POLITICS
OK, so he couldn't name the leader of Pakistan. And he certainly didn't invent the Internet. But Texas governor George W. Bush has no problem identifying the captains of the new economy. On the eve of the Republican National Convention, the Bush campaign is working hard to challenge Al Gore's claim that he's the geeks' candidate of choice. A listing of Bush's Information Technology Advisory Council, a group of prominent tech leaders who have agreed to lend their names and considerable bank accounts to the GOP effort, reads like a Valley who's who: Gordon Moore, Michael Dell, former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale, Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Oracle president Ray Lane. The Bush group has already won over CNET founder Halsey Minor, who had supported Gore previously.
"We wanted to show there's a deeper cultural affinity between the policy interests of the Bush administration and the policy interests of the new economy," says Margita Thompson, who advised Bush's campaign in California.
The techies will challenge Gore's positions on tort reform, H.1B visas for foreign workers, and export-control restrictions. The Bushies also plan to call attention to the role that Austin now has as a new economy outpost - Texas has more high tech jobs than any state except California. Bush has criticized the Justice Department for going after Microsoft, but aides say he has no plans to make the DOJ suit a campaign issue.
Gore's backers say they're not concerned about Bush's all-star roster in Silicon Valley. "It would be odd if business executives did not provide significant support for Republicans," says a top Gore adviser. "Gore's devotion to these issues is a career-long pursuit, not just an election campaign gimmick."
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