NewtGingrich.com Goes Anywhere But; Democratic Group Offers To Sell Name

Filed by KOSU News in Politics.
December 21, 2011

When he launched his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich said he planned to run it differently than such efforts in the past since he would rely on the Internet to get his message out and engage voters.

But the Internet can be a double-edged sword, especially if your campaign doesn’t own all the obvious URL’s one might associate with your candidacy. Take www.NewtGingrich.com, for instance.

Type in that domain name any number few times and you’re alternately redirected to sites that definitely aren’t ones the campaign team for the former House speaker would want to bring to your attention.

There’s Tiffany.com, a redirect meant to remind you of the disclosure earlier in the campaign season that Gingrich had a $500,000 credit line there as reported on a financial disclosure.

Or you might be redirected to the FreddieMac.com web site, a reminder that his company received $1.6 million for consulting with the troubled mortgage giant that many conservatives accuse of playing a major role in the nation’s housing crisis.

Or there’s the Greek travel web site, a digital dig to Gingrich and his wife Callista taking a Mediterranean cruise earlier in the campaign, a move that caused some of his campaign staff to quit last June. Or you get a series of news stories about the Gingrich’s campaigns travails.

Who exactly is behind the redirects? The Democratic group, American Bridge 21st Century, claims that it owns the name though it doesn’t say it’s behind the redirects. It posted a Craigslist ad putting the site up for sale.

“We thought of giving it away, but we wouldn’t want to be accused of being socialists. So, make your best offer. We’re asking for $1 million, but we’d be happy to accept $500,000 in bling. Heck in the spirit of Christmas we might even let it go for $10,000.”