In theory, Hillary Clinton should have been the perfect tech-friendly candidate in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination.
Practically from the moment she was sworn into office in 2001, the New York senator began wooing technology firms and their executives in preparation for her presidential bid.
She introduced five different broadband bills. She showed up at roundtables with chief executives like Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, Adobe Systems' Bruce Chizen, and Symantec's John Thompson. She spoke at a board meeting of the Information Technology Industry Council, whose members include Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell, eBay, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft. She talked up nanotech, lower taxes on stock options, and better e-voting security. She won a coveted endorsement from prominent venture capitalist John Doerr, and, in fact, won more votes in Silicon Valley during last month's California primary.
So just how did Barack Obama--who managed to retain his delegate lead despite losses Tuesday in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island--become the favorite in tech circles?
It shouldn't--again, in theory--have turned out this way. At the time Obama announced he wanted to be president, he had accumulated a mere two years of experience in the U.S. Senate.
The Illinois senator's tech-law forays were limited to topics like complaining that airline pilot uniforms were readily available for purchase over the Internet[1], and warning that TV networks had better tone down the amount of "adult content" in their broadcasts or Congress would do it for them[2]. An information-technology-in-health-care bill was co-sponsored with Clinton. And, in 2005, Obama even let his Barackobama.com domain name lapse--the ultimate politechnical misstep, solved only by a friendly domain auctioneer helping him out.
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