December 20, 2007

Who Will Be The First Tech President? Help Us Endorse A Candidate

Michael Arrington

113 comments »

Our series of podcasts and interviews with the 2008 presidential candidates continue - so far we’ve spoken to Barack Obama, John McCain, John Edwards, Mitt Romney and Mike Gravel. We are in active scheduling discussions with all of the remaining candidates.

Now it’s time to endorse a candidate from each party as having the most interesting and effective positions on technology issues.

We no longer live in an industrial economy - the future is information and the Internet. Our president must carefully consider her or his policies on key tech issues, something they’ve never really had to do before. What is their position on net neutrality? How will they bridge the digital divide? How do we handle technology sales to China and other countries using that technology to perpetrate human rights abuses? Should the Internet be taxed? How do we curb identity theft on the Internet? What is the future of intellectual property protection? How do we handle immigration issues for tech workers? How do we catch up with the rest of the world in the mobile Internet space? And what will we do to encourage research and productization in renewable energy?

These are issues that get little attention from mainstream press (with the exception of renewable energy policies), but we think that they deserve to be considered as part of this election. Technology workers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere tend to donate a lot of money and time to campaigns, and they are more frequent voters than the average cititzen. The candidate’s positions on technology and related issues impact how they spend their time, money and votes.

Please help us choose two candidates to endorse in advance of Super Tuesday. See how each candidate falls on the issues, and vote for who you think would make the best Tech President, at primaries.techcrunch.com. And thanks to webreakstuff for building out the site for us.

We announced this yesterday to some major media outlets and got a great response. I was interviewed by ABC News (clip above) to talk about the podcasts and the endorsement yesterday. Today I spoke on Fox News as well (the clip will be up shortly). You can also read ABC’s coverage here.

Note that some of the campaigns (particularly Ron Paul) picked up on this yesterday from ABC’s coverage and started talking to their constituents about it. So some of the early results are skewed heavily towards those candidates. I expect over the next few days for the results to become more normalized.

Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Events, Web 2.0 News & Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

Who Will Be The First Tech President? Help Us Endorse A Candidate »TechAddress

December 20th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

Bringing the Web to the Politicians : The Last Podcast

December 20th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

Ramblings of a Geek » TechCrunch to Endorse Presidential Candidate

December 20th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

Techcrunch Announces Tech President Poll

December 20th, 2007 at 6:16 pm

Quick Thoughts for 12.20.07 | WinExtra

December 20th, 2007 at 8:24 pm

Tech President Endorsement On Local Fox Affiliate

December 22nd, 2007 at 4:51 pm

Our Tech President Endorsements: Barack Obama and John McCain

January 29th, 2008 at 6:38 am

Comments

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dotw

December 20th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

ooo I’m first. In the words of Oprah - it’s Obammmaaaaaaaaaa time

hahaha
wackymacs

December 20th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

Ron Paul, obviously - he’s leading them all in terms of using the Internet as a tool for his campaign.
Abbey

December 20th, 2007 at 12:19 pm

Any online presidential poll is simply an exercise in seeing how much Ron Paul’s supporters can spaz out again.
Search◊ Engines Web

December 20th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

Duh….

it’s Al Gore (as a write in)

who you do think invented the Internet
Tyler Wright

December 20th, 2007 at 12:22 pm

Huckabee had the most viral YouTube video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hfpThfllQGo

and he’s gonna win the whole thing - why don’t you interview him?
Allen Stern

December 20th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

At a minimum there should be one vote per ip address. Past contests and sweeps I’ve run with millions of entries shows that one vote per day will clearly make the voting not worth much.
Hyder

December 20th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Good interview.
dave

December 20th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

*snicker* Huckabee’s gonna win the whole thing?

But great idea and love seeing the TC coverage!
القاتل

December 20th, 2007 at 12:30 pm

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Hustle Strategy

December 20th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

Ditto on Gore, he did invent the internet. Clinton only sent one email. Lets see, maybe the next president can actually be in the 21st century with us? This will be interesting to continue to follow from a tech standpoint. Guy could open up another frequency for google to buy, give free frequency to all, give more tax credits/coupons (like with dtv), etc… This could be big.
Andrew

December 20th, 2007 at 12:36 pm

Great idea Michael - it’ll be interesting to see how the whole thing plays out over the coming year.

My main question is: Why in this day and age is there not a ‘person in charge of Tech’ in the Cabinet?

There must be so much duplication across government depts and also plain customer-doesn’t-know-what-we’re-talking-about-lets-over-charge-edness from suppliers, that someone in charge of all tech decisions would surely make a big difference.

I know that such a position would have been extremely useful in the UK recently where they’ve had a couple of crises where huge amounts of personal data have gone missing from government agencies and the National Health service’s new computer system is years late.
John

December 20th, 2007 at 12:48 pm

Please endorse Ron Paul. Less government mean more innovation and a healthy economy. Ron Paul is the only candidate that understand economics the experience to rightfully restore power back to the people, as individuals.
.rb

December 20th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

honestly if the internet - votes in this election - it could change america -

The results are nuts! - 2,900 - to like 600 ? heh Ron paul is good
Phil

December 20th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

I don’t trust visionary utopiasts that babble on about how “they’re going to use technology to improve our world.” That’s best left to entrepreneuers and the free market, not to politicians. So, which of the candidates is most likely to let the free market do its thing….probably Ron Paul. But then Paul probably isn’t electable given that voters don’t seem to like small government libertarians. So my next choice would be Romney.
Useful Concept

December 20th, 2007 at 12:58 pm

For clarification are the answers to the questions for each candidate what they supplied to TC or are they pulled from the candidate site and pasted in? I am concerned that so many were left NA.
Alaska Miller

December 20th, 2007 at 1:01 pm

No point in ever putting a poll online; it’ll just sway dramatically towards Dr. Ron Paul.

That said, if you’re not voting for Ron Paul in 2008 you need to earnestly review your stance. Save for Dennis Kucinich, no other candidate is capable of leading this country.
Mark Hendrickson

December 20th, 2007 at 1:02 pm

#15 - Useful Concept: These are positions that we’ve pulled in from around the web; if you can help fill out any of the N/A’s, please let us know.
EH

December 20th, 2007 at 1:02 pm

Gosh, finally I can know who Techcrunch prefers for president! I go to them for all my political information needs! Now that this is over, I can go over to the knitting-bee forums and see who they recommend as a pro-crafts candidate.
Jeff the Great

December 20th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

Hold on a second, have TC voters even read the candidate facts?

Ron Paul has over 80% of the votes but his techonolgy policies hardly match what many in the tech world beleive.

This is an example of the problem with our society and voting. We vote for the “popular” candidate, not the most qualified.

…and as a disclosure I am a very conservative republican but am open minded enough to recognize that on technology issues most republicans are WAY off base.

DECIDE WITH YOUR MINDS PEOPLE!!!!!!
Nathan Weinberg

December 20th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

There’s no point in even continuing the poll if Ron Paul supporters won’t relax. I wish there was a way to do accurate online polling, but as long as they bum rush every poll, it’s hopeless. Good luck with your hope that the poll results will normalize, but it’ll never happen.
Bradley

December 20th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

I am still undecided and I have been looking at each candiates. What worries me is that on the Federal level, there will be a series of rules and policy that could hinder or help technological innovation. My first question came to mind, “Why set policy if you let free will spur technological advancement?”

The candiate that I think is the least restrictive is Ron Paul. I know some of you might complain that Ron Paul is being mentioned, blah blah. I have looked at each of them hard and tried to reason with myself who would be the best candiate for the current and future issues that is happening in this world.

I believe Ron Paul translates into less government, less control, and he constantly says…the only thing that the Federal Government dicates policy is at the Federal level, otherwise everything is up to the state level.

Then again, I am still undecided… you asked me who would be the best person to spur technological innovation.. its Ron Paul, less limitation and less policy.
MeCris

December 20th, 2007 at 1:12 pm

Your polls are normalized.

Your poll is not calling ONLY the few for war, far right republicans that voted in last years primaries. Those polls usually only call republicans who voted in the republican primaries last year. They do not include democrats like me who jumped to vote for Ron Paul. Or independants. Constitution Party. Libertarians. Etc. Etc. THOSE ARE THE POLLS THAT ARE NOT NORMALIZED.

Come on. Do you really think only 5 in 100 are going to vote for Ron Paul. Or even 10 in 100?

Your polls are likely a LOT more normalized.
MeCris

December 20th, 2007 at 1:13 pm

YOUR POLLS ARE MORE NORMALIZED!!

Your poll is not calling ONLY the few for war, far right republicans that voted in last years primaries. Those polls usually only call republicans who voted in the republican primaries last year. They do not include democrats like me who jumped to vote for Ron Paul. Or independants. Constitution Party. Libertarians. Etc. Etc. THOSE ARE THE POLLS THAT ARE NOT NORMALIZED.

Come on. Do you really think only 5 in 100 are going to vote for Ron Paul. Or even 10 in 100?

Your polls are likely a LOT more normalized.
Scott Ullrich

December 20th, 2007 at 1:14 pm

Really looking forward to the Ron Paul interview.
Ivan

December 20th, 2007 at 1:16 pm

Ron Paul hands down. Who else is the president of the internet.
MeCris

December 20th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

#20

“There’s no point in even continuing the poll if Ron Paul supporters won’t relax.”

Yeah. Relax RP supporters. Stop being so pro your candidate. Stop showing your support and voting. What is wrong with you nutty people. Showing so much love and support for a presidential candidate. Sheesh.

“Good luck with your hope that the poll results will normalize, but it’ll never happen”

See post 23.
TheChris

December 20th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

There are ways to do accurate online polling if you’re not lazy. At a minimum, they can check for unique IPs.
Eric

December 20th, 2007 at 1:22 pm

Do you really think that the Ron Paul votes came because somebody in the campaign asked its constituents to come here and vote? You really don’t get it.
Rick Mason

December 20th, 2007 at 1:25 pm

Michael,

What exactly do you hope to accomplish with this poll? That the tech guys are for Kucinich and Paul?

So you will end up in effect creating this years version of the Literary Digest poll of 1936?

If you bother to Google it you will find out that was the end of the Literary Digest. Far better to take polls on issues of actual interest to the tech community.
Eric

December 20th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

After writing my last comment I just noticed that Paul is currently at 3,060 votes, and the next Republican has 285. And you “expect over the next few days for the results to become more normalized.” Just what do you think normalized will look like? How many people will have to take that poll before Paul is not in first any more. I’ve got bad news for you, as it gets more “normalized,” his lead will only get bigger.
Ron Paul 4EVA

December 20th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

hay guise we won another online poll w00t w00t

after i finish my math homework and watching v for vendetta i will build another bot that will get ron paul stories on the front page of digg 1,000 times a day
Ron Paul 4EVA

December 20th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

“Do you really think that the Ron Paul votes came because somebody in the campaign asked its constituents to come here and vote? You really don’t get it.”

seriously guys it’s about our passion for the return of the gold standard, eliminating the dept of education and making sure the TRUTH about 9/11 is told

RON PAUL AND FREE COINAGE OF SILVER 4EVA!!!
Sipboy

December 20th, 2007 at 1:33 pm

I love technology, but I believe there are many other important reasons to endorse a candidate. Technology is not the answer to the problems in our society. Although it is good for guys like us, it is a very low priority with respect to electing a president. I didn’t know how selfish TechCrunch and the readers here could be until now. The problem here is that everyone is for themselves instead of the real issues that matter. I guess nobody here has ever had to struggle. Many, many people are struggling and all you guys care about in a president is how he/she will handle technology. I hope I am seeing this in the wrong perspective.
Mad Hatter

December 20th, 2007 at 1:34 pm

yeah, Eric, I am sure that the fact Kucinich is leading the dem polling really reflects reality.

As soon as the Internet candidate teams learn about something like this, they flood the site.

Ron Paul’s internet numbers won’t be reflected in the real polling.
Morgan

December 20th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

They should do the exact same thing that’s gotten the Internet where it is today:

LEAVE IT ALONE

In that list of ‘how will we’ do such-and-such, how many are actually a legitimate function of the federal government? We should not be asking for intervention, we should be praying it never comes. DUMB.
Ed

December 20th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

Seriously though, I didn’t know that the Ron Paul campaign asked people to come to TechCrunch to vote… actually, the only correspondance I’ve ever gotten from the official campaign was “Thank you for your generous donation…” and Ron’s cheerleading emails. More likely you meant that someone in the grassroots campaign suggested that people come vote, which is entirely different.

If RP doesn’t win the nom, I’ll vote Obama. If Obama doesn’t win either… I’ll write in Ron Paul. Regardless of the final election outcome, Dr. Paul has accomplished something that innumerable other candidates couldn’t, wake up, and inspire the assembly of young, tech savvy, and politically fatigued voters. It’s not the candidate, it’s not the internet, it’s the message.

It’s bound to be a movement that will have a lasting effect on the political process for some generations.
B Reyes

December 20th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

I think by some people’s standards, Ron Paul would not be an Tech president.

Because of this reason, which I consider a great one: He will not regulate markets, he does not want to regulate them, and he strongly opposes any regulation of them.

I’ll use the internet as my focus.

He is opposed to meddling in what he considers a private communication network. He sees this as the domain of the web companies, search companies, bandwidth companies, media content companies and the internet users.

He will not subsidize any technology unless it is directly related to defense.

If people believe that poorer people without computers or internet access need to be subsidized, or they want Net Neutraility or if they believe that legislation should exist for internet predators they won’t like Ron Paul’ views. He sees that as interference in the private market and if there is any interference, it should be at the state level and not federal.

Personally, I agree with his views. The internet shouldn’t be regulated. It is a way for all people world-wide to communicate and exchange ideas. It gives a voice and a level of interaction to people that never had before. Just as in the real world, the virtual world has its share of fools and evil people– But that does not mean we should give up our freedoms to control a bad aspect of an open society. One of the costs of liberty is that sometimes, people are going to do bad things with it.

In my book, Ron Paul IS the Tech president– Not because he is some technological marvel (he is not) but because he bests represents what I think the internet is about: Freedom.
Jeff the Great

December 20th, 2007 at 1:42 pm

will one of your Ron Paul followers please tell me what makes Ron Paul the candidate that a TECHNOLOGY focused blog should suppport?

I like a lot of Ron Pauls ideas and may even vote for him…but NOT becuase of his technology policy.

What makes Ron Paul a Tech President?
Jenny

December 20th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

Support John Edwards, both Clinton and Obama are ardent proponents of outsourcing and the importation of visa workers because they are tied to the corporate elite and multinationals. Neither Clinton or Obama even bothered to come up with a plan to deal with the problems of our economy and jobs. Both Clinton and Obama would be no different than four more years of Bush.

I’m voting Edwards, I couldn’t vote for Clinton or Obama.
Ryan from Philadelphia

December 20th, 2007 at 1:45 pm

Ron Paul. The other candidates should be embarrassed at their own lack of knowledge when compared to Dr. Paul.
Alex

December 20th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

Ron Paul doesn’t stand a chance, people. He will get about 5% of the vote. Quick screwing around and support one of the electable candidates. Didn’t you learn your lesson from Ralph Nader? Paul’s supporters are good at viral marketing, but that doesn’t make him a tech president.
Steve Ballmer

December 20th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

It’s for certain that none of these clowns will be the first tech president! There is no one worth voting for especially Hellary! Sheesh!

fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Ivan

December 20th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

@#38

“will one of your Ron Paul followers please tell me what makes Ron Paul the candidate that a TECHNOLOGY focused blog should suppport?

I like a lot of Ron Pauls ideas and may even vote for him…but NOT becuase of his technology policy.

What makes Ron Paul a Tech President?”

The fact that he doesn’t believe the internet should be regulated, just like he believes that your life shouldn’t be regulated either. Think about it, if they can control the internet then porn is no more. O.o
Abbey

December 20th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

“If RP doesn’t win the nom, I’ll vote Obama. If Obama doesn’t win either… I’ll write in Ron Paul.”

Are you voting based purely on the amount of breathless internet hype a candidate can generate? It’s difficult to come up with two candidates whose policy positions differ more than Obama’s and Paul’s.
Ryan from Philadelphia

December 20th, 2007 at 1:53 pm

WHY RON PAUL:

The people of America cannot control what they learn on TV. Internet has changed that, with a grain of salt. Ron Paul most closely represents the users of the Internet, and he has openly stated his position to “Never tax or Regulate the internet”. The biggest potential I see for the internet, is unregulated growth. I make a living on the internet through computer code i write (independently for video games) and as of 4 months ago, the FBI drastically limited my ability to generate a decent income (via stiff gambling laws in the US). I want a president who will fight for me, and what I care about. Since my life is on the internet, the best choice hands down, Ron Paul.

Plus he want to end the war on drugs, on a federal level.
He is an inspiration.(You should hear him speak on monetary policy.)
Mark

December 20th, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Mike, do you visit digg? Ron Paul supporters have had their way with the site for months now. They are a dedicated bunch, and his results will without a doubt remain very skewed for the duration of TC Primaries.
Don

December 20th, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Strange that the valley has a libertarian lean, and yet Obama - who, regardless as coming off as a nice guy, is politically as socialist as they come - is the leading candidate.
John

December 20th, 2007 at 1:59 pm

this is what i found…

obamaaaaaaaaa, naaaaaaaaaaaaah!

http://www.donotvoteforobama.com
Chad Odhner

December 20th, 2007 at 2:00 pm

Ron Paul is THE techpresident no question about it! He’s got a better record on technology-friendly and internet-friendly issues!

Ron is the one.
Tony

December 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

technology rules!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.makefive.com/catego.....dget-geeks
marzipan from toledo

December 20th, 2007 at 2:04 pm

Side Note:

The people that post on TC forums who link to their websites have some of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever seen.

Some of these ideas are pure comedy. I commend you trying to make your mark, but seriously, some of these ideas are just plain stupid.
Ed

December 20th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

@ 44 If they’re going to make you vote for a socialist, may as well go all the way.
dave

December 20th, 2007 at 2:09 pm

I’m so sick of people saying that none of the online polls count, and that Ron Paul supporters are just spamming/hacking/rigging it. That’s just simply not true. Yes more RP supporters do come to the online polls, and vote for him, but you’re telling me that any of the other candidates supporters couldn’t do the same thing? How come we don’t ever see Giuliani supporters telling other Giuliani supporters to go vote? None of the other candidates have support like RP does. His supporters are passionate and willing to do what it takes to help support a real candidate.

/rant
cuthbert1776

December 20th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

Why Ron Paul:

Precisely because he does not have grand plans (like a cabinet level position on tech, are you kidding?) to control/foster/guide technology.

He is the only one smart enough (or, at least, honest enough) to admit that the federal government has no business getting involved in most things having to do with the market. Historically, it has failed miserably in all its attempts to do so.

This fact is brought into sharp relief by technology, as the market shifts and moves faster than any lone beaurocrat, let alone an entire agency, can think about what should happen next.

Free markets and votes with dollars are what shape and push technological advancement (from McCormick’s reaper to the silicon chip) in the directions that have the most beneficial direction for humanity. This is because all individuals in said humanity have an opportunity to directly impact these outcomes by voting with their dollars.

The market is an incredibly varied and complex system of individual decisions of relative value and no government ever could effectively control or guide it. Markets must be free to be effective.

As Ron Paul is the only candidate that recognizes this, he is the only one worthy of such an endorsement.

I think the problem is that we tend to dissect a candidates platform without regard to how those policies interrelate. While this is understandable, as most candidates tend to cobble together varied positions on a hodge-podge of hot button issues that they think will garner the most votes. Ron Paul is different. His policy is based on a principle of liberty and sound money, then policy positions fall into place based on those honorable premises.
Alex

December 20th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

I don’t know if I can stand the stench of this. I mean, you had the site built by a company called Web Reak Stuff?

hmmmm
Nash

December 20th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

One wonders how all this fantastic technological innovation blossomed in this country without a “Department of Technology”, subsidies for tech companies, or regulation of the industry.

The reason is because when you leave an industry alone and allow innovation to take over you get the best results.

Ron Paul will never tax the internet, and wants the tech industry to flourish by getting out of the way. “Doing something” in this case involves letting the industry continue to succeed on it’s own terms.
Asuka

December 20th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

MIKE GRAVEL! MIKE GRAVEL! MIKE GRAVEL!!!!!!!
FREEDOM ONLINE!!!
Chris

December 20th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

I thought the whole “Ron Paul supporters are just a bunch of spammers” thing would die down when the guy beat the all time fund raising record, plus pulled in 20 million for the quarter, plus has more money on hand going into the primaries than most likely any other Republican, plus draws giant crowds at rallies nationwide.

I read TC daily and have for a long time. I support Ron Paul and voted for him in the TC poll. No one from the campaign told me to do so.
Abbey

December 20th, 2007 at 2:22 pm

“I’m so sick of people saying that none of the online polls count, and that Ron Paul supporters are just spamming/hacking/rigging it. That’s just simply not true. Yes more RP supporters do come to the online polls, and vote for him, but you’re telling me that any of the other candidates supporters couldn’t do the same thing?”

Sure, they could, but they don’t.

I thought this was great - Ron Paul as the “Don’t Tase Me, Bro” candidate:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/.....3nwhhe.asp
Alaska Miller

December 20th, 2007 at 2:33 pm

Through the flip of the coin: what constitutes a tech president?

Is it one that’s willing to spend tax money and push for investments in technology?

Is it one that’s willing to defend the anonymity and autonomy of Internet technology and communities?

Is it one that utilizes technology best to support their message or cause?

Make a poll to determine what defines a tech president then get your little gaggle of interns to spin on the hamster wheels for a couple of days researching the stance of each candidate based on a tech platform. THAT matrix would be useful. All these N/As are pointless.

Oh, Ron Paul 2008.
RON PAUL FOR 9/11TRUTH

December 20th, 2007 at 2:34 pm

Ron Paul will use science to prove the TRUTH about 9/11!

VOTE RON PAUL!
Michael Arrington

December 20th, 2007 at 2:41 pm

Good stuff on Seesmic about this.

My initial video:

http://seesmic.com/v/YMlKM16Lik

responses:

http://seesmic.com/v/NIp733kMhf
http://seesmic.com/v/JwWXrnTG3N
sean coon

December 20th, 2007 at 2:42 pm

“We no longer live in an industrial economy - the future is information and the Internet.”

uhm, maybe we need a president who will focus on repealing our awful trade agreements so that industry can actually come back to the US — you know, to employ all those blue collar folk not living in the friggin’ valley — rather than slap a bunch of red tape on the internet.

sorry to be buzzkill 2.0…
Sabas

December 20th, 2007 at 2:43 pm

Anybody but Ron Paul, please.
Jeff the Great

December 20th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

I am sorry, but I dont see anything compelling on the Tech Crunch profile for Ron Paul:

http://www.techcrunch.com/pres.....n_paul.php

I still like the guy but not becuase of his stance on technology.
Ryan

December 20th, 2007 at 2:47 pm

Ron Paul all the way!
S. Syed

December 20th, 2007 at 2:53 pm

Ron Paul’s consistent voting record to defend the Constitution of the United States of America against from things such as the Iraq War and the Patriot Act made me decide to vote for him.
Harold

December 20th, 2007 at 3:13 pm

Ron Paul.

Why? Because he believes in allowing businesses to innovate with less restrictions from the federal government.

He believes in low taxes which would free of capital to do more R&D, more innovation.

Companies would be better off under a Ron Paul administration because they would have the freedom to innovate because of less regulation and because of lower taxes.
Andrew

December 20th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

Ron Paul will win no doubt, hell even the media calls him the internet’s candidate. + he is the only guy running who has the brains to read the bills instead of falling for catchy names(”Patriot Act”). i.e. the net neutrality is actually a bad thing, because it’ll lead to the government taxing it(all the people who want to tax the internet are backing the net neutrality because it’ll set the precedent that the gov’t can control the internet)
Tim

December 20th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

http://www.dontregulate.org

Excellent demo of the overlooked pitfalls of net neutrality:

http://www.dontregulate.org
Bjoern Wilmsmann

December 20th, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Ron Paul all the way.
Bjoern Wilmsmann

December 20th, 2007 at 4:26 pm

@Ryan, 66: Sorry, I didn’t see you had already posted this I’m absolutely with you
Boris

December 20th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

Ron Paul will be an awful president. His tech stances are good but everything else is just 50% craziness.
Anon

December 20th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Huckabee is the only one Republican in favor of Net Neturality, yet he’s in second place. Sad.
Jason Kolb

December 20th, 2007 at 4:55 pm

Ron Paul, of course. The technology community has embraced him like he’s made of gold.
Jamie

December 20th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

@74 He is for net neutrality because under him the only sites that will be allowed will be those that preach Christianity…seriously as a Republican I’ll vote for Hillary Clinton before I would vote for that nut job. If he gets the nomination that’ll be the end of the Republican party.
Michael Broukhim

December 20th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

Great stuff Techcrunch; always good when the tech community gets more involved in the political process. If you want to go beyond the ‘who’s best for tech’ conversation, check us out at Why08.org, we think we have something fun going on over there, and would love to hear what ya’ll think…we’ve got a slew of new features coming out in the next couple weeks.
Andrew MacRae

December 20th, 2007 at 5:46 pm

Help Draft a real TechPresident at http://www.uniteformike.com America needs Mike Bloomberg!
Zoli Erdos

December 20th, 2007 at 5:55 pm

Mike, you’re not running?
techPresident reader

December 20th, 2007 at 5:58 pm

Apparently you’ve never heard of http://techPresident.com, so how are you prepared to be talking about politics, TechCrunch? You’ve heard of Google, right?
http://www.google.com/search?q=techpresident

10th link on that page: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007.....e-adsense/

Whatev.
Lee Ving

December 20th, 2007 at 6:07 pm

The best and most winnable candidate is Hillary Clinton.

Voting for anyone other than Hillary Clinton is throwing your vote away. She is the most presidential and technologically savvy out of all Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Hillary is inevitable.
Ettore

December 20th, 2007 at 6:56 pm

Mike Gravel. After hearing Mike A’s interview with him, I thought there’s still hope for humanity. He really sent a strong message, very sincere and direct. Plus I always admire people with the balls to say “I don’t know enough” (about copyright issues). That means he can learn about it.

I wanted to point out a correction in your primaries site Mike: Mike Gravel’s stance on Net Neutrality is “in favor”, not N/A. He said it in the interview with you and it’s also mentioned here:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007.....fferently/
Mike K

December 20th, 2007 at 7:06 pm

Hehe. The idea that you can nominate a “tech” president is a bit silly. Any discussion of taxes? Capital gains? Dividends/expenses - portable healthcare for individuals or small businesses? No - it’s about net neutrality and visas.

Sigh.
John

December 20th, 2007 at 7:06 pm

Mike Bloomberg, hands down.

He’s the #1 tech CEO, #1 on Silicon Alley Insider’s top 100 http://www.alleyinsider.com/sa.....berg.html, and Wired would like to see a run http://www.wired.com/techbiz/p....._bloomberg
rfre

December 20th, 2007 at 7:18 pm

Mike, you couldn’t resist licking your chops and taking a pull from that Mountain Dew for a 2 minute video? I guess you are getting more “comfortable” doing video.
Ettore

December 20th, 2007 at 7:33 pm

@B Reyes, @Ryan from Philadelphia and to all Ron Paul’s fans:
you do realize he is the anti-tech candidate right? From his profile:
- he is AGAINST net neutrality;
- voted no to the “Science act”;
- against Kyoto protocol;
- no opinion on intellectual property, China, digital divide.
How can a tech person like this guy??
Sean Hackbarth

December 20th, 2007 at 8:05 pm

Senator Thompson’s border security and immigration reform ideas are on his website:

http://www.fred08.com/virtual/Immigration.aspx

Disclaimer: I work for Friends of Fred Thompson, Inc.
Drew

December 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

Mike Bloomberg is my candidate
Joel

December 20th, 2007 at 9:25 pm

Little coverage from mainstream press? Not one blog covered the cyber attacks in Estonia earlier this year, or that China had said it’d be developing cyber war initiatives. It seems ironic that a major blog outlet that hasn’t covered any national technology issues beyond copyright and intellectual property would say that about mainstream press.
JohnnyWrath

December 21st, 2007 at 12:37 am

Ron Paul came in number one, ahead of all the other 534 congressmen and senators in the CNET Technology Voter Guide in 2006.

http://www.news.com/2009-1040-6131719.html
I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

December 21st, 2007 at 2:24 am

As a libertarian, Ron Paul would be the best candidate, but he has interchangable first and last names which means he can’t be trusted. Also, I would rather stick my head in a bucket of sh*t than find myself at a rally with Ron Paul supporters.

Obama is such a nice young man but a socialist at heart. The world would like to see a young black US president to prove that the US isn’t just a bunch of old white men who hate everything but country music, but he wouldn’t do anything for America domestically, whether in healthcare, education, unemployment, any of it. If Obama is elected, expect a lot of heartwarming appearances and hope-filled speeches with foreign leaders abroad, and a lot of ineffectual, pointless government intervention.

Huckabee is the choice of the Westboro Baptist lobby that propped Bush up despite his economic, social and foreign disasters because Bush was against stem cell research. He’s a drivelling lunatic who thinks that AIDS sufferers need separate public lavatories. (Don’t believe anyone who claims that he’s retracted or reconsidered. It was well known that AIDS was not transmitted casually when he said it originally, so nothing has happened to change his opinion, though he might cover it up to get votes.) If he gets the primary, let alone the presidency, it’ll be hilarious.

Edwards is a non-entity beside Clinton and Obama. Romney has little to offer other than jokes about his wacky religion.

McCain is the only candidate with a consistent platform, a lack of bigotry and, despite his age, doesn’t give you the impression that he’ll keel over at any moment from colloidal silver poisoning. He’s honest to the point you wonder how the hell he got into politics - read his answer to the question about why the Internet tax ban wasn’t made permanent for an example. He understands that war is hell in a way that neither the Democrats’ reactionary and opportunistic pigeons nor Bush’s bespectacled chickenhawks can. He’s the sort of President that you see in Hollywood movies, a man who exudes strength, honesty and intelligence and makes you walk out of the cinema wondering why Americans never elect people like that in real life.

If TechCrunch endorse him it will show that they genuinely understand what makes someone the right person to lead the US for the next four or eight years. If TechCrunch endorses Ron Paul it’ll confirm their image as myopic goldfish-brained Web two point oh dears who think that Digg accurately portrays the voice of the nation. Their choice.
PyramidView

December 21st, 2007 at 4:06 am

Why must you endorse a candidate from each of the two major parties? Perhaps one, or both, parties do not have a candidate worthy of a TechCrunch endorsement. For that matter, what about the smaller parties?
kid mercury

December 21st, 2007 at 5:29 am

arrington you know you are a ron paul fan, c’mon admit it you are a closet member of the ron paul revolution. say it loud, sing it proud: RON PAUL 2008!!!

seriously, the only people who don’t support ron paul are the people who don’t know better. since most people know more about britney spears than about US government, that includes most people. of course, the techcrunch staff is smarter than the average buffoon, and so i’m sure you guys will select the best candidate (which is ron paul ).
Fred Oliveira

December 21st, 2007 at 5:30 am

I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog: I think you just wrote one of the most insightful comments I read here, ever. Despite the fact that I disagree with your opinion, I like how you exposed your ideas. I would like to see Obama as the next US president.
gilltots

December 21st, 2007 at 5:38 am

i think they should make polling illegal. every poll i see puts a completely different person in front and does nothing but skew people’s perspectives and feed the propaganda machine. so, make polling illegal, and let us finally VOTE for a candidate instead of letting the media decide it. now there’s a thought!
I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

December 21st, 2007 at 11:10 am

@Fred Oliveria: Thank you.

Honestly, I would be overjoyed if Obama was the next US President. But I have the luxury of living in England, and if Obama was elected as our Prime Minister, I’d be in a bit of a strop.

On second thoughts, given that John McCain has zero chance of being elected (too sensible), I would actually say that TC should probably support Obama. There is so much hatred towards the US now that I actually think that it would be worth Obama raising a few taxes here and there, as long as the US could rejoin the world community.

American taxpayers would probably disagree, of course, which is their right. And those three hundred million have got the votes, not the 6.7 billion outside the US. Hooray for democracy!

Seriously, you guys choose who you like. If the Americans got to choose the UK Prime Minister, I’d've left England years ago.
Matt

December 21st, 2007 at 12:50 pm

Will we see Ron Paul interviewed soon?
Everett

December 21st, 2007 at 3:06 pm

Michael, SMILE MAN!!!
Luke

December 21st, 2007 at 5:59 pm

My votes going to Mitt!
John Ramey

December 21st, 2007 at 6:16 pm

86 & everyone:

Ron Paul’s stance on net neutrality is misleading. He is “against” internet regulation in ANY form - good or bad. He is FOR leaving the internet alone and keeping it tax free.

His opinion is that the Fedeal gov has no right to legislate anything about the net, at all.

It’s similar to his stance on abortion. People see the soundbyte “I think Roe v Wade should be repealed” and think he would make abortion illegal. What he is saying is that the Fed had no right to make a decision to begin with - it’s a state issue.
William Rist

December 21st, 2007 at 9:54 pm

Ron Paul, out of all the candidates is trying to shut down the National ID, which is your current Drivers License. It is a unfunded mandate that cost the American people $5 billion dollars over the next 5 years. It will be used to track Americans’ not illegals. It is Public law 109-13 that was passed secretly without telling the American people. It is known as the Real ID
Act. Go to http://www.ncsl.org/realid
Jonathan Trenn

December 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pm

Isn’t Tech President the site run by Micah Sifry? I think he’s trademarked the name.
Jones

December 24th, 2007 at 2:05 am

@43-What makes Ron Paul a Tech President?”

The fact that he doesn’t believe the internet should be regulated, just like he believes that your life shouldn’t be regulated either. Think about it, if they can control the internet then porn is no more. O.o
———————————-
That’s the problem with RP. He doesn’t believe that much of anything should be regulated by the Feds. So yeah, you can throw in the net with all the other things that RP doesn’t want to regulate. But you are choosing only one part of his overall view. You are looking at the parts rather than the whole. And trust me, that will leave you wide open to be blindsided by all the other actions RP would like to take.

Thankfully, the probability of RP getting the ‘Pub nomination is near zero.

However, I do hope he chooses to run as an independent candidate. Doing so will slam the Republican’s like the Democrats got from Nader and will ensure a Democratic win.
William Rist

December 24th, 2007 at 10:22 pm

It would in fact be nice to see Ron Paul, as an independent however, being
an independent is not only expensive, but it never gets the recognition it
deserves. He only goes to the Republican side hoping, that some may pay attention to his ideas. I would say that if everyone sits back and does
nothing then evil will increase. As a 8 year Gulf War veteran, our troops are
only serving in the Middle East, so that the government may do so for selfish gains over “OIL” Yet, at the same time many people in this country
believe that our troops should stay in the Middle East, but then when you ask those same individuals to relieve those soldiers in the Middle East
with PTSD, they are not willing to relieve those soldiers of their ” POST. ” Many, will be willing to let our troops die, for the sake that they are not willing to serve with them at the ” Firing Lines.” Many people in our government, are willing to toast wine glasses, and shake hands, while at the same time they pay no attention to those in uniform. Instead they serve at the front lines taking a bullet, put into a body bag, while the family receives a flag. Our government has a bunch of cowards. The time is coming when God, in fact will bring down a “WRATH” on those failing to assist to help in correcting in what is wrong. Life is good, when so many
refuse to pay attention to where the real conflict is going.
Eric

December 27th, 2007 at 12:36 pm

Well, Mr. Arrington, now that Obama has caught up to Kucinich on the Democrat side, I’m still waiting to see the Republican results “normalize” as you say. Currently, Ron Paul still has 5 times as many votes as the next highest guy. Care to revise your prediction?
zoey

January 5th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

People, im sure someone in ur families r sick and cant afford heaalth insurance and its obvious the rebublicans dont care and wont provide free health insurence which may i provide that the united states is the one of the only countries of the devolped countries TO NOT HAVE FREE HEALTH INSURANCE!! ALso barack obamma people talk about jump on a bandwagon hes not experienced enough maybe in 2012 but not now and just because hes black doesnt mean he should have the black vote. I no u probably dnt want the typicall southern white man in office but u have to think about the country not bout urself. So i have my support behind edwards becuase hes behind so many views that will b required to run a great country and is a great speaker, so is hilary but i dont trust her. barack cant speak at all and runs on and on by the way ive been doing campaings since i was born and im 13 but u no wat oprah is just behind barack cuz hes black she never supports anyone and hear comes a black guy and now she supports someone comeone so stop jumping on the bandwagon cuz hes not ready to run the country but like i sed mayb in 2012. o and i no i mentioned im 13 but did i mention im also a biracial and haved faced racism.And yes im sick of having a southern white man in office but im thinkin about the country and the future the next generation.thank you for reading