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After the TWA charter jet pulled to a stop, three dozen reporters ran down the back steps of the plane and quickly got into position. The governor then emerged from the front door, waved to the cameras and shook the hands of a carefully chosen greeting committee that included former San Diego Chargers kicker Rolf Benirschke and former Los Angeles Lakers guard Brad Holland. After the obligatory hand-shaking and cheek-kissing, Bush strode confidently toward the press corps.

Which immediately showed its pack-animal tendencies. At first, reporters kept an appropriate distance between themselves and the Texas governor, until one reporter crossed the invisible line and broke free. With the force field around Bush penetrated, the 50 other reporters quickly rushed forward as two Bush operatives crouched at each flank with palms out, keeping them at bay. It was hard not to think that while Bush is going from chicken dinner to chicken dinner over the next three days, the hungry press corps will be out stalking its own fresh meat -- circling George W. like a pack of hyenas.

This is Bush's first trip to the Golden State as a presidential candidate, and the local Republican establishment could not be happier. State party leaders have been tripping over themselves for the last nine months getting in line to support him, and they have lined up an impressive list of well-monied donors waiting for the privilege of having Bush pocket their money.

A quick glance at the governor's itinerary shows that this is not exactly a social call. Bush will be in town for less than 72 hours, but his handlers have a busy schedule planned. Tuesday, Bush had fund-raising for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in San Diego, Irvine and Los Angeles respectively. Wednesday will be more of the same -- an early fund-raising breakfast in Los Angeles, lunch at the Hyatt in Sacramento and dinner at the tony St. Francis hotel in San Francisco. He will have two more fund-raisers on Thursday before leaving for Austin just after 4 p.m.

Like a squirrel gathering autumn acorns for the coming winter, George Bush is in California to fatten up his reserves, which will carry him through the winter snows of Iowa and New Hampshire. In all, Bush's advisors estimate the governor will raise more than $4.2 million on this trip, a nice way to close out the second quarter of fund-raising. He picked up almost a half-million at Tuesday's breakfast alone. When reports are filed with the Federal Elections Commission early next month, Bush will likely have raised more than $20 million.

It is all part of a well-orchestrated, top-down campaign strategy that Bush has executed flawlessly to this point. His celebrity status and landslide reelection last year made him an early presidential front-runner, and Bush has spent months orchestrating meetings in Austin and lining up high-octane Republican supporters from across the country. This month's foray into New Hampshire, his recent trip to Capitol Hill and now this trip to California are not your standard grip-and-grin with voters. Rather they are an opportunity for the Republican elite to get their first look at the man at whom they are already throwing their money.

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