On Wednesday, Newt Gingrich‘s campaign learned firsthand the perils of the politics web world. Like a game of roulette, the previously unowned NewtGingrich.com now takes visitors to a smattering of unfriendly websites, including a negative article from The Atlantic entitled, “Gingrich’s Campaign Still Looks an Awful Lot Like a Book Tour,” and the Tiffany & Co. website as well, making fun of Gingrich’s previous six-figure debt to the high end jewelry company. Visitors are also taken to a YouTube video of Gingrich playing nice with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, or to the Freddie Mac website, where Gingrich made millions as a consultant, irritating some conservatives.
Gingrich’s campaign has yet to respond to our request for comment.
This isn’t the first time pranks have been pulled on a candidate who didn’t own his or her real name domain name. (Gingrich’s actual campaign website is Newt.org). Earlier this month, RickPerry.com was leading to GOP hopeful Ron Paul‘s 2012 website, and a Reuters article then pointed out that nobody owned NewtGingrich.com at the time.
Now, a company named Domains by Proxy, Inc., owns the website, according to a “whois” search that Yeas & Nays conducted. Unfortunately the whole point of that company is to hide the identity of the real owner.
