Obama Meets With Jobs, Raises Cash on West Coast Campaign Swing

President Barack Obama and Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs met today and talked about education, energy policy and ways to create jobs, according to the White House.

Obama, who was in California for a political event, met with the Apple chief at a San Francisco hotel.

“They discussed American competitiveness and education, especially reforms such as the president’s Race to the Top initiative,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement. “They then talked about energy independence and ways to increase job creation.”

Earlier today, Gibbs told reporters that the talk with Jobs was “a meeting the president was interested in having.” Obama was “eager to talk to him about the economy, innovation and technology, education,” Gibbs said.

The president is in the Bay Area to help the Democratic National Committee raise money at two fundraisers, one at the home of clean technology venture capitalist Steve Westly and another at the home of Marissa Mayer, Google Inc.’s vice president of search products. The DNC aims to raise about $1.8 million from the two events, according to a Democratic Party official.

Obama is scheduled to spend the night in the city before leaving for Los Angeles as part of a campaign swing on behalf of California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer.

Stumping for Democrats

With less than two weeks until the midterm elections, the president is on the second day of a five-state trip to raise money for Democratic candidates and raise enthusiasm from party supporters.

Tomorrow he’ll attend an event in Los Angeles for Boxer, a three-term senator who is facing Republican Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co., in a close race.

California voters will decide another of the year’s most high-profile contests in the governor’s race between former EBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman, the Republican nominee, and Democratic state Attorney General Jerry Brown, a former governor.

A poll released today by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California showed Brown with a 44-36 percent lead among likely voters. Boxer leads Fiorina 43-38 percent in the same poll.

Obama and Jobs last met during the 2008 campaign, according to Gibbs.

Jobs has supported Democratic candidates and organizations in the past. He donated $50,000 to the DNC in 2000 and $26,700 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006, according to Federal Election Commission records. Jobs also contributed $1,000 to former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel when Emanuel was running for the U.S. House in 2004.

On Oct. 19, Apple predicted profit of $4.80 a share for this quarter, short of the $5.03 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg before the announcement. Apple has risen 46.9 percent so far this year.

To contact the reporters on this story: Julianna Goldman in San Francisco at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

Enlarge image

Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Inc.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Inc.

Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos., talks about President Barack Obama's meeting with Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. Obama sandwiched a 45-minute meeting with Jobs just after landing in the San Francisco area yesterday in between appearances on a western campaign swing. Munster speaks with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)