Schwarzenegger Undecided on Governor Run

ByABC News
March 9, 2001, 2:52 PM

March 8 -- Will Arnold Schwarzenegger finally run for governor of California? Even the Republican action hero's own rep seems confused.

The actor's spokeswoman, Jill Eisenstadt, told Reuters on Wednesday, "While he's most interested in politics and believes that being a public servant would be a great honor in a country which has given him such great opportunities, [Schwarzenegger] has commitments which will take him through 2004."

However, Eisenstadt called the news service back an hour later singing a different tune. "He's absolutely not made up his mind," she said. "As far as he's concerned, the door is not closed."

Eisenstadt also dismissed the idea that Schwarzenegger's political ambitions may have been chilled by a recent Premiere magazine story and tabloid newspaper articles accusing of him of habitually groping women and cheating on his wife.

The articles were faxed to newspaper offices around the state by the office of California's current governor and Schwarzenegger's potential rival, Gray Davis, as a possible preemptive strike against the Terminator.

The actor's camp has called the articles unfounded tabloid "trash" and categorically denied their claims. Several of Schwarzenegger's colleagues, including female co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Linda Hamilton, and Rita Wilson, have sent angry letters to Premiere magazine denouncing its story.

Curtis called it a "politically motivated hatchet job" while Hamilton condemned as "fantasy" an incident in which, according to the Premiere article, Schwarzenegger lifted her onto his lap in the presence of her then-boyfriend and director James Cameron.

Reuters contributed to this story.