The Wall Street Journal-20080122-Campaign -08- Racing for Silicon Valley Cash- Clinton- Obama Court Big Names for Big Checks Ahead of California Vote
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Campaign '08: Racing for Silicon Valley Cash; Clinton, Obama Court Big Names for Big Checks Ahead of California Vote
SAN FRANCISCO -- The race for presidential-primary cash in Silicon Valley is heating up, with Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama snagging new high-profile endorsements and fat checks here in advance of California's Feb. 5 primary.
Mrs. Clinton recently won the endorsement of John Doerr, an influential venture capitalist and close friend of former Vice President Al Gore. Mr. Obama, meanwhile, blew through the San Francisco Bay Area last week and raised about $500,000 at a big-ticket breakfast at the Atherton, Calif., home of tech financier David Anderson, a managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto, Calif. Other hosts for the Obama breakfast included John Thompson, chief executive of security-software firm Symantec Corp., and Brad Garlinghouse, a top executive at Web company Yahoo Inc.
"This is crunch time," says Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and former California state controller who is raising money for the Obama camp.
Mr. Westly believes the Illinois senator may corral even more money from rich Silicon Valley donors now that he and Mrs. Clinton have pulled ahead of the rest of the Democratic pack. Donors who had given cash to Democrats now out of the race -- namely, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sens. Christopher Dodd and Joe Biden -- might shift allegiance to Mr. Obama, Mr. Westly believes, since they view him as less of an establishment candidate than Mrs. Clinton.
In Silicon Valley, the birthplace of many of America's most innovative companies, "people believe anything is possible," says John Roos, an Obama supporter who is CEO of local law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Mr. Obama's message of hope and change resonates here, Mr. Roos says.
Mrs. Clinton's campaign notes that she, too, has lined up endorsements from many high-tech leaders who consider her change- oriented -- last month, she drew some to a San Francisco event with investor Warren Buffett -- though she also has supporters among the rank and file. Venture capitalist Mr. Doerr, in a statement, said he has "enormous respect for Hillary's forward-looking agenda in energy, innovation, health care and the economy."
The cash scramble in Silicon Valley mirrors the fund-raising frenzy among Democrats in places such as Hollywood, Wall Street and Greenwich, Conn. But there is a new spasm of activity in this high- tech hot spot now because the fund-raising push overlaps with California's primary next month.
Candidates are eager to replenish their cash reserves in advance of important contests in delegate-rich states such as California and New York, which are among 22 holding Democratic nominating contests on Feb. 5.
Silicon Valley, situated between San Francisco and San Jose, is home to hundreds of cutting-edge technology companies and alternative- energy start-ups whose businesses could help shape future technology and energy policy.
Several presidential candidates have spent time talking to employees on Google Inc.'s campus in Mountain View. So far, neither of Google's two billionaire founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, nor its CEO, Eric Schmidt, has publicly endorsed a candidate. Mr. Obama has raked in more than twice as much cash as Mrs. Clinton from Google employees, election records show.
Google donors to Mr. Obama include chief legal officer David C. Drummond; Marissa Mayer, vice president of the company's core search business; Larry Brilliant, who runs the company's philanthropic arm; and Chad Hurley, one of the founders of video site YouTube Inc., which Google bought in 2006.
Indeed, Mr. Obama appears to have made particular inroads among Silicon Valley's high-tech set, even among Republicans. Doug Hickey, a venture capitalist with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners in San Francisco, says he was surprised when 23% of the people who showed up for an Obama fund-raiser at his house this past summer turned out to be Republicans.
Some local tech executives and investors said they were won over by what they called a particularly direct performance by Mr. Obama at a fund-raiser late last year at the home of Mr. Thompson, who as CEO of Symantec is one of Silicon Valley's most prominent African-American executives.
During the Q&A session, Mr. Obama faced a barrage of tough questions from one audience member about his environmental record, recalls Stewart Alsop, another San Francisco venture capitalist who was there. Mr. Obama kept a smile on his face and insisted on answering each of the questioner's specific challenges, to much applause. "'Hang on a minute here, because I've got to take care of this guy,'" Mr. Alsop recalls Mr. Obama saying. The results-oriented tech crowd loved it.
Gordon Eubanks, Mr. Thompson's predecessor as Symantec CEO, called Mr. Obama's poise at the dinner "very impressive," and said he is planning to vote for Mr. Obama -- even though he pulled the lever for President Bush four years ago. Mr. Eubanks, who now lives in Pebble Beach, Calif., said the country "needs to do something different" to solve gnarly problems like health care, dependence on foreign oil and Social Security.
Other prominent, high-tech Obama donors include John Riccitiello, CEO of videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc.; Sequoia Capital venture capitalist Michael Moritz; Craig Newmark, who launched Web site Craigslist Inc.; and Marc Andreessen, who co-founded Web pioneer Netscape and, more recently, Internet company Ning Inc. Mr. Andreessen also gave money to Republican candidate Mitt Romney, election records show.
The Clinton camp says that having famous Silicon Valley donors is nice, but votes are what count. Clinton California campaign director Ace Smith points to a January poll of Santa Clara County voters -- the county includes most of what is considered Silicon Valley -- showing Mrs. Clinton with a 43%-to-27% lead over Mr. Obama. Mr. Smith adds that Mrs. Clinton is "winning Silicon Valley because we have voters who are concerned about health-care options, job options -- not just stock options."
An Obama spokeswoman says other recent polls show the race is much tighter on a statewide basis.
