In Silicon Valley, can Clinton harness excitement like Obama 8 years ago?

Early in the 2008 presidential race, the Bay Area swooned over Barack Obama. As Hillary Clinton prepares to enter the 2016 presidential campaign as an overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination, she is viewed here more as respected establishment than exciting start-up. She is not seen as the kind of transformational candidate that President Barack Obama was, particularly within the technology community.

For Clinton, the Bay Area represents perhaps her biggest opportunity to expand her 2008 fundraising base, when she raised $6.2 million from the affluent California counties of San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Mateo, according to campaign finance data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. President Obama brought in $9.8 million from donors in those counties during the same period of time. To win them over, however, Clinton will have to navigate a thorny issue that has soured the relationship between President Obama and many longtime Silicon Valley allies: his administration’s national security surveillance practices. Tech leaders who have taken new measures to make it more difficult for the government to track their customers will be watching closely to see how Clinton addresses the topic.