President Bush landed this morning at LAX for a Southland visit to promote the free trade agreements he mentioned in Monday's State of the Union address with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.

LAX shut down temporarily to accommodate the arrival of Air Force One, and at the airport Bush was greeted by sisters Marni and Berni Barta, two Harvard-Westlake students who founded a program called Kid Flicks, which "collects new and used DVDs that are donated to children's hospitals and pediatric treatment centers across the country," explains the Daily News.

After presenting them with Volunteer Service Awards, he will proceed to his second appointment, which is at the Robinson Helicopter Co. in Torrance, where he will tour the facility with Gov. Schwarzenegger and then address the crowd in a talk expected to focus on "trade and the U.S. economy." Next comes the midday meal for the President, who will be speaking and eating at a Republican National Committee luncheon.

But it's just a quickie for Bush here in the Southland. He'll be holding air traffic again this afternoon when he hops his flight up to NorCal for "a GOP fundraising dinner in Hillsborough." Politicians are high on the radar here in the Los Angeles area this week as the Primary vote approaches, with major party debates scheduled for today in Simi Valley for the GOP and tomorrow in Hollywood for the Dems.

Photo of plane landing at LAX by chicanerii via Flickr