Schwarzenegger endorses McCain: reports
SIMI VALLEY, California (AFP) — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was set to announce Thursday his endorsement for Republican presidential front-runner John McCain, US media reported on Wednesday.
After it aired an hour-long debate between Republican White House hopefuls, CNN television network said that the popular former Hollywood action hero had agreed to endorse McCain and would make an official announcement on Thursday.
The cable network said he had wanted to wait until after the debate, the last one before 22 states hold their nominating contests on "Super Tuesday" February 5, to announce his endorsement because he did not want to be seen as taking sides ahead of the event.
The debate took place at California's Reagan Library, where Schwarzenegger was seated in the audience.
The California governor's office would not confirm the report, but issued a press release saying that McCain and the Terminator star would tour a solar energy company in Los Angeles at 9:30 am (1700 GMT) and speak to reporters afterward.
Just before the debate, Schwarzenegger played down the reports in an interview with CNN, appearing to rule out the possibility of an endorsement any time before the "Super Tuesday" California primary on February 5.
"I've always said that I would stay out of the whole thing of endorsing anybody until our, you know, primaries are over, so I think that's exactly what I'm going to do," Schwarzenegger told CNN.
The endorsement from Schwarzenegger, who was re-elected California's leader in a landslide 2006 victory and who remains popular, was a major coup for McCain heading into the delegate-rich state's primary contest.
Late Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website that Schwarzenegger was set to give McCain his endorsement, citing sources close to both men.
The Times reported that former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani's withdrawal from the Republican race earlier Wednesday had cleared the way for Schwarzenegger to endorse McCain.
The paper quoted a senior Schwarzenegger administration official as saying that the state leader had been reluctant to give an endorsement while McCain and Giuliani, both described as friends, remained in the race.
"He's good friends with both and thought they were both strong candidates," said the official. "With Giuliani dropping out, that cleared the way for the governor's decision."
