A visible and wealthy group of moderate Republicans today announced it’s endorsing the re-election bid of Arnold Schwarzenegger, even as some factions within the GOP continue to call for the party to distance itself from the governor.

The news release from the New Majority says the endorsement is based, in part, on Schwarzenegger’s “commitment to making California a more business friendly state.” There was probably never any doubt that the Orange County group would line up behind the governor, after backing him in virtually every endeavor since his 2002 campaign to pass Proposition 49, the after-school funding initiative. In fact, the New Majority’s Orange County chairman, Paul Folino, is also one of the governor’s most generous donors.

But one wonders whether the endorsement’s timing is designed to counter some of the headlines being made by the most conservative elements of the state’s Republican brigade. There, the criticism continues that the governor has begun paddling hard towards the left and liberal side of California’s political spectrum.

This battle is the latest chapter in a long running feud between conservatives and moderates in the state GOP, a feud that predates Schwarzenegger and one both he and party leaders have tried to quell in recent times. In times past, it was largely over social issues. While this battle is different, expect it to again highlight internal conflicts at the party convention later this month in San Jose.