Websites linked to NH politics redirect back to Trump

At least two Web addresses appearing to be associated with Republican politics in New Hampshire are now redirecting users to Donald Trump’s official campaign website. 

Nhgop.com and kellyayotte.com both redirect users to the GOP front-runner’s site, various people on social media spotted Wednesday. 

{mosads}Those Web domains are similar to addresses linked to the state’s Republican Party and Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s (R-N.H.) campaign website — both of which are influential in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state. 

The Republican state party actually uses the nhgop.org Web address and Ayotte’s official campaign website is located at kellyfornh.com

A similar redirection happened a couple days ago when jebbush.com redirected back to Trump’s website. Bush’s official campaign site is hosted at jeb2016.com. 

The tactic has been employed throughout the 2016 campaign, spawning various stories in the past year. 

But it is not clear if the tactic is at all effective outside garnering a few headlines. Rather than typing in a Web address, many people use search engines, which usually spit out official websites as top search results. 

It is also unclear who is behind the redirection to Trump’s site. The domain name owners are hidden behind proxy services in public databases.  

The nhgop.com address was created in 2008 and its registration was recently updated last month. The kellyayotte.com website was created in 2005 and the registration was last updated in 2014. 

In the past few years, the Ayotte address has also redirected back to a campaign website for Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.). During the 2012 election, the address redirected back to a petition pushing for the GOP presidential nominee to draft Ayotte as vice president. 

The nhgop.com address as late as a few months ago redirected back to the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, which describes itself as working to advance “the principles of limited government, individual liberty and free markets.”

Aaron Day, chairman of the state’s Liberty Caucus, said, “We do not own http://www.nhgop.com,” and “never” have. 

— Updated 4:35 p.m.