Google under Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has never been shy about breaking into areas you never knew the company would find interesting.

Now it’s jumping into politics. The company will spring for 40 people to attend a workshop held by the Personal Democracy Forum on May 18 at Pace University.

Here’s a description of the workshop in the forum’s own words: “The conference will feature keynote speeches and panels by prominent political and technology leaders who are using the Internet to rewrite the rules of political contests and redefining democracy.  All participants at the Personal Democracy Forum will be exposed to information on how to master the political blogosphere, social networks, voter generated content including online video, raising money online and how to impact voter and constituent participation.”

The announcement comes a day after another big online player, the MySpace social network, said it would stage an online reality contest series where the winner would get $1 million to spend on a new political party, donate to a political cause or use to launch a presidential bid.

Question is, could Schmidt take the White House with $1 million?