You are right. It was GoP Marketplace, LLC. That's what I get for commenting from memory. But I do have pages from GoP Marketplace.com which has been blocked in the internet archive.

Ed Mathias, managing partner at the Carlyle Group, was one of the backers. I suspect GoP Marketplace was more of a back door campaign finance scheme than a legitmate investment.

Do you think Haley Barbour actually put any of his own money into this? My guess is that it all came from Mathias. Who knows. Maybe the Carlyle Group kicked back to Mathias on his "investment".

From GoPMarketplace.com:

August 7, 2000…Alexandria, VA. HELM Partners, LLC, an investment partnership headed by Haley Barbour, Lanny Griffith, and Ed Rogers of Barbour, Griffith and Rogers and Edward Mathias, managing director of The Carlyle Group and GOPMarketplace, LLC have today announced they have entered into a joint venture capital agreement to provide a politically oriented teleservice exchange.

GOPMarketplace.com offers the first internet exchange for the buying and selling of unused teleservice capacity in the political space. By channeling demand to one website, teleservice supply will be aggregated in real time for the user while the vendor's lead generation and customer acquisition costs will be reduced.

"I am convinced that GOPMarketplace will not only be a profitable business, but will also give Republicans an edge in the 2000 elections," says Haley Barbour, former Republican National Committee Chairman. "Campaign managers are always battling time constraints and GOPMarketplace will clearly save campaigns time. As soon as I heard about the idea, I started pulling together the necessary financing."

"GOPMarketplace received venture capital because it is a political dotcom that focuses on the business of politics and not on the transaction of the vote," says Ed Mathias. "This investment has considerable option value because the principle behind GOPMarketplace has a corporate application."

"It is exciting for GOPMarketplace to have such a respected group of investors in HELM Partners. Haley Barbour's enthusiasm validates the business concept from the political viewpoint and Ed Mathias' involvement validates the business model from the venture capital perspective," says Allen Raymond, founder and President of GOPMarketplace.com. "As first-movers in this space, we are excited to demonstrate how the new economy applies to politics."

"GOPMarketplace's proven political team plus the financial advice and support of HELM Partners create a formula for company success," says Tommy Hopper, the co-founder of GOPMarketplace.com. "Our team is driven to provide a value-added service to both vendors and users while still becoming the first political dotcom to become profitable."

The service is offered free of charge to candidates or committees. Telephone vendors pay a nominal, annual fee of $1,000 to join the portal. GOPMarketplace assesses the vendor a transaction fee for each contract derived from the exchange. It is a marketplace where candidates, committees, consultants, and vendors can conduct business so that every campaign and committee, from local to federal, may benefit by drawing on the best Republican political talent in the country by simply logging onto the Internet.

Allen Raymond and Haley Barbour were also involved in Campaign University (campaign-university.com)which is still available in the archive.

Let me know if you want the web pages.