Brewer fires back at Goddard after comments

Gov. Jan Brewer took a verbal slap Monday at the high-profile Democrat who wants her job.

"It's easy to be a Saturday night quarterback," the governor said in commenting on Terry Goddard's claim Friday that Arizona is suffering from a lack of leadership. Goddard, in taking out the paperwork for an exploratory committee for the 2010 gubernatorial race, said the state is headed in the wrong direction, which is why he took the first steps toward becoming his party's nominee.

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"The fact of the matter is that having to be governor and dealing with the subject matters and the deficit takes a lot of information and certainly a lot of consideration," Brewer said. And the governor said she has put forward a plan to deal with both the state's short- and long-term economic woes, which is more than Goddard, currently the state attorney general, has done.

The comments from both sides point to what is likely to be a rancorous general election next year as Brewer, who became governor in January, hopes to win a full four-year term of her own.

That, however, presumes that she will be the GOP nominee. Within her party she has one high-profile announced foe, a second who has raised more than $51,000 under an exploratory campaign and a third - state Treasurer Dean Martin - who is making noise about possibly joining the fray.

But none of them has something Brewer does: the benefit of being an incumbent.

Just days after announcing her formal bid, Brewer launched into what appears to be her busiest week of public appearances since she became governor, with nine events open to the media. But Brewer, questioned about the sudden flood of appearances, said it had nothing to do with her campaign.

"Oh, we've actually been busy, as you know, since I became governor," she responded to questions.

"I think a lot of it probably wasn't on my public schedule," Brewer continued. "But certainly we've been very, very busy."

The governor also said she had not been making a lot of public appearances until now because "I've been nose down for a long period of time, working on the budget." Now, she said, "I'm a little bit more freer."

At this point, though, the state still does not have a balanced budget for the current fiscal year that began July 1.

The only progress recently has been an agreement between Brewer and Republican legislative leaders for a special session next week to cut close to $300 million in education and welfare spending and make another $160 million in fixes to the budget. The gap between revenues and budgeted spending, however, is closer to $2 billion.

On Monday, Brewer visited a bishop's storehouse with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mesa before participating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Cardon Children's Medical Center.

On Tuesday she is having a "ceremonial" signing of a bill she signed into law in July on renewable energy tax credits, with two events related to Veterans Day Wednesday, three speeches Thursday and another one on Friday.

Brewer said she is not concerned about the race - or Goddard's comments.

"I think that's what elections are all about,'' she said.

"If he happens to be the nominee and I happen to be the nominee, then we'll run in the general (election)," Brewer continued. "And may the best woman win."