Here comes Mitt

Enough with this Iowa-New Hampshire garbage. Let's get to the big-time.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is coming back to California. He'll arrive this weekend and stay for a full five days. According to an as-yet unpublished schedule, the GOP front-runner in Iowa and New Hampshire will travel the state from Orange to Sacramento with stops in Santa Clara, Bakersfield and Long Beach.

There'll also be some private fundraisers, of course. This is, after all, the Golden State and Californians have been among Romney's top donors. Also planned are a few of the usual photo ops where the candidate stops in at, say, Dewar's Candy Shop in Bakersfield at 2 p.m. next Tuesday to taste the good stuff, maybe don an apron and mix up a batch of something sweet.

Or introduce himself to the folks who happen to be eating at the IHOP on Advantage Lane in Sacramento next Thursday around 9:45 a.m.

But Romney also plans a series of his trademark "Ask Mitt Anything" forums, like a New England town hall meeting without the leaves changing colors. He's expected to hold these forums at Chapman University in Orange at 2:30 Sunday, at David's Restaurant in Santa Clara on Monday at 2:30 and Daugherty Sky Harbor in Long Beach next Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

Not coincidentally, that Orange stop will likely help him reap bountiful local news coverage on a slow early autumn Sunday in populous Southern California. One state poll of about 300 voters last month showed Romney trailing Rudy Giuliani, 14% to 35%, in California. So there's plenty of work to do.

--Andrew Malcolm