbrouwer@pagecage.com
+1-250-732-5629 (Canada)		FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BIRTHDAY CLUB MAKES NO ENDORSEMENT IN PRIMARY RACES
Compressed Primary Schedule Threatens To Overshadow Leap Day
Leap Year Day, 2008

The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, the world's largest Internet birthday club, said today it can make no endorsement in the primary elections that are stealing the thunder of leap year this year.  Raenell Dawn, co-founder of the society explained, “We are an international birthday club, but a large proportion of our members live in the USA, so we think our membership could benefit from a statement by us about the candidates. Unfortunately, as has been the case in all 44 presidential campaigns, leap year day is simply not an issue. We won't be making an endorsement this year because there is no candidate that represents our interests. Of course that shouldn't stop the membership from voting, we're just not telling them how to vote this year.”

Dawn has worked 20 years to improve 'Leap Year Day' awareness among calendar printers, and computer programmers, who often get it wrong. Dawn said, “A quick perusal of this year's calendars confirms the problem: Many calendars mark New Year's Day, and Ground Hog Day, but only a few mark Leap Year Day. We estimate at least half our members, have had problems with legal documents, such as a driver's license, that gets our birthday wrong. It takes an act of Congress to get this fixed, and no US president has ever stepped  up to the plate on our behalf.”

The Honor Society intends to mark each leap year with their presidential endorsement. Dawn explained that “Presidential elections almost always occur in a leap year.  Not until 2100 will there be an election that is not in a leap year. Now, with the primaries compressed into the first two months of the year, and not a single candidate acknowledging the fact, we expect February 29th to be completely blacked out under the glare of presidential primary races.”

Peter Brouwer, a spokesman for the Honor Society said, “More people know about Ground Hog Day than leap year day; that's wrong. Every few months we are advised of another website that consider February 29th an “invalid birth date“. Congress must act to put 'Leap Year Day' on the calendar, this is why we follow the presidential candidates so closely. The president of the USA could easily influence Congress to act on the matter. Our hope is that one leap year, there will be a candidate that proclaims February 29th 'Leap Year Day'. You can be sure all of us born on leap day will line up waiting for polls to open that year. Unfortunately, the Honor Society doesn't see that happening this leap year.”

The Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies, founded in 1997, has over 6000 members from all over the world. Their website, http://leapyearday.com is devoted to 'Leap Year Day' education, advocacy and celebration.

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