The websites of candidates running for president 20 years ago are unbelievably bad
Screenshot/Bush Cheney
These days, presidential campaigns are all about Snapchat as a way to reach voters. Before that, politicians embraced social media like Facebook and Twitter.
But one consistent aspect of political campaigns over the past 20 years has been the humble candidate website. As a place to sign up new volunteers, solicit donations, and lay out a policy platform, an old-fashioned website can't be beat.
And through the years, candidate websites have come a long way, from basic HTML and GIF affairs to fully featured web applications. They've also picked up some of the most annoying things about the web, like full-page takeovers asking you to sign up for a newsletter.
Here's what campaign sites looked like in the web's early days:
1996: Republican candidate Bob Dole, famous for saying "the internet is a great way to get on the net," had a high-tech — for the time — website with regular updates, although the last time it was updated was November 5, 1996.
BI ScreenshotAmazingly, it's still online — and it's not a mirror, either. Visit it here.
This is his platform on tech issues. He addresses strong device encryption — claiming that his opponent, Bill Clinton, wants to put "big brother" in your computer — which is still a hot topic today given the battle between the FBI and Apple.
BI Screenshot1996: The Bill Clinton campaign had an advanced website for the time, too. Yes, that modem next to Bill is a GIF that flashes, and yes, you can listen to a message from "inventor of the internet" and then Vice President Al Gore if you had the right plug-in.
BI ScreenshotThe page is still accessible today through a mirror.
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