Campaign '08

SIMI VALLEY (CBS) ― California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will endorse John McCain on Thursday, giving a certain boost to the Republican presidential front runner six days before California's high-prize primary.

The two will appear at a news conference after touring a Los Angeles-based solar energy company and the governor will make his endorsement official, his senior aides confirmed Wednesday evening.

Just two weeks ago, Schwarzenegger had said he would not endorse any candidate before the 'Super Tuesday' California primary on February 5.

"It doesn't help me, and it doesn't help the state of California," he said.

But former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani's withdrawal from the race and endorsement of McCain earlier Wednesday had cleared the way for Schwarzenegger's endorsement, senior Schwarzenegger administration officials said.

"He's good friends with both and thought they were both strong candidates," said one official. "With Giuliani dropping out, that cleared the way for the governor's decision."

An endorsement from Schwarzenegger, who was re-elected governor in a landslide 2006 victory and who polls show is popular, is a major coup for McCain heading into California's delegate-rich primary contest.

And Schwarzenegger's endorsement is yet another setback for Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who saw Florida slip from his grasp Tuesday after McCain rolled up the support of that state's two top elected Republicans there.

McCain, a four-term senator from neighboring Arizona, is running strongly ahead of his competitors in California according to recent SurveyUSA polls conducted for CBS station KPIX-TV in San Francisco.

California offers a whopping 170 delegates to the Republican nominating convention. Candidates secure three delegates for each of the state's 53 congressional districts they win in the primary, in which only Republicans can vote.

Schwarzenegger's endorsement move comes as McCain plows ahead toward the nomination, the only Republican candidate to have won three hotly contested primaries since voting began earlier this month.

"Governor Schwarzenegger is an exceptional governor and we are honored that he has decided to endorse Senator McCain, and look forward to the event tomorrow," said Steve Schmidt, a senior McCain adviser who also had managed Schwarzenegger's 2006 campaign.

McCain and Schwarzenegger have been friends for years, and the two share a bond over their work on global warming issues as well as their similar independent streaks. Aides said Schwarzenegger long has respected McCain's push to eliminate wasteful spending in Washington, protect the environment and fix a broken immigration system.

The governor offered high praise of McCain throughout the campaign, calling him a "great senator" and "very good friend," and the two appeared together at the Port of Los Angeles last year. "We share common philosophy and goals for this country," McCain said at the time.

However, the ultimate effect of Schwarzenegger's endorsement is unclear. The celebrity governor and former actor is universally known in the state, and his political network certainly will be helpful to McCain, who has virtually no organized effort in California after his candidacy nearly collapsed. The actor-turned-governor also is a prolific fundraiser.

But Schwarzenegger has a strained relationship with some conservatives in his own party and McCain, himself, is fighting to convince GOP rank-and-file that he's committed to conservative values. Schwarzenegger's nod could exacerbate concerns about McCain among the party establishment.

Schwarzenegger also is taking heat from state Republicans who argue he's been too willing to bend to the wishes of the Democratic-controlled Legislature. At the same time, California faces a $14.5 billion budget deficit over the next year-and-half, and the governor has rankled the state's powerful education lobby with his proposal to cut spending by 10 percent from state agencies to deal with the financial crisis.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)