Google CEO Backs Obama
Schmidt Expands Political Role by Hitting the Campaign Trail
By MONICA LANGLEY and JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt's push for a greater voice in politics while giving the Obama campaign a boost from a highly desirable constituency. He plans to campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
He has advised the Obama campaign on technology and energy issues.
Although the Internet-search company has numerous issues pending on Capitol Hill, Mr. Schmidt said in an interview that "I'm doing this personally," adding that "Google is officially neutral" in the campaign.
Mr. Schmidt said his planned endorsement of the Illinois senator is a "natural evolution" from his role as an informal adviser to the Obama campaign.
The Google chief plans to join executives from other technology companies to announce their support for Sen. Obama. Sunday, Sen. Obama received an endorsement from Colin Powell, who was President George W. Bush's first secretary of state.
Congress is considering measures that could have an adverse impact on Google's business, including laws that could limit companies' ability to deliver personally targeted online advertisements and rules that would allow telecommunications companies to charge different prices for different levels of Internet service.
Lawmakers' and regulators' scrutiny of Google, in particular, is intensifying. The company's proposed ad-sharing agreement with Yahoo Inc. triggered a Justice Department probe into whether the deal would give Google too much control over the market and lead to higher prices for online advertisers.
"My sense is, the Justice Department makes judgments on these issues independent of politics," Mr. Schmidt said. "It would be unfair to Justice to imply [that supporting Sen. Obama] would make a difference."
Mr. Schmidt is the latest tech leader to take a more formal role in this year's presidential race. Several such executives advise Republican Sen. John McCain, including former eBay Inc. Chief Executive Meg Whitman, Cisco Systems Inc. Chairman and CEO John Chambers and ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina.
Mr. Obama's stances on some issues important to Google remain unclear. Both the candidate and the company, however, have said they support limiting Internet service providers from charging different rates for different levels of service, saying it would be discriminatory and stifle innovation.
Sen. Obama supported such so-called net neutrality before any association with Google in this campaign, co-sponsoring legislation on the issue four years ago. Sen. McCain has said he would rather leave the issue to the market.
Google employees have contributed $487,355 to Sen. Obama's campaign and $20,600 to Sen. McCain's as of Aug. 31. Mr. Schmidt hasn't donated to either.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have leaned liberal in their politics. Mr. Brin recently wrote a post on Google's corporate blog stating the company's opposition to a ballot initiative seeking to eliminate same-sex marriage in California.
Mr. Schmidt's political views have been mixed. He has recently donated more money to Democrats than to Republicans, but spoke at Britain's Conservative Party conference in 2006.
His advice to the Obama campaign has focused on technology and energy issues. He hosted Sens. Obama and McCain for speeches to employees at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, and Google has funded tech hubs for bloggers at the Democratic and Republican conventions.
On Tuesday, the Google CEO will appear with Sen. Obama at a Florida event, where they will moderate a panel on the economy. Mr. Schmidt said it will be his "first time on the trail."
In conversations with Obama campaign advisers, Mr. Schmidt said, he has advocated policies to improve and broaden technology's reach, including federal research-and-development tax breaks and an increase in science scholarships and teachers.
Mr. Schmidt has been in frequent email contact with Jason Furman, Sen. Obama's economic-policy director, to push for the creation of more jobs in the clean-energy sector. Last summer, Sen. Obama unveiled an energy plan that quoted Mr. Schmidt and proposed five million such jobs, among other measures.
Mr. Schmidt visited Obama's Chicago headquarters earlier this year and met with its tech and new-media team. "Eric was like a celebrity coming through here," said Joe Rospars, Sen. Obama's 27-year-old new-media director.
Asked at a speech this month whether he would consider entering the political arena, the 53-year-old Mr. Schmidt shouted, "H-, no!" But some tech and media executives speculate that he might desire a role in an Obama administration, possibly the chief technology officer post Sen. Obama has said he would create.
"I'm actually very busy running Google," Mr. Schmidt said in the interview.
Write to Monica Langley at monica.langley@wsj.com and Jessica E. Vascellaro at jessica.vascellaro@wsj.com
