Photo: Martin O’Malley’s 404 page last summer
As we saw last year at the start of the presidential campaign season, 404 pages (“page not found” pages) are an opportunity for Presidential campaigns (or any campaign) to show a little personality. They’re also where you can engage frustrated supporters, and perhaps entertain them away from their annoyance at not finding the content they’re looking for.
How did the final crop of Presidential candidates do? Let’s take a look:
Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders
Very nice, very nice. Both Democratic candidates stay on-brand but deliver a light-hearted look to their supporters. [Ed note: Bernie’s hasn’t changed since last summer, it looks like.]
Donald J. Trump
Looks like Donald Trump needs to make 404 pages great again. Perhaps they’re letting some internal housekeeping slip in favor of sexy social media instead. [Ed note: boooooring. Not winning.]
Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz’s 404 page is…well, it’s something. I don’t understand it, but then I am definitely not the target audience. Perhaps it’s exactly what his supporters would want? At least he was trying. [Ed note: hmmm, maybe not say “target” in this context? Also, “I love the smell of machine-gun bacon in the morning. Smells like… overcompensation.”]
John Kasich
This is basically your dad’s 404 page. You can see why Kasich was an also-ran for the Presidential nomination. [Ed note: my dad’s 404 page would be MUCH cooler than this, btw. He’s a pretty hip guy.]
And in the all-star category…the one who can’t run this year
Yep, someone understands the internet.