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Poll Shows Designated Drivers Are Sexy

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 18 -- When asked to choose one female and one male celebrity "fantasy" Designated Driver for an evening, the majority of Americans choose Paul Newman (36 percent) and Sandra Bullock (34 percent), beating out celebrities such as Eddie Murphy (19 percent), Tom Cruise (15 percent), Jennifer Lopez (17 percent) and Jennifer Aniston (14 percent). The survey was conducted by Data Development Corporation, Inc. for Anheuser-Busch to measure awareness and usage of the designated driver concept. "I am very honored to have been selected," said Sandra Bullock. "So since I won't be imbibing before the bar closes ... I get to choose the music on the rides home."

Other fun findings include:

-- Overwhelmingly, Americans believe designated drivers (71 percent) are sexier than the person being driven home by one (11 percent). -- If Designated Drivers were to have a theme song, it would be "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson (29 percent). Running a close second is "Happy Trails" by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (20 percent) and "Baby You Can Drive My Car" by the Beatles (18 percent). -- Veteran TV newscaster Barbara Walters was preferred over her "View " co-host Star Jones by a 62 percent margin. -- Sixty-eight percent of those polled chose news anchor Ted Koppel over talk show host David Letterman. -- In the morning shows contests, more than half chose Regis Philbin (58 percent) over his co-host Kelly Ripa (27 percent). And 50 percent say that Katie Couric is preferred over her "Today Show" co-host Matt Lauer (31 percent). -- Which TV parents would Americans call? Keeping the two Huxtables together, most Americans would call Cliff (41 percent) and Claire (35 percent) to be their Designated Drivers. -- Americans overwhelmingly chose racecar driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (42 percent) as the sports star they would choose as their designated driver for the evening. Tennis superstar Venus Williams is second (16 percent), followed by baseball player Derek Jeter (12 percent). -- Also in the sports arena, nearly half of Americans (43 percent) would choose to have Tiger Woods as their Designated Driver -- using his golf cart as the mode of transportation.

The Designated Driver survey was conducted from August 22 - September 8, 2002 utilizing Random Digit Dialing procedures. The findings were based on telephone interviews with a representative sample of 1,090 Americans ages 21 and older.

As part of its holiday campaign to increase designated driver participation, Anheuser-Busch has launched a sweepstakes at www.designateddriver.com to reward consumers for choosing and using designated drivers. From November 25 to January 1, 2003, adults 21 and older are encouraged to enter their names in the Designated Driver Sweepstakes for a chance to win a grand prize American Express gift card worth $20,000 or one of one thousand instant-win prizes worth $25 each. Visitors to the site also are encouraged to say "Thanks!" to their favorite designated drivers by sending an electronic virtual thank-you card