Digital Journal — Google CEO Eric Schmidt will be hitting the campaign trail this week in support of presidential candidate Barack Obama. He said his decision is personal and doesn’t reflect Google’s political position in the presidential race.
Schmidt said his endorsement is a “natural evolution” from his role as an informal advisor to the Obama campaign. On Tuesday, he will appear with Obama in Florida to help moderate a panel on the economy
The Google CEO is expected to be among several top tech executives to back the Democratic nominee. John McCain has won the support of high-ranking Fortune 500 execs, including Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, Cisco CEO John Chambers and ousted Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Whitman is the co-chair of McCain’s presidential campaign.
Both Google and Obama support net neutrality, which would limit Internet service providers from charging varying rates for different levels of service. McCain has said he would leave the issue to the market to sort out.
On Sunday, Colin Powell, President George W. Bush’s first secretary of state, officially endorsed Obama. Recently, Obama also received official support from the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
