E-Mail This Article to a Friend STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Web site touts naked partisanship BY MIKE MILIARD

Ever wish you could get George W. Bush to just ... F off?

By touting an inspired brand of civic-minded prostitution — in which libertine liberals trade sex for the promise that a prospective voter won’t cast a ballot for the GOP — FtheVote (www.FtheVote.com) lets you do just that.

"Everyone knows liberals are hotter than conservatives," reads the site’s manifesto. "We look hotter, we dress hotter, our ideas are hotter, and we are infinitely hotter in the sack. We must use our sexual appeal to our advantage.... By stripping conservatives out of their clothes, we can also strip them of their power."

FtheVote was launched July 4 by a group of media provocateurs called the Carbon Defense League. You may remember them from a satirical Web site they unveiled last year, Re-Code.com, which purported to allow users to generate UPC bar codes and name their own prices — a prank that drew the wrath of Wal-Mart and the FBI. The thrust of their latest art project/sociology experiment is a little different.

"Most people don’t mingle with others who share opposing beliefs," says CDL member Nathan Martin, "especially in regards to who they’re voting for. None of my friends were Bush supporters. We were trying to figure out how we could get [ideologically opposite] people talking to each other. Sex seemed like a really great way to [do that]."

The process is simpler than a Florida ballot. 1) Sign up as a "model" on the FtheVote home page, providing a photo and personal info, as you would for an online singles site. 2) Download a pledge sheet that lays it out in black and white: "In exchange for physical affection ... which by no means implies the necessity of climax or orgasm," the undersigned swears to "cast my vote for any candidate other than George W. Bush." 3) Find your "target conservative" — either a friend or someone contacted via the site’s message board or chat room. 4) Get the pledge sheet signed. 5) Do the deed. 6) Mail in the completed pledge sheet, or register it online.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most users treat FtheVote as a lark. Many models’ profiles make it clear that they’re not really about to F anyone. (At the height of the site’s popularity, there were 600 or so models; Martin says they’ve gotten about 50 pledge sheets back in the mail.) But there have been some success stories. Martin tells of two long-time friends he knows. "She was Republican, he was Democrat. But she wasn’t a firm supporter of Bush. After a period of talking and arguing about [politics], he brought up the idea of FtheVote, and they talked about it and laughed about it, and she agreed to pledge her vote."

But Martin insists FtheVote is less about consummation than about conversation. "There are people out there who are using this as a legitimate political tactic to change votes. But we see it more as trying to get a discussion going with someone," he says. "You may or may not be sexually attracted to them. If you are, feel free to go through with whatever sexual act you agree upon. But primarily, the goal is that you’re gonna be with someone when their guard is down. We’re sort of introducing the subject matter for your discussion; it’s something funny you can both laugh about. You can find some common ground about the humor of this thing, and then you can actually start a discussion about why you’re not supporting Bush."

And, of course, the pledge sheets are not legally binding. A shifty Bushie could easily cash in your offer, then vote GOP anyway — thus screwing you twice. "If you get a signed pledge sheet, that’s no guarantee that someone is gonna vote against Bush," Martin admits. "But as long as you have the experience of engaging in something that makes the voting process a little more pleasurable, that’s okay."