Minutes after Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden bungled his closing statement in Wednesday's debate by telling voters to go to a campaign website that did not exist, a college student was using the URL for a spoof election bid.
Delivering his final remarks after the nine other candidates, Mr Biden laid out his 2020 vision before telling those watching: “If you agree with me, go to Joe 30330” – rather than “text JOE to 30330”.
It set off a flurry of jokes on Twitter about the 76-year-old’s ineptitude with technology and a digital race to buy similar domain names.
I just got off the stage where I shared my bold vision for our future built on uniting our country. Because I know if we work together, there’s nothing we can’t do.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 1, 2019
Let's keep our momentum going. If you liked what you heard tonight, text JOE to 30330 and let's get to work. pic.twitter.com/EDIKTYiJB1
Josh Fayer, a 21-year-old public relations student at Syracuse University in New York, said he had just stopped watching the debate when a friend texted to say he had bought the domain name the former vice-president cited.
They decided to redirect it to Mr Fayer's parody presidential campaign site: "Josh for America", which Mr Fayer said he launched as an April Fool's joke this year.
Mr Fayer’s site introduces him as “the first Gen Z’er to declare candidacy for this office” and includes a video that stated his platform of “no homework in college”.
Mr Fayer said his parody election bid originally garnered only a few retweets but that his site had more than 53,000 views just minutes after the debate in Detroit finished.
He said he did not want to endorse any presidential candidate. But late on Wednesday, his site’s donate button sent visitors to a page inviting them to “donate to our good friend Pete Buttigieg’s campaign”.
The campaign for Mr Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is one of Mr Biden's rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A similar domain, joe3030.com, also was directing people to Mr Buttigieg's campaign site.
It appears that Mr Biden meant to direct voters to his campaign’s texting platform, a popular digital fundraising strategy. Without mentioning the gaffe, the @JoeBiden Twitter handle sent out the correct call to action in a tweet immediately following the debate.
Yet another similar URL, joe33030.com, directed people on Wednesday to Mr Biden’s official campaign website.
A spokesman for the Biden campaign declined to comment. – Reuters