I wouldn’t expect former political candidates to keep posting new content to their Web sites  once their campaigns have ended, but a little site maintenance might be in order. If you’re visiting the sites of Nashville’s former mayoral candidates, you’ll be treated to a blast from the recent past:

  • DavidBriley.com is still promoting an “election night celebration” scheduled for August 2.
  • BobClement.com touts the former Congressman’s “visionary” leadership and his two “new” election ads. His December 2007 calendar, which appears to be automatically generated, is entirely blank.
  • Karl Dean’s Web site is, perhaps more understandably, frozen in time on a memorable day for the new mayor: Sept. 21, the day Dean was inaugurated. A banner at the bottom still reminds site visitors that early voting begins August 22.

Whether by design or by default, Howard Gentry’s and Buck Dozier’s domain names have apparently expired. A web hosting provider has reclaimed Dozier’s site and filled it with ad links for apartments, dating sites and nursing jobs — all in Alabama, strangely enough. Gentry’s site seems to have vanished with little or no trace, despite the fact that his campaign’s Emma account has continued to send out what appear to be automated opt-in confirmation requests as recently as last week.

There’s little incentive for candidates to continue managing Web sites long after their campaigns have concluded, whether they ended with celebration or concession. Still, it seems to me that a new and generic splash page, or at least removing the site altogether, might be in order.

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