In anticipation of a downright groovy weather weekend (mid 80’s in Sacramento and an extra hour of daylight?), a few final crumbs to examine before they’re swept off the table…

* Shuffling Off To The Big House: This must have been the biggest week for prison tours since Johnny Cash played Folsom and San Quentin (Okay, sticklers, I know those weren’t in the same week).

Governor Schwarzenegger visited both a state prison in Norco and the county jail in San Joaquin… while Assembly Republicans traveled to Solano County to visit two state prisons. The governor told reporters that he will meet with legislative leaders about the prison crisis on Monday.

* Brace Yourselves– Education Spin Storm Ahead: Next week, a long-awaited series of reports on California’s schools will be out, and early leaks indicate some of the research finds that education is severely underfunded. That spate of analyses will no doubt be subject to an intense spin cycle around the Capitol, both from interest groups who agree and from those who will pick apart the methodology and the meaning. In fact, the ‘pre-spin’ has already begun; multiple emails arrived this morning… offering reaction once Monday rolls around, and even hawking counterstudies that just happen to be coming out on Monday, too.

* Border Patrolling: On this week’s newsmagazine edition of The California Report, our LA bureau chief Rob Schmitz takes a look at border patrol efforts by the National Guard, almost a year after President Bush asked for– and Governor Schwarzenegger agreed to– help. Rob found fewer illegal crossings… but also more violence along the border. [Click here for airtimes. Audio will be online later tonight.]

* Arnold, Can I Have Your Cheese?: And finally, you probably remember that the governor was in Washington, DC recently, where his itinerary included a dinner party at the White House.

Well, Schwarzenegger apparently made quite the impression on one of the guests who was seated near him: Jeannie Ritter, the first lady of Colorado.

(She’s the woman to the governor’s right in this photo seen on the LA Times’ Political Muscle blog.)

In a recent interview with a Denver TV station, here’s how Mrs. Ritter described her memories of her dinner date:

“I kept saying [to myself], ‘Don’t eat off his plate, don’t eat off his plate, don’t eat off his plate! But you know, he didn’t, he wasn’t gonna eat his goat cheese! And I love that stuff! But I didn’t touch it.”

The video is here, but you have to search the station’s archive for it. My next assignment: is it really true that the governor doesn’t like goat cheese?