Romney Taking a Seat on Leno's Couch Today

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to appear on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and hold fundraisers in Irvine and Century City today.

The interview with Leno will be Romney's first on a late-night talk show since announcing his 2012 presidential candidacy. He read the "Top Ten List" on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" on Dec. 19.

This summer, Romney made a stop in North Hollywood and gave a speech in front of the , using it as a backdrop to highlight the failing economy:

Romney is set to begin his day with a fundraiser in Stockton. Tickets for a noon fundraising luncheon at a home in Shady Canyon, a gated community in Irvine, begin at $1,000 while for an extra $1,500 the donor will have his or her picture taken with Romney.

Several Democratic elected and party officials and labor leaders plan a news conference outside Romney's fundraiser at the Century Plaza Hotel regarding his positions on immigration and "issues affecting everyday Americans," according to Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair Eric C. Bauman.

A protest outside the hotel is also planned by what is being billed as a "Coalition of the 99 Percent," including activists from labor unions, Occupy LA and immigration rights supporters.

Young illegal immigrants and elected officials plan to conduct a news conference outside the Beverly Hills Unified School District headquarters to criticize Romney for his opposition to what is commonly known as the DREAM Act.

The legislation would give conditional permanent residence to illegal immigrants of good moral character who arrived in the country as minors, lived in the nation for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment, graduated from high school and completed two years at a four-year college or in the military.

The group then plans to march to the Century Plaza to hold a protest.

Romney began a two-day visit to California on Monday with a speech in San Diego at a maker of devices intended to improve spinal care, criticizing the national health care law championed by President Barack Obama.

"An extra trillion dollars in spending, we were told it would be an extra trillion, now we're told by the (Congressional Budget Office) it's more like $2 trillion," Romney told the audience at NuVasive. "And then they said it would cut the cost of health insurance -- in fact, it has increased the cost of health insurance."

The speech coincided with the start of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of what is officially known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and what has been dubbed by opponents as "Obamacare."

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who has a home in La Jolla, has said that if elected president, he would issue an executive order on his first day in office that paves the way for the federal government to issue waivers on the law's provisions to all 50 states, then would work with Congress to repeal the full legislation as quickly as possible.

Firms like NuVasive are important because they sell products around the world and keep the U.S. competitive economically, but their progress is threatened by the culture in the nation's capital, Romney said.

"What's happening today in Washington is an attack on free enterprise, an attack on economic freedom unlike anything we've ever seen before," Romney said.

Romney is routinely criticized by his opponents for enacting similar health coverage legislation in Massachusetts. He responds that it was a state solution for a state problem, not a sweeping overhaul of health care at a federal level.

After his morning appearance, Romney went to a fundraiser at the U.S. Grant Hotel, where he was greeted by about 20 protesters representing diverse causes and organizations, including Women Occupy San Diego and "Teachers for Obama."

Supporters of the DREAM Act were also present, along with a couple of people who held "Obama 2012" campaign placards.

One man held a sign that read: "Which Mitt?" in reference to opponents' claims that he has flip-flopped on a number of issues, including health care.