By John Murphy BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents

Rabbi Hier feels Mr Schwarzenegger has presidential potential

"He is a national politician, political leader. He is not a phenomenon only for the beaches of California."

Orthodox Rabbi Marvin Hier and the world's most famous body-builder-come-actor-come-politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger, seem an unlikely partnership.

It was back in 1984 that a less famous Arnold Schwarzenegger first contacted Rabbi Hier, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, which remembers the victims of the Holocaust and promotes tolerance.

The actor explained that he wanted to be on the centre's mailing list, to attend its events.

"He became very informed on these subjects we deal with.

"He was a magnanimous contributor. We never had to ask him for a donation. His policy was every time he made a film he automatically sent a cheque."

In 1984 the idea that he would become governor of California was about as far-fetched as me signing up to be an astronaut Rabbi Marvin Hier

It was to Rabbi Hier that Mr Schwarzenegger turned, in 1990, to investigate his own father's Nazi past.

The centre discovered that Arnold Schwarzenegger's father was accepted as a member of the Nazi party in the early 1940s. But there is no evidence that he, nor any unit he was with, was guilty of war crimes.

The friendship with the rabbi has proven useful.

During California's historic recall campaign last year, when allegations of Mr Schwarzenegger having Nazi sympathies emerged, the governor-in-waiting was able to point to his long-standing links with the Simon Wiesenthal Center as proof of his true feelings.

Some critics have argued that he has been careful in choosing his friends, that there has been cynical calculation involved.

It is not a view shared by the rabbi.

"In 1984 the idea that he would become governor of California was about as far fetched as me signing up to be an astronaut.

"When people say it was to lay a foundation for his run for political office, that's nonsense.

"You can tell when a relationship is cosmetic, when a person doesn't mean it. You send in a donation and you have nothing to do with the organisation; you just send them a cheque.

"To say that all this was to establish his credentials, my answer to you would be that you can establish your credentials without going that far and he's smart enough to know that."

'Starstruck'

Arnold Schwarzenegger's rise to the top in California has been impressive. He has undoubtedly been smart in the way he has managed to win over many of his critics.

Even Democratic senators, in this largely Democratic state, seem to be eating out of his hand.

Or some of them are. Senator Sheilla Kuehl says she is not one of them.

Mr Schwarzenegger has won over many critics, even Democrats

"A lot of people are just starstruck. They give him a lot of slack."

She is particularly critical of cuts to education that the governor introduced as he attempted to plug the $15bn hole in the state's notorious budget.

And there have been cuts to the amount workers can expect to receive in the event of injury.

Critics like Sheilla Kuehl say Mr Schwarzenegger is less "the people's governor", as he likes to claim, and more the governor for the business community.

But, despite critics like Senator Kuehl, the governor's popularity ratings of about 65% mean that he is even more popular now than when he was elected last year.

John Hurley, one of the few Republicans in the San Francisco area, runs a successful business that invests in hi-tech companies.

During the recall campaign he held a fundraising event for Mr Schwarzenegger in his house, high up on top of Russian Hill, overlooking the island prison of Alcatraz.

Most of the 100 guests at the cigar-and-dessert party were Democrats and independents.

But they "just fell in love with him", he says.

'Formidable candidate'

That ability to win people over, to pull the crowds, to convince the public, combined with his Hollywood glamour, means many are now speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a future president of the United States.

True, there is a substantial obstacle in his way at the moment, in the form of the US constitution, which bars any foreign-born citizen from becoming president.

Congress has just begun the long process of considering an amendment to change that. But most political analysts say that it is unlikely to be achieved in the next few years.

An amendment must have a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress - and then be approved by three-quarters of the states. Some Democrats might be reluctant to support a change from which Republican Schwarzenegger would be the first major beneficiary.

But Rabbi Hier, for one, thinks that as a presidential candidate Schwarzenegger would be difficult to beat.

"If he were allowed to run for president I believe he would be elected because he has the right approach.

"He's a populist. He's not a conservative ideologue...

"He's prepared to be quite liberal, while remaining fiscally a Republican. And that's why I think he would be a formidable candidate."

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents was broadcast on Thursday, 14 October, 2004 at 1100 BST.

The programme was repeated on Monday, 18 October, 2004 at 2030 BST.