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Barack Obama won an extraordinary amount of support from the business world in his presidential campaign, helping to tamp down accusations of redistributionist aims, at least until Joe the Plumber caught Obama off-guard. They campaigned for him, raised money to get him elected, and celebrated when Obama won. Now they’re in a much less celebratory mood after seeing him in action, the AP reports (via The Corner):

Many executives view the president-elect with a wary eye [snip} Many in business, though, still view the president-elect with a wary eye. (Perhaps the markets do as well: The Dow dropped more than 400 points the day after Obama's election.) Indeed, if a recent survey by Chief Executive magazine is any indication, Obama has his work cut out for him in wooing America's executives. In a survey of 751 CEOs published in October, the magazine found that 74 percent feared the consequences of an Obama presidency versus just 19 percent who worried about John McCain assuming the Oval Office. The...

For some months during this Presidential election year, Chief Executive has conducted specialized polling of CEOs’ attitudes on issues affecting national policy and the economy. In CE’s most recent poll in September, 751 respondents, more than double the usual number of business leaders, made their voices heard on their Presidential choice. By a four-to-one margin CEOs support Senator John McCain over his rival, Senator Barack Obama. More to the point, a thundering 74 percent majority say they fear the consequences of an Obama presidency, compared to only 19 percent who fear a McCain presidency. During this period CE also asked...

It’s the economy, stupid. The familiar refrain of the 1992 campaign that lifted William Jefferson Clinton into the White House is back, though business leaders polled by Long Island Business News were nearly split on whom they supported for president. McCain supporters planned to vote for the Republican because they oppose redistribution of wealth and said higher taxes would lead to the destruction of the economy. McCain supporters also cited the former Navy captain’s international affairs experience. Obama won votes from those concerned with the shrinking middle class, education, health care and a Supreme Court Obama supporters said has already...

This election has me tortured. I belong to a business group that consists of seven business owners. Because I'm the lone Democrat, I take a lot of grief. But at our latest meeting I had to confess, "I think I'm becoming a Republican." Why? Well, McCain's social policies still make me sick, scared, and disgusted. And I still can't believe that STUPID Paris Hilton ad that he approved. But I also can't believe how naïve O'Bama is. His "tax the rich" routine is going to cost me big money -- money I don't have because I heavily re-invest in my...

A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday with a top surrogate of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain. The private gathering featured Carly Fiorina, Mr. McCain’s top economic adviser, and took place at the Dunmore home of political consultant Jamie Brazil, a longtime friend of Mrs. Clinton’s family who has signed on as paid national director of Mr. McCain’s Citizens for McCain Coalition. The attendees included Tony Rodham, Mrs. Clinton’s youngest sibling, his wife, Megan, and their two children; attorney Kathleen Granahan Kane, who...

The core of Obama's economic plan is (a) more government spending: $65 billion a year for universal health insurance, $15 billion a year on alternative energy, $20 billion to help homeowners avoid default, $60 billion to bolster the nation's infrastructure, $10 billion annually to give students college tuition in exchange for public service, and on and on; and (b) shifting the tax burden upward: ending the Bush tax cuts on families making more than $250,000 and raising payroll taxes on those same higher-income earners (the latter meant to bolster Social Security without cutting benefits or raising the retirement age). Middle-class...

In late March he gave a thoughtful if sometimes vague speech on the need for more financial-markets supervision, which was heavily influenced by advice from former Fed chairman Paul Volcker. He is frequently on the phone with billionaire CEO Warren Buffett ("one of my favorite people," says Obama, "he's just completely down-to-earth and as smart as they come"), a critic of the financial industry and of tax breaks for the rich who also happens to understand capital markets better than just about anyone. Obama calls on Apple's Steve Jobs to help him "think about how to be successful and nimble...

As chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company, Carly Fiorina coined the term “perfect enough” to goad the hidebound, overly cautious company to embrace change and innovation more quickly. Now, as the Republican National Committee’s "Victory Chair," Fiorina is pushing John McCain for president. She says conservatives who are skeptical about him need to look at the broader picture. “When people strive for perfection, they frequently don’t make much progress,” Fiorina tells Newsmax. “So what I said in my book ‘Tough Choices’ is, if you’re focused on making progress, if you’re focused on making the right choices, then perfect enough is...

Senator John McCain essentially took the no-new-taxes pledge on the Stephanopoulos show Sunday morning. He also emphasized his corporate-tax-cut plan, which would drop the rate from 35 to 25 percent, and reiterated his pledge to keep the Bush tax rates in place. Incidentally, an interesting story in USA Today by Dan Nowicki of the Arizona Republic says that Sen. McCain has often talked about getting top U.S. business leaders into his administration. Several times on the campaign trail, McCain has mentioned Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, Cisco’s John Chambers, and FedEx CEO Fred Smith as possible cabinet members.

An exclusive Zogby poll for FSB shows that a plurality of small-business voters are still undecided about the presidential election. Republican Mitt Romney had the most fans. (FSB Magazine) -- Although Scott Hauge and Grafton Willey are both entrepreneurs, they have little in common when it comes to politics. Hauge, 57, runs Cal Insurance, a regional brokerage based in San Francisco (cal-insure.com). A registered Democrat who faces a double-digit increase in his $140,000 annual premium to insure 32 employees, he argues that health-care reform should be our next President's first domestic priority. "Small-business owners just want health insurance off their...

Fortune Magazine Portrays Hillary Clinton as Corporate Sweetheart Easton uses list of rich liberal donors to substantiate claim corporate America is betting on Clinton. By Jeff Poor Business & Media Institute After reading all 3,500 words from the July 9 Fortune magazine cover story, “Who business is betting on,” you might think it’s Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) According to the story, the liberal Clinton (who has a 95 percent liberal rating from the left’s Americans for Democratic Action) has assembled a parade of CEO endorsements – even from Republicans. Based on that, readers are supposed to believe...

One of Hillary Clinton's most important courtships began early last year, around a formal dinner table at Georgetown's Four Seasons Hotel. Her targets were Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack and his wife, Christy. Mack was already active politically - but on behalf of Clinton's political opponents. A Bush "Ranger," he had raised at least $200,000 for the President's reelection bid and was one of the most prominent business names on GOP donor lists. At one time his name had circulated as a potential Bush Treasury Secretary. But these are strangely fluid political times, with long-held alliances shifting under the weight...

Developing.... Link to follow.

John M. Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan who now heads the National Association of Manufacturers, vowed before the November elections to use his trade association's might to back President Bush's judicial nominees. But as the Senate showdown approaches, the business group is delivering a different message: Judges are not its fight. NAM's decision to sit out the brawl may be indicative of a broader trend. From Wall Street to Main Street, the small-government, pro-business mainstay of the Republican Party appears to be growing disaffected with a party it sees as focused on social issues at its expense. "I'm...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks rose Wednesday, lifted by news that President Bush won a second term in office. The Dow Jones industrial average (up 101.32 to 10,137.05, Charts) and the Nasdaq composite (up 19.54 to 2,004.33, Charts) both added 1 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 12.64 to 1,143.20, Charts) index added 1.1 percent.

While watching the Big Story with John Gibson, this idiot, Terry Keenan, who is almost ALWAYS wrong with her financial analysis, made the statement that a Bush win wouldn't move the markets because it's "already built in", and a Skerry victory would be a boon to the stock market. She then went on to say that the markets are down for the year. Which markets? The Dow and Nasdaq are down a very small amount, the S&P was up. Why not state that it's a mixed market? Bigger question, why is Fox bending to hard to the left lately? Have...

C I Host Poll Indicates Bush Leads Kerry Among Businesses; Hosting Company Tallies Huge, Expedient Sample From Internet DALLAS, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- C I Host today released of one of the largest presidential polls ever conducted among small- to medium-sized business owners, indicating that Republican incumbent George W. Bush enjoys a commanding lead over Democratic candidate John Kerry prior to Tuesday's election. The poll tallies the opinions of 27,593 U.S. respondents who participated in an e-mail questionnaire distributed to C I Host clients throughout the country. An additional 4,823 international respondents participated. Significantly, the U.S. survey found 49 percent...

More Than Ever, Business Chooses Republican Ticket Despite common perceptions, business -- especially big business -- has never been monolithically Republican. Executives have been far too pragmatic for that. They have long used campaign giving to buy their way into the offices of both Republicans and Democrats. Until now. More than any time I can remember, business interests have decided to choose sides in this presidential election year. And the result will likely be a boon to President Bush and his fellow Republicans. The shift hasn't been absolute, of course -- nothing in politics is. But everywhere you look, there...

August 9, 2004http://www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2004/08/09/bureau1.html President Bush enjoys a 2-1 edge over Democratic challenger John Kerry among small business owners, according to a National Small Business Association survey. The advocacy group surveyed 14,000 small business owners just before the Democratic convention. Bush received 64 percent of the vote, and Kerry got 32 percent. Bush carried every state except Vermont and the District of Columbia. Most of the small business owners identified themselves as Republicans. Only 24 percent said they were Democrats. As for issues, Bush and Kerry tied on health care, but Bush won on taxes, Social Security, jobs, the overall...