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No Schwarzenegger White House race, Republicans say
Candidates overwhelmingly opposed bid to change Constitution so Arnold could run

Republican White House hopefuls had bad news for Arnold Schwarzenegger today, overwhelmingly opposing any bid to change the US constitution so the Austrian-born tough guy could run for US president.

Candidates did their bit to terminate the California governor's hopes of embarking on his own presidential run one day, at their first debate of the 2008 campaign.

Only two of the 10 candidates, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and ex-governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, said they would be firmly in favour of a move to allow foreign-born US citizens to become president.

One of the frontrunners, Senator John McCain said he would have to consider the move but added: "Depends whether he endorses me or not".

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, was a "no".

"With Arnold sitting there, I'll give it some thought, but probably not," he said at the debate at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in California.

Giuliani joked that he was "afraid" of the action-hero turned Republican politician, while Huckabee quipped that he would be happy to change the constitution - once he had served two terms as president.

"Intimidating as he might be, I'm saying no," chimed in Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo.

A move to amend the constitution requires the backing of two thirds of the US House of Representatives and two thirds of the US Senate to pass and must then be ratified by three quarters, or 38, of the 50 US states.

Other candidates in the debate included, former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, Senator Sam Brownback, former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson and congressmen Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter.