DES MOINES, Iowa — The keepers of the Dow Jones industrial average are not eager to boot General Motors Corp. off the index of 30 leading industrial corporations, but that could change if the government gives billions of dollars to the troubled automaker.

On Tuesday President George W. Bush’s spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said the administration still was working on details of a possible bailout for the automakers and wants to hear from those involved.

The responsibility of choosing the components of the Dow falls to Robert Thomson, The Wall Street Journal managing editor, who frequently consults with other senior editors at the newspaper and with John Prestbo, editor and executive director of Dow Jones Indexes.

Bailout plays role

Prestbo, who has helped pick Dow stocks for nearly two decades, is the chairman of the Dow Jones index oversight committee.

He said the extent to which the government chooses to bail out automakers could determine whether GM, which has been in the Dow since 1925, stays or is replaced.

"We’re watching very carefully what the government does and the way in which the government does it,” Prestbo said.

GM could follow the course of insurer American International Group Inc., which was removed as a Dow component in September, after the U.S. government agreed to provide an $85 billion emergency loan.

Prestbo said the "80 percent nationalization” of the company changed the index committee’s perspective.

"We felt that put AIG in a different ballpark than the rest of the companies and that didn’t work as part of the industrial average any more,” he said.

GM shares have fallen drastically, off 83 percent so far year, closing at $4.08 on Tuesday.

Prestbo said GM still has a big footprint in the U.S. economy and it will stay in the Dow for now.