Before they were presidential candidates: Republican websites of the past

Chris Moody
·Political Reporter

Campaign websites have come a long way over the years.

Using The Way Back Machine, The Ticket pulled up old websites for the 2012 Republican presidential contenders that were built back in the days of dial-up modems. Enjoy.

For starters, here's Rick Perry's campaign site when he ran for Texas Lt. Governor in 1998:


(Via Slate's Twitter feed.)

You can see all the other ghosts of GOP web candidacies past--sites promoting the campaigns of Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Ron Paul--after the jump.

Romney during his first run for governor of Massachusetts:

Bachmann, when she ran for the Minnesota state senate in 2002:

Here's Paul's official campaign committee website in 2001:

RonPaul.com is currently a fan site that isn't officially affiliated with his campaign, but it used to redirect to a company that sold teddy bears.

The days before Callista. Gingrich with his ex-wife, Marianne Ginther, in the late 1990s:

Santorum's Senate campaign site in 2004:

People have been picking on Rick Santorum on the Internet for long time. In 2000, when Santorum was a senator, RickSantorum.com redirected to a site run by a foundation set up to keep people from misrepresenting him online.

Cain's run for the White House is his first attempt at national office, but he's been in the public eye for years. Here's his personal site in 1998: