Romney making 3d trip to Calif.

Governor Mitt Romney will travel to California tomorrow to deliver a stump speech to 1,000 Republican activists, his largest out-of-state crowd since he began testing his viability as a candidate for the White House this year.

The Orange County GOP's Flag Day dinner, expected to reap more than $300,000 for the county party, is Romney's third California speaking engagement this year. It is the latest in a series of out-of-state events that have made the governor a target for critics who say he is no longer focused on his job in the corner office of the Massachusetts State House.

''We in Orange County are intrigued by Governor Romney, most notably because he's a conservative governor getting elected in a blue state and governing well in a blue state," said Orange County Republican chair Scott Baugh, whose county delivered President Bush a 222,593-vote margin of victory in last year's election, the largest margin he received of any county in the nation.

Romney also headlined an April 14 cocktail reception held by The New Majority, a Republican business group in Orange County, as part of a series the group is hosting that features potential 2008 presidential contenders. The following day, Romney was the keynote speaker at an Orange County GOP fund-raiser for 35 major donors that netted more than $100,000, party officials said.

The Orange County GOP will fly Romney to and from California on a private chartered jet for its Flag Day event. Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's communications director, pointed out that tomorrow is a state holiday.

Romney is expected to decide this fall if he's running for president or for reelection.

''Governor Romney has taken on more of a leadership role in the Republican Party since becoming vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association last year," Fehrnstrom said. ''Part of his mission is to build and raise money for Republican Party organizations around the country."

Some of those trips have created controversy in Massachusetts. Romney told GOP audiences in Michigan, Missouri, and South Carolina earlier this year that his status as a Republican in Massachusetts equates to being a ''cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention," prompting harsh rebukes from Democrats who said Romney was deriding his own state to benefit his ambitions.

In addition to the Orange County engagements, the California Republican Party has extended an invitation to Romney to headline a fund-raising function for them, a spokeswoman said.

California has not backed a Republican presidential candidate since the 1988 election of George H.W. Bush over Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis.

''There's no way that California would vote for Mitt Romney, who's against collective bargaining, against the fire and police departments in your state," said California's Democratic Party chairman, Art Torres. ''Does anyone even know where he lives? Is it Utah, Massachusetts, New Hampshire? It looks like he's moving here next."

Tim O'Brien, chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, defended Romney's frequent out-of-state forays yesterday, saying the governor is working harder than ever to effect his agenda. O'Brien also insisted that Romney is committed to running for reelection next year.