Rentseeking Cubed: "Obama's $150 Billion `Cleantech' Pledge Lures Deal-Hungry VCs"

From Bloomberg:

Dan Reicher isn't a politician. Far from it. He's the director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.org, the search giant's philanthropic arm.

Yet as he addresses 250 Silicon Valley venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at Denver's Curtis Hotel during the Democratic National Convention, Reicher sounds like a seasoned pol stumping for his cause: fighting global warming and dependence on fossil fuels.

``Washington is not ready for action, it does not have the policies in place to move renewable energy forward,'' says Reicher, who was there on his own behalf and not as a Google Inc. representative. ``So let's get out the vote and let's get Barack Obama elected in November!''

His audience bursts into cheers.

It was Aug. 26, and as partisans in the Pepsi Center a mile away were ripping Republicans, Reicher and clean-energy proponents were rallying supporters at a reception co-hosted by Cleantech & Green Business Leaders for Obama. The Silicon Valley advocacy group has raised more than $600,000 for Barack Obama's presidential campaign...MUCH MORE