Schwarzenegger raps top office bar

Schwarzenegger is nearing 100 days as California's governor

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says a constitutional bar on foreign-born Americans running for US president should be lifted.

"There are many, many, many people here that have... done an extraordinary job and have not been born in America," he said on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.

The Austrian-born actor turned politician said he had not contemplated a future White House bid.

He was granted US citizenship 21 years ago as his film career took off.

Immigrants' contribution

It was the first time Mr Schwarzenegger had publicly commented on a bill proposed by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch to allow foreign-born Americans to run for the presidency if they had been citizens for 20 years.

"There are so many people in this country that are now from overseas, that are immigrants, that are doing such a terrific job with their work," Mr Schwarzenegger said on Sunday.

Mr Schwarzenegger cited the examples of two Europe-born former secretaries of state to illustrate his endorsement of Senator Hatch's proposal.

"Look at the kind of contribution that people like Henry Kissinger have made, Madeleine Albright," he said.

But he said grappling with his new governorship of California had kept him too busy to consider a pitch for the presidency himself.

"I have no idea, I haven't thought about that at all," he said.