The U.S. Constitution prevents Austria-born Arnold Schwarzenegger from running for president. But California’s GOP governor, sworn in last week for a second term, still plans on influencing the 2008 election. Schwarzenegger says he’d like to move the California primary from June-when both parties have all but picked their nominees-to a much earlier date, in February. ‘We shouldn’t be treated as a leftover,’ Schwarzenegger told NEWSWEEK while at home in Los Angeles, where he was recovering from a broken leg after a skiing accident. ‘We will go and make a lot of noise about the issues.’ The governor hopes the change will encourage candidates to spend more time talking to voters in the nation’s most populous state, instead of ‘sucking us dry for money’ at fund-raisers. ‘We don’t want to sit back and let this whole thing go by and have California not be a player,’ he says. The proposal would need to be brought to the state legislature and approved by a two-thirds vote. Schwarzenegger says he’s meeting with leaders from both parties this week to discuss the plan. Moving up the primary certainly increases California’s visibility among candidates-and puts the Golden State’s environmental concerns on the agenda. […]