What IT Wants From The Next White House

WANTED: PRESIDENTIAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Hungry for change? You got it. The upcoming presidential election is the first since 1952 that has no legacy from a sitting administration in the race. A fresh face, at least at the top of the winning ticket, is guaranteed.

Barack Obama has emerged from an epic struggle with fellow senator Hillary Clinton to clinch the Democratic nomination. He's named yet another senator, Joe Biden, as his running mate and the pair make their case for the White House during this week's Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo. John McCain wrapped up the GOP nomination months before Obama and only awaits his official coronation at September's Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

In the long, seemingly endless process of getting to these Democratic and Republican conventions, we've seen hopes raised and mud slung, sometimes all in the same breath. The mainstream media picture of the two candidates has solidified -- Obama's inspiring but a bit wet behind the ears, McCain's experienced but maybe out-of-touch.

All well and good, but from our perspective the mainstream frames just aren't enough. We think it's important to discover what McCain and Obama plan to do for the IT and high-tech sector. Depending on your political persuasion, that could mean taking a more active role in industry issues or leaving us alone to innovate and grow our businesses. Our investigation of the candidates begins with a look at their IT-specific policy statements, as well as who is advising them on high-tech matters.

So who's winning the IT vote? A ChannelWeb online poll in March found that a plurality of our visitors preferred McCain (44.32 percent of the online vote), but combining the totals for Obama (41.08 percent) and then-candidate Clinton (14.59 percent) gave the Democrats the majority backing of our readership.

Since then, interest in the election has heated up. And so has the rhetoric of more vocal members of the IT community.

We want to know who will meet Craig Barrett's challenge to government to make math and science education a keystone of technology policy. The Intel chairman opened the recent Intel Developer Forum with stern words for the current White House and Congress, chastening them for not seeming to understand what "every country in the world knows" -- that intelligent people, a good educational system and robust investment in R&D is the "great formula to ensure economic success."

In the following pages, we interview top high-tech executives like Barrett's colleague, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, Cisco boss John Chambers and Microsoft's Bill Gates, as well as a host of IT professionals, business owners, analysts and advocates for a more in-depth look at which candidates are winning over our peers and just what these industry opinion-leaders want to see from the next presidential administration.

The stakes are high and issues as far-ranging for our industry as services taxation, math and science education, cybercrime and Green IT are coming to the fore. Who's got your vote?

Next: John McCain