• by October 12, 2004

The Manchester Union Leader's Web site crashed today after cartoonist Garry Trudeau placed the URL of the New Hampshire paper in today's "Doonesbury."

Not such big news in the scheme of things; it is an election year after all.

Apparently Trudeau wanted readers to take a look at a guest commentary by John Eisenhower, son of the former Republican president, supporting Democratic Senator John Kerry for president.

In today's "Doonesbury," a character says: "Hi, folks! As the election approaches, busy undecideds are wondering...." An undecided voter appears sitting at a computer, thinking: "Where can I get a fair and balanced critique of the Bush record?" The "Doonesbury" character says: "Well, look no further than our 'Honest Voices Reading List.' A roundup of indispensable writings from conservative sources. First up - an overview of how well Bush has served Republican principles by Dwight Eisenhower's son." Then the Manchester newspaper's URL appears. "We're pleased that Mr. Trudeau mentioned our site," Charles Perkins III, vice president, editorial and executive editor told Editor & Publisher. "Unfortunately, we weren't given any advance notice, and the site crashed. That defeated Mr. Trudeau's purpose."

Perkins told E&P that if the newspaper knew beforehand that "Doonesbury" would print the URL, the paper could have placed Eisenhower's commentary on a Web page that loaded faster.

A spokeswoman for Universal Press Syndicate, the "Doonesbury's" distributor, said that cartoonist Trudeau plans to cite other URLs in the comic strip through this Saturday. She said that Universal apologizes for the newspaper site crash and plans to warn the other sites Trudeau will mention.