Eric Schmidt

Role in Obama 2008 and 2012 Presidenital Campaigns

Eric Schmidt played a crucial role in Obama's '08 and '12 presidential victories. The two spent enough time together that </ref> even embraced the relationship between the them as a "bromance." The most crucial role played in the creation of the Obama Campaign's revolutionary voter database was indeed Schmidt's.

Just weeks before the '08 election, in late October, after spending working as an "informal advisor" on Obama's campaign (on "technology" and "clean-energy" issues) Schmidt finally joined Obama's side, publicly stumping for him on the campaign trail, .

During the '08 campaign, Obama offered to create a "Chief Technology Czar" position for Schmidt in his admistration, should he win the election. Schmidt, through a spokesperson, turned this offer down.

Obama's government made a number of decisions very beneficial to Google, Schmidt, and Schmidt's interests

During the 2012 campaign, Barack Obama’s reelection team had an underappreciated asset: Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt. He helped recruit talent, choose technology, and coach the campaign manager, Jim Messina, on the finer points of leading a large organization. “On election night he was in our boiler room in Chicago,” says David Plouffe, then a senior White House adviser. Schmidt had a particular affinity for a group of engineers and statisticians tucked away beneath a disco ball in a darkened corner of the office known as “the Cave.” The data analytics team, led by 30-year-old Dan Wagner, is credited with producing Obama’s surprising 5 million-vote margin of victory.