Gore Readies Internet Campaign Site -- 03/22/1999

Gore Readies Internet Campaign Site

22 March, 1999

By Scott Hogenson
CNS Executive Editor

(CNS) – The Internet is being used as a campaign tool for the 2000 presidential race much more than it was in 1996. And among all the contestants on both sides of the aisle, the most likely candidate, Vice President Al Gore, has yet to launch his own campaign presence on the World Wide Web.

But that will be changing soon. The Gore campaign site is expected to be launched as early as this week according to a campaign aide. "We're planning a nice little roll out for the site," said Gore campaign spokesman Roger Salazar, who told CNS that the campaign is aiming for a tentative launch date of Thursday.

Salazar couldn't say exactly what would be included on the Gore website, but described it as "a pretty darn good one," adding that final touches were being put on the site's design and operation.

The address for the web site will be http://www.Gore2000.org once it's put on line. However, the address was not originally registered to the campaign. A CNS search of InterNIC, the registrar of Internet domain identities, showed that the domain 'Gore 2000' was registered to Michael A. Gill and Martin Dunsby. The InterNIC record was last updated on April 9, 1998.

Salazar told CNS that Gill once handled "technical issues" for Gore, but said he's not currently connected with the campaign. CNS attempted to contact Gill, but was unsuccessful in reaching him. His voice mail identified him as being affiliated with Price Waterhouse Coopers in Denver. CNS was able to contact Dunsby at his office in Atlanta, but he would not discuss whether he was connected with the Gore campaign

It's become increasingly common for people to register for Internet domain names that they believe will be sought after in the future, with the rights holder then selling the domain name at a later date. However, Salazar couldn't say whether any money changed hands between the campaign and Gill or Dunsby.

The InterNIC search also showed that Gore's presidential campaign has reserved three additional site domains. The campaign has registered GORENETWORK, along with the 'dot-com', 'dot-org' and 'dot-net' suffixes, which are the most popular on the Internet.

Virtually all of the major candidates for their party's respective nomination for the 2000 presidential race have Internet sites. Even several Republicans who have not formally declared their intentions, including Texas Gov. George W. Bush and former Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole, have home pages on the World Wide Web that are under construction.

Gore has been subjected to ribbing in many conservative circles for having laid claim earlier this month to being the creator of the Internet, which was put into operation while the vice president was in law school in the late 1960s. On Friday, the Republican National Committee poured more gas on the fire by sending out a fax entitled "Where's Al?" It listed most of the presidential campaign web sites asking, "Who's Missing? Why, the Father of the Internet, Vice President Al Gore."

Also missing from the RNC document was the listing for former Vice President Dan Quayle's Internet site, which has been operational for several weeks.

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