The hijinks that placed a crude, sexual definition of “Santorum” high on Google search results have influenced a new set of pranksters, who have targeted GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The definition on SpreadingSantorum.com (language NSFW) responded to fellow GOP candidate Rick Santorum’s controversial anti-gay remarks, and the new SpreadingRomney.com links to an article recounting the now-infamous tale of how Romney reportedly strapped his dog to the roof of a car for 12 hours.
The original prank, created by columnist and gay-rights activist Dan Savage, currently appears in Google search results for “Santorum” just beneath a graphic depicting the Maine Republican Caucus results. “Romney,” which has been redefined as a verb meaning “to defecate in terror,” appears several entries down, but still within the first page of results. On Bing, the new Romney definition can be found within the first page of entries.
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Along with a Huffington Post article about Romney’s alleged dog-neglecting escapades, the site also links to an Indianapolis web design firm, the group likely responsible for the prank. Unlike the related Santorum site, which is also linked beneath the Romney definition, there doesn’t appear to be any corresponding blog.
According to the rule of threes, it seems probable that another GOP candidate will be “redefined” soon. Incidentally, “Spreading Gingrich” already exists, and is now accepting submissions.
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A new website SpreadingRomney.com now appears prominently among Internet search results for Mitt Romney's last name and defines ''romney'' as: "to defecate in terror". ''Spreading Romney'' was inspired by the santorum neologism coined in  Dan Savage's column '''' in response to comments made by former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum about homosexuality; Savage's readers voted to define ''santorum'' as: "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex."

While defining ''romney'' as a , the word "terror" in the definition given at SpreadingRomney.com links to an article that appeared January 5 in '''' titled "Mitt Romney's Dog Incident Comes Back To Haunt Him". The article describes a 1983 incident where Romney was reported to have affixed his family’s pet  named Seamus to the roof of their vehicle for 12 hours while on a car trip to Canada; press coverage of the matter recounted how the animal let loose its bowels due to a fear response during the experience. 

Similar to online searches leading to the santorum neologism website originally created by Dan Savage, SpreadingSantorum.com, queries for Romney yielding top search results for SpreadingRomney.com are not limited only to Google but extend to other search engines including  as well.


'''' quoted search engine expert , who observed that the website had likely risen of late in search results: "I don’t recall seeing it recently, so it appears to be a new gain."

'''' reported that as of yesterday, SpreadingRomney.com had received 3,416  clicks from  and 1,261 posts on . The site appeared third in a Google search for Romney, directly below the former  Governor's Wikipedia page.

In a 2003 interview with the Associated Press, Rick Santorum compared legalizing  to supporting . Readers of the '''' advice column selected a new definition for the Senator’s last name, and Savage created a website SpreadingSantorum.com to promulgate the spread of the phenomenon. The term became a prominent result in searches online, and gained dominance on  including Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. 


Rick Santorum himself has acknowledged and discussed the existence and prevalence of the santorum neologism phenomenon; he was quoted by '''' on his assessment of Google's response: "To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can't handle. I suspect that's not true." Santorum criticized the response of the press to the phenomenon in a 2011 radio interview, saying, "It's offensive beyond, you know, anything that any public figure or anybody in America should tolerate, and the mainstream media laughs about it."

The company  manages the  for the website SpreadingRomney.com; the site was registered by an , Indiana-based company named Ayokay LLC which was formed on January 1. The website reportedly started operating on January 10.  commented upon it on January 12 on her program ''''. The founder of SpreadingRomney.com, Jack Shepler, informed Sullivan that he holds no ties to any political campaign group and formed the website out of a .

'''' noted that there may be another  this time derived from the last name of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; linking to an established website for SpreadingGingrich.com. That site is currently asking visitors to submit suggestions for a new definition of ''gingrich''.