FAMILY CIRCLE’S 2012 PRESIDENTIAL COOKIE BAKE-OFF:

FAMILY CIRCLE’S 2012 PRESIDENTIAL COOKIE BAKE-OFF: VOTE FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENT WITH YOUR TASTE BUDS First Lady Michelle Obama and Ann Romney Compete for Best Cookie - Readers Cast Their Votes - Winners Have Predicted Election Results New York, NY (June 27, 2012) – For the past five presidential elections, Family Circle magazine has asked the spouses of the presidential candidates to share their favorite cookie recipe. She who claimed victory went on to live in the White House every time but one. Today Family Circle launches the 2012 Presidential Cookie Bake-Off and asks readers to do their patriotic duty: Bake, taste, vote. The contest, which goes live today on www.familycircle.com, is featured in the August issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands July 3, 2012. Family Circle’s first bipartisan quadrennial cookie bake-off took place in 1992, when Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush bumped spatulas over the importance of baking. Almost 20 years and five presidential election cycles later, the Family Circle Presidential Cookie Bake-Off has become a fun political tradition—and a political pacesetter. Whether it was Bill Clinton’s Oatmeal Cookies or Laura Bush’s Texas Governor’s Mansion Cowboy Cookies, more than 19 million Family Circle readers have participated in baking, taste testing and voting on recipes submitted by the spouses of the presidential candidates. During the 2008 election, Cindy McCain’s Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie recipe generated some heat with accusations that the recipe was possibly copied. Controversy aside, readers’ taste buds spoke and Mrs. McCain’s cookies received 54% of the vote. And breaking with tradition, she is the only winner of the Family Circle contest not to become First Lady of the United States. Now First Lady Michelle Obama and Ann Romney face off in the sixth quadrennial cookie contest. Family Circle readers can find the culinary candidates’ recipes in Family Circle’s August issue, then vote online for their favorite treats at www.familycircle.com/cookievote or on Family Circle’s Facebook page. Polls will remain open until noon on August 15, 2012. Readers can vote once per day. Cast Your Vote: **First Lady Michelle Obama’s Mama Kaye’s White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies** Every evening the President, the First Lady and their daughters sit down for a family dinner with good conversation and healthy food. If they want to splurge, they enjoy these White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies created by the girls’ godmother. It’s the Obamas’ idea of the perfect treat. **Ann Romney’s M&M’s Cookies** The Romneys love spending time with their children and grandchildren. Whenever they’re together, they mix up a batch of their favorite M&M’s Cookies. “They smell delicious coming out of the oven—our grandkids can’t resist them!” says Ann Romney.