Jon Swartz

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — If there was any lingering doubt as to tech's favored presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton put an end to that Tuesday.

The presumptive Democratic nominee released a comprehensive tech plan that reads like a Silicon Valley wish list. It calls for connecting every U.S. household to high-speed Internet by 2020, reducing regulatory barriers and supporting Net neutrality rules, which ban Internet providers from blocking or slowing content.

It proposes investments in computer science and engineering education, expansion of 5G mobile data, making inexpensive Wi-Fi available at more airports and train stations, and attaching a green card to the diplomas of foreign-born students earning STEM degrees.

In short, the plan hits on nearly every big-ticket issue in tech, says Box CEO Aaron Levie, a Clinton supporter. "She did a great job of articulating and underscoring" issues affecting talent, patents, content, encryption and privacy, he says.

Campaign advisers have said other Clinton proposals, covering infrastructure and education, would help raise funds that would go toward paying for the technology agenda.

“No doubt, lots of good stuff included in Secretary Clinton’s tech agenda," says Bobby Franklin, CEO of National Venture Capital Association. "If the details are as good as the blueprint, we would be very supportive of this type of agenda in a Hillary Clinton Administration.”

The 15-page treatise, announced by Clinton in Denver, was released several hours before she was to speak to digital content creators in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The plan comes a day after political commentator and Uber board member Arianna Huffington, appearing on MSNBC, mentioned Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as possible vice presidential running mates for Clinton.

"I'm flattered, but I already have a job," Benioff said in an email message late Wednesday. "I Support Hillary — she is by far the most qualified candidate to lead our country in these challenging times."

Starbucks did not return an email message seeking comment.

Her presumed general election foe, Donald Trump, who has spent the past several months engaged in lambasting Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook, Airbnb's Brian Chesky and other tech leaders on Twitter, has not published any tech policy proposals.

While Silicon Valley leaders commended the scope and intellect of Clinton's plan, they said its fate is largely dependent on Congress, post-presidential election.

"What she has proposed is ambitious and may not be approved right away, but it sets a good starting point," says Anis Uzzaman, CEO of Fenox Venture Capital in San Jose, Calif.

Support from Congress is by no means assured. The tech industry and U.S. lawmakers have been at odds over some key issues in the past year. Apple rallied most major tech firms to its side as it fought the Justice Department's order that it hack into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorists. Google and others unsuccessfully fought a new rule that would allow federal agents armed with a single search warrant to hack millions of Americans' computers.

"It would be good for a presidential candidate to advocate a digital ethics and rights bill that would protect citizens and set the rules so that the valley would have clear guidelines on data ownership and usage," says R. Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research.

"All the talk about STEM education is nice, but let’s be realistic," adds Wang. "We need a system that enables more than just college. There are technical jobs that don’t require a traditional four-year degree and what we need to do is foster this type of learning. More private-public partnerships in creating these training programs will help in crafting skill sets and jobs as they evolve."

Some, such as Yorgen Edholm, CEO of cloud company Accellion, insist Clinton's policy proposals — especially on cybersecurity and data privacy — offer "platitudes" that are "thin on specifics."

Clinton's plan, too, could be at the mercy of economic uncertainty throughout the tech industry. A drop in venture funding and volatile equity markets have yielded a dearth of IPOs and raised concerns the tech boom could quickly turn into a bust. Meanwhile, many unicorns — those dozens of privately held start-ups valued at more than $1 billion — are losing value, prompting rumblings of consolidation.

There is little doubt, however, that Clinton's plan has cemented her standing as the candidate of choice in the tech universe.

Levie, Benioff, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen are among her supporters. Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has funded two companies, Civis Analytics and The Groundwork, that work with the Clinton campaign.

And the presidential candidates' support is reflected in donations. Clinton's campaign has collected $2.68 million, compared with $21,815 for Trump, who has largely self-funded his campaign, according to Crowdpac, a nonpartisan political crowdfunding web site.

Voices: Fresh off California win, Clinton is tech's candidate

Follow USA TODAY San Francisco Bureau Chief Jon Swartz @jswartz on Twitter.