Republican presidential candidates terminated any presidential aspirations the Terminator may have had.
The 10 candidates were asked in their Thursday night debate if they would support amending the Constitution to allow fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former bodybuilder and action movie star, to run for U.S. president.
“Intimidating as he might be, I’m saying ‘no,'” said U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado.
The U.S. Constitution allows only natural-born citizens to seek the highest office in the country. But some supporters of California’s Austrian-born governor have been pushing to change that so he could possibly join the 2008 race.
With Schwarzenegger looking on from the audience at the first Republican presidential debate of the campaign, the 10 declared Republican hopefuls were overwhelmingly against a constitutional amendment.
“After I’ve served eight years as president, I’d be happy to change the Constitution for Governor Schwarzenegger,” said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, drawing laughter.
Arizona Sen. John McCain responded that it would depend on whether he gets an endorsement from the governor.
“He and I have many similar attributes, so I have to seriously consider it,” McCain said of the star of “The Terminator” movies.
