WASHINGTON -- Blame Austria.

In 1772, Austria joined Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia in dividing up Poland, which had been weakened by the election of a foreign-born head of state.

Fifteen years later, America's Founding Fathers, leery of repeating Poland's experience, added the following to their new Constitution: "No person except a natural born citizen ... shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Today, a national -- if fledgling -- campaign is under way to allow foreign-born citizens to hold the United States' highest office. Supporters expect congressional hearings on the proposal this year.

Long considered quixotic, the effort is taking on interest-group support, money and organization. And although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has publicly asked to be left out of the debate, it is the political ascent of the governor, who holds both Austrian and American citizenship, that is attracting attention to the issue.

Among backers of various proposed constitutional amendments are members of both political parties and some of America's most liberal and conservative legislators. Both the incoming and outgoing chairmen of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which considers constitutional amendments, support the change.

"This restriction has become an anachronism that is decidedly un-American," Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, the past chairman, said recently.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who succeeded Hatch, said of Schwarzenegger: "The guy has become governor of California. What more credentials could you ask?"

Some senators are less enthusiastic. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has denounced the legislative attention to the issue, saying that the Senate has more pressing matters.

Just 27 of more than 10,000 amendments proposed have succeeded. To amend the Constitution, a proposal needs the support of two-thirds of both houses of Congress, followed by ratification by 38 states. The Constitution also can be amended when two-thirds of state legislatures call for a constitutional convention (which has never occurred).

Only on rare occasions is the Constitution amended quickly. For example, the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18, was ratified in four months in 1971.

Polls show that most Americans oppose amending the "natural born clause," though a Gallup Poll released recently showed that opposition fell -- from 67 percent to 58 percent -- when Schwarzenegger's name was mentioned to those surveyed. A Field Poll last fall found that even in California, where Schwarzenegger's approval ratings then approached 70 percent, nearly 60 percent of registered voters surveyed opposed a constitutional amendment.

Nonetheless, support for the idea has started to build. Immigrants' rights organizations, veterans groups and people who have adopted children from overseas have begun to speak out on the need to change the Constitution.

Three organizations have been formed to advocate for an amendment. Meetings to plan a campaign for the amendment are scheduled for this month in California and next in Florida.

Amendment advocates offer dozens of arguments. Children adopted from overseas by American families, they say, know no other country; why should they not be able to lead it?

Statistics are often cited. With the U.S. doubling its number of naturalized citizens -- from 6.5 million in 1990 to more than 12 million today -- ineligible citizens make up a growing percentage of the population. Many foreign-born people have risked their lives or died for the country (700 have earned the Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military decoration).

And if American-born convicts or terrorists are constitutionally eligible, why not Schwarzenegger or Jennifer Granholm, the Canadian-born Democratic governor of Michigan?

It is Schwarzenegger's case, though, that has added stardust to the emerging coalition.

A contingent of chiropractors, some of whom meet each year during Schwarzenegger's annual fitness expo in Ohio, is speaking out in favor. A political consultant for the governor is monitoring the issue on his behalf. A Silicon Valley donor to his campaigns has started a Web site, www.amendforarnold.com, made two TV ads in favor of the amendment, and opened a full-time office on a Menlo Park thoroughfare for her organization, Amendus.org.

And while the idea of Schwarzenegger as president may still seem outlandish to some Americans, but there is at least one place where a significant number of people anticipate a Schwarzenegger White House.

A poll last year found that 37 percent of Austrians believe the governor of California will become U.S. president one day.

Schwarzengger mentions the idea rarely -- most often for laughs.

Last year, Schwarzenegger began a speech to a convention of travel agents this way: "Thank you very much for changing the Constitution of the United States of America, and I accept the nomination for president. Wait a minute, this is the wrong speech!"