Not sure what to

Not sure what to make of this. The night before the election and Lieberman’s site is apparently out of commission. The Lamont campaign says it’s for non-payment and they have a screen shot that suggests they’re right.

Late Update: TPM Reader DB on early lights out for Lieberman …

I’ve never known a host to put up a banner that says, essentially, the bills aren’t paid. They usually just go dark.

The site is hosted at theplanet.com, in Dallas. Here’s the site’s Whois:

Friends of Joe Lieberman
P.O. Box 231294
Hartford, CT 06123
US

Domain Name: JOE2006.COM

Administrative Contact:
Diana Fassbender **************@yahoo.com
Friends of Joe Lieberman
P.O. Box 231294
Hartford, ct 06123
US
Phone: 203-********
Fax:
Technical Contact:
Domain Administrator hostmaster@securesites.com
Friends of Joe Lieberman
PO Box 3895
Englewood, CO 80155
US
Phone: +180.14370220
Fax:
Billing Contact:
Diana Fassbender **************@yahoo.com
Friends of Joe Lieberman
P.O. Box 231294
Hartford, ct 06123
US
Phone: 203-********
Fax:

Record updated on 2005-09-03 13:33:00
Record created on 2002-06-23
Record expires on 2007-06-23
Database last updated on 2006-08-07 22:14:49 EST

Before taking a site dark, any reputable host will send many emails to the admin and billing contacts. What does Diana Fassbender have to say about it?

Plus, unless someone there did it deliberately, it seems unlikely that a reputable host would take a sitting U.S. Senator’s site dark the night before an election.

To me, as a technology professional, this doesn’t add up.

I’m not quite sure what to make of this. Way back at the dawn of the net, well, a bit after the dawn in 1996, I ran a website for now-Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). It was the campaign website for his first run for senate. I don’t remember exactly how we did it but I think I just had them set up on an off the rack account with some provider. If a bill wasn’t paid they probably would have just pulled the plug. It was probably automated or if not then probably the person pulling the switch would have been someone who wouldn’t have paid any attention to the site’s content. (This was back when I made extra money designing websites when I was in graduate school.)

But that’s ancient history. A website is a much bigger deal nowadays, especially this one. So it does seem a bit odd.

Anyone know any more about this?