Arnold Schwarzenegger willing to work for Barack Obama's administration

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to President-elect Barack Obama this week and would be willing to work for the Democratic administration once his term expires if asked, the Republican governor said in an interview broadcast this morning.

"I will help in every possible way the administration to be successful," he told Fox News. "So whatever they need, I'm there."

The only qualification, Schwarzenegger said, would be permission from his wife, Maria Shriver.

"Before I make any move, the next move that I make, I'm going to go to Maria and say, 'Maria, you tell me what to do,' " Schwarzenegger told Brian Kilmeade in the interview, which was taped Wednesday.

Shriver is a Democrat who backed Obama for president.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Matt David said the conversation took place Sunday, and that Obama had called the governor. Schwarzenegger had previously called Obama after the election to congratulate him but did not get through.

The two spoke about the Southern California wildfires, but David said he could not divulge anything else about their talk, including whether they discussed a role for Schwarzenegger in the administration.

"I'm not going to go into the details of the conversation," David said.

Schwarzenegger supported Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president. But he has had warm words for Obama since the election, and the president-elect taped a video shown Tuesday at the governor's climate summit in Los Angeles.

The governor has deflected rumors that he would leave his job before his term ends in two years to work for Obama, although he has left a bit of wiggle room in recent interviews. He told Fox, "I want to finish my term as governor because there's a lot of different challenges ahead." But he did not flatly reject an early departure.

In the Fox interview, Schwarzenegger said he and Obama had joked about comments the governor made in Ohio during the campaign making fun of the Illinois senator's "scrawny" physique, and about their respective fondness for body-building and basketball. "He told me that he's going to build a big gymnasium in the White House to bulk up and that I should help him bulk up," Schwarzenegger said. "And I said only if he helps me play basketball."

It was not immediately clear whether Obama was serious about the gym.

Rothfeld is a Times staff writer.

michael.rothfeld@latimes.com