How Ted Cruz got trolled on the first day of his campaign

By Fusion Staff  |  March 23, 2015 | 3:54pm
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Load up the most likely landing spot for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) online presidential campaign headquarters, and you’ll get a different result than you probably expected:

That’s because TedCruz.com is owned not by the 2016 campaign’s first major presidential candidate — but by an Arizona attorney with the same name, who is not a fan of that other guy with the same name. Ted Cruz the politician had to settle for TedCruz.org to launch his presidential campaign on Monday, when he released two videos and gave a speech at Liberty University in Virginia.

Cruz the candidate made the apparent mistake of not squatting on the domain, though it’s hard to blame him. In 2008, when it appears the other Ted Cruz registered the domain, Sen. Cruz was still serving as the solicitor general of Texas. A run for Senate — let alone president — was probably not the first thing on his mind. But even he appeared unaware of the problem as he was running for Senate in 2012:

Mother Jones revealed last year that the attorney Cruz has held the domain since 2008, and a cursory search of the Wayback Machine web archive confirms that. Back then, it was a simple business advertising venture with obvious “Cruz” puns:

But over the past year, the site’s owner has taken to trolling the presidential hopeful. First came a black background with this text: “”COMING SOON, Presidential Candidate, I Luv CHRISTIE!!!!!”

Then, on Dec. 18 of last year, the website changed to what it is now. The attorney Cruz did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment.

It’s unclear if Sen. Cruz’s team attempted to acquire the domain from its current owner, but given the attorney’s past message-sending gimmicks and his contribution history, it seems unlikely he’d give it up..

Federal Election Commission records show that the attorney Cruz donated $1,300 to former Arizona Rep. Ed Pastor, a Democrat who retired rather than seek re-election in 2014. He also donated $500 to the campaign of former Arizona Senate candidate Ed Ranger, a Democrat who was walloped by Sen. John McCain in the 1998 election.

But it’s not just TedCruz.com on which Cruz’s campaign missed out. TedCruz2016.com does not appear to be owned by anyone affiliated with the campaign. TedCruz.ca has a bunch of questions about his eligibility for president.

And TedCruzForAmerica.com redirects to a very different site than Cruz would like to promote:

Brett LoGiurato is the senior national political correspondent at Fusion, where he covers all things 2016. He’ll give you everything you need to know about politics, with a healthy side of puns.

 
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