The GOP, tired of being criticized for losing to the Democrats in 2012 because they had antiquated approaches to elections, have secured the internet domain ending .gop for websites, making the websites easier to remember and find. Will Martinez, vice president of sales and marketing for .gop, told USA TODAY, “You’ll see committees, organizations, grass-roots and state committees using this ending. Hopefully in the lead-up to 2016 elections you’ll see the presidential primary playing out on .gop.”
The GOP’s grab of the endings followed a recent decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to expand the number of domain name endings. The Republican State Leadership Committee grabbed .gop. Some other new alternatives could include poll.gop, convention.gop, campaigns.gop, house.gop, senate.gop, and whitehouse.gop.
Republican National Committee Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski said, “The goal here is to really make investments and be on top of all of the newest in technology to compete with the Democrats and move up ahead of them.”
Barack Obama’s re-election campaign manager, Jim Messina, was irritated, saying he was “pissed” that Democrats haven’t imitated the GOP idea. He said, “It’s just another thing in the toolbox to use to reach out to folks. As a campaign manager, all you want is more tools, and I think this is a really interesting one.
But Democratic National Committee spokesman Michael Czin told USA TODAY pooh-poohed the significance of the GOP move, scoffing, “Republicans didn’t lose in 2008 or 2012 because people couldn’t find their websites. To the contrary, it’s because people could figure out what they were campaigning on.”
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