Breaking News: Schwarzenegger to endorse McCain on Thursday

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to endorse his good friend Sen. John McCain for the Republican nomination for president.

The California governor just told CNN he had nothing to say on the subject "today." But The Times' Evan Halper and Mark Z. Barabak have learned that an event is planned tomorrow when the Arizona senator will be endorsed by the California governor. Only recently Schwarzenegger had said he would stay out of the endorsement business until after the GOP primary season. That was out of deference to friends in the race.

But McCain's victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida, and Rudy Giuliani's withdrawal today changed the circumstances, according to the governor.

"Both guys have been very close friends of mine," Schwarzennegger told The Times' Seema Mehta this afternoon.

Arriving at the Reagan Library near Simi Valley for tonight's (5 p.m. PST) Republican debate,  which will be streamed live on this website, the governor praised both Giuliani ("a great man") and McCain, but said he had nothing more to add about an endorsement "today."

He did, however, confirm to Mehta that he had something planned for Thursday with McCain, probably an environmental event in the Los Angeles area. "That's all I have to say," the governor said.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo: Ken James / Bloomberg News

Comments

[pedro]

John Mccain if you'll general expect f4r nomination of president that's a swell thing, but my inquiries are I'm permanently disable I inquire your boost to accomplish my sources getting to work and accommplishing goals, future dreams. I'll feel glamorous and motivated to see your presence in that office and boost the economy

[Mike]

So this is surprising HOW? Both are liberal RINOs who sold out their party. Birds of a feather...

[Deborah]

As an Independent I like McCain. As an American I prefer and will vote for Obama.

[Nora Monahan]

This is an infomercial for McCain and Romney. Why call it a debate when you don't ask all candidates their views each topic. Another clear demonstration of the media using their power to hurt the American public by failing to present a fair and balanced venue.

[DDinnell]

The facts…Not a Washington Insider, Romney has a sophisticated understanding of the challenges we face in both the national and global economies. He is a highly educated and successful leader in business making money by turning around floundering companies such as Staples and helping to produce thousands of jobs, understands the importance of people, organization, research, planning, communication and direction. He was class valedictorian at BYU, MBA and LAW degree from Harvard. While Governor of mostly Democrat Massachusetts, he brought the fractured constituencies together and they became the first state with a universal health care plan that seems to work, official figures indicate that roughly 200,000 previously uninsured residents have gained health coverage, a 45 percent drop in minimum premium costs and a 34 percent reduction in the uninsured. He took no salary at all as Governor because as he said, I have enough. He lowered state taxes, most of what Romney raised was in the form of fees, not taxes, such as court filings and firearm licensing fees. But he also closed loopholes on corporate taxes. Increased funding for education, Massachusetts students ranked #l in the nation in education. Increased penalties on drunk driving. Never supported the release of criminals convicted of serious crimes. Never was first to bring up religion. He turned around MA’s economy from deficit to surplus, balancing their budget in less than 4 years. How dare he do his job well and for no pay on top of it!!! When the Salt Lake City Olympics crumbled under corruption/scandal and financial disaster he went to Salt Lake, took over for a one dollar salary, saved the Olympics and made it profitable. He led a massive security mobilization at the Olympics in the wake of the 9/11 attack and, as governor, helped build up Massachusetts' homeland security efforts. He supports a strong military. He is concerned about illegal immigration and what it means to the security of the United States. He wants to retool America and bring the jobs back home. I can certainly understand liberals hating Romney, after all he's been married to the same woman. He's from a close knit family and values family first. Regarding his flip-flopping on big issues? He may have flipped but not flopped! Everyone, and that means everyone in politics makes mistakes, gets to change their mind once after gaining more knowledge, and most politicians seem to change more than once. Stand all of the candidates up next to each other in a direct comparison of what they really have done and then vote for the best person to make good change and run the country in the right direction.

[Portia Hardesty]

I have worked in poIitics for years, and one of my big disappointments is Gov. Schwarzenegger's endorsement of John McCain.

For me McCain plays by the rule "you can tell the men from the boys by the price of their toys." The Bush/McCain war in Iraq is a very expensive toy, and you and I, and our grandchildren are going to pay for it. If you want expensive toys fine, but don't expect others to pay for them.

Many Californians admire Gov. Schwarzenegger as do I, a Floridan. However, we are not the conservatives that McCain needs to attract to win the state. Most of the Governor's political fans, (as I consider myself, since I had never seen his movies until until recent years, and when he was elected I thought California had lost its collective mind --my bad!) -- are not conservatives. In fact, most of his programs that pass the legislature, are passed by Democrats and opposed by conservative Republicans.

Yes, as a liberal Democrat, I would vote for Gov. .Arnold Schwarzenegger for President. But McCain? Never!! Much as I disagree with McCain on the war, he seems to be an honest man. . . and then he runs for President. One example was his comment that the Bush tax cut was Bush's Leave No Millionaire Behind Act. I was so proud of him. But now he's up and running and he wants to make the tax cuts permanent. Make up your mind.

And, if anyone in the McCain camp is reading this, give the man some good advice: Lose the smirk, Johnny. It makes you look like a jackass. No one liked Bush's smirk (and look at his approval ratings) and yours isn't any more impressive!

[Jim]

Kudos to LA Times blog for giving the candidates relatively equal coverage, and specifically for not intentionally ignoring Ron Paul. The post "debate" coverage on CNN is a joke- 90% about the sparring between McCain and Romney, 10% on the actually issues discussed, with very little reaction to Huckabee and almost on reaction to Ron Paul. As for my 2 cents, I though Dr. Paul's answer on Reagan's endorsement was particularly strong, and poignant - he had known the man personally and didn't pretend to know who Reagan would endorse, which made the Romney and McCain answers of "yes" look all the more ridiculous.

[Jim]

I've been going back and forth on who to vote for in the primary. But the more I watch these debates the more I see the same old politics in Romney and McCain. They seemed to been driven agendas. The more I see Huckabee, the more I realize he seems to have a deep root of what this country is and how this country began. He seems to be driven by less of the agendas of others, and holds strong to his own beliefs and morals. It's a shame that the media is throwing the opinion that this is just a 2 person race. I hope Huckabee can surprise some people on Tuesday.

[Ruby]

Oh yeah, these two combined make a great pair. They are both so on the LEFT side of Republicans that is almost a crime to call them Republicans. And, the LIBERAL NYTimes gave McCain their endorsement...enough said!

[Dan]

Let us look at McCain’s conservative credentials:

-IMMIGRATION: he wrote the bill granting amnesty to illegal immigrants (co-sponsored by Ted Kennedy)
-SOCIAL SECURITY: he voted to give your social security money to illegal immigrants
-TAXES: he voted against the Bush tax cuts multiple times (he has since flip-flopped and has campaigned as a lifelong tax-cutter)
-RHETORIC: he routinely engages in Democratic class warfare against big companies in America, particularly the “evil” drug companies who research cures to debilitating diseases for a profit
-ECONOMY: as recently as December 2007 he admitted “he does not know the economy very well” and needed to get better at it
-1ST AMENDMENT: he wrote the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that was declared to be an unconstitutional infringement of the 1st Amendment (co-sponsored by ultra-liberal Democrat Russ Feingold)
-2ND AMENDMENT: he was called the “worst 2nd amendment candidate” by the president of the NRA
-ENERGY TAX: wrote a bill (co-sponsored by his buddy Lieberman) imposing a massive tax on energy which, according to the Department of Energy, would drastically raise the price of gasoline and put 300,000 Americans out of work
-GLOBAL WARMING: supports radical global warming legislation which involved him voting with every Democrat; think only America is responsible to take action, not other superpowers
-JUDGES: he joined forces with Democrats (Gang of 14) to block the Senate Republican’s attempt to confirm conservative, strict constructionist judges
-WAR ON TERROR: fought with Hillary Clinton to demand that terrorists be given a full American trial
-GAY MARRIAGE: he joined liberals to fight against a federal marriage amendment supporting the institution of traditional marriage
-CHRISTIANS: campaigning in 2000, he famously described Christian leaders as “agents of intolerance”
-PRO-LIFE: he filed an amicus brief against pro-life advocates in Wisconsin
-BI-PARTISANSHIP: he met with leading Democrats in 2004 to discuss the possibility of being John Kerry’s Vice-President
-PROFESSIONAL ETHICS: ringleader of the infamous Keating 5 ethical scandal which cost US tax payers $160 billion (Google it)
-PERSONAL ETHICS: McCain cheated on his first wife after she had a severe accident that left her partially disabled. He then divorced her and married his multi-millionaire mistress, whose daddy bought McCain a spot in the Congress

[Ted]

Anyone but FILP-FLOP Romney. Who knows what his position would be the day after he gets nominated?? He's not a republican.

[Carlston Kumstaine, M.D.]

Pathetic. Insipid opportunist endorses senile gadfly. McCain tit for tat endorsement for wanna-be senator Arnold in the offing?