Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential ambitions didn’t start in 2015 — he’s been mulling and probably dreaming of this for a long time.
At the very least, he’d been planning a run for public office back in 2009 when he declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. So it boggles the mind as to why he didn’t buy the domain name RandPaul.com back then while he still was an unknown son of a congressman.
It looks like his mistake cost him too. The Los Angeles Times reported that Paul shelled out $100,000 to purchase the domain ahead of his presidential run.
RandPaul.com was originally owned by a group of supporters, but it is unknown if they were the ones to cash out.
Paul paid the money to Escrow.com, a company based in Rancho Santa Margarita that processes online transactions for domain names, according to the L.A. Times.
Paul’s payout comes after several Republican Presidential candidates are being plagued with domain name crisis.
CarlyFiorina.org features thirty thousand frowning faces, one for every employee she laid off during her time as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. TedCruz.com features the message “SUPPORT PRESIDENT OBAMA. IMMIGRATION REFORM NOW!” And JebBushforPresident.com is a site mocking the former Florida governor.
Nonetheless, many possible future candidates haven’t gotten the hint that it’s a smart move to buy your domain name early.
According to GoDaddy.com, Congressman Chris Gibson who is mulling a run for Governor of New York in 2018 doesn’t own GibsonforNY.org.
This problem plagues Democrats too.
Congressman Joe Kennedy III, a possible future Senator when 68 year-old Sen. Ed Markey or 65 year-old Sen. Elizabeth Warren retires doesn’t own KennedyforMa.com
Warren might want to invest $5, if she ever wants to run for President in the future.
Or if popular up-and-comer Sen. Cory Booker is planning a 2020 run, buying CoryBooker2020.com will already set the Senator back a hefty price.
