Mark Warner, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Virginia, spoke at a town hall meeting in Blacksburg Thursday.

Click to Enlarge

The event began at 11:30 a.m. with the theme of discussing the promise of technology to create jobs and opportunity, especially in rural America. While those topics were indeed touched upon, the meeting covered an array of topics as about a half-dozen audience members asked questions to Schmidt and Warner.

Warner, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate seat from Virginia being vacated by John Warner, was the first to speak and offered some of his stump speech material in the first 12 minutes before turning the floor over to Schmidt. In his opening statements, Warner talked about his record as governor in helping to bring tech jobs to the state, particularly to rural areas. He talked about moving America forward and bringing all sides together in a nonpartisan manner. 

Warner was adamant about making the United States more competitive, noting that the country has fallen behind in

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, joined Warner at the Lyric Theatre where they discussed economic development.

Click to Enlarge

Warner introduced Schmidt, who immediately said, “I am here to tell you that I think Gov. Warner is going to be an incredible senator.” Schmidt added that Warner was the first politician to visit Google, and Schmidt said Warner did so to learn more about the business model, the technology, and job creation.

Schmidt also gave anecdotes about growing up in Blacksburg while his father, Wilson, was head of Virginia Tech’s Department of Economics. He recalled seeing movies at the Lyric and commented that Planet of the Apes was the one he remembered the most.

Eric Schmidt of Google and former Governor Mark Warner listen to a question from an audience member.

Click to Enlarge

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported, “Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt's push for a greater voice in politics while giving the Obama campaign a boost from a highly desirable constituency.”

Schmidt’s stop in Blacksburg was clearly a visit partially to stump for Warner and partially to provide information to an eager crowd in the town of his youth. Schmidt kept his political praise limited to Warner and avoided presidential politics.

The meeting wrapped up just after 12:30 p.m., after which Warner and Schmidt spent a few minutes mingling with audience members.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment