If you’re going to run for president, buy every website domain with your name.
On Monday morning, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced she’s running for United States president. But if you head to CarlyFiorina.org, you’ll find a message that criticizes her for firing thousands of workers at HP.
It shows 30,000 sad faces — one for every employee that was laid off while Fiorina was chief executive from 1999 to 2005. The accusation that she outsourced so many American jobs is a major thorn in Fiorina’s side — and one reason she lost her bid for U.S. Senate in 2010.
No one hijacked the site. It’s not a hack. Fiorina’s campaign team just didn’t buy it soon enough.
This is a standard, dopey mistake politicians make nowadays. And it’ll inevitably mean that curious voters will end up seeing this anti-Fiorina message when they’re actually trying to find her real website, CarlyFiorina.com (which redirects to CarlyForPresident.com).
That’s the thing about websites. No one remembers actual domain names. Most people just type in a candidate’s name on Google and search for it. And they’ll head to whatever pops up in the results.
The Republican candidate’s campaign team did not respond to CNNMoney requests for comment.
CNNMoney has confirmed that the man behind the website is Mike Link, a marketing employee at the Service Employees International Union in Washington, D.C.
Link told CNNMoney he never worked at HP, and declined to specify his interest in that company’s layoffs.
And while the union is heavily supported by the Democratic Party, Link said the anti-Fiorina website is a “personal project” of his.
Members of Fiorina’s fundraising super PAC, Carly for America, didn’t buy it.
“No wonder the website is ‘delighting Democrats’ — it was created by an arm of the Democratic Party,” said the organization’s spokeswoman, Leslie Shedd.
Fiorina isn’t the only one with website problems.
The right wing, anti-immigration Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz only bought TedCruz.org. Meanwhile, TedCruz.com displays a pro-immigration message to support President Obama.
Another example is HillaryForPresident.com, which was snapped up by a conservative dental surgeon in Boca Raton, Florida, who uses it to rail against Democrats and Obamacare.
And even though many people expect former Florida governor Jeb Bush to run next year, he still hasn’t bought JebBush.com. It’s registered to the domain name service Fabulous.com and was on sale last month for $250,000.