James R. Carroll

WASHINGTON - He's headed back to the land of Ronald Reagan.

Yes, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is California-bound late this week, headed for a marquee appearance before Republicans in the nation's most populous state.

Perhaps Paul is hoping to spark some energy in the California GOP, which has fallen on difficult political times as far as national elections go.

The Kentuckian, of course, is considering a possible presidential run in 2016. Where better to help him gauge enthusiasm for his candidacy than in the state that first made Reagan a political force in a resurgent conservative movement in the 1960s and 1970s?

Paul is slated to be the keynote speaker at the California Republican Party's state convention in Los Angeles on Saturday.

"This is a critical year for Republicans, especially in California," Paul said in a statement. "I am excited to join Republicans in California at the convention as we work together to strengthen our great nation."

Jim Brulte, a former California state senator and now chairman of the California GOP, said Paul "understands that a balanced budget doesn't have to come on the backs of taxpayers."

"He is a tireless advocate for freedom, an independent thinker, and a dedicated public servant," Brulte said in a statement put out both by Paul's political action committee, RANDPAC, and the California GOP.

In California in the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama clobbered his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 60 percent to 37 percent.

In fact, the last Republican to win California in a presidential contest was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

But the 2012 Republican primary in California may be more on Paul's mind. While Romney dominated with almost 80 percent of the GOP vote, that came very late in the primary season when the Republican battle for the nomination was all but over. The second-place winner, with 10 percent of the vote, was Paul's father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Without such a dominant front-runner so far in the 2016 race, California could be more fertile ground for Sen. Paul.

The senator visited the San Francisco Bay area in March.

He made a similar trip last year and appeared to make some inroads in the high-tech community. Also on that swing, Paul spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

"To win in California and other bluish states, Republicans will have to change current perceptions," he said at the Reagan Library.

In a June 2013 op-ed piece in The Washington Times, Paul asserted that the Republican Party can't be truly strong on a national scale without California.

"I think Republicans will not be a successful national party again until we can compete everywhere, every time, for every vote - coast to coast," the senator wrote.