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 Perfect last-minute Christmas present for the low-energy person in your life who needs an extra exclamation point: Jeb! 
 
 Not the candidate, just his name—upbeat punctuation mark and all. The word has apparently lost its appeal. Even to the candidate. 
 
 Last winter, months before Jeb Bush announced he was running for president, a Miami intellectual property attorney filed a trademark request for the word “Jeb!” on behalf of a mysterious Delaware corporation called BHAG LLC. As we discovered this summer, BHAG was an acronym for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. This phrase came from one of Bush’s favorite business management books, and when he was governor he used this term to motivate his underlings. It wasn’t until Bush, as a declared candidate, filed his financial disclosure form in July that the world learned he directly owned BHAG. 
 
 One of BHAG’s few activities was to trademark “Jeb!” As is par for the course, the US Patent and Trademark Office accepted the submission and requested additional information before it would grant the trademark. But according to that office, on November 9 Bush’s application was officially abandoned. Technically, Bush has until January 9 to restart the process, but for now the name is not trademarked and open for anyone else to try to grab. 
 
 According to the original application, Bush wanted the name reserved for use on leather key chains, stadium cushions, stemware, stuffed toys, hair bands, and other cool stuff. In April, the USPTO asked BHAG to provide, within six months, written consent from Bush himself to use his name. Bush never responded. So the USPTO issued an abandonment notice regarding the trademark request. 
 
 Bush’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 
 
 To be fair, Bush has had many other things to worry about these past few months. But his chief antagonist, Donald Trump, did find the time to re-up his hold on “Trump,” and he added a trademark claim to cover the use of his name for books on how to succeed in business and politics. ||||| Jeb Bush pauses as he is asked a question from the audience at the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum during a campaign stop Dec. 1 in Waterloo, Iowa. (Matthew Putney/The Courier via AP) 
 
 This post has been updated. 
 
 A nice catch by Mother Jones: A trademark application for the enthusiastic appellation "Jeb!" has been abandoned. 
 
 Jeb!, of course, is the preferred wordmark for one John Ellis Bush, better known as "Jeb." Better known as Jeb:( these days, given that he is now polling in seventh place, according to the just-released CNN/ORC poll. 
 
 Jeb uses Jeb! with the exclamation point in his campaign material in the way that you say "lol" to someone over text even though you maybe only smiled. Well before he was an official candidate, in January of this year, the application was filed by a group apparently aligned with Bush to reserve its exclusive right to use "Jeb!" on cool products like mousepads, money clips and golf towels. (Those are all identified in the application filing, among a lot of other things.) But as Mother Jones's Russ Choma notes, that trademark has been abandoned, as the parlance has it, its filer having not provided consent from Bush to use his name. 
 
 This is a metaphor. 
 
 Jeb! (or someone presumably acting on his behalf) wanted to trademark Jeb!, the print representation of the candidate that would take America by storm. Look out world, the application implied, here comes Jeb!!! Here is what has happened to Jeb's poll numbers since the filing. 
 
 Jeb. The Jeb! trademark application has been abandoned. That exclamation point is not needed. 
 
 It also goes a level deeper. The trademark application is meant to keep ne'er-do-wells from offering up Jeb! merchandise for sale, lining their own pockets instead of Jeb!'s. The abandonment of the mark allows anyone to start selling Jeb! stuff without recrimination. (See update below before you start cranking out windbreakers, though.) 
 
 But there's clearly no demand to do so. Bush came into the race as the financial heavyweight — thanks to $100 million-plus in money raised to a super PAC endorsing him. His campaign's finances, though, have struggled, slashing costs back in October. You can buy lots of Jeb! stuff at the Jeb! campaign store, but people clearly aren't buying enough of it. The trademark wasn't terribly valuable anyway because there's not really any money to be made from selling anything with Jeb! on it. This ain't Nike. 
 
 Anyway, if you want to make poor Jeb:( even sadder, you're now apparently free to sell your own Jeb! mousepads. You will not make $100 million doing so. 
 
 Updated with heartbreaking news: The Bush campaign tells us that the trademark was associated with Bush's time as governor, and that they didn't trademark it in the context of the campaign. That said, they can still shut you down if they don't like the Jeb! stuff you're selling. You are warned. ||||| Looking for news you can trust? 
 
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 There’s a long checklist of tasks a politician must complete before she or he can run for president. You’ve got to court the top political consultants to your cause. Wine and dine at party fundraisers in New Hampshire. Familiarize yourself with all 99 damned counties in Iowa. Maybe write a book. But in the modern age, securing an online presence is near the top of the list. 
 
 The first thing candidates have to do to stake their claim on the internet is purchase all relevant web domain names, including any combination of the candidate’s name and the election year. Would-be-supporters look online to find out more information about candidates, but if the candidate’s website doesn’t have an easy-to-guess address and it’s not high up in Google rankings, voters might get a skewed story. That’s a lesson former presidential candidate Rick Santorum learned the hard way after sex advice columnist Dan Savage gamed Google so that a nasty neologism for Santorum’s name was one of the first results to pop up when people did a search for the Christian conservative. Detractors like Savage, opportunists trying to make a buck, and political opponents can be quick to snatch up valuable domains to exploit. 
 
 The National Republican Congressional Committee has set up a string of dummy websites that look like they’re for individual Democratic candidates but actually collect donations for the GOP’s cause. And Time‘s Zeke Miller recently mapped out the burgeoning universe of Hillary Clinton website squatters. A few prominent domains were being sold (for upwards of $14,000), while HillaryClinton2016.com, founded by a group of grad students, is an LLC hawking knockoff Clinton merchandise. 
 
 But what about the potential Republican 2016ers? By this point most of them aren’t hiding their inclinations to run for president. Some are already ahead of the game. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is up for reelection in 2016, so he has a convenient excuse for owning RandPaul2016.com. Go to Jindal2016.com and you’re redirected to the Louisiana governor’s main website. Sen. Marco Rubio’s PAC has claimed MarcoRubio.com, while MarcoRubio2016.com is registered anonymously, perhaps by the Florida senator or one of his campaign aides. 
 
 But other potential GOP presidential nominees need to up their website game. Take Sen. Ted Cruz. Unfortunately for the Texas Republican, long before he ran for Senate in 2012, TedCruz.com had been nabbed by an Arizona attorney who shares his name. Based on a search of the Wayback Machine, an internet archive, the Arizona Cruz’s website dates back to at least early 2008, when it was a normal, if slightly Geocities-tinged, business website. “Putting All Your Real Estate Needs In ‘CRUZ CONTROL,'” the attorney’s tagline said at the time. But sometime within the past year he ditched his law site to instead mock the would-be-president. On a simple black background, in large font, the website screamed: “COMING SOON, Presidential Candidate, I Luv CHRISTIE!!!!!” Attorney Cruz wouldn’t say anything to Mother Jones over email except to acknowledge that he has owned the domain for several years. But he deleted the section about loving Christie shortly thereafter. Given the initial message, though, it seems unlikely that the Arizona attorney will be easily persuaded to relinquish control of the domain to the senator. 
 
 What about TedCruz2016.com? Go to the site and all you see is a simple placeholder of gauzy images. The domain is registered and operated by 92 West, a web design firm based in Omaha. Troy Kadavy, 92 West’s owner, wouldn’t reveal much about the website, but said that the domain had been purchased about six months ago for a client he couldn’t disclose. But it seems unlikely that Cruz’s associates contracted with 92 West: The firm is just a small company of four with few website credits to its name, at least according to its portfolio. A search of FEC records from around the time the domain was registered doesn’t reveal any PACs or candidate committees paying money to 92 West, and TedCruz.org and www.tedcruzforsenate.org, both websites owned by his committee, were registered anonymously. 
 
 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is in a similar tricky spot. ChrisChristie.com is owned by a Milwaukee-based computer programmer. The website lists the programming languages he’s skilled at and features pictures of his kids. Princeton senior Davis Waddell has owned www.chrischristie2016.com, which currently sits dormant, since 2010. (He didn’t respond to an email from Mother Jones.) 
 
 A clever musical instrument store has latched onto the Paul Ryan bandwagon. Currently, PaulRyan.com will redirect you to EverestMusic.com, a store in the town of Wicklow, Ireland, where you can purchase all the amps you need and pay €199 for a 10-week lesson in piano, guitar, drums, banjo, or a host of other instruments. Ryan isn’t totally out of luck though: PaulRyan2016.com is currently for sale for the low, low price of $1,795. 
 
 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is also in rough shape should he decide to run in 2016. His logical campaign web address would be JebBush.com, but that website is currently blank. It’s registered anonymously, so perhaps someone in Jeb’s orbit owns the domain. But the last time it showed up on the Wayback Machine was in March 2008, when the domain automatically redirected to jeb-bush.blogspot.com. That website clearly has no relationship to the former Florida governor. An author going by the name Ryan Braun (possibly a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder?) writes bizarre parody stories. It hasn’t been updated since February 2012, but back then blogger Braun was writing posts such as “President Obama Plans on Plying Republicans with Liquor to Get Budget Passed” and “Mitt Romney Camp Hires Renowned Chuckle Coach.” 
 
 JebBush2016.com is currently sitting unused and has been registered to a New Yorker named Benny Thottam, who had an impressive amount of foresight. “In 2007 I thought of Jeb Bush being a solid candidate for 2016 election,” he told Mother Jones by email. “I do hope that he will run and I am very open about voting for him.” 
 
 Rand Paul might own RandPaul2016.com, but RandPaul.com is out of his hands. Right now it’s billed as an “unofficial fan site” that’s coming soon. The website doesn’t list any contact information for the webmaster, but it seems to be owned by sincere Paul believers. The site describes Paul as “a humble philosopher and a straightforward champion for our rights. He has a clear vision for America. He is the statesman we need in these difficult times.” 
 
 What about the Democrats? Vice President Joe Biden, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo all control their own .coms, but Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont—the only Democrat who has made serious public hay about actually challenging Clinton—is in trouble. BernieSanders.com is currently a shell website that features stock business photos and sponsored links. 
 
 The key takeaway for any politician hoping to someday run for higher office is to plan far in advance. With that in mind, how do far-off potential presidents fare? If George P. Bush, Jeb’s son and a 2014 candidate for state office in Texas, someday wants to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle, he’ll have to wait a bit longer. GeorgeBush2020.com has already been anonymously registered and is currently unused—though it can’t be ruled out that someone in the Bush orbit registered that domain. No matter what, if the 38-year-old is willing to wait 10 years, GeorgeBush2024.com is unregistered and available to purchase. 
 
 George P. isn’t the only one who should start planning ahead. Malia Obama won’t be eligible to run for president until the 2036 election, so her dad’s political advisers better jump on MaliaObama2036.com while it’s still available.
– Jeb Bush has abandoned his trademark for "Jeb!," Mother Jones reports. Perhaps it was getting harder to muster the enthusiasm necessary for an exclamation point when your polling numbers suggest something closer to Jeb? or Jeb[shrugging emoticon]. According to the Washington Post, Bush is currently sitting around seventh in the Republican presidential field. Mother Jones reports Bush's BHAG LLC—it stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal—filed an application with the US Patent and Trademark Office to use Jeb! on "leather key chains, stadium cushions, stemware, stuffed toys, hair bands, and other cool stuff" last winter. But Bush failed to give written permission to the Patent and Trademark Office to use his name for the trademark, and Jeb! was considered abandoned last month, Mother Jones reports. That means anyone is free to start selling Jeb! brand merchandise, though the Post certainly wouldn't recommend it. "The trademark wasn't terribly valuable anyway because there's not really any money to be made from selling anything with Jeb! on it," the paper states. "This ain't Nike." Meanwhile, Mother Jones points out Bush's personal Blofeld, Donald Trump, not only renewed his trademark on "Trump" but took out a new trademark for the use of his name on books about how to succeed in politics.