For a number of reasons, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't likely to take a position in the Obama administration even if offered one, said a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento.

Too many factors here and on the national front make it a less-than-ideal fit, said Tim Hodson, director of the university's Center for California Studies.

Among them is that while Schwarzenegger won't be doing state Republicans any favors by taking a job in environmental or energy agencies, Hodson said.

Many state Republicans grouse that Schwarzenegger is too moderate and works too often with Democrats, charges that will gain resonance if he joins the Democratic Obama presidency.

Hodson said there's also the calculus if Schwarzenegger leaves and the state's lieutenant governor, Democrat John Garamendi, ascends to his position.

Garamendi has already made plans to run for governor when Schwarzenegger is termed out in 2010.

"Why give Republicans like Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner an incumbent to run against rather than an open seat?" Hodson said.

There is also a question of whether Schwarzenegger is a good fit for a specific policy. While he's been state governor since 2003, he has no experience running an agency specifically focused on policy, Hodson said.

But Hodson said that while the governor is unlikely to leave, other prominent state politicians - on the Democratic side - are more likely to seek work in the nation's capital.

That list includes legislators who were early Obama backers and are termed out or soon to be termed out, such as state Sens. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) and Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles).

Hodson said that former state Controller Steve Westly also is a logical choice because he's from the Silicon Valley, an area that backed Obama early.

But woe to the politician who thinks he or she can go to Washington D.C. and eventually return to public office in Sacramento.

"The thing about going to D.C. is that you put your California electoral prospects on hold," he said. "Generally, when people cross the Rockies to the Potomac, they kind of disappear."

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