In the latest sign that Mitt Romney is looking ahead to the general election, the former Massachusetts governor will appear at the Republican National Committee's meeting later this week in Arizona, a spokesman for the Romney campaign tells CNN Monday.

Romney is scheduled to address the gathering of state Republican chairmen Friday - the same day that Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, is scheduled to speak. The three day political meeting is being held in Scottsdale.

While RNC Chairman Reince Priebus noted Sunday that the GOP has not "officially declared a presumptive nominee yet out of respect for Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich," he did acknowledge it will eventually be Romney.

"Mitt Romney had a great month and he's clearly on a pathway to be the presumptive nominee and we're going to have a unified party when this is all said and done," Priebus said in an interview on "State of the Union with Candy Crowley."

The Romney campaign has already established a joint fundraising committee with the RNC.